1755: British Forces Suffer a Serious Defeat

British leaders in London were shocked to hear about the defeat of American military leader George Washington (1732-1799; see entry) at Fort Necessity. Although some of them did not want to enter the French and Indian War (known in Europe as the Seven Years' War), others were determined to expand British land holdings in North America by removing the French from the Ohio Country. But Washington's defeat had convinced them that the American colonists were no match for the French. They decided to send an experienced British general and two regiments of well-trained British soldiers to carry out their plans.

Major General Edward Braddock (1695-1755; see entry), who arrived in America in early 1755, carried orders from King George II (1683-1760) of England. These orders named Braddock commander-in-chief of all British and American armed forces and gave him full responsibility for organizing the defense of the colonies. French leaders in Paris soon learned about the British plans. In response, they decided to send thousands of French troops across the Atlantic Ocean to help defend their colonies in New France. They also began secret negotiations with Austria to end its alliance with Great Britain. If successful, this move would shift the balance of power in Europe toward France.

Braddock takes charge

A blunt and arrogant officer, Braddock felt that his position as commander-in-chief gave him power over the colonial governors, and he began issuing orders as soon as he arrived in North America. For example, he announced that he was setting up a common defense fund to support his military operations and that he expected all of the colonies to contribute money to it. He also informed the colonial governors that they were to provide supplies, quarters, and transportation for his forces, as well as additional soldiers from their colonial militias. This caused a problem with the Pennsylvania Assembly, which was controlled by members of the Quaker religion. Because Quakers are pacifists (believers in nonviolence), the Assembly refused to send money to support Braddock's army. Braddock responded by threatening to use some of his forces against Pennsylvania.

In April 1755, the general called a meeting of all the colonial governors. He started the session by scolding the governors for not delivering the money and supplies he wanted. Then Braddock outlined his ambitious plans for pushing the French out of the Ohio Country and defending the American colonies. These plans, which had been designed by British leaders in London, involved four military actions that were supposed to take place at the same time. First, Braddock and his two regiments of British soldiers would attack Fort Duquesne, the French stronghold at the Forks of the Ohio. Second, two regiments under Massachusetts governor William Shirley (1694-1771) would seize the French fort at Niagara on Lake Ontario. Third, William Johnson (1715-1774; see entry) and a mixed regiment of colonial soldiers and Mohawk warriors would attack Fort St. Frédéric, located at Crown Point on Lake Champlain (in the northeastern corner of modern New York State). Fourth, an expedition of colonial soldiers from Boston would capture Fort Beauséjour in Nova Scotia (on the Atlantic coast of modern Canada).

Braddock's plans surprised and alarmed the colonial governors. They noticed a number of flaws that could create serious problems for the armies involved. For example, the British leaders who developed the plans did not seem to understand wilderness conditions. Braddock and his two regiments planned to follow the road Washington had cut through the Allegheny Mountains to get to Fort Duquesne from Virginia. But this road was rough and narrow, and would need a great deal of work before it could be used by wagons hauling heavy artillery. The other expeditions planned to use boats to transport men and supplies to their target forts on rivers. But these rivers had wide variations in water levels and were often choked with fallen trees.

British planners also expected the colonies to contribute enough money and supplies to support all four military campaigns. But this placed a great deal of strain on the limited resources of the colonies. As a result, the commanders of the four expeditions had to compete for soldiers, boats, wagons, guns, clothing, shelter, and other supplies. The expeditions thus became more expensive, took longer to prepare, and had lower chances for success.

The colonial governors tried to tell Braddock about the flaws in his plan. They insisted that they could not provide all the men and supplies Braddock was requesting. They came up with several ideas about how to change his plans to make them work better. Instead of launching four expeditions at the same time, for example, they suggested that he concentrate his efforts on capturing the French fort at Niagara. This would isolate Fort Duquesne and other forts in the Ohio Country, preventing them from receiving troops and supplies. When Braddock rejected this idea, the governors suggested that Braddock start his march to Fort Duquesne from Pennsylvania instead of Virginia. This would cut the length of his journey and allow his troops to travel on an improved road. But Brad-dock refused to listen to this idea as well. He insisted on following his orders exactly as they were written by the king and other British leaders.

