King George's War in Acadia

[orca]

Sounds fantastic! I absolutely can't wait for this. I do have a quick question/proposition. I see that there are to be more campaigns/scenarios covering a few of the smaller conflicts of the 18th and Early 19th centuries. I mentioned this before a long while ago, but is there any desire for some of the previous Anglo/French/Spanish conflicts (i.e. King William's War, Queen Anne's War, War of Jenkin's Ear/King George's War). I know these are relatively small conflicts, but perhaps a few short scenarios to cover them. I realize you will be very busy, but if others are willing to collaborate perhaps it could be modded in. I for one would volunteer to help compile oob data

I could have them included, BUT (no small but!) there are two key elements I would miss:

* detailed OOB for this
* lack of proper units bitmaps (and relevant sources), as I guess uniforms were different back then

In my continuing my quest to have the gold edition of BoA start in 1740, rather than 1755 I would like to suggest another possible scenario – King George’s War in Acadia.

King George’s war isn’t a great one to model with the game - mostly it was a war of raids along the frontier from Virginia to Maine. Nothing of any consequence with the exception of a few serious raids in Saratoga and Albany. But the war in the modern Canadian Maritimes was much closer to the type of warfare seen between 1755 and 1760. The problem with making a scenario of this part of the war is that the war was pretty one sided – various attacks on Nova Scotia in 1744, followed by a huge army from New England descending upon and taking Louisbourg in 1745. This army then mostly went home and the war continues with more back and forth in Nova Scotia. But I think it’s possible to make this more interesting by posing one simple counterfactual. In 1746 France sent a powerful force to retake Louisbourg under the Duke of Anville. The fleet ran into all sorts of mishaps, being scattered by storms twice before reaching Nova Scotia, and suffering plague and famine before being scattered by another storm as it went to try to take Annapolis Royal. So my counterfactual is that this force arrives in Nova Scotia intact, and then heads to New England by the end of 1746.

There is an excellent narrative account of the war at the Canadian armed forces web site:
http://www.cmhg.forces.gc.ca/cmh/en/page_109.asp
And because it’s Canada it’s also available of French to make things even easier for the ageod crew:
http://www.cmhg.forces.gc.ca/cmh/fr/page_109.asp

[orca]

Sources:
The summary on the Canadian Forces site is very good:
http://www.cmhg.forces.gc.ca/cmh/en/page_109.asp
http://www.cmhg.forces.gc.ca/cmh/fr/page_109.asp

My other main source is a History of Nova Scotia
http://www.blupete.com/Hist/NovaScotiaBk1/Part3/Ch06.htm


Other decent sources:
http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Our_Country_Vol_1/kinggeorg_if.html
Focusing on Annapolis:
http://www.militaryheritage.com/40th.htm
http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/pr/trts/hti/Marit/aca_e.html
http://www.louisbourg.ca/siege1745.htm
On the Anville expedition
http://books.google.com/books?id=T-9JF-J7b0kC&pg=PA87&lpg=PA87&dq=regiment+de+ponthieu+1746&source=web&ots=3kvyZQ4CBJ&sig=Vk59RfMv-IgTQ4MxWwPdS6YoU0A#PPA87,M1

My summary:

War between Britain and France broke out on March 18th, 1744. The French immediately sent an expedition from Louisbourg to take Canso, and on 13 May 1744 357 French soldiers, with some Indians landed outside Canso, which was blockaded by two privateers. As soon as they began firing their cannon the British garrison surrendered (apparently it was 85 men strong, although in general Canso was garrisoned by four companies of regulars). The French destroyed the blockhouse and abandoned the town.

In July, 400 Micmac and Malecite warriors (I think the latter are Abenakis) attacked Annapolis unsuccessfully. The French sent 50 regulars (from Louisbourg and the future PEI), who joined the Indians in a second attempt on Annapolis. The French brought hundreds of muskets in the expectation that the Acadian civilians would join them. This expectation was not realized. The French had no naval strength at Annapolis, so although they besieged Fort Anne from August through September they couldn’t stop British reinforcements, including Goreham’s rangers, which became an elite anti-indian unit on the British side, from reaching the fort. The French abandoned the siege and went back to Louisbourg at the end of September.

