Constructed in 1751, Fort Beausejour was built in response to the British having built Fort Lawrence across the Missiquash river, which divided British-held Nova Scotia from Acadia.

In June, 1755, the British, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Monckton, took the fort and renamed it Fort Cumberland. The fort imprisoned Acadians who had at first escaped to the woods but was also used as a temporary prison for others who would be deported from the region.

During the American Revolution of 1776 some Acadians joined forces with Jonathan Eddy [the Eddy Rebellion] in a failed attempt to retake Fort Cumberland from the British.

At the time of the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763, nearly 2,000 Acadians were living as prisoners of war, at Halifax, Windsor (Pisiquid), (Cumberland) Pointe Beausejour at the St-Jean River. The Duke of Nivernois, ambassador of France in England, having expatriated the Acadians who had been prisoners in England, had them write to their imprisoned compatriots in Nova Scotia inviting them to return to France. A list was requested containing the names of those who desired to return to France. It seems that 87 Acadians of Rivi?re St-Jean, 694 from Halifax and 1,019 from Boston chose to leave. A list of the prisoners at Beaus?jour, containing 374 names, was sent through the Governor of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon. The first time it was published by La Soci?t? Historique Acadienne of Moncton, New Brunswick in 1965, it was believed to be the first time this unedited list was being published.

Most of these names are those of Acadians who were captured on the Memramcook and Peticodiac Rivers by military parties sent from Fort Cumberland (Beausejour) or perhaps others coming from Cocagne and Miramichi who had made their oath of allegiance in 1760. English authorities now considering them to be British subjects, refused to let them go. The following year, they were offered land but most among them prefered to escape secretly to the Saint-Pierre and Miquelon Islands and from there to France, to Saint-Domingue and to Louisiana.

Nonetheless, many then returned from Miquelon to Cap-Breton, or to the Gulf coast, as did Joseph Goguen when he returned to Cocagne thus creating new Acadian settlements/villages.

In viewing a copy of the document before me it should be said that those on the list stated that they did not know how to sign their names and made their usual mark, which was an X.

The names listed above are all of the Acadians who are presently prisoners at Fort LCumberland on 24 August 1763. Thre are less than fifty some odd families on Ile St-Jean and along the coast who, we belive, desire the same as we do; but they have not yet heard the news but we will do our best to inform them as soon as possible.

This whole document was in the handwriting of Joseph Gu?guen.[The census and statement was made by Joseph Gueguen.]

In approximately February of 1756 (during the years of deportations and exiles for the Acadians), plotted and successfully escaped from their imprisonment at Ft. Beaus?jour (which was later renamed Ft. Cumberland by the British).

Though there were not many details available, there was enough evidence to affirm the fact that it did happen providing some information as well as to howw it happened.

As testimony to this escape, Father Fran?ois Le Guerne, who was their missionary, wrote a long letter from Belair, near Cocagne, New Brunswick, on March 10, 1756. His letter was addressed to Chevalier de Drucours, Governor of Louisbourg in which he writes about what Pierre Surrette told him with regards to the British at Ft. Beaus?jour/Cumberland.

I hold this (information) from Pierre Surette ... This man, formerly a captain in the militia of Petcoudiac, is sensible and of good judgment, and well versed in public affairs, and was often employed by our Messieurs Officers in delicate matters.

The English had kept him this winter at the fort as a man of reason who knew the country and might be useful to them. His agreeable manner of speech gave him a free access to the Commander of the fort [Mr. Scot], who thought him secure, so much so, that he spoke his mind openly to him. He knows the English language and is ever ready to converse with anyone, and they were in the habit of holding nothing in reserve when talking with him.

The leader of this daring escape was Pierre Surrette II born 9 December 1709 in Port-Royal. He was the son of Pierre and Jeanne Pellerin. In 1755, his home was in Beaus?jour which was located between the border of Acadia (Nova Scotia) and New Brunswick. This fort still stands there today as a testimony to our ancestors.

On August 11, 1755, the Acadians of this area were ordered to report to Ft. Beaus?jour. Approximately 250 Acadians went tot he Fort though a good number fearing it a ploy of the British, escaped and hid in the woods. Our Pierre Surrette and others, who had planned to hide in the woods, waited too long and were captured and taken to Ft. Beausejour. It was from here that they escaped during the night of February 26, 1756, under the leadership of Pierre.

The story of this escape has been told from generation to generation - it is one of the oral histories of a family. The story told is that these prisoners were fed horse meat as their ration and that Pierre suggested they save some of the rib bones which they would hide in the day and use at night digging a tunnel under the outer wall of the fort. Of course, during the day, they camouflaged or hid their work. When February 26th rolled along, they were ready to escape and 80 men did.

It seems that Pierre Melanson was the biggest and burliest man of the group and that he got stuck in the middle of the tunnel. Fortunately, he was able to free himself in the nick of time so as to escape the guards who had heard the noise and who were right behind them as they ran from the fort. Fortunately, the Acadians knew these woods better than did the British so they were able to make quick their getaway.

Following his escape, Pierre Surrette and family, as well as other Acadian families, stayed hidden in the woods, not far in that area. However, two years of misery and starvation, eating roots, meat of decayed animals, and even the excrement of animals (as told by Father Le Guerne) this group of Acadians to the area of Miramichi. Their situation worsenend. In the end, they surrendered to the British in the vicinity of Petcoudiac and Memramcook on 18 November 1759. At this time, 700 Acadians led by Pierre Surrette and Jean and Michel Bourquewere taken to Halifax and kept prisoners until the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763.

After their release from prison, Pierre and his family remained in the region of Halifax for about 6 or 7 years until they could decide on where they would resettle. Three of their children had their marriages blessed in Chezzetcook by l'Abb? Bailly according to the registers for 1769.

Not too much later, Pierre Surrette with his son Joseph and his three sons-in-law - Joseph Babin, Jean Bourque and Dominique Pothier, decided to settle at Sainte-Anne-du-Ruisseau and Belleville. They became the ancestors of the Acadians bearing those names in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia.

Pierre Surette had married in Grand-Pr? on 30 September 1732 to Catherine Breau, daughter of Pierre Breau and of Anne LeBlanc. According to Father d'Entremont, Anne is the ancestral mother of many Acadians in southwestern Nova Scotia. According the oral tradition, she was buried toward the shore of Salt Bay or Sal Water Marsh at Ste-Anne-du-Ruiseau. The first road ever built in what was then Eel Brook used to go through here, along the shore. It was the pasageway that the narrow-gage railway would follow up to Argyle, after having followed the western edge of Eel Lake from close to Belleville, traces of which are still visible

Reference: Father Clarence d'Entremont

SOURCE: Sincere thanks from the Acadian Ancestral Home to La Soci?t? Historique Acadienne for their permission to post this article.
La Soci?t? Historique Acadienne,March 1965, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.
The source noted for La Soci?t? Historique Acadienne for this information was Archives nationales, Fonds des Colonies, C. 12 (Correspondance g?n?rale, Saint Pierre et Miquelon, vol. 1, f. 22-26.

? Lucie LeBlanc Consentino
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