Camp de Belair: Ten Years After -...

Camp de Belair: Ten Years After

Prepared for:

Groupe de développement durable du Pays de Cocagne Sustainable Development Group Inc.

C.P. 1035, Cocagne, NB E4R 1N6

By:

Archaeoconsulting Inc. Kevin Leonard, Ph.D.

21 Lucille Street Shediac Bridge, NB

E4R 1N3

December 15, 2009

(Revised February 22, 2010)


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A. Background In June of 1999, a reporter from the Moncton Times-Transcript called to ask if I would accompany her and a photographer to the cottage of Robert Langis in Cocagne. Mr. Langis had told the paper about Acadian “burial mounds” on his property. Since the paper had run stories about my work in the Shediac area, they had me on file and asked me to evaluate his claims. I agreed and visited Mr. Langis on June 18. He led me to the site on his lawn. The micro-topography was enhanced as he had mowed the grass quite short. The mounds were between depressions in the soil, three of them side by side, about the size and shape of grave shafts. If one saw these depressions in an historic cemetery, one would deduce that they were graves. However, on a cottage lawn on the Cocagne River, the depressions could have resulted from any number of processes, quite unrelated to graves. My skepticism began to fade as he told me of an oral tradition that he, as a long time summer resident of Cocagne, was familiar with. There were believed to be Acadians buried there who had been refugees from the British during the Expulsion in 1755. When I inquired if any bones had been found, he replied that they had. Bones were unearthed when workers had excavated the foundation for a dance hall. The bones had been taken for analysis and were determined to be human, then re-buried in a Roman Catholic cemetery in Cocagne. The excavating machinery had unearthed the skeletal remains about 10 metres from the three depressions in Mr. Langis’ yard. I returned to the site on June 23 with reporter Connie Corbett and photographer Greg Agnew. During this visit I made a sketch map of the depressions and the general area and took photographs. A front-page story appeared in Saturday’s Times-Transcript, included in Appendix A, a series of news clipping from the summer and fall of 1999. Given the flood of interest this publicity created, I agreed to try to resolve the matter by excavating a trench across the part of the central depression, exposing the knees of the corpse, assuming that they were buried with their feet facing the river. My strategy was to expose the knee joints, photograph and measure them, then remove a patella and submit it for C-14 and DNA testing, possibly at UPEI, as I wrote in my field note book at the time. The patella, or kneecap, is a sesamoid bone, one that grows in a ligament over a joint. They are dense, so more likely to survive the ages than flat or long bones, which are more porous. Additionally, observations of the exposed knee joints might reveal useful information about the individual’s age and stature. In July and August, the Maritime Road Development Corporation engaged me to monitor highway construction in River Glade and Oromocto. I also began excavation of an eroding shell midden site on Shediac Island. Occupied with these projects, I was too busy to seek funding for the testing. However, in the fall I worked together with the Cocagne Historical Society to petition Parks Canada for financial support. We had a meeting with their representative in New Brunswick, Claude DeGrace, but he told us they were already committed to other Acadian historic sites and had no funding for the Camp de Belair.


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Before we met with M. DeGrace, I attended a meeting of the Cocagne Historical Society During the meeting, one of the society members, a life-long resident of Cocagne, reported that what were believed to be human bones had been unearthed by bulldozers working on the construction of Route 11 on the north bank of the Cocagne river in the 1970’s. No regulations were in place at that time to mitigate archaeological losses, so no actions were taken to salvage the exposed burials. The existing Route 11 corridor is within 150 to 200 metres of the site on Robert Langis’s lawn.