In December 1744 the Louisbourg garrison mutinied, but was bought off. In the mean time Shirley, the governor of Massachusetts had determined to raise a force to take Louisbourg. Eventually New England raised nine battalions of militia which were placed under Pepperell, a wealthy merchant from Kittery, Massachusetts (now Maine). The force occupied Canso on April 4 1745 and waited there for the ice to break. They were met there by a squadron of the Royal Navy. On the 30th of April the army landed near Louisbourg. On the next day, with a bit of luck, they seized and held the Grand Battery which dominated the entrance to the harbor. The siege dragged on until June 17th when, with an assault imminent and supplies failing the French surrendered with the honors of war.

In the mean time New France had sent help to Acadia in the form of some 300 Canadian troops. With 300 Indians, in early May 1745 they made another hal- hearted attempt to take Annapolis. They withdrew on May 24th when they learned that Louisbourg was under siege. They headed to Louisbourg, but the British intercepted a dispatch they sent ahead. The British sent a few ships to the Strait of Canso where they fell upon the Canadian/Indian army that was crossing in canoes.

Not much else happened in 1745 – the New Englanders consolidated their position in Louisbourg and most of their troops urgently wanted to go home. In September governor Shirley had to increase their pay to avert a mutiny.

In 1746 two regiments of British regulars (65th and 66th) were raised from the New England troops in Louisbourg. Their establishment was about 1,000 men each, but despite receiving 1,000 reinforcements from Boston neither was ever at establishment. Almost all of the New England volunteers from 1745 went home in the spring along with Pepperell, their commander. They were replaced by two full regular regiments and three additional companies sent from Gibraltar. (So the garrison was now four plus battalions of regulars, the three Gibraltar regiments, and the two regiments of disaffected New Englanders.)

In 1746 the French assembled a huge task force to retake Louisbourg, drive the British from Nova Scotia and to raid New England. The force was led by the Duke of Anville (sometimes Enville).

It consisted of some 11 ships of the line, 6 smaller warships and transports carrying 5 battalions of troops. From Quebec came some 600 Canadian militiamen with some regulars to rendezvous with the fleet. Joined by Micmacs and Malecites these arrived at the isthmus of Chignecto in June 1746 and spent most of the summer waiting for the fleet.

Anville’s fleet left Brest on May 22, but due to bad weather it had to put into La Rochelle until June 22. It was then scattered by a storm in the Bay of Biscay, left becalmed and short of provisions off the Azores, and then scattered by another storm there, and was finally scattered by another storm at Sable Island off the coast of Nova Scotia. Most of the fleet reunited in modern Halifax harbour on 10 September 1746, but without a lot of the supply ships. The crews were disease ridden and starving. Anville died of disease on September 16, and the second in command killed himself on the next day. The fleet obtained supplies from the locals, but continued to be ravaged by disease. On October 13th the fleet headed to try to take Annapolis (the force were no longer strong enough to attempt Louisbourg), but the fleet was scattered as it rounded Nova Scotia and when they heard that the garrison had been reinforced they decided to head home. A squadron of four ships of the line arrived from the Caribbean at the end of September, but couldn’t find the fleet and also went home.

Having waited out the summer, the Canadian force at the isthmus of Chignecto made a fourth attempt on Annapolis in early October. This time there were 700 soldiers and Indians. Again they were foiled when 300 reinforcements arrived from Massachusetts.

With the departure of the French fleet the British determined to drive the French from the Minas region and ultimately from the isthmus. In December a Massachusetts unit of about 150 men occupied Minas in anticipation of building a fort there and launching an offensive in the spring. The French sent 300 men with Indians over the snow to Grand Pre from the isthmus and on February 12 1747 they wiped out the British force.

