General Wolfe dying at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham

The British are here now at Louisbourg to attack us, we are not prepared. The British and the French are now at war.The attack did not last long, we tried our hardest to defeat the British but they won. A few of us were lucky enough to escape, but not until after Louisbourg was completely destroyed. Fort Frontenac, was captured by the British, some soldiers told me. Soon after Fort Duquesne was also taken. I and all the other surviors are heading to Quebec. I see the British soldiers in a two person deep, mile long line in front of us. We shoot first, but then the British start firing and our men become disorganized, I know that the battle is over when we flee the battle with Scottish Highlanders chasing us as bagpipes play. the haunting sounds of their bagpipes . In 15 minutes the battle was over, Wolfe has died, Montcalm has been mortally wounded, and Quebec has been taken by the British. We have retreated to Montreal. Now it is just a wait to see who’s reinforcements arrive first we waited in Montreal for hoping for it to be the French who arrive first, but the British reinforcements arrived before ours. We surrendered and the British now have claim over these lands. We are allowed to return to our homes but most of the land and farms have been destroyed. The British haven’t changed very much in New France, they have allowed us to keep our culture and religion. The Treaty of Paris has been signed and France has surrendered everything in New France and Acadia to Britain except for two small islands, called St. Pierre and Miquelon.

North America prior to the Seven Years/ French and Indian Wars

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham

Fort Frotenac during the short seige

North America after the Treaty of Paris

The Battle of Montreal

The fishing here at Louisburg is bountiful, you could dip a net into the water and it would be teeming with fish. There are so much fish it is hard to blame the English for wanting some. But the fort, Halifax, they have built across the river, at the request of the New England colonists is still worrying. Louisburg is poorly constructed but I feel that it is still strong enough. It does it’s job as the head of naval and fishing operations in New France quite well. After the Treaty of Uhtrecht, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland were given the British. The rest of Acadia remained with France luckily. I and the other Acadians unfortunate enough to be on British land were given a year to leave, but many of us had remained neutral. We were asked to take an oath of allegiance to the British crown but we all refused, as we did not want to fight against the French. Another war seemed to be brewing in Europe between France and Britain and the governor asked us to take an oath of allegiance and we refused as we had before. All who refused to take an oath of allegiance were to deported. Many of my neighbours and extended family went to the other British colonies, but I went to the remaining French colony of Louisiana, behind us all I can see is the devastating fires that burn our homes and possessions.

The expulsion of the Acadians

The deportation of the Acadians

A plan for the siege of Louisburg

The founding of Halifax

The capture of Louisburg

Some of the children from the school the other Ursuline Nuns run, came to the hospital today with the flu. One of the kids who was able to talk kept on asking about his brothers and sisters, he told us his older brother Joseph was working under the bishop and was in charge of placing the nuns in missionaries with the native peoples, or in different seigneuries, or at different hospitals all around New France. One of the other children was very scared that her uncle was going to have to come and record her death like he had her birth. A priest came in and conducted mass for all the little children, and helped soothe a little boy who wanted to wrote his will. It is amazing how much good the church does in New France

Ursuline Nuns working in a hospital

Churches were a crucial part in seigneuries

We left the St Lawrence River today, Radisson, De Groseilliers and I are on our way to the great northern sea. The Algonkians and Ojibwa told us of the rich fur areas there. The amount of beavers and other furry animals is astounding. We send word back to France of our find but they weren’t interested. So we sailed to England where King Charles II created the Hudson’s Bay Company. Jacques Marquette and Sieur de La Salle brought back tales of the great rivers Mississippi and Ohio. La Salle found his way back to the ocean through the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico

Radisson arriving in an Indian settlement

A map showing Radisson and De Grosseillers explorations