Acadian Exodus The Acadian Exodus ( also known as the Acadian migration ) happened during Father Le Loutre ’ s War ( 1749 – 1755 ) and involved almost half of the total Acadian population of Nova Scotia deciding to relocate to French controlled territories . The three primary destinations were : the west side of the Mesagoueche River in the Chignecto region , Ile - Saint Jean ( Prince Edward Island ) and Ile Royale ( Cape Breton Island ) . The leader of the Exodus was Father Jean - Louis Le Loutre , whom the British gave the code name “ Moses ” . A prominent Acadian who transported Acadians to Ile St . Jean and Ile Royal was Joseph - Nicolas Gautier . The overall upheaval of the early 1750s in Nova Scotia was unprecedented . Present - day Atlantic Canada witnessed more population movements , more fortification construction , and more troop allocations than ever before in the region . Along with Acadians , Mi ’ kmaq and Foreign Protestants joined in the Exodus from Nova Scotia . The greatest immigration of the Acadians between 1749 and 1755 took place in 1750 . Primarily due to natural disasters and British raids , the Exodus proved to be unsustainable when Acadians tried to develop communities in the French territories . Historical Context . Despite the British Conquest of Acadia in 1710 , Acadia was dominated by Catholic Acadians and Mi ’ kmaq . For over forty - five years the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain . During this time period Acadians both threatened to leave Acadia and were threatened with expulsion at various times . ( The first deportation of the Acadians happened when they were expelled from present day Cape Breton after the Siege of Louisbourg ( 1745 ) . ) Acadians left peninsular Nova Scotia to protest Edward Cornwallis ’ demand that they take an unconditional oath . The Acadian Exodus began in 1749 primarily because the Acadians were resisting the British firmly taking control of peninsular Nova Scotia through establishing Halifax and , within eighteen months , building fortifications in the major Acadian communities : present - day Windsor ( Fort Edward ) ; Grand Pre ( Fort Vieux Logis ) and Chignecto ( Fort Lawrence ) . ( Of course , a British fort already existed at the other major Acadian centre of Annapolis Royal , Nova Scotia . Cobequid remained without a fort . ) The British also established forts at the various Protestant communities they were establishing in Nova Scotia : Halifax , Bedford , Lawrencetown , Lunenburg and Dartmouth . Along with the desire of many Acadians to leave peninsular Nova Scotia in protest , withdrawing the Acadians to French - held territory was also the official French policy after 1748 . The French were invested in having Acadians migrate to the Chignecto region , in part , to protect the only land route between Louisbourg and Quebec . The land route went through Chignecto , along the Bay of Fundy and up the St . John River . This route is also the pathway many Acadians took to leave the Bay of Fundy to go to Baie Verte and on - ward to Ile St . Jean or Ile Royale . To protect this vital gateway , at the beginning of 1749 , La Galissoniere strategically constructed three forts within 18 months along the route : one at Baie Vert ( Fort Gaspareaux ) , one at Chignecto ( Fort Beausejour ) and another at the mouth of the St . John River ( Fort Menagoueche ) . When La Jonquiere reached Quebec , he instructed Le Loutre and the Mi ’ kmaq to support the migration of Acadians to Chignecto , which would protect the corridor between Quebec City and Louisbourg . Acadia would revive with an instant population while the British would be deprived of hard - working and productive farmers . The French policy promised Acadians the means and support to relocate to French territories . On some occasions , in conjunction with the French policy , Le Loutre and the Mi ’ kmaq had to force some reluctant Acadians to join the exodus . The Exodus . With demands for an unconditional oath , the British fortification of Nova Scotia , and the support of French policy , a significant number of Acadians made a stand against the British . On 18 September 1749 , a document was delivered to Edward Cornwallis signed by 1000 Acadians from all the major centres . The document stated that they would leave the country before they would sign an unconditional oath . Cornwallis continued to press for the unconditional oath with a deadline of 25 October . In response , hundreds of Acadians began the exodus from Nova Scotia . In fact some Acadians had begun to leave prior to hearing Cornwallis response . Among the first to depart was a group of about 100 from the Chebucto region . They went to Baie des Espagnoles on Ile Royal ( Sydney , Cape Breton ) . Groups from both Beaubassin and Annapolis Royal also requested Governor - General La Jonquiere at Quebec to support them in leaving for the St . Lawrence River . By the end of 1749 several hundred Acadians had made their way to Baie Verte , where they went over to Ile St . Jean . The French made considerable efforts to transport refugees to Ile Saint - Jean and by early October six or seven hundred had arrived there . Most of the 1000 Acadians at Cobequid vacated their lands , along with a very large part of Pisiquid , several hundred , went to Ile Saint - Jean . By 1752 , the number of Acadians on Ile St . Jean was 2223 , double the amount in two years . On one occasion en