B. Historical background The publicity Mr. Langis generated for the Camp de Belair emphasized its part in the Expulsion of the Acadians. It was certainly used in the winter of 1755-56. Acadians displaced by the British from their homes along the Petitcodiac in November of 1758 (Ganong 1930a) may have spent the winter at Camp de Belair as well. Archival documents suggest that the site of Camp de Belair was used as an Acadian cemetery on two occasions after 1760. Oral history suggests there is a First Nations component to the site as well, certainly during the 1750’s (Cormier 1993:31); possibly before then and after as well. For the period of occupation as a refugee camp in the winter of 1755-56, the site did not exist in isolation. However, thanks to historical documents, it is the best known of the 18th century sites in Cocagne (figure 1). The French military presence was part of the strategic activities during the colonial Anglo-Franco war in the mid-18th century (the Seven Year’s War). After it ended in 1760, some Acadians returned to Cocagne. Tensions had simmered after England and France signed the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Vague wording in the treaty lead to the French and British both claiming the part of Acadia that is now New Brunswick. The struggle for New Brunswick accelerated in 1749, when the British built Citadel Hill and founded the settlement that would become Halifax. The same year, the French military engineer Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry led a team of soldiers in the construction of fortified supply depots in Shediac Bay. He also built a road from the headwaters of the Shediac River, following an ancient portage route, to Humphrey’s Brook (Leonard 2001). He also built military barracks and a hospital at the confluence of the Memramcook and Petitcodiac Rivers (Brun 1995). All these military preparations were hidden from the British, who had no forces in New Brunswick. The soldiers, commanded by Chevalier de la Corne and led in the construction by Lieutenant de Léry, hastily built the first stockade at Fort Beauséjour in the spring of 1750. A month later, General Lawrence anchored offshore and tried to land his forces but the French resistance, aided by a band of First Nations fighters, was able to repel them. Lawrence was forced to retreat to Halifax. However, the British returned and eventually


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prevailed, capturing Fort Beauséjour in June of 1755. The fort was much bigger by then, after five years of expansion. The same French military engineer who oversaw the building of roads, warehouses, hospitals and barracks in Shediac and Memramcook in 1749-50, and ultimately established the beachhead at Ft. Beausejour, Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry, also visited Cocagne in 1750 and left a one-page written account of his visit (de Léry 1750) attached as Appendix B. And so it was that when the British forces began their rampage in the summer of 1755, burning Acadian farms and capturing all the residents they could, the Acadians of Chipoudie, Memramcook and Sackville fled to Cocagne, a place known to them, but far enough from British territory to provide safe refuge in the winter of 1755-56. Although we have no record of how the refugees and their priest, Abbé le Guerne, arrived there, some may have crossed to the Scoudouc River and entered Shediac Bay, then overland to Cocagne. Those fleeing Chipoudie may have ascended the Petitcodiac to Le Coude (Moncton) then proceeded up Humphrey’s Brook and across the road de Léry had built linking it to the Shediac River in the winter of 1749-50 (Ganong 1930a:105).

1. Camp De Belair

a) Background: 1755-56 In September of 1755, refugees gathered at a location, apparently selected by Boishébert, on the north side of the Cocagne River near its mouth. It was near enough the bay to be navigable by ships but concealed by a low headland from passing vessels in the Northumberland Strait and Cocagne Bay. The best source of information on the refugee camp is the letters of Abbé le Guerne, the priest from Sackville ministering to the residents of Camp de Belair. The Abbé provides a wealth of information about the movements of the French resistance forces and their First Nations allies but very little about the day-to-day life of the Acadian refugees under his care. He notes that there were about 60 Acadian families at the camp (Le Guerne 1756:353). The First Nations camp may have been adjacent to Camp de Belair, on the upriver side of it. That land was stripped for topsoil and sandstone in the 20th century, so all archaeological traces have disappeared. Likewise, the topsoil and part of the sandstone bedrock beneath it, between the Langis residence and the riverbank, was removed in the 1950’s (Marcel Langis, personal communication, 2009). Figure 3 shows the cottage of Marcel Langis below the grave sites. It is on the land where the topsoil and sandstone were removed, so no archaeological remains should be expected there. W. F. Ganong (1899:291) made note of Camp de Belair, citing information he had received from Placide Gaudet. The latter told Ganong the site was six or seven miles up the Cocagne, on the north side. Flora Cormier (1993:26) provides an excellent map by