Neither side did much in 1747. On 14 May 1747 a French convoy was defeated of Cape Finisterre in Spain, and command of the seas rested with Britain for the rest of the war. Upon hearing of this in June the New France government ordered Canadian forces in Acadia back to Quebec for it’s defense, and the war in Acadia was basically over.

[orca]

As in Florida/Georgia the goals of the two sides were pretty much absolute. The British wanted Louisbourg and would have liked to have driven the French from modern New Brunswick too. The French intended to drive all British forces out of Nova Scotia.

Defining what the boundaries for such a scenario should be is tricky. The obvious choice is the modern Canadian Maritimes, leaving the raids in Maine off-map. The big drawback is that this leaves nowhere for defeated armies to recuperate for another round. In real life either side could withdraw to Quebec or Boston and return to the theatre pretty much at will. But neither Quebec nor Boston was seriously threatened with invasion (Anville’s force was too small to do more than raid New England, although it was a big force for Nova Scotia), and I don’t see how you stop each side from attacking the other’s base. So I would go with the Canadian Maritimes as the geographical limit.

The population of Acadia in 1750 is shown here
The differences between 1744 and 1750 include:
-Halifax did not yet exist
-The British had not yet built Forts Edward and Lawrence
-The French had not yet built Forts Menagoueche, Beausejour, Gasparaux, and had not yet reoccupied Fort Nerepis or rebuilt the Fort Latour.
In addition Fort Jemseg had been abandoned in 1701, and Fort Naswaak had been abandoned in 1698.

I believe that the Acadian population of Annapolis dropped between 1744 and 1750 as it was at the center of the war and the British were unhappy with the perceived disloyalty of the populace.

The only British posts were at Canso and Annapolis. Canso should be in the Canso Cape province. It’s population (apparently 100) was mostly British fishermen, but elsewhere the population was Acadian and was, at best neutral towards the British. The population was sympathetic to the French, but never fought the British directly. So British loyalty everywhere is very low. Control is another question – in principle they owned Grand Pre and the Minas region, but in 1744 they had no control of that area. Annapolis and Canso should both be level 1 towns. Canso had a blockhouse but it proved indefensible. It should be unfortified. Annapolis could have a fort, although in 1744 Fort Anne was not in good condition. By 1747 it had been repaired and was in decent shape, but it was never a great fortress. Grand Pre could be another level 1 town – the French based all four attacks on Annapolis from Grand Pre. It would be in Nova Scotia province or in Truro province, on the Bay of Fundy side. It’s location in the 1755 scenario is basically where Beaubassin was – and the heroic march of the French from the isthmus of Chignecto to Grand Pre in February 1747 Februadoesn’t make sense on the BoA map.

Louisbourg should be exactly as it is in 1755. Level 2 fort, level 2 town.

Elsewhere the population was sparse. Fort Latour (modern St John) was the only thing resembling a fort the French had in modern New Brunswick, so that should be in. It’s location is at the mouth of the St John/St Jean river – preferably in Penobsquis or else in Chignecto province. Potentially a level 1 French town could be added at modern Moncton, perhaps called Memramcook or Beaubassin. This would be in Acadie or St Jean province in game. I don’t think it’s really historically justified, but it’s probably needed to make life a bit easier for the French. For game purposes there is no point having population on PEI (Isle St Jean).

Almost all of Acadia was Micmac land. Their village can stay where it is in 1755, or maybe moved to Salmon. The region of the St John and St Croix rivers was Malecite (Maliseet) land and they should have a village in the middle St John river, say Canebequi.

[orca]

1744:
The British garrison of Nova Scotia consisted of the 40th regiment of foot. British designations were in flux and it was formally known as Phillip’s regiment, after the colonel. I don’t know which name would be more common usage at the time. It had five companies in Annapolis and four in Canso. The Canso companies were captured in 1744 and exchanged and spent most of the war defending Annapolis with the rest of the regiment. The last company was in Placentia Newfoundland (where it was defeated when the French conquered that town in 1762). The regiment appears to have been severely understrength as this site lists 87 men in Canso and 80 men in Annapolis in July. I don’t know how to resolve the discrepancy between these numbers and the number of companies.
The 40th was commanded by it’s lieutenant colonel, Jean Paul Mascarene. He was also governor of Nova Scotia.