route to Ile St . Jean , a British naval patrol intercepted Acadians in a vessel and an Acadian passenger declared " they chose rather to quit their lands and estates than possess them upon the terms propos ' d by the English governor . " Acadians migrated from the east to the west side of the Missaguash river during the Battle of Chignecto ( 1750 ) . The Acadian village of Beaubassin was burned to prevent Lawrence from establishing a fort in the major Acadian village . More han 2000 moved to Chignecto and the Shepody Basin area . Under the direction of Le Loutre , Mi ’ kmaq and Acadians supported the Exodus by raiding the new British fortifications in the Acadian centres and the new Protestant settlements . During this period , Mi ’ kmaq and Acadians attacked on Vieux Logis ( Grand Pre ) , they made numerous attacks on Dartmouth , numerous attacks on peninsular Halifax , and engaged in various conflicts at Fort Lawrence ( Chignecto ) . There was also a rebellion against the British by the Foreign Protestants in Lunenburg , Nova Scotia , which was likely supported by Le Loutre . ( See Father Le Loutre ’ s War ) . To guard against attacks on the new Protestant settlements , British fortifications were immediately erected in Halifax , Dartmouth , Lawrencetown , Bedford , and Lunenburg . The British response to the Acadian exodus accelerated it . Cornawallis ordered , for example , Captain John Handfield and two companies of troops to Fort Vieux Logis in Grand Pre with instructions to patrol the roads to prevent Acadians from leaving . Patrols also happened throughout the Cobequid . ( On one such patrol , Noel Doiron ’ s priest Jacques Girard was arrested . This action precipitated Doiron leaving Noel , Nova Scotia for Point Prime , Ile St . Jean in the spring of 1750 . ) The British eventually forbade all assemblies of the Acadians , and they were ordered to supply the British commanders with provisions and offer their labor on demand , at prices set by regulation . Not surprisingly , many Acadians refused to supply the British , and by the summer of 1750 Acadians by the hundreds were in flight from the province . Consequence . The Acadian migration to Chignectio helped to protect the corridor between Quebec and Louisbourg . During the winter of 1749 - 1750 , Louis La Corne was dispatched from Quebec and arrived at the settlements near the Isthmus of Chignecto , along the rivers Petitcodiac , Chipoudie , and Memoramcook . La Corne asked the Acadians to affirm their allegiance to the French king , which they did . Some men , perhaps most joined the militia companies . By early 1751 , over 250 Acadians had joined the French militia . These Acadians and Mi ’ kmaq fought in the attempts to prevent Fort Lawrence from being built ( 1750 ) and eventually served in the defence of Fort Beausejour ( 1755 ) . The conditions of the refugees who fled to Chignecto and to Ile St . Jean were very difficult . While the condition of those who went to Ile Royale prior to the Expulsion of 1758 is not well documented . Those that made it to Ile St . Jean also suffered from numerous natural disasters . There were a series of plagues that stuck the island . In 1749 , swarms of black field mice destroy that year ' s crop . A plague of locusts followed the year . And the year after that a blistering drought . The 1500 who went to Chignecto suffered from overcrowding . They survived on rations waiting for the dykes to be built . Acadians from Minas were a constant support in providing provisions and labour on the dykes . In retaliation for the Acadian and Mi ’ kmaq Raid on Dartmouth ( 1751 ) , the British raided Chignecto destroying the dykes and ruining hundreds of acres of crops . Acadians began to defect from the Exodus and made application to return to the British colony . As a result of the conditions of the Acadian refugees , in 1753 - 1754 , Le Loutre temporarily stopped pressing Acadians at Minas to evacuate to his new settments . Instead , he encouraged them to grow more grain , which they did in record quantitites sufficient to support the large French , Acadian , and Native populion otherwise occupied in the service of France . Le Loutre immediately sought help from Quebec and then France to support re - building dykes in the area . He returned with success in 1753 and work began on the grand dyking project on riviere Au Lac ( present day Aulac River , New Brunswick ) . Unfortunately , the following year storm tides broke through the main cross - dike of the large - scale reclamation project , destroying nearly everything the Acadians had accomplished in several months of instense work . Again some Acadians tried to defect to the British . Acadians , Mi ’ kmaq and the French lost in the Battle of Beausejour . ( Le Loutre was captured and imprisoned by the British until the end of the war . ) After the fall of Beausejour , the British began expulsion of the Acadians with the Bay of Fundy Campaign ( 1755 ) . The Acadian Exodus spared most of the Acadians who joined it - particularly those who lived in Ile St . Jean and Ile Royal – from the British deportation of the Acadians in 1755 . ( Despite the hardships they faced , most Acadian refugees had some validation of their choice to leave the British colony of Nova Scotia once the deportation began . ) Of course , with the fall of Louisbourg in 1758 , the Acadians who left for the French colonies were deported as well .