Expulsion of the Acadians

TheExpulsion of the Acadianswas theforced removalof inhabitants of the North American region historically known asAcadiabetween 1755 and 1764 byGreat Britain. It included the modernCanadianMaritime provincesofNova Scotia,New Brunswick, andPrince Edward Island, along with part of the US state ofMaine. The Expulsion  occurred during theFrench and Indian War, the North Americantheatreof theSeven Years' War.
Prior to 1758,Acadianswere deported to theThirteen Colonies, then later transported to either Britain orFrance. Of an estimated 14,100 Acadians, approximately 11,500 were deported, of whom 5,000 died of disease, starvation or shipwrecks. Their land was given to settlers loyal to Britain, mostly immigrants fromNew EnglandandScotland. The event is largely regarded as acrime against humanity, though the modern-day use of the term "genocide" is debated by scholars.A census of 1764 indicates 2,600 Acadians remained in the colony, having eluded capture.
In 1710, during theWar of the Spanish Succession, the Britishcaptured Port Royal, the capital of Acadia. The 1713Treaty of Utrechtceded the territory to Great Britain while allowing the Acadians to keep their lands. Reluctant to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain, over the following decades some participated in French military operations and helped maintain supply lines to the French fortresses ofLouisbourgandBeauséjour.As a result, the British sought to eliminate any future military threat posed by the Acadians and to permanently cut the supply lines they provided to Louisbourg by removing them from the area.
Without differentiating between those who had remained neutral and those who took up arms, the British governorCharles Lawrenceand theNova Scotia Councilordered all Acadians to be expelled.In the first wave of the expulsion, Acadians were deported to other British North American colonies. During the second wave, they were deported to Britain and France, and from there a significant number migrated toSpanish Louisiana, where "Acadians" eventually became "Cajuns". Acadians fled initially to Francophone colonies such asCanada, the uncolonized northern part of Acadia,Île Saint-Jean(nowPrince Edward Island), andÎle Royale(nowCape Breton Island). During the second wave of the expulsion, these Acadians were either imprisoned or deported.
Along with the British achieving their military goals of destroying the fortress of Louisbourg and weakening theMi'kmaqand Acadian militias, the result of the Expulsion was the devastation of both a primarily civilian population and the economy of the region. Thousands of Acadians died in the expulsions, mainly from diseases and drowning when ships were lost. On July 11, 1764, the British government passed an order-in-council to permit Acadians to return to British territories in small isolated groups, provided that they take an unqualified oath of allegiance. Today Acadians live primarily in eastern New Brunswick and some regions of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Quebec and northern Maine. American poetHenry Wadsworth Longfellowmemorialized the expulsion in the popular 1847 poem,Evangeline, about the plight of a fictional character, which spread awareness of the expulsion.
After the British gained control ofAcadiain 1713, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditionaloath of loyaltyto become British subjects. Instead, they negotiated a conditional oath that promised neutrality. They also worried that signing the oath might commit male Acadians to fight against France during wartime and that it would be perceived by their Mi'kmaq neighbours and allies as an acknowledgement of the British claim to Acadia, putting villages at risk of attack from the Miꞌkmaq.
Other Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath because they were anti-British. Various historians have observed that some Acadians were labelled "neutral" when they were not.By the time of the Expulsion of the Acadians, there was already a long history of political and military resistance by Acadians and theWabanaki Confederacyto the British occupation of Acadia.The Miꞌkmaq and the Acadians were allies through numerous inter-marriages during the previous century.While the Acadians were the largest population, the Wabanaki Confederacy, particularly the Miꞌkmaq, held the military strength in Acadia even after the British conquest.They resisted the British occupation and were joined on numerous occasions by Acadians. These efforts were often supported and led by French priests in the region.The Wabanaki Confederacy and Acadians fought against the British in six wars, including theFrench and Indian Wars,Father Rale's WarandFather Le Loutre's War, over a period of 75 years.
In 1753, French troops fromCanadamarched south and seized and fortified theOhio Valley.Britainprotested theinvasionand claimed Ohio for itself. On May 28, 1754, the war began with theBattle of Jumonville Glen. French Officer Ensign de Jumonville and a third of his escort were killed by a British patrol led byGeorge Washington. In retaliation the French and the Native Americans defeated the British atFort Necessity. Washington lost a third of his force and surrendered. Major GeneralEdward Braddock's troops were defeated in theBattle of the Monongahela, and Major GeneralWilliam Johnson's troops stopped the Frenchadvance at Lake George.