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Eugène Goguen which depicts the site of Camp de Belair as “Site de L’Ancien Cimetiere de Cocagne.” Cormier (1993:31) discusses the role of Camp de Belair as the Acadian refugee camp in 1755-56, and its continued use as a cemetery. Cormier (1993:34) cites Brun (1984), who writes that the first wife of Joseph Gueguen, (Nanon or Anne) was buried at Camp de Belair in 1767. No archaeological excavations have been carried out at the site. However, Cormier (1993:33) tells us that in 1964, a local elder, Philippe LeBlanc, reported that the priest at Cocagne from 1894-1916 told him to dig a dozen test pits at Camp de Belair, to see if the graves were really there. The priest was transferred out of the parish before Philippe could do the dig. As outlined above, I also abandoned plans to dig, a century or so later. As noted above, excavation for the foundation of a dance hall, possibly built during the “Roaring Twenties,” unearthed bones. According to Marcel Langis, (Robert’s brother) the bones were analysed and identified as human, then reburied in the current Roman Catholic cemetery in Cocagne. Taken together, the oral and documentary history leave little doubt that human burials exist, or at least existed, at the site. Some of the graves were undoubtedly the resting place of refugees who died there in the winter on 1755-56. b) 1758-59 On Monday, November 13, 1758, Major George Scott docked in Halls Creek, from where he would oversee complete destruction of the Acadian settlements from Le Coude (Moncton) to Village des Beausoleils (Salisbury). He dispatched Captains Cobb, Danks and Gorham, as well as four lieutenants, up both sides of the river, burning buildings and crops, slaughtering cattle and taking prisoners where they could (Ganong 1930a). Against advice from clergy, many of the Acadians who had been routed in 1755 had returned, rebuilt their settlements and resumed life on their farms. Captain Gorham returned from his mission Thursday morning, having burned in excess of a hundred buildings, with one prisoner. That afternoon, Captain Danks arrived back at Halls Creek and reported burning 123 buildings on the south side of the river, between Riverview and Salisbury. Danks took no prisoners. At that point, Major Scott sent an Acadian man, whose wife and children he held captive on his ship, out to the Acadians who had escaped with a message. In an attempt to frighten them into surrendering, he threatened them with harm or death if they were ever caught. The Acadian man returned to the ship at midnight, only to report that the Acadians were “making off as fast as they could for Kokaigna, Jedaique, and Miramichie” (Ganong 1931:104). In the footnotes to the published text of Major Scott’s report (and map made during the expedition), Ganong notes that by that date, the refugee camp on the Miramichi, Camp de L’Esperance, had also been destroyed by a British naval expedition. Ganong (1931:105) also notes that “the expelled French no doubt all passed over the French road from the Bend to Jedaique (Shediac), from whence they would pass by sea to Kokaigna (Cocagne) and Miramichi.” Here he refers to the road built in the winter of 1749-50 by Lt. de Léry.


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If over 200 buildings were burned, we can estimate that a third of them may have been dwellings. Seventy houses is an estimate. If each held six occupants, that would mean 420 Acadian men, women and children fleeing along the road to Shediac, in the middle of November. By the time they reached Shediac, where they could get passage on boats to Cocagne, perhaps they were able to learn from the Mi’kmaqs in Shediac that the Miramichi refugee camp had been destroyed. In that case, the site of Camp de Belair may have been their only resort. This time, there may not have been any priests with them to record the ordeal for history. c) 1760’s to 1780’s The peacetime settlement of Cocagne, beginning in 1767, is covered by Cormier (1993). Some settlers who died in the subsequent two decades may have been interred at the cemetery in Camp de Belair. Further archival research may shed light on this chapter of the site’s history. d) 1810 A letter written by Father Antoine Gagnon in 1810 asks the Bishop in Quebec whether the land at Camp de Belair needed to be consecrated in order to use it as a burial ground at that time, since it had previously been used for Roman Catholic interment of Acadians (Gagnon 1809). It is unclear what came of this request, and whether Acadians were buried there in 1810 or shortly thereafter. e) Summary From the evidence available, it appears there were four episodes when Acadians could have been buried at the site. The first was in the winter of 1755-56. The second was the winter of 1758-59. The third was from 1767 to the 1780’s. Following that, it may have been used for a short time after 1810, as indicated by Fr. Gagnon’s request. Further study of archival documents, parish records and oral history may clarify the latter two episodes.

