Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 16

The Battle of the Restigouche

by Judith Beattle and Bernard Pothier

Sequels to the Battle

Undeterred by the bleak circumstances in which they now found themselves, the French fitted out some ships and plundered the trade in the area, captured several more prizes and even managed to send safely to France at least two ships, one under Giraudais which arrived in Santander on 27 October and the Petit Marquis de Malauze which reached St-Jean-de-Luz on 19 December 1760. The whole company of troops might have escaped had biscuit for the voyage been prepared in advance. The delay occasioned while provisions were prepared led to their entrapment by a second British expedition.¹

The Capitulation Expedition

As early as the beginning of August British officials expressed the fear that the large number of French troops at Chaleur Bay would threaten British trade and communications. However, once Montreal capitulated in September the British were presented with an alternative to another attack. General Amherst wrote that Vaudreuil "had information [that the troops at Restigouche] were returned to France, but on my communicating to him the report [to the contrary], I now received, he sent an officer to the Bay des Chaleurs, with orders for the troops to lay down their arms according to the capitulation."² The officer representing French authority was Monsieur de Catalogne. Although Amherst felt that "M. de Vaudreuil aura mieux fait d'avoir envoyer un officier de plus haut Rang,"³ the British assented. Vaudreuil's orders were issued on 15 September and the ships sailed from Quebec on 23 September 1760.⁴ The men sent included Catalogne and "a field officer two Captains, four Subalterns, and one hundred and fifty men [under Major Elliott] from Quebec."⁵ The Repulse and Racehorse were accompanied by the Good Intent transport and some schooners; a sufficient force to meet a depleted and discouraged group of soldiers now in alien territory

In his report to the Admiralty, Captain Macartney of the Racehorse gave a full account of the fleet's activities. After anchoring in the Restigouche on 23 October 1760, they met with the Indians and the troops. On 29 October the French decided to surrender quietly, embarked on the Good Intent and departed for France on 5 November. In an appended note, Macartney gave a succinct account of the state of the post and the changes which his visit brought:

Peace being concluded with the Mickmack Indians and the Scalping Knife and Tomahawk buryed in token and security thereof, one hundred and ninety six Regulars under the Command of Mons^r Don Jacque Captain, with Eighty Seamen Capt. Gramont Comm^r yielded themselves up prisoners according to the articles of Capitulation, and were pot on board Good Intent Transport to be conveyed to France, agreeable to the notification in my orders.

The Number of inhabitants at Restigouche amounts to one thousand and three, including men women and children.

The Number of Indians we could get no just account of but appears to consist of 3 or 400.

We spiked up and destroyed two batterys of Canon, one of 4-12 prs and 1-6 pr. and the other of 3 small pieces, which the Enemy had erected on two points upon the side of the Bason in order to hinder our ships from getting up. We found besides at Restigouche 1-18 pr, 1-9 pr, and 1-6 pr which was also spiked up.

We found and brought away in the Schooners 320 barrels of Powder, some shoes and cloathing.

We burnt one Schooner repairing, and one sloop, and sold a small schooner to the French.

We brought away The Polly Sloop (from Boston loaded with Rum) which had been taken by the French. The Resolution (from Piscaluway with Molasses and sugar) also taken. And a Small Sloop that was a Privateer belonging to Mons^r Ablong at Ristigouche.

English Prisoners, 12 Men, 7 Women and 4 children which we also brought away.⁶

Major Elliott reported:

We were employed till the Sth Nov^r in getting on board the Stores from their Magazines, in which was 327 barrels powder, Muskett ball, small shot, Blankets. Coarse Brown Cloth, Flour, Pork, Wine, Rum, Brandy . . . the Powder was all brought away, the Shot I threw into the River, where it was impossible for them to get them out; the rest of the Goods I desired the Capts. of Militia to divide equally amongst the Inhabitants.⁷

The men had carried out their orders with dispatch and efficiency.

The little British fleet had more trouble in leaving than in coming for a severe storm arose immediately after their passage through the Gut of Canso and the ships were scattered. The Good Intent reached France with little mishap, as reported by the French clerk Bazagier,⁸ but the Swan, on which Major Elliott was sailing, struck on Sable Island. The passengers and crew reached shore, but all the equipment and supplies were lost. The Racehorse had to steer for England. Two ships under Captain Carter and Lieutenant Shaw arrived in Now York and Captain Allen took the Repulse to Halifax.

Visitors to Restigouche in 1761

The Restigouche area was not deserted after the capitulation expedition. Indians and Acadians still populated the area and petitioned the British for attention. Most of the French soldiers had been deported in the fall of 1760, but a small picket of 12 men under Niverville had been sent to Miramichi before this occurred and had never surrendered.⁹ Nor was the area completely isolated; several administrative or commercial expeditions went there in 1761 before the British carried out the final sequel to the battle of the Restigouche.

The first to visit in the spring of 1761 was a man named Grandmaison, under orders to seize a deserter from the 35th Regiment named Guillaume Cart. He arrived on 20 March with six unarmed men. When wounded by Cart while trying to execute his orders, Grandmaison returned to Quebec City after sending couriers to Niverville to inform him of the capitulation.¹⁰

In mid-July Pierre du Calvet set out for Chaleur Bay in a large sloop Ste-Anne, commanded by Captain Joanis with an eight-man crew. His mission was to take a census of the Acadians in the area for the Quebec government. This he carried out all along Restigouche River and Chaleur Bay for by this time many Acadians had left Old Mission Point and Pointe à Bourdeau and moved to sites along Chaleur Bay. Du Calvet returned to Quebec City in October 1761.¹¹

A third non-destructive expedition also sailed from Quebec City. Gamaliel Smethurst, in a trading vessel fitted out in Marblehead, Massachusetts, went to trade with the French and Indians in the summer of 1761. But just as Smethurst was about to sail from Nepisiguit (Bathurst) in late October, his vessel loaded with about 120 tons of dry fish and oil, he encountered the expedition ordered to destroy the post on the Restigouche.¹² This ruined further trade and, to make matters worse, Smethurst was abandoned by his vessel and forced to make his way along the coast to Fort Cumberland.

Fearing that the continuation of the Restigouche post constituted a threat to British trade and communications, the British had decided to clear the area. Captain Roderick Mackenzie, of Fort Cumberland, led the expedition to remove the Acadian inhabitants. A newspaper account relates the incident:

We hear from Nova Scotia, That sometime last Month Capt. Mackenzie of Fort Cumberland, having armed two Vessels at Bay Vert, proceeded as far to the Northward as the Bay Challeurs, in order to break up a nest of French Vermin on that Coast, who have done so much Mischief these two or three Years past, in intercepting our Vessels bound to Halifax, Louisbourgh, and the River St. Lawrence, which he happily effected; And having taken about 240 Men, Women and Children Prisoners, brought them to Bay Vert; together with 8 or 10 small Vessels loaded with their effects. All the other small Craft upon the Coast be destroyed, so that there need be no Apprehension of any Interruption in going up the River next year, as all the Ringleaders of the Mischief hitherto done with their families, are now Prisoners.¹³

The 1765 census, showing only 145 men, women and children, indicates Mackenzie's thoroughness.¹⁴