Head of Jeddore, Nova Scotia

Coordinates: 44°46′32″N 63°03′19″W / 44.77556°N 63.05528°W

Head of Jeddore in Nova Scotia

On Marine Drive

Head of Jeddore is a rural community of the Halifax Regional Municipality on Trunk 7 on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia 47.06 kilometers from Downtown Halifax.

History

Battle at Winnepang (Jeddore Harbour)

In July 1722 the Abenaki created a blockade of the capital of Nova Scotia Annapolis Royal in an attempt to starve the capital. They captured 18 fishing vessels along with prisoners between present-day Yarmouth and Canso. They also captured vessels and took prisoners from the Bay of Fundy. In response, to protect the capital from native attack, Lieutenant Governor John Doucett took 22 Mi'kmaq hostage at Annapolis Royal and Massachusetts declared war on the Abenaki.^[1]

During Dummer's War, Governor Richard Philipps commissioned Capt. John Eliot and Capt. John Robinson in two sloops with regiments to protect the fishery at Canso, Nova Scotia and retrieve the captured vessels and prisoners. Toward this end, Capt. Eliot made a surprise attack on forty Natives on a ship at Winnepang (present-day Jeddore Harbour).^[2] The natives were among six of the fishing vessels they had seized. There was a two-hour naval battle.^[3] Capt. Eliot was badly wounded as were several of his men. Five were killed.^[4] Then Capt. Eliot lobbed a hand granadoes (type of hand grenade) into the native vessel. Some natives were killed in the explosion. Others tried to swim ashore as they were being shot by the New Englanders. Thirty-five Natives were killed. The New Englanders managed to rescue fifteen prisoners from the vessels, while discovering that nine had been killed.^[5] The Natives had sent the other sixteen prisoners to Richibucto, New Brunswick.^[6]

Only five native bodies were recovered from the battle and the New Englanders decapitated the corpses and set the severed heads on pikes surrounding Canso's new fort.^[7]

Captain Robinson captured ten of the vessels and killed numerous Abenaki.^[8] He then arrived at Malagash harbour where the natives held five of the fishing vessels along with twenty prisoners. Robinson paid a ransom and they were released.^[9]

Raids on Jeddore

The Mi'kmaq at West Jeddore complained of English fishermen raiding the supplies they received from the government (1753). On one occasion after a raid, the same English vessel which raided the village was wrecked on the rocks. While the Mi'kmaq are reported to have taken care of them, the English were reported to have killed two men, three women, one child and one baby for their scalps.^[10]

Festivals

Head of Jeddore also hosts the annual Pirates of Jeddore Festival in September (See Pirates of Jeddore Festival).

Communications

• The postal Code is B0J 1P0.
• The Telephone exchange is 902- 889 Aliant

Demographics

• Total Population - 352
• Total Dwellings - 144
• Total Land Area - 3.4304 km²

Navigator

References

1. Beamish Murdoch. A history of Nova-Scotia, or Acadie, Volume 1, p. 399
2. Beamish Murdoch names the site of the battle site as "Winnepang". Rev. Silas Rand's "MicMac Grammar" states Jeddore was called "Wineboogwechk", which is likely a corruption of Winnepang. The place name Wineboogwĕchk' and the descriptive of "to flow roughly" translates to winpĕgitk or winpĕgijooik, that is, Winnepang. (Rand, Rev. S.T. A First Reading Book in the MicMac Language: Comprising the MicMac Numerals, and the Names of the Different Kinds of Beasts, Birds, Fishes, Trees, &c. of the Maritime Provinces of Canada. Also Some of the Indian Names of Places, and many Familiar Words and Phrases, Translated Literally into English. Nova Scotia Printing Company. Halifax 1875. p. 90; also see Bruce Furguson. Place-Names and Places of Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia Archives. p. 314).
3. Geoffery Plank, in his book An Unsettled Conquest (p. 78),
4. New Brunswick: with notes for emigrants. Comprehending the early history, an ... By Abraham Gesner, p. 35
5. Beamish Murdoch. A history of Nova-Scotia, or Acadie, Volume 1, p. 399; Geoffery Plank, in his book An Unsettled Conquest (p. 78), also recounts the battle at Jaddore Harbour. He states that New Englanders set fire to Mi'kmaq vessels. The warriors tried to swim to land, but the New England men fired on them in the water. Twenty two were reported killed. Only five bodies were recovered and the New Englanders decapitated the corpses and set the severed heads on pikes surrounding Canso's new fort. Murdoch's and Plank's versions differ slightly.
6. New Brunswick: with notes for emigrants. Comprehending the early history, an ... By Abraham Gesner, p. 35
7. Geoffery Plank, An Unsettled Conquest, p. 78
8. New Brunswick: with notes for emigrants. Comprehending the early history, an ... By Abraham Gesner, p. 35
9. Murdoch, p. 399
10. Whitehead, pp. 131, 136, 137

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