The dirt roads and trails that lead to the tiny church of Grand Pre are choked with men and boys, and the British redcoats that hurry them along.
Dust rises in clouds, decreased visibility making the soldiers nervous.
Musket butts and bayonet tips are used liberally, to keep the long lines of people moving. A cacophony of sound, made up of the wails of women and children, the curses of soldiers, and the clipped commands of British officers, can be heard for a league. That was the good news. The bad news was that the entire population of Acadians was to be expelled from Nova Scotia, the most recent in a series of historical diaspora that already included Jews and Gypsies. Their exile was described by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his epic poem Evangeline.