Raid on Dartmouth (1751)

Not to be confused with Raid on Dartmouth (1749).
Raid on Dartmouth
Part of Father Le Loutre's War

John George Pyke, Only image of survivor of the Raid on Dartmouth (1751)
DateMay 13, 1751
Location
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
44°41′34.5″N 63°36′0″W / 44.692917°N 63.60000°W / 44.692917; -63.60000
Result Acadian and Mi'kmaq victory
Belligerents
Mi'kmaq militia
Acadian militia		 British America
Commanders and leaders
Joseph Broussard (Beausoleil) Captain William Clapham
Lt. Clark, Warburton's Regiment (wounded)[1][2]
Sgt. ?, 45th Regiment  †[3]
Superior officer ?, 45th Regiment[4] †
Captain Thomas Stannard (taken prisoner)[5][6]
Strength
60 Acadian and Mi'kmaq[7] 60 British regulars and rangers
Casualties and losses
disputed:
Cornwallis: 6 Mi'kmaq[8]
Salusbury: one or two Mi'kmaq[9]		 disputed:
Cornwallis: 4 killed; 6 prisoners;[10]
Wilson's journal: 15 killed, 7 wounded (3 die in hospital), 6 prisoners;[11]
Salusbury journal: 20 killed;[12]
London Magazine: 8 settlers and a few officers killed, 14 prisoners[13]

The Raid on Dartmouth (also referred to as the Dartmouth Massacre[14][15]) occurred during Father Le Loutre's War on May 13, 1751, when a Mi'kmaq and Acadian militia from Chignecto, under the command of Acadian Joseph Broussard, raided Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, destroying the town and killing twenty British villagers and wounding British regulars. The town was protected by a blockhouse on Blockhouse Hill (close to the corner of King St. and North St.) with William Clapham's Rangers and British regulars from the 45th Regiment of Foot.[16] This raid was one of seven Miꞌkmaq and Acadians would conduct against the town during the war.

  1. ^ Lt. Clark was carried to Halifax and took weeks to recover before leaving with Gorham on the Osborn Galley to England (See Wilson (1751))
  2. ^ A genuine narrative of the transactions in Nova Scotia since the settlement, June 1749, till August the 5th, 1751 [microform] : In which the nature, soil, and produce of the country are related, with the particular attempts of the Indians to disturb the colony. 1751. ISBN 9780665201530.
  3. ^ Salusbury's journal
  4. ^ Wilson (1751).
  5. ^ "The Halifax Gazette - Google News Archive Search".
  6. ^ Oct 7 - woman prisoner
  7. ^ Murdoch (1866), p. 201, indicates there were 60 Mi'kmaq and Acadians.
  8. ^ Upon returning, the British only produced one scalp, reporting that the bodies of the other five enemies were retrieved by their fellow Mi'kmaq. It is more likely the British inflated the numbers of the enemy they killed to mitigate prosecution for their inaction during the raid.
  9. ^ Salsbury, Expedition of Honour, p. 111
  10. ^ Grenier (2008), p. 160; Cornwallis' official report mentioned that four settlers were killed and six soldiers taken prisoner. See Governor Cornwallis to Board of Trade, letter, June 24, 1751, referenced in Harry Chapman, p. 29
  11. ^ Wilson (1751) reported that fifteen people were killed immediately, seven were wounded, three of whom would die in hospital; six were carried away and never seen again".
  12. ^ p.11; John Salusbury recorded in his diary that approximately twenty were killed (See Expeditions of Honour: The Journal of John Salusbury in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1749-53. Edited by Ronald Rompkey. Newark: University of Delaware Press. 1982.p. 111)
  13. ^ London Magazine. Vol. 20. 1751. p. 341
  14. ^ Salusbury Journal. 29 May 1751. Rompkey, Expedition of Honour. McGill Queen's Press, p. 113
  15. ^ Gentleman's magazine, 1751, p. 419
  16. ^ Township of Dartmouth, p. 8 - location of blockhouse