The French garrison in Louisbourg consisted of 150 men of the Karrer Regiment, and 560 men in the eight Compagnies Franche de la Marine, the colonial army of ancien regime France. As I understand it the compagnies franche did not have battalion designations - ad hoc battalions were simply formed as needed. But they were French regular troops, they just reported to the department of the navy. The Karrer regiment had a full establishment of only 3 companies of Swiss infantry. The Louisbourg guns were manned by an artillery company, the Compagnie de canonniers-bombardiers.

There were also two companies of militia, and nine more were raised before the siege in 1745. The militia performed reasonably well. The regulars did not do well, and of course they mutinied in late 1744. There were several privateers based out of Louisbourg. I don’t see the French as having any other forces present in 1744.

The commandant of Louisbourg was Jean-Baptiste-Louis Duquesnel le Prévost. Upon his death in October 9 1744 he was succeeded by Louis Dupont du Chambon. Lieutenant Joseph Dupont Duviviers led the attacks on Canso and Annapolis (the second attack) He was commanding in Ile St Jean at the time of the siege of Louisbourg.

The Micmac and Malecite were active French allies throughout the war. The Abbe le Loutre led the Micmac in their attacks on Annapolis.

Reinforcements:
A)
Massachusetts sent three companies of “Nova Scotia Rangers” to Annapolis in 1744, two arrived in July and one (Goreham’s rangers – mostly Indians and Métis) in September.

B)
In March 1745 a battalion of 300 Candian militia (“Marin’s Battalion?” Not the real name, but he was the commander) arrived from Quebec in the region of the isthmus of Chignecto.

C)
On April 4 1745 the New England army arrived in Canso. It’s OOB was
William Pepperell, commander
Roger Wolcott 2nd in command
Richard Gridley Chief Engineer
-1st Massachusetts regiment, John Bradstreet (Maine)
-2nd Massachusetts regiment, Arthur Noble (Maine)
-3rd Massachusetts regiment, Jeremiah Moulton (Maine)
-4th Massachusetts regiment Samuel Willard
-5th Massachusetts regiment, Robert Hale
-6th Massachusetts regiment, Sylvester Richmond
-7th Massachusetts regiment, Shubael Goreham
-New Hampshire regiment, Samuel Moore
-Connecticut regiment, David Wooster
-Artillery corps, Joseph Dwight (18 cannon, 3 mortars).

These forces remained in Louisbourg until May-June of 1746 when almost all returned to New England. Of 4,200 men on the expedition 1,200 died, most of disease. 700 men were sent home immediately after the fall of Louisbourg.

The army was joined in Canso on April 23 by a squadron of the Royal Navy. OOB
Commodore Peter Warren
-Superbe (60 guns) Richard Tiddeman
-Vigilant (64), James Douglas
-Princess Mary (60) Richard Edwards
-Canterbury (60) John Hoare
-Sunderland (60) Brett
-Chester (50) Francis Geary
-Mermaid (40) William Montague
-Launceston (40) Warwick Calmady
-Eltham (44) Philip Durrell
-Hector (40) Frederick Cornwall
-Lark (40) Wickham
-One battalion Royal Marines (800 men)
These forces returned to England once the siege was over in early July 1745.

D)
In September 1745 two regiments of regulars were formed from the New England army to serve as the garrison. These were the 65th infantry (Shirley’s) and the 66th foot (Pepperell’s). I can’t imagine they did well in enlistments as Massachusetts sent another 1,000 men to fill their ranks in April 1746.

Also on April 21st 1746 reinforcements arrived at Louisbourg from Gibraltar - the 29th foot (Fuller’s), the 56th foot (Warburton’s) and three companies of the 30th foot (Frampton’s). Sources often list the 45th, but this is actually the 56th – it’s number was changed to the 45th in 1748. Again formally the designation's were the colonel's name, but informally the numbers were often used.