2. Ruisseau des Malcontents While researching this report, I called Régis Brun at the Centre d’Études Acadienne to see if I could discuss aspects of the study. That morning, he had a visitor in his office, Alvin Petitpas, whose boyhood home was on the north bank of Ruisseau des Malcontents, at it’s mouth. I met the two in Régis’ office and Mr. Petitpas explained that he had recently acquired a box with land registry documents for the family property at Ruisseau des Malcontents. See figure 7 for an example. He was interested in passing on his knowledge of the site where a group of Acadian refugees had lived for a time, according to local oral history. Three days later, Mr. Petitpas arrived at my house in Shediac Bridge and we drove in his car to his old family home in Cormierville (figure 1). He explained why he felt it was, or


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would have been, an excellent place for the Acadians to seek refuge. The tidal flats extend far offshore making it impossible for a British war ship to approach the location. From the site, one can see all the way north to the Buctouche dune and south to Parlee Beach. Moreover, in the past the shoreline projected to a low headland offshore, which would enhance the lookout qualities of the site. Examining the coastline in Figure 8, we see the Bar de Cocagne and a small island offshore from it called The Bluff. Two centuries ago, The Bluff was the headland of a projection of low land extending eastward from the mainland in the shape of a triangle. This is seen in figure 9, a tracing of a map from the late 18th century. The same landform is included in a map published by Ganong (1906) (figure 10)1. The triangular headland is isolated from the rest of the map, which is of the Cocagne Bay shoreline. On the Cocagne Bay map, the location of Camp de Belair is marked as “Cleared land and orchards” and “Cleared.” The other location mapped on the south shore of Cocagne Bay is labelled as “Mons d’Yberville,” discussed separately below. The triangular headland is shown in isolation in the lower right corner of the map (figure 10), with the notation “Settlement” beside a dot just north of the headland, on the current mainland coast (see figure 8). On the late 1700’s map (figure 9) we can see that this dot is within the 450 acres of land granted to Joseph Gueguen in 1767. This “Settlement” is almost a kilometre north of Ruisseau des Malcontents. In the absence of supporting documentation, it is speculation, but the names suggest that the official refugee camp at in the winter of 1755-56 at Camp de Belair may have had a satellite camp; either at the mouth of the Ruisseau des Malcontents or a kilometer north, on the north side of the headland that existed then, at the site marked “Settlement.” Furthermore, this dot may be close to the location of Joseph Gueguen’s pioneer homestead in the late 1760’s. Did he choose to settle at the location established by “les Malcontents?” As Alvin Petitpas points out, access to the point was crucial, to establish a clear look out along the coast from Buctouche to Shediac. Since the British were in mainland Nova Scotia, they would sail from the south to attack Cocagne. Therefore establishing a camp on the north side of the point would have concealed it better from the enemies approach. French ships from Quebec sailing south along the coast would see the settlement on the north side of the point, but this would not have been a concern for “les Malcontents.” Another possibility is that the Ruisseau des Malcontents derives its name from the refugees forced to spend the winter of 1758-89 in Cocagne. We have no way of knowing whether they sought refuge at Camp de Belair, which was known to them from its importance in 1755-56, or at the “Settlement” north of Ruisseau des Malcontents on the coast.

1 Until its name was changed to Bar de Cocagne in the late 1960’s, the headland was called Dixon Point. Now, the headland on the south shore of Bouctouche Bay, formerly called Giddis Point, is called Dixon Point. In summary, what Ganong refers to as Dixon Point is now called Bar de Cocagne.


