Raid on Chignecto (1696)

Raid on Chignecto (1696)
Part of King William's War

Colonel Benjamin Church: Father of American ranging
DateSeptember 20–29, 1696
LocationChignecto, Acadia
Result New England victory
Belligerents
Mi'kmaq militia
Acadian militia
"The Pine Tree flag of New England" New England
Commanders and leaders
Father Claude Trouve[1] Benjamin Church, John Gorham[2]
Strength
unknown Mi’kmaq and village residents 400 New England troops and native warriors,
Casualties and losses
unknown unknown

The Raid on Chignecto occurred during King William's War when New England forces from Boston attacked the Isthmus of Chignecto, Acadia in present-day Nova Scotia. The raid was in retaliation for the French and Indian Siege of Pemaquid (1696) at present day Bristol, Maine. In the English Province of Massachusetts Bay. Colonel Benjamin Church was the leader of the New England force of 400 men. The raid lasted nine days, between September 20–29, 1696, and formed part of a larger expedition by Church against a number of other Acadian communities.

Historical context

During King William's War – the first of the four French and Indian Wars – French and Natives were victorious in the Siege of Pemaquid (1696) (present day Bristol, Maine) earlier that year. In the Siege of Pemaquid, the French and natives had destroyed Fort William Henry, which the English colonial militia leader Benjamin Church himself assisted in erecting.[3] The Acadians at Chignecto posted a proclamation heralding the success of French arms on their church door. In response to the defeat, the following month Benjamin Church led a devastating raid on the Isthmus of Chignecto at Beaubassin in 1696.[4]

The raid

Church and four hundred men (50 to 150 of whom were Indians, likely Iroquois) arrived offshore of Beaubassin on September 20. When they came ashore, the Acadians and Mi'kmaq opened fire on them. Church lost a lieutenant and several of his men.[5] They managed to get ashore and surprise the Acadians. Many fled while one confronted Church with papers showing they had signed an oath of allegiance in 1690 to the English king. Church was unconvinced, especially after he discovered the proclamation heralding the French success at Pemaquid posted on the church door. He burned a number of buildings, killed inhabitants, looted their household goods, and slaughtered their livestock. Governor Villebon reported that "the English stayed at Beaubassin nine whole days without drawing any supplies from their vessels, and even those settlers to whom they had shown a pretence of mercy were left with empty houses and barns and nothing else except the clothes on their backs."[6]

Aftermath

Part of a series on the
Military history of
Mi’kmaq people
Mi’kmaq Warrior
Events
Battle off Port La Tour 1677
Raid on Salmon Falls 1690
Raid on Chignecto 1696
Avalon Peninsula Campaign 1696-97
Northeast Coast Campaign 1703
Raid on Grand Pré 1704
Siege of St. John's 1705
‪Battle of St. John's 1709
Siege of Port Royal 1710
Raid on Port Roseway 1715
Battle of Winnepang 1722
Blockade of Annapolis Royal 1722
Raid on Canso 1744
Siege of Annapolis Royal 1744
Siege of Port Toulouse 1745
Siege of Louisbourg 1745
Naval battle off Tatamagouche 1745
‪Battle at Port-la-Joye 1746
Battle of Grand Pré 1747
Raid on Dartmouth 1749
Siege of Grand Pre 1749
‪Battle at St. Croix 1750
Battle at Chignecto 1750
Raid on Dartmouth 1751
Attack at Mocodome 1753
Battle of Fort Beauséjour 1755
Battle of Petitcodiac 1755
Battle of Bloody Creek 1757
Siege of Louisbourg 1758
Lunenburg Campaign 1758
Battle of Restigouche 1760
Burying the Hatchet ceremony 1761
Other

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Canadian Armed Forces portal

On September 29, Church and his men proceeded to the mouth of the Saint John River. Church captured two Frenchmen here and learned from them of cannons buried nearby; these he unearthed and then proceeded towards Boston. At Passamaquoddy, Church's force was met by Colonel John Hathorn who took command of the entire force and proceeded to the Saint John River.[7] They moved up the river to lay siege to the capital of Acadia Fort St. Joseph (Nashwaak) (present-day Fredericton, New Brunswick). The siege failed.

Church threatened the Chignecto Acadians before leaving that he would return if more New Englanders suffered. He did return to raid Chignecto again during Queen Anne's War in a campaign against Acadia that also included the Raid on Grand Pre.

See also

References

Secondary Sources
Primary Sources
Endnotes
  1. Canadian Biography
  2. Grandfather of the John Gorham who would later rise to prominence during Father Le Loutre's War (See p. 219
  3. Drake, The Border Wars of New England, p. 85
  4. John Reid. "1686-1720: Imperial Intrusions" In The Atlantic Region to Confederation: A History. Phillip Buckner and John Reid (eds). 1998. Toronto University Press. p. 83
  5. Church, p. 228
  6. John Reid. "1686-1720: Imperial Intrusions" In The Atlantic Region to Confederation: A History. Phillip Buckner and John Reid (eds). 1998. Toronto University Press. p. 83
  7. Webster, John Clarence. Acadia at the End of the Seventeenth Century. Saint John, NB, The New Brunswick Museum, 1979. p. 17

Coordinates: 45°55′N 64°10′W / 45.917°N 64.167°W / 45.917; -64.167

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