Location Where Michel Bergeron Was Attacked by Captain Cox of Gorum
In 1750, Michel Bergeron I, son of Barthelemy Bergeron d’Amboise and Genevieve Serreau, was sailing his chaloupe south from the Petitcodiac River. He was intercepted by an English around 15 November by a ship of 6 guns and 30 men, commanded by a Captain Cox of Gorum (Massachusetts). According to the reports, Michel tried to outrun the Englishman, but ran aground on Cap-des-Demoiselles. The map below shows the area of the Cape, now called Hopewell. The Petitcodiac is the body of water marked “River,” going to the north-north-west.
Cox sent men to the chaloupe and the Acadians abandoned the vessel, firing their small arms (rifles and pistols?) as they retreated. The Englishmen took a number of items from the boat before troops stationed locally came to the help of the Acadians. All spent the night together and were still pinned down most of the following day, it seems, “being on the banks of a stream that served them as entrenchment.” The French and Acadians beat back three separate attacks by Cox’s men before they finally gave up and departed.
In examining the map closely to find the location where the Acadians were pinned down, the confrontation could possibly have taken place at two places. It seems to me that the creek to the south of the cape is much too open to afford the protection described in the reports. See the magnified map section below:
If this were the site, the Acadians would probably have been in the open for a long time before they could reach the escarpments (shown by the long vertical line with numerous small horizontal lines going to the left), and thus they would be susceptible to enemy fire for quite some time. This is, indeed, a possible location, and it would provide considerable protection, especially with the curvature provided by the embankments here. But, especially because the embankments seem to run perpendicular instead of parallel to the creek, it just does not “feel” right. These embankments do not precisely match the report’s wording of “on the banks of a stream that served them as entrenchment.” The embankments at the creek to the south of the cape do not form the banks of the stream.
However, there is a small creek to the north of the Cape, north of the Cape Rocks area, which seems to match the described parameters much better. A magnified map section is provided below.
The stream here runs parallel to the shore for many yards, and there is an escarpment there, which does form one bank of the creek. This escarpment could serve as the recorded entrenchment quite well. Also, because of the geography here, it would still be nearly impossible for a vessel on the open water to find an angle where it could fire along the creek and embankment, requiring it to continuously fire straight on, over the embankment, and never touch the Acadians.
Without further data, we can not be sure that this was the exact location of the altercation. But it certainly is the best candidate I can find.
Cox sent men to the chaloupe and the Acadians abandoned the vessel, firing their small arms (rifles and pistols?) as they retreated. The Englishmen took a number of items from the boat before troops stationed locally came to the help of the Acadians. All spent the night together and were still pinned down most of the following day, it seems, “being on the banks of a stream that served them as entrenchment.” The French and Acadians beat back three separate attacks by Cox’s men before they finally gave up and departed.
In examining the map closely to find the location where the Acadians were pinned down, the confrontation could possibly have taken place at two places. It seems to me that the creek to the south of the cape is much too open to afford the protection described in the reports. See the magnified map section below:
If this were the site, the Acadians would probably have been in the open for a long time before they could reach the escarpments (shown by the long vertical line with numerous small horizontal lines going to the left), and thus they would be susceptible to enemy fire for quite some time. This is, indeed, a possible location, and it would provide considerable protection, especially with the curvature provided by the embankments here. But, especially because the embankments seem to run perpendicular instead of parallel to the creek, it just does not “feel” right. These embankments do not precisely match the report’s wording of “on the banks of a stream that served them as entrenchment.” The embankments at the creek to the south of the cape do not form the banks of the stream.
However, there is a small creek to the north of the Cape, north of the Cape Rocks area, which seems to match the described parameters much better. A magnified map section is provided below.
The stream here runs parallel to the shore for many yards, and there is an escarpment there, which does form one bank of the creek. This escarpment could serve as the recorded entrenchment quite well. Also, because of the geography here, it would still be nearly impossible for a vessel on the open water to find an angle where it could fire along the creek and embankment, requiring it to continuously fire straight on, over the embankment, and never touch the Acadians.
Without further data, we can not be sure that this was the exact location of the altercation. But it certainly is the best candidate I can find.
posted by RJBergeron | 2:08 PM
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