Jeanne Dugas of Acadia (17 page)

Chapter 34

I
t was almost the end of August before the men arrived. They made up a defiant if small Acadian refugee armada. The
Marie-Josèphe
, the
Saint-Charles
and the
Angélique
were among them. Ti-Jos spotted them when they were just specks on the horizon. He waited until he was sure they were not British warships before he ran to tell the others. “I know, I just know one of them is Papa's ship, the
Marie-Josèphe,
” he told his Aunt Jeanne.

There was a flurry of tense excitement at the news. The women and children gathered quietly, in small groups, speaking in whispers as if they might be heard from out at sea. They did not dare go directly to the landing spot a short distance away or show themselves on the shore in case Ti-Jos was wrong. There were surely British warships around and privateers and ordinary thieves. Besides, Anne had told them she thought the men would have lost their ships and would arrive overland.

Jeanne thought her heart would break if the ships suddenly changed direction and sailed by. But no, they were headed directly for the landing near them. Suddenly, Ti-Jos gave a cry and started to run. “It's them. It's them.”

Jeanne shouted to Ti-Jos to wait, but he was already halfway to the landing, with Pierrot and Nono and the other children and the mothers following.

It took some time for the men to disembark because there was only space for one ship at a time at the little landing space. The
Marie-Josèphe
was the first ship to reach land. Joseph almost stepped on Ti-Jos, who was dancing around him in excitement. He gave his son a rough hug. “Ti-Jos, my man, can you go and keep a lookout for ships, the way I taught you?”

Ti-Jos was off like a bolt of lightning for his lookout spot.

Jeanne could see that Joseph was tense. He looked at the assembled families.

“Mesdames, I know you are very anxious to know who is with us, but I must ask you to be patient. We have supplies and we have to unload them as quickly as possible and then find a place to hide our ships.” Some men were beginning to unload the
Marie-Josèphe
as he spoke. He noticed two young boys struggling to pull a small canoe to the shore to help. “Oui, les gars,” Joseph said and told one of his men to help the boys. “We can use that boat.”

As soon as his ship was unloaded, Joseph sailed it away and the next ship came in. In the meantime, the canoes went back and forth. As each ship was unloaded it followed Joseph's ship up the rivière Nipisiguit to find a secluded corner in which to hide.

Anne and Marie-Cécile Landry took charge on shore. They decided what the women and older children could carry and had them take as much as possible to the nearest campsite.

Finally, the ships were empty and secured on the river. The men were back and had carried the heavier provisions up to the camp. Everyone had worked quickly, efficiently and almost silently.

It was a bittersweet reunion. Abraham's ship had been lost and his wife Marguerite was despondent that it was not among the others when they returned. Fortunately he had only lost his ship and returned with his brother Charles. A number of the returning men had lost their ships too. Marie-Cécile Landry, who had heard that her husband and son were lost, wept with joy when her son found her. Many others' hopes were dashed. Young Anne-Marie Gautier, expecting her first child in a few months, was informed by her brother-in-law that her husband had died in battle. Almost all of the men who arrived found family, but not all the waiting families found their men. Among the men who arrived were some of the most experienced resistance leaders, such as Joseph Leblanc dit Le Maigre, the brothers Pierre and Jean Gautier, Paul Landry, Joseph Richard and Abraham Boudreau.

Pierre Bois had been wounded. He limped off the
Angélique
and tried to run to his family. “Stay, Pierre,” Jeanne called, “we're coming!” He scooped up the children in his arms and Jeanne wrapped her arms around him. He wanted to help unload his ship, but Jeanne stopped him. She would take good care of him.

Finally, a hush descended on all of them. Joseph asked his brother Charles to speak.

Charles laughed. “My brother is a man of action. I only get to speak when things are quiet. You women have done un beau travail here. Wherever you are, you women of Acadia, we men know it's our home and our land.

“We have brought all the supplies we could get our hands on,” he continued. “We even have a couple of kegs of rum and I hope you will forgive us if we have un p'tit coup to celebrate our reunion. Tomorrow we will speak of more serious things.”

—

In the following days, the men took stock of the location and condition of the encampments and the women took stock of the new supplies.

When the men agreed that their situation was good, they quickly began to repair what houses could be salvaged and to build others. They cut down suitably sized pine trees, squared them, put them one upon the other, and fastened them with wooden pegs. They filled the crevices with moss and secured the chimneys with clay. This made a snug house that could withstand the harsh winters.

The women dealt with the barrels of flour, dried cod and the salt that would allow them to cure fish. There were blankets, shoes and clothing. But the provisions had to be carefully doled out. The most valuable of all was the flour. They would stretch it out by baking bread only at intervals of one or two weeks. The winter would be long, and they could not depend on further privateering for supplies.

—

Pierre Bois found himself, perhaps for the first time in his life, the centre of his wife's attention. He had been shot in the leg during the battle at Ristigouche. The wound had not been properly treated and had festered. Jeanne insisted that he stay off his feet and she put a poultice of herbs on his wound. Marie was her mother's assistant, and Pierrot and Nono ran circles around their Papa while he held Angélique on his lap.

“Well, Jeanne,” he said one day with typical Acadian wit, “if I had known I would be so well treated, I'd have shot myself in the leg long ago.”

Jeanne did not answer. She could not quite explain to herself why she suddenly felt such a surge of affection for her husband.

