The Raid on Dartmouth (1749) occurred during
Father Le Loutre's War
Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the Briti ...
on September 30, 1749 when a
Mi'kmaw militia
The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...
from
Chignecto raided Major
Ezekiel Gilman's sawmill at present-day
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dartmouth ( ) is an urban community and former city located in the Halifax Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada. Dartmouth is located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour. Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of Lakes, after the larg ...
, killing four workers and wounding two. This raid was one of seven the
Wabanaki Confederacy
The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet ( ...
and
Acadia
Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and early ...
ns would conduct against the settlement during the war.
Historical context
Despite the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
,
Conquest of Acadia in 1710, Nova Scotia remained primarily occupied by Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq.
Father Le Loutre's War
Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the Briti ...
began when
Edward Cornwallis
Edward Cornwallis ( – 14 January 1776) was a British career military officer and was a member of the aristocratic Cornwallis family, who reached the rank of Lieutenant General. After Cornwallis fought in Scotland, putting down the Jacobi ...
arrived to establish
Halifax with 13 transports on June 21, 1749.
By the time Cornwallis had arrived in Halifax, there was a long history of the
Wabanaki Confederacy
The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet ( ...
(which included the Mi'kmaq) killing British civilians along the New England/ Acadia border in Maine (See the Northeast Coast Campaigns
1688
Events
January–March
* January 2 – Fleeing from the Spanish Navy, French pirate Raveneau de Lussan and his 70 men arrive on the west coast of Nicaragua, sink their boats, and make a difficult 10 day march to the city of Oco ...
,
1703
In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Thursday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar.
Events
January–March
* January 9 – The Jamaican town of Port Royal, a center of trade ...
,
1723
Events
January–March
* January 25 – British pirate Edward Low intercepts the Portuguese ship ''Nostra Signiora de Victoria''. After the Portuguese captain throws his treasure of 11,000 gold coins into the sea rather than s ...
,
1724
Events
January–March
* January 15 – King Philip V of Spain abdicates the throne in favour of his 16-year-old son Louis I.
* January 18 – The Dutch East India Company cargo ship ''Fortuyn'', on its maiden voyage, dep ...
,
1745
Events
January–March
* January 7 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Austrian Army, under the command of Field Marshal Károly József Batthyány, makes a surprise attack at Amberg and the winter quarters of the Bavaria ...
,
1746
Events
January–March
* January 8 – The Young Pretender Charles Edward Stuart occupies Stirling, Scotland.
* January 17 – Battle of Falkirk Muir: British Government forces are defeated by Jacobite forces.
* February 1 ...
,
1747
Events
January–March
* January 31 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
* February 11 – King George's War: A combined French and Indian force, commanded by Captain Nicolas Antoine II Coul ...
).
After establishing an initial settlement in Halifax in the summer of 1749, it was imperative that Governor Edward Cornwallis make peace with the Native peoples of the province before further colonization could proceed. On 15 August, Governor Cornwallis and members of his Council met with representatives of the
Penobscot
The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic pr ...
, Naridgwalk, St. John, Cape Sable and other tribes aboard HMS ''Beaufort'' in Halifax Harbour. They agreed to sign a redrafted treaty of 1725 that would be ratified at a later date.
Governor Cornwallis was informed in August that two vessels were attacked by the Indians at Canso whereby "three English and seven Indians were killed." Council believed the attack had been orchestrated by
Abbe Le Loutre Abbe may refer to:
People
* Abbe (name)
Places
* Abbe (crater), a lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon
* Lake Abbe, African lake
* Abbe Falls, waterfalls in India
Other uses
* Abbé, the Fren ...
.
Prior to this incident, the priest had written the following to the minister of marine in France:
To guard against Mi'kmaq, Acadian and French attacks on the new Protestant settlements, British fortifications were erected in Halifax (1749),
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
(
Fort Sackville
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, the French, British and U.S. forces built and occupied a number of forts at Vincennes, Indiana. These outposts commanded a strategic position on the Wabash River. The names of the installations were change ...
) (1749),
Dartmouth (1750),
Lunenburg (1753) and
Lawrencetown (1754).
On 24 September 1749, the Mi'kmaq formally wrote to Governor Cornwallis through Father Maillard, proclaiming their ownership of the land, and expressing their opposition to the British actions in settling at Halifax. Some historians have read this letter as declaration of hostility against the British. Other historians have questioned that interpretation.
Raids started at Canso, then Chignecto and then at present-day Dartmouth. During
Father Le Loutre's War
Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the Briti ...
, there were four raids on Dartmouth.
Major Ezekiel Gilman (Gillman) was in command of the mill at Dartmouth. He had worked in the lumber industry in Exeter, New Hampshire. He had distinguished himself in Colonel Samuel Moore's Regiment at the
Siege of Louisbourg (1745)
The siege of Louisbourg took place in 1745 when a New England colonial force aided by a British fleet captured Louisbourg, the capital of the French province of Île-Royale (present-day Cape Breton Island) during the War of the Austrian Suc ...
, where he engineered moving the British canons across boggy terrain. Sir
William Pepperrell
Sir William Pepperrell, 1st Baronet (27 June 1696 – 6 July 1759) was a merchant and soldier in colonial Massachusetts. He is widely remembered for organizing, financing, and leading the 1745 expedition that captured the French fortr ...
referred to Gilman as "very serviceable" in the expedition. (He returned various times to New Hampshire but died in Nova Scotia in 1755.)
Raid
On September 30, 1749, about forty Mi'kmaq attacked six men who were in Dartmouth cutting trees. The Mi'kmaq killed four of them on the spot, took one prisoner and one escaped. Two of the men were scalped and the heads of the others were cut off. The attack was on the saw mill at Dartmouth Cove
Mill Location), which was under the command of Major Ezekiel Gilman. A detachment of rangers was sent after the raiding party and cut off the heads of two Mi'kmaq and scalped one.