In Acadia, the primary British objective was to defeat the French fortifications at Beauséjour andLouisbourgand to prevent future attacks from the Wabanaki Confederacy, French and Acadians on the northern New England border.(There was a long history of these attacks from Acadia – see the Northeast Coast Campaigns1688,1703,1723,1724,1745,1746,1747.) The British saw the Acadians' allegiance to the French and the Wabanaki Confederacy as a military threat. Father Le Loutre's War had created the conditions fortotal war; British civilians had not been spared and, as GovernorCharles Lawrenceand theNova Scotia Councilsaw it, Acadian civilians had provided intelligence, sanctuary, and logistical support while others had fought against the British.During Le Loutre's war, to protect the British settlers from attacks along the former border of New England and Acadia, theKennebec River, the British builtFort Halifax(Winslow), Fort Shirley (Dresden, formerly Frankfurt) andFort Western(Augusta).
After theBritish capture of Beauséjour, the plan to capture Louisbourg included cutting trade to the Fortress in order to weaken the Fortress and, in turn, weaken the French ability to supply the Miꞌkmaq in their warfare against the British. According to historianStephen Patterson, more than any other single factor – including the massiveassaultthat eventually forced the surrender of Louisbourg – the supply problem brought an end to French power in the region. Lawrence realized he could reduce the military threat and weakenFortress Louisbourgby deporting the Acadians, thus cutting off supplies to the fort.During the expulsion, French OfficerCharles Deschamps de Boishébertled the Miꞌkmaq and the Acadians in aguerrilla waragainst the British.According to Louisbourg's account books, by late 1756 the French had regularly dispensed supplies to 700 natives. From 1756 to the fall of Louisbourg in 1758, the French made regular payments to ChiefJean-Baptiste Copeand other natives for Britishscalps.
Once the Acadians refused to sign an oath of allegiance to Britain, which would make them loyal to the crown, the British Lieutenant Governor, Charles Lawrence, as well as the Nova Scotia Council on July 28, 1755, made the decision to deport the Acadians.The British deportation campaigns began on August 11, 1755. Throughout the expulsion, Acadians and theWabanaki Confederacycontinued aguerrilla waragainst the British in response to British aggression which had been continuous since 1744 (seeKing George's WarandFather Le Loutre's War).
The first wave of the expulsion began on August 10, 1755, with the Bay of Fundy Campaign during the French and Indian War.The British ordered the expulsion of the Acadians after theBattle of Beausejour(1755). The campaign started atChignectoand then quickly moved toGrand-Pré, Piziquid (Falmouth/Windsor, Nova Scotia) and finallyAnnapolis Royal.
On November 17, 1755, George Scott took 700 troops, attacked twenty houses at Memramcook, arrested the remaining Acadians and killed two hundred head of livestock to deprive the French of supplies.Acadians tried to escape the expulsion by retreating to the St. John and Petitcodiac rivers, and the Miramichi in New Brunswick. The British cleared the Acadians from these areas in the later campaigns ofPetitcodiac River,Saint John River, and theGulf of St. Lawrencein 1758.
The Acadians and Miꞌkmaq resisted in the Chignecto region and were victorious in theBattle of Petitcodiac(1755).In the spring of 1756, a wood-gathering party from Fort Monckton (formerFort Gaspareaux) was ambushed and nine were scalped.In April 1757, the same band of Acadian and Miꞌkmaw partisans raided Fort Edward andFort Cumberlandnear present-dayJolicure, New Brunswick, killing and scalping two men and taking two prisoners.July 20, 1757, some Miꞌkmaq killed 23 and captured two of Gorham's rangers outside Fort Cumberland.In March 1758, forty Acadians and Miꞌkmaq attacked a schooner at Fort Cumberland and killed its master and two sailors.In the winter of 1759, the Miꞌkmaq ambushed five British soldiers on patrol while they were crossing a bridge near Fort Cumberland. They were ritually scalped and their bodies mutilated as was common infrontier warfare.During the night of April 4, 1759, a force of Acadians and French in canoes captured the transport. At dawn they attacked the shipMonctonand chased it for five hours down the Bay of Fundy. AlthoughMonctonescaped, one of its crew was killed and two were wounded.