Braddock's forces advance toward Fort Duquesne

Just as the governors had warned, Braddock faced a number of delays in getting the supplies he needed. On May 29, 1755, he finally began marching toward Fort Duquesne with twenty-two hundred men. Most of these men were "regular" soldiers with the British Army. They wore fancy uniforms with bright red coats and considered themselves well-trained, professional soldiers. Braddock's army also included one hundred "irregular" soldiers from the Virginia militia, as well as some engineers and frontiersmen to improve the road and serve as guides. The irregular soldiers were not part of the formal British Army, and generally had less military training and poorer equipment than the regular soldiers. Another member of Braddock's army was George Washington, who had asked to join because he hoped to learn from the experienced British general. Washington's knowledge of the wilderness would give the troops an advantage they would not otherwise have, and Braddock welcomed him as a volunteer aide on his staff.

Braddock's forces made slow progress over the 120 miles to Fort Duquesne. As they lugged heavy artillery and wagons full of supplies through the mountains—cutting down trees and blasting huge boulders to clear the road as they went—they sometimes advanced only two miles per day. As he rode along with Braddock, Washington learned that his commanding officer knew very little about wilderness warfare. The general expected to meet the enemy on a field of battle, where his men could form rows and take turns firing and reloading. But Washington knew that the French and their Indian (Native American) allies were more likely to use surprise ambushes and to fire from behind cover of rocks and trees. Washington tried to tell Braddock about frontier conditions and prepare him for the way the French and Indians would fight. But the general insisted that his plans would work because they had always worked in previous wars.

At one point in their journey, Braddock and his army met a group of Indians led by Shingas, an Ohio Delaware war chief. Shingas explained that he and his warriors had been sent by William Johnson—the official British representative to the Indians—to assist Braddock. Shingas said that he was willing to help the British because he wanted to get the French out of the Ohio Country. He showed his good intentions by giving Braddock a detailed map of Fort Duquesne. This map had been prepared by Captain Robert Stobo (1727-c. 1772; see box), a British officer who had been held prisoner at the fort since Washington's defeat at Fort Necessity. Shingas had smuggled the map out of the French fort at great danger to himself. In exchange for their help, Shingas and his warriors asked for Braddock's word that British settlers would share the Ohio Country with them and become their partners in trade. But Braddock felt that his army did not need any help from the Indians. He offended Shingas by telling him that the British planned to control the Ohio Country and use it in any way they wished. Shingas and his warriors left. Eventually, they and most other Indians joined the French forces.

As Braddock's army continued its slow progress, Washington warned the general that the French might have time to send reinforcements to the fort. Braddock agreed to send twelve hundred troops ahead as an advance party, while the remaining troops followed with the heavy artillery. Washington became ill and had to stay with the rear group for a while. But he caught up with Braddock and the advance party near the Monongahela River, about twelve miles from Fort Duquesne. The British forces crossed the river on July 9 and planned to make their assault on the fort the following day.

The French officer in charge of Fort Duquesne, Claude-Pierre Pecaudy, seigneur de Contrecoeur (1706-1775), followed the progress of Braddock's army through reports from scouts. Contrecoeur had sixteen hundred men defending the fort, including French army, Canadian militia, and Indian warriors. The fort itself was small, however, and only two hundred men could fit inside. Contrecoeur decided that his best chance for victory would be to launch a surprise attack before Braddock's army reached the fort. On July 9, Contrecoeur sent half of his men to attack the British forces. The French troops, which were led by Captain Daniel Lienard de Beaujeu (1711-1755), included over six hundred Indians. They were well armed, but they were able to move quickly because they did not carry many other supplies. Compared to their enemies, they were also well rested, well fed, and familiar with the woods and the tactics of wilderness warfare.

Disaster on the Monongahela

The French and British forces ran into each other somewhat suddenly. At the front of the long line of British troops were three hundred regulars under Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gage (1719-1787). Beaujeu led the French forces, followed by his Indian warriors. As the two sides exchanged musket fire, Beaujeu was killed within minutes. Then the French and Indians rushed forward into the cover of the woods and continued firing, while the British troops remained in the road and tried to fight in formation. The neat rows of bright red coats made perfect targets for the French and Indians hiding behind trees, and they were able to kill many British soldiers. In fact, fifteen of the eighteen officers in Gage's company were killed in the early stages of the battle. The British troops tried to return fire, but they had little success because they could barely see the enemy in the forest.