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3. Mons D’Yberville As Ganong (1906:123) notes in the caption to his Map No. 28, the origin of this site is enigmatic. The similarity to the name de Niverville lead Bourque (1993) to interpret this as the military encampment established by Boishebert and maintained in his absence by François Boucher de Niverville de Grandpré from 1755 to 1759. Over the decades of discussion by historians, (cf. Webster 1931) this site has become known as “Boishebert’s Camp.” An archaeological team led by André Chaisson (1993) excavated 189 shovel test pits in the marsh at this location but found no artifacts from any time period. Two hundred and fifty years ago the land at this spot may have been slightly more elevated and drier, but because the terrain is flat and poorly drained, it may not have been suitable for a military outpost even then. In figure 1, the dot on the map marking “Mons. D’Yberville” is surrounded by a dashed line. The enclosed area is about half a square kilometer. Was this line meant to demarcate an area of marsh that could have been drained with dykes and aboiteaux to form pasture? The plausibility of this hypothesis is diminished by the fact that d’Yberville is not an Acadian family name. If Camp de Belair was established by Boishébert, how can we be sure that he would have established a separate camp for him and his military forces: the so-called Boishebert’s Camp? Why wouldn’t Boishébert and his men have camped at Camp de Belair? Were Abbé le Guerne and the Acadians the only residents there? The priest’s comments suggest the First Nations mercenary fighters used by Boishébert were camped in a sector of Camp de Belair. Perhaps Boishébert himself was camped nearby as well, meaning that Camp de Belair and Boishebert’s Camp are one in the same. However, another possibility exists.

4. Boishébert’s Boatyard Placide Gaudet writes that Boishebert had a camp at Cap de Cocagne: “Cap de Cocagne … c’est a cet endroit que Boishébert y établis son camp.” (Gaudet n.d.:2). This may be the location on a map he prepared for W. F. Ganong, now in the Ganong Collection at the New Brunswick Museum Archives (Ganong 1930b). The map has an arrow pointing to the shoreline just south of the current wharf at Cap de Cocagne, with the notation indicating that Lt. Boishébert built a vessel there after his ship was wrecked. The location, shown in figure 1, is near the existing wharf and marina In 2000, while I was researching the location of the supply depots de Léry built in Shediac (Leonard 2001), I saw the map mentioned above, and conducted an informal survey the shoreline. I parked at the Cap de Cocagne wharf and walked southward along the shore at low tide but found no artifacts from the 18th century. The cliffs here are about 4 metres high and actively eroding. An establishment to build or repair boats would have been on the shore but that 18th century shoreline would have long since eroded. It could be argued that the boatyard referred to by Placide Gaudet is the real “Boishébert’s Camp.” Living quarters for the officers and troops along with a foury or


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oven would be expected. Perhaps they lived in tents while building or repairing Boishébert’s boat. The only permanent structure may have been a foury or oven, but an open fire may have sufficed for cooking. Further research should be aimed at determining when, where and why Boishébert suffered a shipwreck. If any mid-18th century artifacts have been found on the shore or in the fields near the Cap de Cocagne wharf, the find spots should be mapped and the artifacts analysed. Régis Brun suggests that there may be an unbroken oral history from the mid-17th century, knowledge passed on by Joseph Gueguen’s grandson to Placide Gaudet. This explains the reliability of the map indicating Boishébert’s boatyard, as well as Camp de Belair. The only unexplained reference is to Monsieur d’Yberville’s name written in the area of the marais de St.-Marcel. If it is, in fact, a misspelling of Monsieur de Niverville, perhaps the unusual orientation of the map, with north at the bottom of the page, caused some confusion and the name was intended to be on the east side of L’Anse de Cocagne, i.e., where Placide Gaudet indicates the location of Boishébert’s boatyard.

C. Recommendations for further research Cocagne’s 18th century history merits more attention. The events that played out here were pivotal in the formation of the cultural heritage of the region, the province, and the nation. This report attempts to clarify some of the research problems but much work remains to be done. Sadly, the first Acadians who lived in Cocagne were on the run. Their tragic tale unfolded at Camp de Belair, established by Boishébert. Their deaths during the winters of 1755-56 and possible 1758-89 are marked by the graves that have been accidentally dug up at the site in the past, and may still exist there, based on surface topography at the site. Evidence of their independence and resilience may lie at the “Settlement” north of the Ruisseau des Malcontents. If Joseph Gueguen chose this location for his land grant because it was the settlement of a splinter group of refugees, this would in effect extend the oral history of Cocagne back to 1755 or 1758. As noted above, the “Settlement” is about a kilometer north of the stream that bears its name. Future efforts should focus on locating and evaluating the archaeological condition of the settlement of “les Malcontents”. The road built between the Shediac River and Humphrey’s Brook in 1749 by the French military engineer de Léry played a pivotal role in the history of Camp de Belair. Although it is outside the Cocagne watershed, it is a linear archaeological site related to the 18th century Cocagne sites. Although a buffer zone where it might be expected was mapped for an archaeological impact assessment (Leonard 2004), the road has never been located. Remote sensing techniques combined with test excavation trenches could be used to try to find it. Locating the burial sites at Camp de Belair is still the most pressing issue. An archaeologist in Port Angeles, Washington, used dogs trained to identify the scent of