In September 1756, a group of 100 Acadians ambushed a party of thirteen soldiers who were working outside Fort Edward at Piziquid. Seven were taken prisoner and six escaped back to the fort.In April 1757, a band of Acadian and Miꞌkmaw partisans raided a warehouse near Fort Edward, killed thirteen British soldiers, took what provisions they could carry and set fire to the building. Days later, the same partisans raided Fort Cumberland.By November 1756, French Officer Lotbinière wrote about the difficulty of recapturing Fort Beausejour: "The English have deprived us of a great advantage by removing the French families that were settled there on their different plantations; thus we would have to make new settlements."
The Acadians and Mi'kmaq fought in the Annapolis region. They were victorious in theBattle of Bloody Creek (1757).Acadians being deported from Annapolis Royal on the shipPembrokerebelled against the British crew, took over the ship and sailed to land. In December 1757, while cutting firewood near Fort Anne, John Weatherspoon was captured by Natives—presumably Miꞌkmaq— and was carried away to the mouth of the Miramichi River, from where he was sold or traded to the French, taken to Quebec and was held until late in 1759 and theBattle of the Plains of Abraham, when General Wolfe's forces prevailed.
Approximately 55 Acadians, who escaped the initial deportation at Annapolis Royal, are reported to have made their way to theCape Sableregion—which included south western Nova Scotia—from where they participated in numerous raids onLunenburg, Nova Scotia.The Acadians and Miꞌkmaq raided the Lunenburg settlement nine times over a three-year period during the war. Boishebert ordered the firstRaid on Lunenburg (1756). In 1757, the second raid on Lunenburg occurred, in which six people from the Brisson family were killed.The following year, March 1758, there was a raid on the Lunenburg Peninsula at the Northwest Range (present-dayBlockhouse, Nova Scotia) when five people from the Ochs and Roder families were killed.By the end of May 1758, most of those on the Lunenburg Peninsula had abandoned their farms and retreated to the protection of the fortifications around the town of Lunenburg, losing the season for sowing their grain.
For those who did not leave their farms, the number of raids intensified. During the summer of 1758, there were four raids on the Lunenburg Peninsula. On July 13, 1758, one person on theLaHave RiveratDayspringwas killed and another seriously wounded by a member of the Labrador family.The next raid happened atMahone Bay, Nova Scotiaon August 24, 1758, when eight Miꞌkmaq attacked the family homes of Lay and Brant. They killed three people in the raid, but were unsuccessful in taking their scalps, a common practice for payment from the French.Two days later, two soldiers were killed in a raid on the blockhouse at LaHave, Nova Scotia.On September 11, a child was killed in a raid on the Northwest Range.Another raid happened on March 27, 1759, in which three members of the Oxner family were killed.The last raid happened on April 20, 1759, at Lunenburg, when the Miꞌkmaq killed four settlers who were members of the Trippeau and Crighton families.
The Cape Sable campaign involved the British removing Acadians from present-dayShelburne CountyandYarmouth County. In April 1756, MajorJedidiah Prebleand his New England troops, on their return to Boston, raided a settlement nearPort La Tourand captured 72 men, women and children.In the late summer of 1758, Major Henry Fletcher led the 35th regiment and a company of Gorham's Rangers to Cape Sable. He cordoned off the cape and sent his men through it. One hundred Acadians and Father Jean Baptistee de Gray surrendered, while about 130 Acadians and seven Miꞌkmaq escaped. The Acadian prisoners were taken toGeorges Islandin Halifax Harbour.
En route to the St. John River Campaign in September 1758, Monckton sent MajorRoger Morrisof the 35th Regiment, in command of two men-of-war and transport ships with 325 soldiers, to deport more Acadians.On October 28, Monckton's troops sent the women and children to Georges Island. The men were kept behind and forced to work with troops to destroy their village. On October 31, they were also sent to Halifax.In the spring of 1759, Joseph Gorham and his rangers arrived to take prisoner the remaining 151 Acadians. They reached Georges Island with them on June 29.November 1759 saw the deportation to Britain of 151 Acadians from Cape Sable who had been prisoners on George's Island since June.In July 1759 on Cape Sable, Captain Cobb arrived and was fired upon by 100 Acadians and Miꞌkmaq.