With their officers and fellow soldiers falling all around them, the remaining British troops finally retreated in panic. A short distance up the road, they ran into the main column of soldiers, led by General Braddock. As noted in his journal, Washington recalled that he and the general ordered the terrified men to halt "with as much success … as if we had attempted to have stopped the wild bears of the mountains." The main column of soldiers soon came under attack as well, from Indians hiding in the woods. The British army had been trained to fight in formation, so the men huddled together in the road and returned fire as best they could. Braddock and his officers rode around on horseback trying to rally and organize the troops, but the men were too confused and frightened to follow orders. At one point, Washington asked Braddock for permission to lead the colonial soldiers into the woods to fight in the same way as the enemy, but the general refused.

Braddock was eventually shot in the back and lost consciousness. Washington had two horses shot out from under him—and bullet holes in his coat and hat—but managed to escape injury. As one of the only officersleft among the British forces, Washington led their retreat across the Monongahela River. They left behind about nine hundred British soldiers who had been killed or wounded in the three-hour battle, including sixty-three of eighty-six officers. Many of these men were scalped (a bloody Indian war ritual in which warriors used a sharp knife to cut the scalps off of people they had conquered) by the triumphant Indians. When Braddock regained consciousness, he ordered Washington to ride back forty miles to bring up reinforcements from the rear.

Washington was exhausted from the battle and remained weak from his illness, but he somehow managed to carry out the order. In fact, he sometimes crawled on his hands and knees to find the road through the dark woods. To make matters worse, he passed many wounded soldiers who were struggling to drag themselves away from the battle scene. "The dead—the dying—the groans—lamentation [wailing]—and cries along the road of the wounded for help … were enough to pierce a heart of adamant [stone]," he remembered in his journal. "The gloom and horror … was not a little increased by the impervious [impossible to penetrate] darkness occasioned by the close shade of thick woods."

By the time Washington reached the other half of Braddock's army, they had already heard about the battle. The men were too frightened to follow Washington's orders and instead began to retreat. Washington returned to the advance guard and organized their retreat. Braddock died on July 13, on the journey back to Virginia. His remaining officers buried him in an unmarked grave and ran their wagons over it so the Indians would not find it.

Braddock takes the blame

People in the colonies were shocked to hear about the defeat of Braddock's army. Many people blamed Braddock and said that he should have known that the European style of fighting in formation would not work in the North American wilderness. In fact, this criticism led to a general feeling in the colonies that American irregular troops were better suited to this new brand of warfare than British regulars. Some historians also place the blame on Braddock. They admit that he was brave during the battle, but they also note that he lost even though he had a larger army and better weapons than the enemy. Another factor in Braddock's defeat was his rejection of Indian help. In contrast, Contrecoeur and other French leaders understood the need for Indian cooperation and worked hard to establish good relations with the tribes. Overall, the terrible defeat ruined Braddock's reputation.

At the same time, however, George Washington emerged from the battle as a hero. He was praised for his bravery throughout the colonies, and his reputation soared. In fact, one preacher expressed the opinion that Washington had survived the battle because he was destined to provide some great service to his country. For his part, Washington never criticized Braddock. Instead, he blamed the defeat on the troops who ran from danger and refused to follow orders.

Braddock's defeat worried the people of the Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland colonies. They thought that the French and Indians might use the road Braddock built to march east and attack them. Adding to these fears, the settlers along the western frontier of these colonies increasingly fell victim to Indian raids as more tribes from the Ohio Country joined forces with the French. In fact, one hundred Virginians had been killed or taken captive by the fall of 1755. Many others abandoned their homesteads and returned east to more populated areas. In response to these threats, the colonies raised a thousand-man regiment and made Washington its colonel. He spent the next two years defending the Virginia frontier against Indian attacks.

British capture Nova Scotia and deport the Acadians

Braddock's death left William Shirley—the governor of Massachusetts Colony who had been selected to lead the British assault on the French fort at Niagara—in charge of all the British forces in North America. But Shirley was a political leader who had very little military experience, so he felt anxious about taking command. As Braddock had been moving his troops through the mountains and fighting along the Monongahela, Shirley's Niagara expedition and William Johnson's Crown Point expedition had been competing for men and supplies in Albany. In the meantime, thousands of French reinforcements had arrived in Canada by ship despite the attempts of the British Navy to stop them. Faced with increasing levels of responsibility and decreasing chances of success, Shirley decided to wait until the following spring to move against Niagara.

