![](\"https:\/\/acadiantest.cocompass.com\/images\/LaPetiteRochelle_john_byron.jpg\")
<\/h4>\nHISTORY: COMMODORE BYRON’S CONQUEST
\nSurveyors say they’ve found Acadian settlement<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press
\nJuly 19, 2008<\/p>\n
SAINT JOHN, N.B. — It’s a modern-day treasure hunt using ancient documents and, to some, the prize is much more valuable than gold or jewels.<\/p>\n
Following an 18th-century English map and the journals of British Commodore John Byron – the man who led the English conquest against the Acadians – a Quebec archeologist thinks he might have found the village of La Petite-Rochelle, the last settlement that Cmdre. Byron burned to the ground.<\/p>\n
“We’re pretty confident that we’ve located the village that the Acadians had fled to, to get away from the deportation,” said Michel Goudreau, vice-president of Quebec-based La Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Historique Machault, the organization that sponsored the survey.<\/p>\n
“These are the people who did get away, and they’re why we still have an Acadian population in northern New Brunswick.”
\nLocated in Quebec, just across the Restigouche River from Campbellton, N.B., La Petite-Rochelle was a community of about 200 houses, founded after the expulsion of the Acadians, an event that has since become known to history as the Great Upheaval.<\/p>\n
Coming at a time of serious animosity between the French and English, the Great Upheaval resulted in the expulsion of Acadians from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island between 1755 and 1763.<\/p>\n
In the end, more than 10,000 Acadians were deported from the Maritimes and those who escaped deportation fled into Quebec and New Brunswick.<\/p>\n
<\/h4>\nDes fouilles arch\u00e9ologiques pourraient \u00eatre amorc\u00e9es cet \u00e9t\u00e9 (2008) sur le site de l’ancien village acadien de La Petite-Rochelle. Une demande de financement a \u00e9t\u00e9 achemin\u00e9e au gouvernement du Qu\u00e9bec dans le cadre du 250e anniversaire de la fondation du village.<\/p>\n
De 1758 \u00e0 1760 pr\u00e8s de 1000 Acadiens, fuyant la d\u00e9portation, ont trouv\u00e9 refuge dans la partie fran\u00e7aise de la Baie-des-Chaleurs, sur un site situ\u00e9 quelque peu \u00e0 l’est de la municipalit\u00e9 actuelle de Pointe-\u00e0-la-Croix. Le village abritait aussi 500 autochtones.<\/p>\n
Les soldats anglais ont br\u00fbl\u00e9 les maisons du village au d\u00e9but du mois de juillet 1760 lors de la bataille de la Ristigouche. Les habitants de La Petite-Rochelle se sont ensuite dispers\u00e9s sur les deux rives de la baie des Chaleurs.<\/p>\n
Le vice-pr\u00e9sident de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 historique Machault, Michel Goudreault, explique que l’organisme travaille depuis pr\u00e8s d’une quinzaine d’ann\u00e9es \u00e0 la mise en valeur du site. \u00ab Mais l\u00e0, il semble qu’il y ait une ouverture de la part du minist\u00e8re \u00bb, indique M. Goudreault.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/acadiantest.cocompass.com\/images\/LaPetiteRochelle_archeologie-fouilles-site.jpg\")
<\/h4>\nSelon des \u00e9tudes effectu\u00e9es dans les ann\u00e9es 90, les fouilles pourraient mettre au jour de nombreuses pi\u00e8ces. \u00ab Il y a beaucoup de choses qui ont \u00e9t\u00e9 trouv\u00e9es au fil des ans sur les terrains que ce soit des ba\u00efonnettes, des vestiges de fondations \u00bb, souligne le vice-pr\u00e9sident de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 historique Machault.<\/p>\n
L’organisme esp\u00e8re recevoir le financement du minist\u00e8re de la Culture et des Communications au printemps.<\/p>\n
HISTORY: COMMODORE BYRON’S CONQUEST Surveyors say they’ve found Acadian settlement The Canadian Press July 19, 2008 SAINT JOHN, N.B. — It’s a modern-day treasure hunt using ancient documents and, to some, the prize is much more valuable than gold or jewels. Following an 18th-century English map and the journals of British Commodore John Byron – […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":49,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-288","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n