The St. John River campaign occurred during the French and Indian War when Colonel Robert Monckton led a force of 1150 British soldiers to destroy the Acadian settlements along the banks of the Saint John River until they reached the largest village of Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas (present day Fredericton, New Brunswick) in February 1759. Monckton was accompanied by Captain George Scott as well as New England Rangers led by Joseph Goreham, Captain Benoni Danks, as well as William Stark and Moses Hazen, both of Rogers' Rangers.
Under the naval command of Silvanus Cobb, the British started at the bottom of the river with raiding Kennebecasis and Managoueche (City of Saint John), where the British built Fort Frederick. Then they moved up the river and raided Grimross (Arcadia, New Brunswick), Jemseg, and finally they reached Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas.
The Acadian militia was led by French officer Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot and Acadian Joseph Godin dit Bellefontaine. There were about 100 Acadian families on the Saint John River, with a large concentration at Ste Anne. Most of them had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations, such as the Ile Saint-Jean campaign. There were also about 1000 Maliseet.
According to one historian, the level of Acadian suffering greatly increased in the late summer of 1758. Along with campaigns on Ile Saint-Jean, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, at Cape Sable, and the Petitcodiac River campaign, the British targeted the Saint John River.
Historical context
The British Conquest of Acadia happened in 1710. Over the next forty-five years the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. During this time period Acadians participated in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour. During the French and Indian War, the British sought to neutralize any military threat Acadians posed and to interrupt the vital supply lines Acadians provided to Louisbourg by deporting Acadians from Acadia.
Acadians had lived in the Saint John valley almost continuously since the early seventeenth century. After the Conquest of Acadia (1710), Acadians migrated from peninsula Nova Scotia to the French-occupied Saint John River. These Acadians were seen as the most resistant to British rule in the region.
The Saint John River residents had always proven effective at resisting the British. The Maliseet militia, from their base at Meductic, conducted effective warfare along with the Mi'kmaq militia against New England throughout the colonial wars. As late as 1748, there were only twelve French-speaking families living on the river. On October 28, 1748, at the end of King George's War, the Acadians and Mi'kmaq prevented John Gorham from landing to acquire an oath of allegiance. His rangers were fired upon killing three of the rangers and wounding three, while Gorham took two Mi'kmaq prisoner. In 1749, at the beginning of Father Le Loutre's War, Boishebert rebuked British naval officer John Rous at St. John. Boishébert built Fort Boishebert after withdrawing from the mouth of the Saint John River under the terms of an agreement arranged by Captain John Rous and Edward How. The fort was subsequently abandoned in 1751 by Ignace-Philippe Aubert de Gaspé when the French reestablished their control and fortified the mouth of the Saint John River with Fort Menagoueche. In 1749, Boishebert assigned Acadian Joseph Godin dit Bellefontaine to lead the Acadian militia in the St. John Region.
In April 1755, while searching for a wrecked vessel at Port La Tour, Cobb discovered the French schooner Marguerite (Margarett), taking war supplies to the Saint John River for Boishebert at Fort Menagoueche. Cobb returned to Halifax with the news and was ordered by Governor Charles Lawrence to blockade the harbour until Captain William Kensey arrived in the warship HMS Vulture, and then to assist Kensey in capturing the French prize and taking it to Halifax. During this time the British took captive a sergeant of Boishebert's detachment Grandcour, who was caught at the mouth of the river.
Immediately after the Battle of Fort Beauséjour (1755), Robert Monckton sent a detachment under the command of John Rous to take Fort Menagoueche. De Boishebert knew that he faced a superior force so he burned the fort, however, he maintained control of the river through guerrilla warfare. The destruction of Fort Menagoueche left Louisbourg as the last French fort in Acadia. Boishebert made his first strike in the Battle of Petitcodiac.