Louisiana Cajuns

The British didn't plunder, rape and pillage Acadia.

As a matter of fact they rarely even dropped in for tea.

Usually they just pounded on the front door and rattled

their sabres. 

 

They wanted one thing from the French in Acadia

- an oath of loyalty to the English monarch.

The Acadians said the best they could do was a promise

of neutrality.

The British gritted teeth under stiffened upper lips and

let it go.  Several times, in fact.

Then as luck would have it war broke out and the Brits found

200 armed Acadians in the first French fort they pulverized.

The men swore they were forced to fight and the British bought

that story the way Churchill bought "Peace in our Time" from

Neville Chamberlain in 1938.

They gave the Acadians one more chance to swear loyalty.

And once again the Acadians refused.

So

6,000 Acadians were forced onto ships in 1755.

By all accounts it was a dreadful scene along the beaches

as they were being moved out.

The men were often separated from their loved ones.

(Longfellow's epic poem Evangeline tells the story here.)

By the time the expulsion was over 15,000 had been

forced onto ships and away from their homes.

The original idea was to scatter them among the 13 colonies

where they would be assimilated but most ended up in Louisiana.

And before the new 'Cajuns' had shaken the dust of Acadia

off their shoes

New France was gone.