Acadians, Expulsion of the

   Governor Lawrence in 1755, with the advice of his Council and of Admirals Boscawen and Mostyn, but apparently without consulting the home government, decided that the Acadians must be deported from Nova Scotia. The reason for this decision was the obstinate refusal of the Acadians to take the oath of allegiance, and the conviction of the governor that the safety of the colony depended upon their expulsion. In September, 1755, all preparations having been made with the utmost secrecy, Monckton at Beauséjour, Winslow at Grand Pré, Murray at Piziquid, and Handfield at Annapolis, seized the inhabitants and held them prisoners until the arrival of the transport and provision ships. These having been delayed, the final embarkation did not take place until late in December. The Acadians were distributed among the British colonies along the Atlantic seaboard. Some hired vessels in 1763, and sailed to Miquelon, and in 1767 and following years returned gradually to their old Acadian home. Others came directly to Nova Scotia in 1766, there being no longer any reason for their exclusion, while others went north to Quebec or south to Louisiana. The present Acadian population in the three Maritime Provinces is over 150,000, and these are the descendants of the few families who escaped deportation, and of those who returned from exile.

   Index: Seereferences under Acadia.

   Bib.: Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe; Richard, Acadia; Casgrain, Un Pélérinage au Pays d'Evangéline; Une Seconde Acadie; Les Sulpiciens et les Prêtres des Missions Etrangères en Acadia; Documents Inédits sur l'Acadie, 1710-1815; Archibald, Expulsion of Acadians (N.S. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1887); Selections from the Public Documents of Nova Scotia, ed. by Akins; Calnek and Savary, History of the County of Annapolis.