St . John River Campaign 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 ( New Brunswick ) until they reached the largest village of Sainte - Anne des Pays - Bas ( present day Fredericton , New Brunswick ) in February 1759 . Monckton was accompanied by Captain George Scott as well as New England Rangers led by Joseph Goreham , Captain Benoni Danks , and Moses Hazen . Under the naval command of Silvanus Cobb , the British started at the bottom of the river with raiding Kennebecais and Managoueche ( City of St . John ) , where the British built Fort Frederick . Then they moved up the river and raided Grimross ( Gagetown , New Brunswick ) , Jemseg , and finally they reached Sainte - Anne des Pays - Bas . There were about 100 Acadian families on the St . John River , with a large concentration at Ste Anne . Most of whom had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations , such as the Ile Saint - Jean Campaign . There was also about 1000 Maliseet . According to one historian , the level of Acadian suffering greatly increased in the late summer of 1758 . Along with campaigns on Ile Saint - Jean , in the Gult of St . Lawrence , at Cape Sable Island and the Petitcodiac River Campaign , the British targeted the St . John River . Historical context . The British Conquest of Acadia happened in 1710 . Over the next forty - five years the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain . During this time period Acadians participated in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour . During the French and Indian War , the British sought to neutralize any military threat Acadians posed and to interrupt the vital supply lines Acadians provided to Louisbourg by deporting Acadians from Acadia . Acadians had lived in the St . John valley almost continuously since the early seventeenth century . After the Conquest of Acadia ( 1710 ) , Acadians migrated from peninsula Nova Scotia to the French - occupied Saint John River . These Acadians were seen as the most resistant to British rule in the region . ( The Maliseet , from their base at Meductic , conducted effective warfare against New England throughout the colonial wars . ) As late as 1748 , there were only twelve French - speaking families living on the river . With the migration of returning Acadians after the close of the Seven Years ' War in the 1760s to the river valley and other areas of what is now New Brunswick , the region became the center of Acadian life in the maritime region . The first wave of these deportations began in 1755 with the Bay of Fundy Campaign ( 1755 ) . During the explusion , the St . John River valley became the center of the Acadian and Wabanaki Confederacy resistance to the British military in the region . The leader of the resistance was French militia officer Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot . He was stationed at Sainte - Anne des Pays - Bas and from there issued orders for various raids such as the Raid on Lunenburg ( 1756 ) and the Battle of Petitcodiac ( 1755 ) . He was also responsible to locate the Acadian refugees along the St . John River . After the Siege of Louisbourg ( 1758 ) , the second wave of the Expulsion of the Acadians began with the Ile Saint - Jean Campaign ( campaign against present - day Prince Edward Island ) , and the removal of Acadians from Ile Royale ( Cape Breton , Nova Scotia ) . As a result , Acadians fled these areas for the villages along the banks of the St . John River , including the largest communities at Grimrose ( present day Gagetown , New Brunswick ) and Sainte - Anne des Pays - Bas . Fort Frederick . On September 13 , 1758 , Monckton and a strong force of regulars and rangers left Halifax and arrived at the mouth of the St . John River a week later . While Fort Menagoueche had been destroyed ( 1755 ) , when the British arrived , a few militia members fired shots from the site and fled upstream in boats . The armed sloop Providence was wrecked in the Reversing Falls trying to follow . Monckton established a new base of operations by reconstructing Fort Menagoueche , which he renamed Fort Frederick . Establishing Fort Frederick allowed the British to virtually cut off the communications and supplies to the villages on the St . John River . Monckton was accompanied by the New England Rangers , which had three companies that were commanded by Joseph Goreham , Captain Benoni Danks and George Scott . When Monckton and his troops appeared on the St . John River , Boishébert retreated . The Acadians were left unprotected in their settlements at Grimross , Jemseg and Sainte - Anne des Pays - Bas . Boishébert directed Acadians to go to Quebec City . Raid on Grimrose . On October 1 Monckton left Fort Frederick with his boats , regulars and rangers above the Reversing Falls . Two days later , they arrived at the village of Grimrose . The village of 50 families that had migrated there in 1755 were forced to abandon their homes . Monckton ’ s troops burned every building , tourched the fields , and killed all the livestock . Raid on Jemseg . Two days later , Monckton arrived at the village of Jemseg , New Brunswick and burned it to the ground . Then he returned to Fort Frederick at the mouth of the St . John River . Raid on Sainte - Anne des Pays - Bas . 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 , on 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 , they retreated to the Maliseet village at Aukpaque ( Ecoupag ) for protection . On 18 February 1759 , Lieutenant Hazen and about fifteen 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 ) . As well , the rangers scalped six Acadians and took six prisoners . There is a written record of one of the Acadian survivors Joseph Godin - Bellefontaine . He reported that the rangers restrained him and then massacred his family in front of him . There are other primary sources that support his assertions . ( While the French military hired Natives to gather British scalps , the British military hired Rangers to gather " Native " scalps . The scalping of Acadians in this instance was unique for the Maritimes . New Englanders had been scalping native peoples in the area for generations , but unlike the French on Ile Royale , they had refrained from authorizing the taking of scalps from individuals identified as being of European descent . ) 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 captured some Acadians along the way , burned their homes , destroyed their crops and slaughtered their cattle . The September expedition involved more than 90 men . At present - day French Lake on the Oromocto River , they met fierce resistance from the Acadians , and resulted in the death of at least seven rangers . Consequences . Because the British campaign destroyed their supplies , the few surviving Acadians in the area suffered famine . Canada ’ s Governor Vaudreuil reported 1600 Acadians immigrated to Québec City in 1759 . During this same winter , Quebec also suffered a famine and a smallpox epidemic broke out , killing over 300 Acadian refugees . Some returned to St . John only to be imprisoned on Georges Island in Halifax Harbour . In the spring of 1759 twenty - nine of the refugees from the St . John River area went farther up the St . Lawrence to the area around Bécancour , Quebec , where they successfully established a community . After the fall of Quebec on September 18 , 1759 , the resistance ended . The Maliseet and Acadians of the St . John River surrendered to the British at Fort Frederick and Fort Cumberland . On 2 January 1760 most of the Acadian men who had come to Fort Frederck were boarded onto ships . The next day , the women and children were put on board , and the ship sailed for Halifax . Within weeks of their arrival in the provincial capital the captured Acadians were bound for France . In 1761 , there were 42 Acadians at St Ann and 10 - 12 at Grimross . In 1762 , Lieutenant Gilfred Studholme , who commanded the garrison at Saint John , was unsuccessful in removing the remaining Acadians from the St . John River in preparation for the arrival of the New England Planters .