The four-part British plan did achieve one of its goals during the summer of 1755. In June, a few weeks before Braddock's defeat, colonial forces out of Boston succeeded in capturing Fort Beauséjour in Nova Scotia. The French and British had been fighting for control of Nova Scotia, a peninsula of land that extends into the Atlantic Ocean north of presentday Maine, ever since King George's War (1743-48). The French had built Fort Beauséjour on the narrow section of land that connects Nova Scotia to the Canadian mainland in 1750. The British had responded by building Fort Lawrence a few miles away, on the other side of the Missaguash River.

The idea of controlling Nova Scotia was very popular among Americans who lived in the crowded New England colonies. If Great Britain took over the region, they figured there would be an abundance of new land to settle. This attitude made it easy to raise two regiments of New England soldiers to attack Fort Beauséjour. Using Fort Lawrence as a base, these forces set up artillery and began shelling the French fort. One of the first artillery shells they fired killed half a dozen French officers as they sat down to breakfast. Once their leaders were killed, the French soldiers holding the fort surrendered quickly. The British took control of Fort Beauséjour and renamed it Fort Cumberland.

At the time the British took control of Nova Scotia, the region had been the home of French-speaking Catholics known as Acadians for several generations. The new British governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence (1709-1760), viewed the Acadians as a dangerous threat. Since the Acadians refused to take an oath of loyalty to the king of England, Lawrence believed they must secretly be helping the French. He worried that they might start a rebellion and attack British settlers who moved into the region. To avoid such trouble, Lawrence decided to deport (remove from the country by force) the Acadians.

The operation began in September 1755. Over six thousand Acadians were packed onto ships and transported to the American colonies. Thousands of others fled into the woods or to mainland Canada to avoid being deported. The ships stopped at many ports along the Atlantic coast, dropping off a few dozen Acadians in each city. Since the Acadians spoke a different language and practiced a different religion from the American colonists, they had trouble fitting in, and suffered many hardships. Most of the transplanted Acadians moved on within a few years. Some returned to Canada, while others ended up in French-speaking settlements in the West Indies. A large group of Acadians migrated to New Orleans, where their ancestors became known by the shortened name Cajuns.

Many historians have criticized the British for their treatment of the Acadians. In his book Crucible of War, Fred Anderson compared the deportation of the Acadians to modern "ethnic cleansing" operations, in which members of a certain racial or religious group try to get rid of all the people in their country who come from different backgrounds. Anderson and others have claimed that the main reason British authorities deported the Acadians was to make room for their own settlers to form colonies in Nova Scotia. In fact, five thousand British settlers had moved to Nova Scotia by 1763, and some of them took over the farms and homesteads that once belonged to the Acadians.

Johnson wins the Battle of Lake George

The last part of Braddock's plan finally got underway in September 1755, when colonial and Indian forces under William Johnson began moving toward Fort St. Frédéric on Lake Champlain. Like Shirley, Johnson was unsure about his skills as a general and was not eager to go into battle. Johnson had struggled for months to train his thirty-five hundred troops, build or hire boats, and transport cannons and other supplies to Lake George, which would serve as the launching point for his expedition. To be safe, he also decided to build a British fort on the Hudson River, called Fort Edward, before he attacked the French fort.

The French officer in charge of Fort St. Frédéric was Baron Ludwig August (also known as Jean-Armand) Dieskau (1701-1767). Dieskau had three thousand men to defend the fort. After receiving reports from scouts about British preparations, Dieskau decided to attack Fort Edward. The British fort was only partially completed and lightly defended at this time. Dieskau hoped to destroy the boats, cannons, and other supplies stored there so the British could not use them in an attack against Fort St. Frédéric. If he was successful in capturing Fort Edward, Dieskau might be able to roll back the British defenses all the way to Albany.

Dieskau took a force of fifteen hundred men—including about two hundred regular French Army soldiers, six hundred irregular Canadian militia soldiers, and seven hundred Indian warriors—to attack Fort Edward. By early September, the French and Indian forces had advanced to the strategic spot where Lake George and Lake Champlain meet, known as Carillon by the French and Ticonderoga by the British. As they neared Fort Edward, however, the Indians told Dieskau that they were not willing to attack a fixed defensive position like the fort. Unable to change the warriors' minds, Dieskau decided to attack Johnson's camp on Lake George instead.