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decomposed human remains to help him find human burials in archaeological sites along shore the Strait of Juan de Fuca (Peninsula Daily News 2009). This method might be useful at Camp de Belair. In case more burials are found at Camp de Belair, efforts could be made to determine the family names of the Acadians buried at Camp de Belair. History tells us where the refugees originated and some knowledge exists of the family names at these settlements (e.g., Brun 2005:62), so this exercise could yield useful information. As part of the research for this paper in 2009, I completed a Maritime Archaeological Research inventory form for the Camp de Belair site. The province assigned it the Borden number CbDd-15. Every effort should be made to ensure that any household excavations on or near the site are carried out with the knowledge of provincial Archaeological Services, Heritage Branch, Fredericton. Artifacts found in the vicinity should also be brought to their attention.

D. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the late Robert Langis, his brother Marcel Langis, his daughter Marcia Bears and her husband Roy Bears, current proprietors of the site, for their interest, hospitality and valuable information on the 20th century history of Camp de Belair. The Moncton Times-Transcript deserves credit for taking Mr. Langis seriously and arranging for me to visit the site in 1999. The late Flora Cormier and other members of the Cocagne Historical Society showed commitment and a collegial spirit during the 1999 research and conservation efforts. Alvin Petitpas, of Richibucto Village, showed a laudable concern for keeping history alive for posterity and took steps to act on his beliefs by bringing the site of Ruisseau des Malcontents to the attention of historical researchers. As always, my friend and colleague Régis Brun, archivist at the Centre D’Études Acadienne, Université de Moncton, helped guide me through the maze of documents. His thirst for insights into local history both inspires and humbles me. Finally, my sincere thanks go out to Jocelyne Gauvin, Coordinator, and the members of the Groupe de développement durable du Pays de Cocagne Sustainable Development Group Inc., for their tireless devotion to their community and for offering me the opportunity, and funding, to complete this research. Errors and omissions are my fault alone.


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E. Bibliography

Bigot, Intendant François 1905 Lettre de Bigot datée du 5 septembre, 1755. Canadian Archives for 1905,

Volume II. C. H. Parmelle, Ottawa.

Bourque, Gilles 1993 Le poste de Niverville: rapport historique. Cahiers de la Société Historique de

Grande-Digue 1: 7-19.

Brun, Régis 2005 The Acadians before 1755. Privately printed, Moncton NB. 1995 Le Fort de Chédaîque, 1749, Sur L’Empremier, La Gazette de la Société

Historique de la Mer Rouge 3(5): 4-10. 1984 Joseph Gueguen, pionnier de la Nouvelle Acadie. Editions d’Acadie,

Moncton.

Chiasson, André 1993 Reconnaissances archéologiques à la baie de Cocagne. Cahiers de la Société

Historique de Grande-Digue 1: 21-31.

Cormier, Flora 1993 Cocagne; 225 ans d’histoire. Tribune Pres Ltd., Sackville, NB.

Gagnon, L’Abbé Antoine 1809 Missionaire en Acadie 1809 - Notes Bibliographique de Placide Gaudet 25

sheets. CEA 1.54-33.

