The Acadian Exiles | Page 7

event, and the

French officers and their ladies were invited to it to drink the health of
Queen Anne, while cannon on the bastions and cannon on the ramparts
thundered forth a royal salute.
The celebration over, Subercase sent an envoy to Quebec, to inform
Vaudreuil, the governor of New France, of the fall of Port Royal, and
then embarked with his soldiers for France. A few days later Nicholson
took away most of his troops and repaired to Boston, leaving a garrison
of four hundred and fifty men and officers under the command of
Colonel Samuel Vetch to hold the newly-won post until peace should
return and Her Majesty's pleasure concerning it be made known.
As far as he was able, Vetch set up military rule at Annapolis Royal.
He administered the oath of allegiance to the inhabitants of the
banlieue--within three miles of the fort--according to the capitulation,
and established a court to try their disputes. Many and grave difficulties
faced the new governor and his officers. The Indians were hostile, and,
quite naturally in the state of war which prevailed, emissaries of the
French strove to keep the Acadians unfriendly to their English masters.
Moreover, Vetch was badly in want of money. The soldiers had no
proper clothing for the winter; they had not been paid for their services;
the fort stood in need of repair; and the military chest was empty. He
could get no assistance from Boston or London, and his only resource
seemed to be to levy on the inhabitants in the old-fashioned way of
conquerors. The Acadians pleaded poverty, but Vetch sent out armed
men to enforce his order, and succeeded in collecting at least a part of
the tribute he demanded, not only from the inhabitants round the fort
over whom he had authority, but also from the settlers of Minas and
Chignecto, who were not included in the capitulation.
The first winter passed, in some discomfort and privation, but without
any serious mishap to the English soldiers. With the month of June,
however, there came a disaster. The Acadians had been directed to cut
timber for the repair of the fort and deliver it at Annapolis. They had
complied for a time and had then quit work, fearing, as they said,
attacks from the Indian allies of the French, who threatened to kill them
if they aided the enemy. Thereupon Vetch ordered an officer to take

seventy-five men and go up the river to the place where the timber was
being felled and 'inform the people that if they would bring it down
they would receive every imaginable protection,' but if they were
averse or delayed to do so he was to 'threaten them with severity.' 'And
let the soldiers make a show of killing their hogs,' the order ran, 'but do
not kill any, and let them kill some fowls, but pay for them before you
come away.' Armed with this somewhat peculiar military order, the
troops set out. But as they ascended the river they were waylaid by a
war-party of French and Indians, and within an hour every man of the
seventy-five English was either killed or taken captive.
Soon after this tragic affair Vetch went to Boston to take a hand in an
invasion of Canada which was planned for that summer. This invasion
was to take place by both sea and land simultaneously. Vetch joined the
fleet of Sir Hovenden Walker, consisting of some sixty vessels which
sailed from Boston in July. Meanwhile Colonel Nicholson stood near
Lake Champlain, with a force of several thousand colonial troops and
Six Nation Indians, in readiness to advance on Canada to co-operate
with the fleet. But the fleet never got within striking distance. Not far
above the island of Anticosti some of the ships ran aground and were
wrecked with a loss of nearly a thousand men; and the commander
gave up the undertaking and bore away for England. When news of this
mishap reached Nicholson he retreated and disbanded his men. But,
though the ambitious enterprise ended ingloriously, it was not wholly
fruitless, for it kept the French of Quebec on guard at home; while but
for this menace they would probably have sent a war-party in force to
drive the English out of Acadia.
The situation of the English at Annapolis was indeed critical. Their
numbers had been greatly reduced by disease and raids and the men
were in a sorry plight for lack of provisions and clothing. Vetch could
obtain neither men nor money from England or the colonies. Help,
however, of a sort did come in the summer of 1712. This was in the
form of a band of Six Nation Indians, allies of the English, from the
colony of New York. [Footnote: Collections of the Nova