The second wave of the expulsion began with the French defeat at theSiege of Louisbourg (1758). Thousands of Acadians were deported from Île Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island) and Île Royale (Cape Breton Island). The Île Saint-Jean Campaign resulted in the largest percentage of deaths of the deported Acadians. The sinking of the shipsViolet(with about 280 persons aboard) andDuke William(with over 360 persons aboard) marked the highest numbers of fatalities during the expulsion.By the time the second wave of the expulsion had begun, the British had discarded their policy of relocating the Acadians to the Thirteen Colonies, and had begun deporting them directly to France.In 1758, hundreds of Île Royale Acadians fled to one of Boishebert's refugee camps south of Baie des Chaleurs.
ThePetitcodiac RiverCampaign was a series of Britishmilitaryoperations that occurred from June to November 1758 to deport the Acadians who either lived along the river or had taken refuge there from earlier deportations.Benoni DanksandGorham's Rangerscarried out the operation.Contrary to Governor Lawrence's direction, New England Ranger Danks engaged in frontier warfare against the Acadians. On July 1, 1758, Danks began to pursue the Acadians onthe Petiticodiac. They arrived at present-dayMonctonand Danks' Rangers ambushed about 30 Acadians who were led by Joseph BroussardditBeausoleil. The Acadians were driven into the river where three of them were killed and scalped, and the others were captured. Broussard was seriously wounded.Danks reported that the scalps were Miꞌkmaq and received payment for them. Thereafter, he went down in local lore as "one of the most reckless and brutal" of the Rangers.
ColonelRobert Moncktonled a force of 1,150 British soldiers to destroy the Acadian settlements along the banks of the Saint John River until they reached the largest village of Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas (Fredericton, New Brunswick) in February 1759.Monckton was accompanied by New England Rangers led by Joseph Goreham, Captain Benoni Danks,Moses Hazenand George Scott.The British started at the bottom of the river, raiding Kennebecais and Managoueche (City of Saint John), where they builtFort Frederick. Then they moved up the river and raided Grimross (Arcadia, New Brunswick),Jemseg, and finally reached Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas.
Contrary to Governor Lawrence's direction, New England Ranger Lieutenant Hazen engaged in frontier warfare against the Acadians in what has become known as the "Ste Anne's Massacre". On February 18, 1759, Hazen and about fifteen men arrived at Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas. The Rangers pillaged and burned the village of 147 buildings, two Catholic churches and various barns and stables. The Rangers burned a large store-house, containing a large quantity of hay, wheat, peas, oats and other foodstuffs, and killed 212 horses, about five head of cattle and a large number of hogs. They also burned the church located just west ofOld Government House, Fredericton.The leader of theAcadian militiaon the St. John river,Joseph Godin-Bellefontaine, refused to swear an oath despite the Rangers torturing and killing his daughter and three of his grandchildren in front of him. The Rangers also took six prisoners.
In the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign, also known as the Gaspee Expedition, British forces raided French villages along present-day New Brunswick and theGaspé Peninsulacoast of theGulf of Saint Lawrence. SirCharles Hardyand Brigadier-GeneralJames Wolfecommanded the naval and military forces, respectively. After the Siege of Louisbourg (1758), Wolfe and Hardy led a force of 1500 troops in nine vessels toGaspé Bay, arriving there on September 5. From there they dispatched troops toMiramichi Bayon September 12,Grande-Rivière, Quebecand Pabos on September 13, andMont-Louis, Quebecon September 14. Over the following weeks, Hardy took four sloops or schooners, destroyed about 200 fishing vessels, and took about 200 prisoners.
The Acadians took refuge along theBaie des Chaleursand theRestigouche River.Boishébert had a refugee camp at Petit-Rochelle, which was probably located near present-dayPointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec.The year after theBattle of Restigouche, in late 1761, Captain Roderick Mackenzie and his force captured over 330 Acadians at Boishebert's camp.