In the meantime, Johnson's Mohawk scouts told the general that the French were nearing Fort Edward. Johnson immediately sent one thousand colonial troops and two hundred Mohawk warriors from his camp to help defend the fort. The French and British forces ran into each other a short distance from Johnson's camp on the morning of September 8. The American colonial soldiers lacked the strict discipline and training of the British regulars. Instead of standing still and fighting in formation, they fought from cover in the woods as they retreated back toward their camp. Johnson's remaining men heard the shots in the distance and quickly strengthened the camp's defenses.

The French and Indian forces chased the British back to the camp on Lake George. At this point, however, the Indians once again refused to attack an enemy stronghold. The Canadian troops took their cue from the Indians and stopped fighting as well. Hoping to shame his irregular forces into attacking, Dieskau ordered his two hundred French regulars to storm the British defenses. This turned out to be a terrible mistake, as the French soldiers were cut down by cannon and musket fire long before they reached the enemy. Dieskau was wounded and eventually captured by the British.

The French and Indian forces soon retreated back into the woods. About four hundred men stopped to rest near the original site of the battle. They did not realize that two hundred British colonial troops were approaching their position from the other direction. British leaders at Fort Edward had heard the battle and sent these forces to help Johnson. The colonials launched a surprise attack on the disorganized French and Indian forces and killed or captured nearly all of them.

The British had won the battle, which came to be known as the Battle of Lake George. Johnson was hailed as a hero, even though his expedition had failed even to approach Fort St. Frédéric. The French remained in control of Lake Champlain and built another fort at Carillon (Ticonderoga) at the north end of Lake George. The British did not advance any further and instead built a fort at the south end of Lake George, called Fort William Henry, to protect the road to Albany.

Robert Stobo, Daring British Prisoner of War

Robert Stobo was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1727. He immigrated to the American colonies as a young man and settled in Virginia, where he became a prosperous merchant. Stobo was a captain in the Virginia militia at the time the French and Indian War began. In fact, he accompanied George Washington's troops into the Ohio Country in 1754.

Stobo was taken hostage by the French following the British defeat in the Battle of Fort Necessity. He initially was held at Fort Duquesne as a prisoner of war. Stobo secretly created a detailed map of the fort and smuggled it out with visiting Indians. The Indians delivered the map to Washington as British forces under General Edward Braddock approached Fort Duquesne in 1755.

After Braddock's forces suffered a terrible defeat, however, the French discovered Stobo's map among Braddock's captured papers. The French then sent Stobo to Quebec and put him on trial for treason (betraying the country). He was sentenced to be executed on November 8, 1755, but the sentence was never carried out because the king never approved the execution.

Stobo remained in Quebec for the next four years. He spent some of this time in prison, but as the years passed he made friends in the city and was allowed more freedom. Stobo finally escaped in the spring of 1759 and made a dangerousjourney down the St. Lawrence River to Louisbourg. There he joined the British forces that were preparing to attack Quebec. Stobo served in the army of General James Wolfe (1727-1759; see entry) and supposedly pointed out the cove where Wolfe launched his successful attack on the French city.

Once the British forces captured Quebec, Stobo returned to Virginia. He received official thanks from the colonial government and a monetary reward. He also received a promotion from the army along with his back pay for the years he was held prisoner. Stobo rejoined the army and served in Canada, the West Indies, and England through 1770. Then his name disappears from army records, and it is unclear what happened to him.

In 1767, Stobo had purchased land on Lake Champlain in New York with the intention of settling there. He had also received a land bounty of nine thousand acres on the Ohio River (in what is now West Virginia) for his military service. Washington tried repeatedly to find Stobo so that he could purchase Stobo's land claims, but he never located the former captain. Historians suspect that Stobo died in England, New York, or West Virginia around 1772. His wartime adventures were captured in the book Memoirs of Major Robert Stobo of the Virginia Regiment, published in 1800.

A French Soldier Recalls Braddock's Defeat

The following excerpt is taken from the journal of Jolicoeur Charles Bonin, a young Frenchman who traveled through the French colonies in North America between 1751 and 1761. During this time, he served with the French military and took part in several battles of the French and Indian War. In this passage, he describes General Edward Braddock's defeat on the Monongahela River from the point of view of a French soldier.