On May 23 1746 Captain Charles Knowles, RN replaced Warren as Commandant of Louisbourg.

E)
In June 1746 an army of 680 men, mostly Canadian militia, but with some regulars arrived at Beaubassin. This force was led by Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Roch de Ramezay. Coulon de Villiers led part of this force against Grand Pre in February 1747,

F)
The fleet led by the Duke of Anville had the following OOB:
From The History of Nova Scotia

CinC: Admiral Jean-Baptiste-Frédéric de La Rochefoucauld, Duke of Anville (Enville ?)
2nd in command Vice-Admiral Constantin-Louis d'Estournelle (Estournel ?) (on his rank - he was ‘chef d’escadre’, which I would have translated as commodore, but English language sources call him vice admiral)
3rd in command (actually he was en route to become governor of New France, but was a naval officer with extensive experience and became commander of the fleet): Rear Admiral Pierre de Taffanel del Jonquiere
11 ships of the line
-Trident (64 guns)
-Argent (64)
-Mars (64)
-Alcide (64)
-Northumberland (60)
-Léopard (60)
-Renommée (60),
-Carillon (60)
-Tigre (60)
-Diamant (50)
-Borée (50)
3 Frigates
-Mégère (30)
-Argonaute (26)
-Prince of Orange (26) [sent en flûte, with most of it’s armament in the hull to accommodate more cargo]
Various sloops fireships etc.

There is some conflict with British naval records that do not list the Trident and Carillon, however those records include the Caribou (50) and Mutine(24)

The forces on board were
CinC: Brigadier Meric? or Brigadier Pommeril?
-Regiment de Ponthieu (1,439 men), Lt. Col d’Autrechaux
1st battalion
2nd battalion
-Regiment de Samur (674 men), Col. d’Abadie
-Regiment de Fontenay le comte (677 men), Col De Prugne
-One battalion marines (706 men)
-Artillery company (63 officers and men)

The name of the land commander is presumably some combination of Meric and Pommeril. The first name is from Murdoch
and The History of Nova Scotia.
The second name is from Anatomy of a Naval Disaster

The marines are listed as such in almost all English sources. This would imply that they were ‘infanterie de mer’ or ‘compagnies ordinaires de la mer’, which are the french names for their marines. However, the Canadian government source says explicitly that he battalion was ‘compagnies franche de la marine’ who were colonial soldiers (not marines) who report to the departmente de la marine rather than the army. I suspect this is right. There were 600 of them with Anville. Presumably he had a complement of real marines (compagnies ordinaire de la mer) as well. They would be listed under ships complements in the sources. Again I don’t think the battalion of compagnies franche would have a formal designation or indeed a formal commander.

The regiment de Ponthieu (I don’t know who commanded each battalion) were veteran units that had served with Saxe in the triumphant campaign of 1745 in the Austrian Netherlands. It was merged with the infanterie de Provence after the war, having suffered greatly on the expedition. It is not the same as the regiment de Ponthieu that was created in March 1776.

The regiments of Samur and Fontenay-le-Comte were battalions in the Royal Militia ("Milicie Royale"). They were sent because they happened to be in Britanny when the expedition was being formed. These were not first line troops and I don’t know how good they really were.

The expedition left Brest on May 22 1746. With a good crossing (like that of Hardy from England to Halifax form January 20 to March 19 1758), it could easily have arrived at Halifax before the end of July.

G)
In September the French West Indies squadron arrived off Nova Scotia but failed to find the Anville fleet. Not sure why it didn’t arrive earlier, normal practice was to get all ships out of the Caribbean before hurricane season set in.
Captain Hubert de Brienne de Conflans
Four ships of the line
-Le Terrible,
-Le Neptune,
-L'Alcyon and
-La Gloire

H)
Also in September 1746, 300 militia arrived in Annapolis from Boston. I’m unsure of the designation or whether they were used to bring the 40th up to strength. There were now 1,000 men garrisoning Annapolis

I)
In December 1746, 500 Massachusetts militia under Arthur Noble arrived in Annapolis. Noble had commanded the 2nd Massachusetts in 1745, but I don’t know the designation of this unit.