After theFrench conquered St. John's, Newfoundlandon June 14, 1762, the success galvanized both the Acadians and the natives, who gathered in large numbers at various points throughout the province and behaved in a confident and, according to the British, "insolent fashion". Officials were especially alarmed when natives gathered close to the two principal towns in the province, Halifax and Lunenburg, where there were also large groups of Acadians. The government organized an expulsion of 1,300 people and shipped them to Boston. The government of Massachusetts refused the Acadians permission to land and sent them back to Halifax.
Miꞌkmaw and Acadian resistance was evident in the Halifax region. On April 2, 1756, Miꞌkmaq received payment from the Governor of Quebec for twelve British scalps taken at Halifax.Acadian Pierre Gautier, son of Joseph-Nicolas Gautier, led Miꞌkmaw warriors from Louisbourg on three raids againstHalifax Peninsulain 1757. In each raid, Gautier took prisoners, scalps or both. Their last raid happened in September and Gautier went with four Miꞌkmaq, and killed and scalped two British men at the foot of Citadel Hill. Pierre went on to participate in the Battle of Restigouche.
Arriving on the provincial vessel King George, four companies ofRogers Rangers(500 rangers) were at Dartmouth April 8 until May 28 awaiting theSiege of Louisbourg (1758). While there they scoured the woods to stop raids on Dartmouth.
In July 1759, Miꞌkmaq and Acadians killed five British in Dartmouth, opposite McNabb's Island.By June 1757, the settlers had to be completely withdrawn fromLawrencetown(established 1754) because the number of Indian raids prevented settlers from leaving their houses.In nearbyDartmouth, in the spring of 1759, another Miꞌkmaw attack was launched onFort Clarence, located at the present-dayDartmouth Refinery, in which five soldiers were killed.Before the deportation, the Acadian population was estimated at 14,000. Most were deported,but some Acadians escaped to Quebec, or hid among the Miꞌkmaq or in the countryside, to avoid deportation until the situation settled down.
In present-day Maine, the Miꞌkmaq and the Wolastoqiyik raided numerous New England villages. At the end of April 1755, they raidedGorham, killing two men and a family. Next they appeared in New Boston (Gray) and went through the neighbouring towns destroying the plantations. On May 13, they raided Frankfort (Dresden), where two men were killed and a house burned. The same day they raided Sheepscot (Newcastle) and took five prisoners. Two people were killed inNorth Yarmouthon May 29 and one taken captive. The natives shot one person at Teconnet, nowWaterville, took prisoners atFort Halifaxand two prisoners at Fort Shirley (Dresden). They also captured two workers at the fort atNew Gloucester. During this period, the Wolastoqiyik and Miꞌkmaq were the only tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy who were able to fight.
On August 13, 1758, Boishebert leftMiramichi, New Brunswickwith 400 soldiers, including Acadians whom he led fromPort Toulouse. They marched to Fort St. George (Thomaston) and unsuccessfully laid siege to the town, and raided Munduncook (Friendship) where they wounded eight British settlers and killed others. This was Boishébert's last Acadian expedition; from there he and the Acadians went to Quebec and fought in theBattle of Quebec (1759).
In the first wave of the expulsion, most Acadian exiles were assigned to rural communities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and South Carolina. In general, they refused to stay where they were put and large numbers migrated to the colonial port cities where they gathered in isolated, impoverished French-speaking Catholic neighbourhoods, the sort of communities Britain's colonial officials tried to discourage. More worryingly for the British authorities, some Acadians threatened to migrate north to French-controlled regions, including the Saint John River, Île Royale (Cape Breton Island), the coasts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Canada.Because the British believed their policy of sending the Acadians to the Thirteen Colonies had failed, they deported the Acadians to France during the second wave of the expulsion.
Approximately 1,000 Acadians went to theColony of Maryland, where they lived in a section ofBaltimorethat became known asFrench Town.The Irish Catholics were reported to have shown charity to the Acadians by taking orphaned children into their homes.
Approximately 2,000 Acadians disembarked at theColony of Massachusetts. There were several families deported to theProvince of Maine, a large, but sparsely populated exclave of the colony of Massachusetts.For four long winter months,William Shirley, who had ordered their deportation, had not allowed them to disembark and as a result, half died of cold and starvation aboard the ships. Some men and women were forced into servitude or forced labor, children were taken away from their parents and were distributed to various families throughout Massachusetts.The government also arranged the adoption of orphaned children and provided subsidies for housing and food for a year.