Pierre recovered in time to help build their own winter house. As the workload lessened, Jeanne once again was privy to her brothers' discussions. Charles had almost convinced Joseph that if they could stay hidden for now and not do anything to further incite British anger, they might have a chance to settle in this area. It was good country. They could live by fishing and hunting, and the land could be farmed if only they could stay long enough in one place. There were other Acadians in the Nipisiguit area, and in Caraquet, Ristigouche and Chipagan. And there had been Mi'kmaw communities here for centuries.

“Think about it, Joseph,” Charles said. “Let the rest of the world go by. We can make our home here without anyone being the wiser.”

“Charles, you're too good a man to see evil in anyone,” said Joseph. “Do you think the British will just forget about us Acadians?”

“They might if we leave them alone. We don't need to raid their ships if we can live off the land. Can't we at least try this?

“What about the other resistance leaders?”

“What about them? They are at the end of their resources too.”

“Well, Charles, let's get through the winter and then see what spring brings.”

Mon Dieu
, thought Jeanne,
we are back to waiting through another winter to learn what news spring will bring
.

Late in September, they heard that Montréal had fallen. On September 8, a year after the French troops had been defeated on the Plains of Abraham and surrendered Québec, Montréal had surrendered without a shot being fired. Québec, Montréal, La Petite Rochelle were no more. The Acadian refugees were now truly abandoned on this vast continent.

—

The weather was kind to them until late October, when a fierce storm of wind and rain hit the area as if it would never end. At one point, everything in and out of the houses was soaked and they could not even start a fire. One day Joseph was at Jeanne's house and he and Pierre were trying to find something that would be dry enough to respond to the flint. Jeanne handed them her stack of bibliothèque bleu volumes. “Here,” she said and walked away. Once a fire had taken hold, Joseph and Pierre took glowing embers to the neighbouring houses.

Jeanne knew very well that to the people around her, a few books meant nothing compared to having a fire. But she could not help but feel a great sadness.
Martin
, she
thought, my spirit is sick
.
Bonne
Sainte-Anne
, she prayed silently,
please help us
.

A few days later, she was called to the bedside of young Anne-Marie Gautier. It was the young woman's first baby and she was terrified. Jeanne smiled. “I have brought many babies into the world. You'll be fine. And I have Sainte-Anne with me. She is the patron saint of mothers in labour, and she will protect you. You'll see.” Anne-Marie's labour was long, but she bravely gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Jeanne baptized him.

As Jeanne was leaving, Anne-Marie's brother-in-law arrived with his mother and they began to fuss over the new mother and baby. Jeanne thought that the young man looked rather like a happy father.
Merci, bonne Sainte-Anne
.

—

Through the early autumn, the men heard rumours that the British were destroying Louisbourg. At first the stories were ignored; such a thing was hard to believe. Why would they destroy that strong fortress and important commercial centre for which they had fought so hard?

Charles thought differently. “No,” he said, “I can understand. Now that they have taken all the French territory, and they have their own fort at Halifax, they don't need Louisbourg anymore.”

“But why destroy it?” asked Jeanne.

“Hmpf, to make sure the French can never have it again,” said Joseph. Charles reluctantly nodded.

In mid-November, Joseph Leblanc dit Le Maigre, the Gautier brothers and several Mi'kmaq returned from a scouting mission to Cap Breton and reported that Louisbourg was now totally demolished. Three British ships had arrived in the spring, carrying a company of miners, for the purpose of blowing up the fortress. They dug galleries between the walls, filled them with explosive powder and laid fuses. For many weeks the harbour of Louisbourg echoed with blasts that sent the stoneworks of the fortress skyward. Some of the more valuable ones had been salvaged and shipped elsewhere. The once-mighty fortress at Louisbourg now existed only in its ruins and in the memories of those who had lived there.

A group of the refugees had gathered to greet the Gautiers and the Mi'kmaq and to hear their news, but it did not incite a loud and vigorous discussion the way it might under different circumstances. The mood was silent and anguished.

Charles noticed that René Thérriaux had his violin with him and he asked him and Pierre Gautier if they would play and sing.

They began with “C'était toi, noble empereur qui m'avais mis gouverneur de Louisbourg,”
which described the defeat of the fortress. As Thérriaux's violin kept a mournful accompaniment they sang “La Prise de Louisbourg.” But when Pierre Gautier started to sing “Cruelle partance,” describing happy days at the fortress and the pain of leaving friends, Jeanne could not bear to listen anymore. She tried to leave quietly, but her husband saw her go and followed.

“Jeanne, you mustn't. I know it's hard for you. Cry if it will help, but don't run away from us. We need you. We can't survive without you. I can't survive without you. Please come inside. You're not dressed for the cold.” Coming from her husband, these few words of encouragement and love constituted a speech, and Jeanne was touched.

She turned and let him put his arm around her and lead her back to the house. “I'm all right, Pierre,” she said with a heavy heart. As they walked into the house, she saw Anne watching her, and she nodded to her:
I'm all right
.

—

Once again the winter season brought a breathing space to the families. It was almost comforting to Jeanne to hear the familiar discussions and arguments that took place between the three Dugas brothers, her husband Pierre, Joseph Leblanc dit Le Maigre and some of the other resistance leaders.

There was a new political aspect to be considered. Was the territory of the Baie des Chaleurs and the surrounding area now under the jurisdiction of Halifax or of Québec? If Québec, this would mean some protection under the terms of the general surrender of Nouvelle France signed in Montréal in the fall. If they were still under the jurisdiction of Halifax, they had no assurance whatsoever of their fate. In reality, they did not even know if this distinction in territory had been made.

The Acadians in this area were, for all intents and purposes, in a sort of no-man's land. As always, they would have to wait to see what the spring brought.