page_title: St. John River Campaign
section_title: Raid on Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas
hierarchical_section_title: St. John River Campaign / Campaign / Raid on Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas
caption_attribution_description: English: Saint John River Français&#160;: Fleuve Saint-Jean Latina: Flumen Sancti Iohannis Português: Rio Saint John
context_page_description: The St. John River Campaign occurred during the French and Indian War when Colonel Robert Monckton led a force of 1150 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 in February 1759. Monckton was accompanied by Captain George Scott as well as New England Rangers led by Joseph Goreham, Captain Benoni Danks, as well as William Stark and Moses Hazen, both of Rogers' Rangers.
  Under the naval command of Silvanus Cobb, the British started at the bottom of the river with raiding Kennebecasis and Managoueche, where the British built Fort Frederick. Then they moved up the river and raided Grimross, Jemseg, and finally they reached Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas.
  The Acadian militia was led by French officer Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot and Acadian Joseph Godin dit Bellefontaine. There were about 100 Acadian families on the Saint John River, with a large concentration at Ste Anne. Most of them had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations, such as the Ile Saint-Jean Campaign. There were also about 1000 Maliseet.
context_section_description: Monckton did not continue on to Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas (present day Fredericton, New Brunswick) because of the impending winter. Then, afraid of being trapped by the frozen river, he turned around at Maugerville and went back to Fort Frederick, and afterwards sailed for Halifax with thirty Acadian families as prisoners.  Major Robert Morris was put in charge of the fort.
  Almost three months later, in February 1759, Monckton sent Captain John McCurdy and his rangers out from Fort Frederick to go to Ste. Anne's Point on snow- shoes.  Captain McCurdy died of an accident along the way and was replaced by Lieutenant Moses Hazen. When the Acadians realized the British were going to continue their advance, most of them retreated to the Maliseet village at Aukpaque (Ecoupag) for protection.
  On 18 February 1759, Lieutenant Hazen and 22 men arrived at Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas.  They pillaged and burned the village of 147 buildings, including two Mass-houses and all of the barns and stables. They burned a large store-house, and with it a large quantity of hay, wheat, peas, oats, etc., killing 212 horses, about 5 head of cattle, a large number of hogs and so forth. They also burned the church (located just west of Old Government House, Fredericton). Only a handful of Acadians were found in the area, most had already fled north with their families.
  In February 1759, Acadian militia leader Joseph Godin dit Bellefontaine and a group of Acadians ambushed the Rangers. Eventually Godin and his militia was overwhelmed by Hazen's rangers.  Godin resisted Hazen's efforts to get him to sign an oath of allegiance, even in the face of Hazen torturing and killing his daughter and 3 of his grandchildren in front of him. The rangers scalped six Acadians and took six prisoners during this raid. Godin "by his speech and largess . . . had instigated and maintained the Indians in their hatred and war against the English." Godin was taken prisoner by the rangers and brought, after having been joined by his remaining family, to Annapolis Royal. From there he was taken to Boston, Halifax, and England; later he was sent to Cherbourg.
  Godin's official statement to the French Crown states:
  The Sieur Joseph [Godin] Bellefontaine [Sieur de] Beauséjour of the Saint John River, son of Gabriel (officer aboard the king`s vessels in Canada (in Acadie) and of Angélique-Roberte Jeanna), was major of all the Saint John River Militia by order of Monsieur de la Galissonnière, from the 10 April 1749 and always was in these functions during the said war until he was captured by the enemy, and he owns several leagues of land, where he had the grief to have seen the massacre of one of his daughters and her three children by the English, who wanted, out of cruelty and fear to force him to take their part ... he only escaped such a fate by his flight into the woods, carrying with him two other children of the daughter.
  He and his wife spent the remainder of their lives in Cherbourg France, where they received 300 French Livres of annual revenue as compensation  (In response to Hazen scalping Godin's family members, General Amherst stated that Hazen had "sullied his merit with me".)
  April 22, 1759, the Acadian militia took a ranger prisoner who was outside of Fort Frederick.
  On 18 May 1759 a group of soldiers left the confines of Fort Frederick to go fishing.  They were attacked by a group of native warriors and fled to the protection of the fort walls.  One soldier did not make it and the natives carted him off. Again on 15 June 1759, another party of soldiers was out fishing on the river and was ambushed by a militia of Acadians and natives.  During the fight the soldiers fought from the confines of a sloop while others fired cannons from the fort. One of the soldiers was killed and scalped and another was badly wounded.  The soldiers pursued the militia but was unable to find it.
  The command at Fort Frederick was not convinced the village was totally destroyed and sent at least three more expeditions up river to Ste Anne between July and September 1759. The soldiers capt
caption: St. John River, New Brunswick
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