TheColony of Connecticutprepared for the arrival of 700 Acadians.Like Maryland, the Connecticut legislature declared that "[the Acadians] be made welcome, helped and settled under the most advantageous conditions, or if they have to be sent away, measures be taken for their transfer."
TheColony of Pennsylvaniaaccommodated 500 Acadians. Because they arrived unexpectedly, the Acadians had to remain in port on their vessels for months. TheColony of Virginiarefused to accept the Acadians on grounds that no notice was given of their arrival.They were detained atWilliamsburg,where hundreds died from disease and malnutrition. They were then sent to Britain where they were held as prisoners until theTreaty of Parisin 1763.
The Acadians who had offered the most resistance to the British—particularly those who had been at Chignecto—were reported to have been sent to thesouthernmost colonies(theCarolinasand theColony of Georgia),where about 1,400 Acadians settled and were "subsidized" and put to work onplantations.
Under the leadership of Jacques Maurice Vigneau ofBaie Verte, the majority of the Acadians in Georgia received a passport from the governor,John Reynolds.These passports gave the Acadians the legal right to leave Georgia and enter other colonies.South Carolina followed Georgia's example and expediated passports to Acadian exiles in hopes they would move on to other territories.Along with these papers, South Carolina authorities provided the Acadians with two vessels.After running aground numerous times in the ships, some of these Acadians returned to the Bay of Fundy.Along the way, they were captured and imprisoned.Only 900 managed to return to Acadia, less than half of those who had begun the voyage.Others also tried to return home. TheSouth Carolina Gazettereported that in February, about 30 Acadians fled the island to which they were confined and escaped their pursuers.Alexandre Broussard, brother of the famed resistance leaderJoseph Broussard, dit Beausoleil, was among them.About a dozen are recorded to have returned to Acadia after an overland journey of 1,400 leagues (4,200 miles (6,800 km)).
After thesiege of Louisbourg, the British began to deport the Acadians directly to France rather than to the British colonies. Some Acadians deported to France never reached their destination. Almost 1,000 died when the transport shipsDuke William,Violet, andRubysank in 1758 en route from Île Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island) to France. About 3,000 Acadian refugees eventually gathered in France's port cities and went toNantes.
Many Acadians who were sent to Britain were housed in crowded warehouses and subject to plagues due to the close conditions, while others were allowed to join communities and live normal lives.In France, 78 Acadian families were repatriated toBelle-Île-en-Meroff the western coast of Brittany after the Treaty of Paris.The most serious resettlement attempt was made byLouis XV, who offered 2 acres (8,100 m) of land in thePoitouprovince to 626 Acadian families each, where they lived close together in a region they calledLa Grande Ligne("The Great Road", also known as "the King's Highway"). About 1,500 Acadians accepted the offer, but the land turned out to be infertile, and by the end of 1775, most of them abandoned the province.
The British did not directly deport Acadians to Louisiana. Following the expulsion by the British from their home, Acadians found their way to many friendly locales, including France.  Acadians left France, under the influence ofHenri Peyroux de la Coudreniere, to settle inLouisiana, which was then a colony of Spain.
Louisiana was transferred to the Spanish government in 1762.Because of the good relations which existed between France and Spain, and because of their common Catholic religion, some Acadians chose to take oaths of allegiance to the Spanish government.Soon the Acadians composed the largest ethnic group in Louisiana.First, they settled in areas along theMississippi Riverand later, they settled in theAtchafalaya Basin, as well as in the prairie lands to the west—a region which was later renamedAcadiana.
Some Acadians were sent to colonize places in the Caribbean, such asFrench Guiana, or theFalkland Islandsunder the direction ofLouis Antoine de Bougainville; these latter efforts at colonization were unsuccessful. Other Acadians migrated to places likeSaint-Domingue, but they fled to New Orleans after theHaitian Revolution. Louisiana's population contributed to the founding of the modernCajunpopulation. (The French word "Acadien" evolved into the word "Cadien", which was later anglicized as the word "Cajun").