Ganong, William F. 1930a The report and map of Major George Scott’s expedition to remove the French

from the Petitcodiac in 1758. New Brunswick Historical Society 13:97-114. 1930b Map in the New Brunswick Museum Archives, Ganong Collection, Box 6, pkt

4, fol. 4, it. 70. 1906 Additions and Corrections to Monographs on the Place-nomenclature,

Cartography, Historic Sites, Boundaries and Settlement-origins of the Province of New Brunswick. Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Section II, 12:3-150.

1899 A Monograph of Historic Sites in the Province of New Brunswick. Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Second Series, Volume V: 213-357.

Gaudet, Placide n.d. Gédaic, Cocagne et Mirimichi. Centre d’Études Acadienne.

Langis, Marcel 2009 Personal communication, Cocagne.

Larracey, Edward W. 1985 Chocolate River. A Story of the Petitcodiac River. Lancelot Press, Hantsport.


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Lavoie, Marc 1994 Reconnaissance archéologique au Cap de Cocagne, à Grande-Digue et à la

rivière Shediac: rapport préliminaire. 18 pp. Ms on file with Archaeological Services, Fredericton.

Le Guerne, M. Abbé 1756 Lettre by Abbé Le Guerne written at Camp de Bel-Air, Cocagne. 7 pp.

Published by M. C.- O. Gagnon, Archives of Quebec, 1889.

Leonard, Kevin J. 2004 Archaeological screening of three proposed water pipeline routes for the City

of Dieppe, Westmorland Countty, New Brunswick. Manuscript on file at Archaeological Services, Heritage Branch, Fredericton.

2001 A survey for French military supply depots built in 1749-50 at the port of Shediac and on the Shediac River. Manuscript on file with the Shediac Bay Watershed Association and Archaeological Services, Heritage Branch, Fredericton.

1999 New Brunswick Archaeological Research Permit Application for: Test Excavations at a possible Acadian refugee grave site, Cocagne, Kent County, NB. 6 pp. Ms. on file with Archaeological Services, Heritage Branch, Fredericton.

1997 Archaeological reconnaissance of northern shoreline of Cocagne Island, Kent County, NB. 5 pp. Ms. on file with Archaeological Services, Fredericton.

Léry, Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de 1750 Mémoire sur le port de Cocagne. 1 pp. Transcribed by Réné Baudry. Centre

d’études Acadiennes, U de M: CEA 20.6-21-pp1-9.

Peninsula Daily News 2009 http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20091130/NEWS/311309991

(Accessed Dec 10, 2009)

Surrette, Paul 1988 Petcoudiac: Colonisation et destruction 1731-1755. Les Éditions d’Acadie,

Moncton.

Webster, John Clarence 1928 History of Shediac, New Brunswick. Privately Printed. (Reprinted by New

Brunswick Museum, 1953). 1930 Forts of Chignecto. A Study of the Eighteenth Century Conflict between

France and Great Britain in Acadia. Privately Printed. 1931 Charles des Champs de Boishébert. A Canadian Soldier in Acadia. Privately

Printed.

Figure 1. Location of sites mentioned in text.

Ruisseau des Malcontents

Boishebert’s Boatyard?

Camp de Belair

Mons. D’Yberville

Ruisseau des Malcontents (“Settlement”)

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Figure 2. The possible grave sites on the Robert Langis property.

Figure 3. Facing south to the Marcel Langis cottage and the Cocagne River.


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Figure 4. View north from the presumed grave site.

Figure 5. View southeast from the presumed grave site.

Rte 11 bridge


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Figure 6. Map included in archaeological research permit application (Leonard 1999:4)


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Figure 7. Page from 1899 land registry document citing Ruisseau des Malcontents.


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Figure 8. Section of Buctouche NTS map (1:50,000), with new Dixon Point at far north.

“Settlement”

Known as Dixon Point until the late 1960’s

Known as Giddis Point until the late 1960’s


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Figure 9. Reproduction of map originally in Gallant (1988), scanned from Cormier (1993:48).


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Figure 10. Map in Ganong (1906:123). Missing last sentence reads “… of which I know nothing further”


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Figure 11. Ruisseau des Malcontents, facing west from the bridge on highway 535.

Figure 12. Dwellings and barn on the north side of Ruisseau des Malcontents.


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Appendix A: Newspaper clippings from 1999

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