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The Acadians: A People’s Story of Exile and Triumph
Jobb begins the Acadian story, as most authors
do, from the ill-fated settlement on the island at the mouth of the Saint Croix. He sums up fairly quickly the early years of settlement, relating the circumstances of the Acadian civil war between La Tour and d’Aulnay, following the continual clashes between the British and the French, and showing the growth of the Acadian communities as they spread eastward along the Bay of Fundy. He also devotes several fascinating pages to recreate, from the few sources available, Acadian daily life.
However, his stated purpose in The Acadians is to challenge the opinion that the deportation was both inevitable and deserved. To achieve this, he gives more attention to the time after 1713 when Acadia was under British rule and the demand for an unqualified oath of allegiance resurfaced with the arrival of every new governor and with every new monarch’s succession to the throne. In the face of what Britain considered Acadian obstinacy, deportation was mentioned as an option as early as 1710, but the British always lacked the manpower, the excuse, and the determined leader to do it. For years, Acadians lived a relatively independent life under the haphazard rule of British governors.
Jobb contends that this situation might have gone on indefinitely if the three factors had not come together in 1755. Colonel Charles Lawrence, the governor at that time, has the single-minded determination to make Nova Scotia a strong British colony, preferably without the Acadians. Impending war with France created the excuse for the deportation, especially after Acadians were found under arms in the defense of Fort Beausejour. Finally, the same troops that had taken the fort gave Lawrence the manpower he needed. The Acadians, after years of British officials who made ultimatums but were never able to carry them out, were not ready for a man who would actually do what he threatened them with.
The harrowing events of the deportation follow, with special attention given to the Louisiana angle of the story. Jobb dispels a myth by reminding us that no Acadians were directly deported to Louisiana. It belonged to France at the time, and the last thing that the British governors wanted to do was strengthen a French colony. The Acadians arrived there in a roundabout way, some of them having suffered two separate deportations as well as failed settlement schemes. This book describes in detail how their arrival in Louisiana marked both an end to their wandering and the beginning of their new incarnation as Cajuns.
Jobb brings to this book his 20 years experience as a journalist with the Halifax Chronicle-Herald. His style is accessible and engaging, and he often describes historical events as if he had been an eyewitness. This book is interlaced with his firsthand interviews with tour guides, descendents of Acadians, scholars, genealogists--people with a strong interest in or a connection to the Acadian story. He also follows his leads and takes the reader “on location” from the historic sites of Port Royal and Fort Anne where twin Acadian tour guides confuse visitors, to Louisiana to see one of four “Evangeline” Oaks, to Grand Pré to participate in the Congrés mondial of 2004. All of this gives a sense of immediacy to a 250-year-old story and makes it resonate with the reader of today.
Published: March 30, 2007
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