On July 11, 1764, the British government passed an order-in-council to permit Acadians to legally return to British territories in small isolated groups, provided that they take an unqualified oath of allegiance. Some Acadians returned to Nova Scotia (which included present-day New Brunswick). Under the deportation orders, Acadian land tenure had been forfeited to the British crown and the returning Acadians no longer owned land. Beginning in 1760 much of their former land was distributed under grant to theNew England Planters. The lack of available farmland compelled many Acadians to seek out a new livelihood as fishermen on the west coast of Nova Scotia, known as the French Shore.The British authorities scattered other Acadians in groups along the shores of eastern New-Brunswick and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It was not until the 1930s, with the advent of the Acadian co-operative movements, that the Acadians became less economically disadvantaged.
According to historianJohn Mack Faragher, the religious and ethnic dimensions of the Expulsion of Acadians are in addition to, and deeply connected with, the military exigencies cited as causes for the Removals. There is significant evidence in the correspondence of military and civil leaders forAnti-Catholicism. Faragher writes, "The first session of the Nova Scotia Assembly ... passed a series of laws intended to institutionalize Acadian dispossession" including an act titled "An Act for the Quieting of Possessions to Protestant Grantees of land formerly occupied by the French." In it and two subsequent acts, theChurch of Englandwas made the official religion. These acts granted certain political rights toProtestantswhile the new laws excludedCatholicsfrom public office and the franchise (the right to vote) and forbade Catholics from owning land in the province. It also empowered British authorities to seize all "popish" property (Church lands) for the crown and barred Catholic clergy from entering or residing in the province, as they wanted no repeat ofLe Loutreandhis type of war. In addition to other anti-Catholic measures, Faragher concludes "These laws—passed by a popular assembly, not enacted by military fiat—laid the foundation for the migration of Protestant settlers."
In the 1740s, William Shirley had hoped to assimilate Acadians into the Protestant fold. He did so by trying to encourage (or force) Acadian women to marry English Protestants and statutes were passed which required the offspring of such unions to be sent to English schools and raised as "English Protestants" (quote from a letter by Shirley). This was linked to larger anxieties in the realm over the loyalty of Catholics in general—asCharles Stuart'sJacobite Rebellionwas a Catholic-led rebellion as was Le Loutre's rebellion in Nova Scotia. Shirley, who in part was responsible for the Removals, according to historian Geoffrey Plank, "recommended using military force to expel the most 'obnoxious' Acadians and replace them with Protestant immigrants. In time the Protestants would come to dominate their new communities." Shirley wanted "peaceable [loyal] subjects" and specifically, in his own words, "good Protestant ones."
Faragher compared the expulsion of the Acadians to contemporary acts ofethnic cleansing. In contrast, some leading historians have objected to this characterization of the expulsion. Historian John Grenier asserts that Faragher overstates the religious motivation for the expulsion and obscures the fact that the British accommodated Acadians by providing Catholic priests for forty years prior to the Expulsion. Grenier writes that Faragher "overstates his case; his focus on thegrand dérangementas an early example of ethnic cleansing carries too much present-day emotional weight and in turn overshadows much of the accommodation that Acadians and Anglo-Americans reached."As well, the British were clearly not concerned that the Acadians were French, given the fact that they were recruiting French "foreign Protestants" to settle in the region. Further, the New Englanders of Boston were not banishing Acadians from the Atlantic region; instead, they were actually deporting them to live in the heart of New England: Boston and elsewhere in the British colonies.
While there was clear animosity between Catholics and Protestants during this time period, many historians point to the overwhelming evidence which suggests that the motivation for the expulsion was military. The British wanted to cut off supply lines to the Miꞌkmaq, Louisbourg and Quebec. They also wanted to end any military threat which the Acadians posed (SeeMilitary history of the Acadians).A. J. B. Johnstonwrote that the evidence for the removal of the Acadians indicates that the decision makers thought the Acadians were a military threat, therefore the deportation of 1755 does not qualify as an act of ethnic cleansing. Geoffrey Plank argues that the British continued the expulsion after 1758 for military reasons: present-day New Brunswick remained contested territory and the New Englanders wanted to make sure that British negotiators would be unlikely to return the region to the French as they had done afterKing George's War.