Consequence
![MapofDartmouthNovaScotia1750](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/MapofDartmouthNovaScotia1750.jpg)
On October 2, 1749, to stop the attacks on the emigrants, Governor
Edward Cornwallis
Edward Cornwallis ( – 14 January 1776) was a British career military officer and was a member of the aristocratic Cornwallis family, who reached the rank of Lieutenant General. After Cornwallis fought in Scotland, putting down the Jacobi ...
created an
extirpation
Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...
proclamation directing "all Officers Civil and Military, and all His Majesty's Subjects or others to annoy, distress, take or destroy the Savage commonly called Micmac, wherever they are found."
As part of the proclamation he offered a bounty for the capture or scalps of Mi'kmaw men and for the capture of women and children: "every Indian you shall destroy (upon producing ''his'' Scalp as the Custom is) or every Indian taken, Man, Woman or Child."
[ The three companies scoured the land around Halifax looking for Mi'kmaq, however, the Rangers never made contact with any Mi'kmaq.
Cornwallis also stationed thirty men guarding the saw mill over the following winter, with two armed vessels. Gilman left unannounced to New England by April 1750.] By July, Cornwallis had given the saw mill to Clapham to manage. In September, he gave command of Gilman's rangers to Captain Francis Bartelo
Captain Francis Bartelo (?-1750) was a ranger who served under Edward Cornwallis during Father Le Loutre's War. Bartelo may have served with the Free Companies at Flanders during the war. Bartelo arrived in Halifax on the Merry Jacks with Cornwa ...
.
Despite Cornwallis' efforts to defend the community, in July 1750, the Mi'kmaq killed and scalped seven men who were at work in Dartmouth. In August 1750, 353 people arrived on the ship Alderney and began the town of Dartmouth, which was laid out in the autumn of that year. The following month, on September 30, 1750, Dartmouth was attacked again by the Mi'kmaq
The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...
and five more residents were killed. In October 1750 a group of about eight men went out "to take their diversion; and as they were fowling, they were attacked by the Indians, who took the whole prisoners; scalped ... newith a large knife, which they wear for that purpose, and threw him into the sea ..."[ as cited by ]
In March 1751, the Mi'kmaq attacked on two more occasions, bringing the total number of raids to six in the previous two years. Three months later, on May 13, 1751, Broussard led sixty Mi'kmaq
The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northe ...
and Acadians to attack Dartmouth again, in what would be known as the "Dartmouth Massacre".
Controversy
Mi'kmaw historian Daniel N. Paul
Daniel Nicholas Paul, , (born December 5, 1938) is a Miꞌkmaq elder, author, columnist, and human rights activist. Paul is perhaps best known as the author of the book '' We Were Not the Savages''. Paul asserts that this book is the first such his ...
has disputed British accounts of the raid. Paul dismisses the possibility that Mi'kmaw people would attack unarmed civilians and speculates, instead, that the woodcutters were probably armed and better equipped compared to the Mi'kmaq raiders. Paul provides no historical evidence to support his speculations. In his book ''We Were Not the Savages
''We Were Not the Savages'' (1993 and later editions) is a history of the Mi'kmaq people during the period of European colonization written by Daniel N. Paul. It has been published in four editions. The first, subtitled ''A Micmac Perspective on th ...
'' Paul writes:
Paul asserts that Cornwallis used "a few incidents such as these" to justify his bounty proclamation. Cornwallis' decision to put a bounty on the Mi'kmaq did not pivot simply on the Raid on Dartmouth in 1749. By the time Cornwallis had arrived in Halifax, there was a long history of conflict between the Wabanaki Confederacy
The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet ( ...
(which included the Mi'kmaq) and the various British America
British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas from 16 ...
n colonies of North America; with the Wabanaki launching several raids along the New England-Acadia Border in Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
in response to British settlement (See the Northeast Coast Campaigns 1688
Events
January–March
* January 2 – Fleeing from the Spanish Navy, French pirate Raveneau de Lussan and his 70 men arrive on the west coast of Nicaragua, sink their boats, and make a difficult 10 day march to the city of Oco ...
, 1703
In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Thursday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar.
Events
January–March
* January 9 – The Jamaican town of Port Royal, a center of trade ...
, 1723
Events
January–March
* January 25 – British pirate Edward Low intercepts the Portuguese ship ''Nostra Signiora de Victoria''. After the Portuguese captain throws his treasure of 11,000 gold coins into the sea rather than s ...
, 1724
Events
January–March
* January 15 – King Philip V of Spain abdicates the throne in favour of his 16-year-old son Louis I.
* January 18 – The Dutch East India Company cargo ship ''Fortuyn'', on its maiden voyage, dep ...
, 1745
Events
January–March
* January 7 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Austrian Army, under the command of Field Marshal Károly József Batthyány, makes a surprise attack at Amberg and the winter quarters of the Bavaria ...
). The proclamation was modelled on earlier proclamations used by New England Governors.
See also
*List of massacres in Canada
This is a list of events in Canada and its predecessors that are commonly characterized as ''massacres''. ''Massacre'' is defined in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "the indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people or (less commonly) anim ...
References
;Footnotes
;Citations
;Primary Sources
*
*
*
*
;Secondary Sources
* online at
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raid On Dartmouth
Military history of Acadia
Military history of Nova Scotia
Dartmouth
Dartmouth
Mi'kmaq in Canada
1749 in Nova Scotia
Dartmouth (1749)
Dartmouth
Father Le Loutre's War