On the morning of July 9th the march [of French and Indian forces from Fort Duquesne] was begun.… The army marched through the woods in three columns to meet the enemy [British and American forces under Braddock], with our scouts always in the advance. At noon, the army halted when the news came that part of the enemy's army, with its artillery had crossed the river, and had halted to await the rear guard and the baggage train. We were then only a quarter league [about one mile] from them. Immediately the order was given to advance in double-quick time, and to attack the enemy simultaneously from the front and both flanks. This order was hastily carried out. The savages [Indians] shouted their war cry, and the French opened fire with a volley [round], which was followed by a volley by the savages. The enemy, taken by surprise, formed a line of battle, and fired their artillery. [Captain Daniel Lienard] De Beaujeu [commander of the French and Indian forces] was killed by the first volley; and the savages, terrified by the unfamiliar noise of the cannon, took flight momentarily. But Captain [Jean-Daniel] Dumas took command immediately after Sieur de Beaujeu's death, and encouraged the French. The savages saw the steadfastness of the Frenchmen and no longer heard the cannon, which the French had seized. They, therefore, returned to charge the enemy, following the French example, and forced them to retreat after two hours of fierce combat.… The English hastily crossed the river, where many were killed by the never-ending hail of bullets upon them. In his flight, the enemy lost artillery, baggage train, and fifteen flags, as well as the military chest [a trunk containing important documents].… General Braddock was wounded in the battle, and taken away by the fugitives [fleeing soldiers] in a coach [stagecoach], which was with the rear guard on the other side of the river. It was indeed a fancy article, absolutely useless in the forest and mountains where it was the first one ever to be seen.…

Once the British retreated, the French and Indian forces moved across the battlefield, destroying the British cannons, emptying the military chest of money and documents, and searching the bodies of dead soldiers for valuables. Bonin ends his discussion of the battle by criticizing Braddock's performance.

General Braddock made the same mistake as Baron Dieskau [the French general who lost the Battle of Lake George] by arranging his troops in formal battle order in the middle of the forest. In this way, they could not make an effective attack, and ran the risk of being overcome, as did happen. This was the opinion of the French Canadians, from which it may be concluded that it is wiser to use the fighting methods of the country you are in.

Source: Bonin, Jolicoeur Charles. Memoir of a French and Indian War Soldier. Edited by Andrew Gallup. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1993. First published as Voyage au Canada, dans le nord de l'Amérique Septentrionale, depuis l'an 1751 à 1761, par J. C. B. Quebec: Abbé H. R. Casgrain, 1887.

Longfellow Describes the Acadian Tragedy in "Evangeline"

American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) used the tragic story of the Acadians as the background for his famous poem "Evangeline." The Acadians were French-speaking Catholics who were forced to leave their homes when the British took control of Nova Scotia during the French and Indian War. Thousands of Acadians were loaded onto British ships and transported down the Atlantic coast to the American colonies. Small groups were dropped off in coastal cities from New Hampshire to North Carolina. Since the Acadians spoke a different language and practiced a different religion from the colonists, they remained outsiders and suffered many hardships. Some Acadians eventually made their way back to Canada, while others migrated to French-speaking settlements in the Caribbean islands or in Louisiana, where they became known as Cajuns.

Longfellow's poem centers around the fictional character of Evangeline, a gentle seventeen-year-old beauty who is the daughter of one of Acadia's wealthiest farmers. Evangeline loves Gabriel, the son of the respected blacksmith in the village of Grand-Pre. Evangeline leads a happy life in her peaceful village until the British arrive and take over Nova Scotia. A short time later, she and the other villagers are herded onto British ships. In the confusion, Evangeline and Gabriel are separated. The restof the poem describes Evangeline's difficult life in America and her struggles to find her beloved Gabriel.

In the following excerpt from "Evangeline," Longfellow describes the emptiness of the land, now that the people who had lived there for generations are gone. He compares the Acadians to autumn leaves that have been scattered by the wind:

This is the forest primeval [ancient]; but where are the hearts that beneath it

Leaped like the roe [deer], when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman?

Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Acadian farmers—

Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands,

Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of heaven?

Waste [destroyed] are those pleasant farms, and the farmers forever departed!

Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts of October

Seize them, and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far o'er [over] the ocean.

Naught [nothing] but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pre.

Source: Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Evangeline. Holicong, PA: Wildside Press, 2002. Poem written in 1847.