Howard Trueman

“ The trade between Quebec and Louisbourg and the settlements on the Isthmus was carried on through the Port of Bay Verte, and from there the farmers of Chignecto shipped their cattle and farm products. The Acadians were quick to see the benefits that would arise from reclaiming the rich river valleys, and they drew their revenues chiefly from this land. They did not readily take to the cutting down of the forests and preparing the upland for growing crops; they were more at home with the dyking-spade than the axe. ”

“ Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence arrived at the Isthmus with a strong force, consisting of the 48th Regiment, and three hundred men of the 45th Regiment. "The Indians and some of the French were rash enough to oppose the landing of so formidable a body of troops, but they were driven off after a sharp skirmish, in which the English lost about twenty killed and wounded." A short distance from where they landed Colonel Lawrence erected a picketal fort with block-houses, which was named for himself. A garrison of six hundred men was maintained here until the fall of Beausejour. ”

“ The Seigneur La Valliere was, no doubt, the most prominent man, politically, on the Isthmus during the French period. He was appointed commandant of Acadia in 1678, by Count Frontenac, and just missed being made governor. He was a man of broader views than most of his contemporaries. He encouraged trade, and was willing that others beside his own countrymen should reap the benefits if they were ready to pay the price. ”

“ The Acadians, however, would not obey this order unless Vergor would make a refusal to comply punishable with death. This would given them an excuse with which to meet the English if the fort were taken.
On the 4th June, the English broke camp and marched north from Fort Lawrence, a distance of about two miles along the ridge of high land; then, entering the Missiquash valley, they crossed over to Pont a Buot, or Buot's Bridge, which spanned the Missiquash River. This bridge was near what is now Point de Bute Corner. Here the French had a blockhouse garrisoned with thirty men. ”

“ Monckton changed the name of Fort Beausejour to Fort Cumberland, in honor of the Royal Duke who won the victory at Culloden, and as it was a much better fort than the one on the south side of the Missiquash, the troops were ordered to remain at Fort Cumberland.
This fort stands in a commanding position on the south-west summit of the high ridge of upland that separates the Missiquash from the Aulac valley. It was a fort of five bastions, with casemates, and was capable of accommodating eight hundred men. It mounted thirty guns. After it fell into the hands of the English it was great improved. ”

“ Perhaps in no way can the progress made since the beginning of the nineteenth century be more forcibly brought before the mind than by comparing the immense iron steamships of the present day with the small wooden vessels with which commerce was carried on and battles were fought and won a hundred and fifty years ago. ”

“ There were settlements also at Maccan, Nappan and Minudie. The statement that the village of Beaubassin, in 1750, contained a hundred and forty houses, and a population numbering a thousand, seems improbable under the circumstances.
Fort Lawrence, the site of old Beaubassin, contains to-day less than forty houses, and not more than three hundred inhabitants, yet more land is under cultivation now than in any previous time in its history. It is highly probable that the whole population on the south side of the Isthmus was reckoned as belonging to Beaubassin. ”

“ From 1713 to 1750 was the most prosperous period of the French occupation. The population increased rapidly for those times. The market at Louisbourg furnished an outlet for the surplus produce of the soil. The wants of the people were few. The Acadians were thrifty and frugal, the rod and gun supplying a large part of the necessaries of life in many a home. ”

“ As to the Acadians, as they were forced to bear arms under pain of death, they shall be pardoned. 5th. The garrison shall not bear arms in America for the space of six months. 6th. The foregoing are granted on condition that the garrison shall surrender to the troops of Great Britain by 7 p.m. this afternoon. Signed, Robert Monckton. At the camp before Beausejour, 16th June, 1755."
As soon as the British were in possession at Beausejour, Monckton sent a detachment of three hundred men, under Col. Winslow, to demand the surrender of the fort at Bay Verte. ”