[orca]

Uniforms:

British

40th foot
http://www.cmhg.forces.gc.ca/cmh/en/image_107.asp?page_id=111

Nova Scotia Rangers (John Goreham's company )
http://www.cmhg.forces.gc.ca/cmh/en/image_113.asp?page_id=115

Royal Marines
http://www.cmhg.forces.gc.ca/cmh/en/image_108.asp?page_id=112

29th foot:
http://www.worcestershireregiment.com/wr.php?main=inc/29hist_chapter3

30th foot
http://www.rootsweb.com/~engcam/Military/camb30thfoot.htm

45th regiment (sadly this is from 1763)
http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/en/image_233.asp?page_id=269

65th and 66th regiments: No images. But both regiments had red uniforms with green facings.

French

Compagnies Franche de la Marine
http://www.cmhg.forces.gc.ca/cmh/en/image_101.asp?page_id=108 (1716-1730 sadly)
Probably Compagnies Franche de la Marine, but could be Louisbourg militia :
http://seacoastnh.com/arts/please092702.html
http://fortress.uccb.ns.ca/behind/comp.html (At Louisbourg)

Karrer Regiment
http://www.cmhg.forces.gc.ca/cmh/en/image_102.asp?page_id=109
http://www.military-historians.org/company/plates/images/other.htm#z (#261)

Compagnie de canonniers-bombardiers (just in case)
http://www.cmhg.forces.gc.ca/cmh/en/image_103.asp?page_id=109

Ponthieu Regiment
I haven’t had any luck on their uniforms. Merged with Infanterie de Provence in 1749. Could use those later uniforms which would have some small historical basis.
http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Provence_Infanterie (uniform of Provence Infantry in 1758)

Saumur regiment and Fontenay-le-Comte regiment
This reference says of the Royal Militia:

“Privates and Corporals each had a grey-white coat with grey white cuffs, lining, waistcoat, breeches and stockings, pewter buttons and false silver hat lace. Sergeants had the same but with Blue cuffs and stockings and fine silver hat lace.”
“in November 1746 the uniform was ordered to be completely grey-white with pewter buttons (four to each cuff and pocket) and silver hat lace”

French Marines (compagnies ordinaire de la mer)
Described here http://perso.orange.fr/xavier.mannino/costume/toto4.htm (just in case they should be included)


Leaders:

British:

Jean-Paul Mascarene
http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mweb/about/american_about.asp

William Pepperell
http://www.blupete.com/Hist/BiosNS/1700-63/Portraits/Pepperrell.htm
http://www.blupete.com/Hist/BiosNS/1700-63/Pepperrell.htm

Roger Wolcott:
I found a site saying that there is no known portrait of him.

Peter Warren
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Warren_(admiral)

Charles Knowles
(not that I think he should really be a leader)
http://www.blupete.com/Hist/BiosNS/1700-63/Knowles.htm


French
Not much luck here. What I have is:

Jean-Baptiste-Louis Duquesnel, Le Prevost
This might be an image of him :
http://fortress.uccb.ns.ca/schoolnet/baptist.html

Pierre de Taffanel del Jonquiere
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques-Pierre_de_Taffanel_de_la_Jonqui%C3%A8re,_Marquis_de_la_Jonqui%C3%A8re

Le Loutre, Jean Louis
(just in case he might want to be a leader)
http://www.cyberacadie.com/Biographie/f15_jean_louis_leloutre.htm

But I couldn’t even find portraits of Anville, Du Chambon or Ramezay. I did use google.fr and I can read French without any trouble, but it still may be easier for a Francophone to find pictures of these guys.

[moustic]

Excellent...

[PhilThib]

Bravo...and merci !