Other historians have observed that it was not uncommon for empires to move their subjects and populations during this time period. ForNaomi E. S. Griffithsand A.J.B. Johnston, the event is comparable to other deportations in history, and it should not be considered an act ofethnic cleansing.InFrom Migrant to Acadian, Griffiths writes that "the Acadian deportation, as a government action, was a pattern with other contemporary happenings."The Expulsion of the Acadians has been compared to similar military operations during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The French carried out expulsions inNewfoundlandin 1697 when they occupied the British portion of Newfoundland duringPierre d'Iberville'sAvalon Peninsula Campaign, burning every British settlement and exiling over 500 inhabitants.A.J.B. Johnston notes that in 1767, French authorities forcibly removed nearly 800 Acadian and French inhabitants from Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, transporting them against their will to Franceand compares the expulsions to the fate of theUnited Empire Loyalists, who were expelled from the United States to present-day Canada after theAmerican Revolution.Another deportation was theHighland Clearancesin Scotland between 1762 and 1886.Another North American expulsion was theIndian Removalof the 1830s, in which theCherokeeand other Native Americans from the South-East United States were removed from their traditional homelands.
Further, other historians have noted that civilian populations are often devastated during wartime. For example, five wars were fought along the New England and Acadia border during the 70 years prior to the expulsion (SeeFrench and Indian Wars,Father Rale's WarandFather Le Loutre's War). During these wars, the French andWabanaki Confederacyconducted numerous military campaigns in which they killed and captured British civilians. (See the Northeast Coast Campaigns1688,1703,1723,1724,1745,1746,1747,1750.)
Acadian historian Maurice Basque writes that the term"'genocide'... does not apply at all to the Grand Derangement. Acadie was notArmenia, and to compare Grand-Pré withAuschwitzand thekilling fields of Cambodiais a complete and utter trivialization of the many genocidal horrors of contemporary history."Concerning the use of 20th century terms such as "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide" to understand the past, historianJohn G. Reidstates, "I'm not sure that it's the best way to understand 18th century realities... What happened in the 18th century is a process of imperial expansion that was ruthless at times, that cost lives.... But to my mind, you can't just transfer concepts between centuries."
In 1847, the American poetHenry Wadsworth Longfellowpublished a long, narrative poem about the expulsion of the Acadians titledEvangeline, in which he depicts the plight of the fictional character Evangeline.The poem became popular and made the expulsion well known. The Evangeline Oak is a tourist attraction in Louisiana.
The song "Acadian Driftwood", recorded in 1975 byThe Band, portrays the Great Upheaval and the displacement of the Acadian people.
Antonine Mailletwrote a novel, calledPélagie-la-Charrette, about the aftermath of the Great Upheaval. It was awarded thePrix Goncourtin 1979.
Grand-Pré Parkis aNational Historic Site of Canadasituated inGrand-Pré, Nova Scotia, and preserved as a living monument to the expulsion. It contains a memorial church and a statue of Evangeline, the subject of Longfellow's poem.
The song "Lila" byThe Brothers Creegganwas written to commemorate the expulsion of the Acadians, and was specifically inspired by the Evangeline statue in Grand-Pré.  The song was included on their 2000 albumTrunks.
The song "1755" was composed by American Cajun fiddler and singerDewey Balfaand performed on his 1987 album Souvenirs, and later covered bySteve Riley and the Mamou Playboyson their 1994 live album.
According to Acadian historian Maurice Basque, the story of Evangeline continues to influence historic accounts of the deportation, emphasising neutral Acadians and de-emphasising those who resistedBritish America.In 2018, Canadian historian and novelist A. J. B. Johnston published a YA novel entitledThe Hat, inspired by what happened at Grand-Pré in 1755.
In December 2003,Governor GeneralAdrienne Clarkson, representingQueen Elizabeth II(Canada's head of state), acknowledged the expulsion but did not apologize for it. She designated July 28 as "A Day of Commemoration of the Great Upheaval".This proclamation, officially theRoyal Proclamation of 2003, closed one of the longest cases in the history of theBritish courts, initiated in 1760 when the Acadian representatives first presented their grievances of forced dispossession of land, property and livestock. December 13, the date on which theDuke Williamsank, is commemorated as Acadian Remembrance Day.
There is a museum dedicated to Acadian history and culture, with a detailed reconstruction of the Great Uprising, inBonaventure, Quebec.