Jean-Louis Le Loutre

Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre (September 26, 1709 – September 30, 1772) was a priest and missionary. He was born to Jean-Maurice Le Loutre Després, a paper maker, and Catherine Huet, the daughter of a paper maker in the parish of Saint-Matthieu in Morlaix, France. He entered the Séminaire du Saint-Esprit in Paris in 1730. By this time he had already lost both of his parents. When he completed his training, he transferred to the Séminaire des Missions Étrangères in March 1737 as he intended to serve the church abroad.

Ile Royal

He sailed for Acadia soon after this and arrived in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia that autumn, along with others who would settle in Acadia. Le Loutre was to be allowed to replace Abbé de Saint-Vincent, a missionary to the Mi'kmaqs and live in Shubenacadie. Before doing so, he spent time at Malagawatch, Île Royale(now Cape Breton Island) to learn the Micmac language.

Shubenacadie

On September 22, 1738, Le Loutre left for Shubenacadie where he ministered the Indians and the French. He built chapels for the Indians. It was declared that French and Indian ministers must be distinct when war between France and Great Britain broke out in 1744 (see more on the Planned French Invasion of Britain (1744). The French ministers were advised to appear neutral to avoid expulsion, and the Indian ministers were advised to encourage the Indians to foray into the British areas as advised by the French military authorities.

When the Fortress of Louisbourg fell to Anglo-American forces in 1745, the new masters of Île Royale tried to seize Le Loutre by telling him that he would be in danger elsewhere. Le Loutre, instead, went to Canada (Québec) to consult with authorities, accompanied by five Micmacs. He left a week later with instructions that made him a military leader whereby through him the French government was able to exercise control over the Indians in Acadia. He was also to keep a watch on the communications between the Acadians and the British garrison. Le Loutre had also been given instructions to receive at Baie of Chibouctou (now Halifax Harbour) the squadron under the leadership of Duc d’Anville that France was sending in 1746 to recover Acadia. Only he and Maurice de La Come knew how to identify the ships of the fleet. The British had a price on the head of Le Loutre and La Come would replace Le Loutre’s duties if anything were to happen to him. The fleet was delayed and many ships had been sunk, and when Le Loutre went to Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia to meet with a ship but this did not happen because the squadron had to return to France. Le Loutre sailed to France on La Sirène.

Le Loutre returned to Acadia in 1749 on La Chabanne with Charles Des Herbiers de La Ralière who was the new governor of Île Royale, which had been returned to France. He had made two previous attempts to return but ended up in British prisons, after which he concealed his identity by using the names of Rosanvern and Huet.

Beauséjour

Acadia had changed since his departure. Louisbourg was with the French again, and the British had founded Halifax. The ministry set up headquarters at Pointe-à-Beauséjour (near Sackville, New Brunswick) because Shubenacadie was too close to the British in Halifax. Le Loutre wrote to the minister of the Marine: “As we cannot openly oppose the English ventures, I think that we cannot do better than to incite the Indians to continue warring on the English; my plan is to persuade the Indians to send word to the English that they will not permit new settlements to be made in Acadia. …I shall do my best to make it look to the English as if this plan comes from the Indians and that I have no part in it.”

Attacks were made by the Indians and the governor of Nova Scotia, Edward Cornwallis, wanted Le Loutre dead or alive and offered a reward. Le Loutre promised to establish newcomers from France for three years but soon found it difficult to supply the new settlers, the Indians, and the garrisons at Fort Beauséjour and Île Saint-Jean (now Prince Edward Island) with food and other necessities. The settlers wanted to return to their former lands and Le Loutre felt that people at the warehouse were not doing their job as there were supplies in the warehouse. Le Loutre went to Quebec in 1752 to meet with authorities but was not satisfied with his representation and so he returned to Acadia, entrusted his Micmacs to Abbé Jean Manach, and left for France in December 1752.

Le Loutre went to the courts in France and wrote up reports about how the French and British lands in Acadia should be divided so that Acadians would not have to be divided between two governances. He also got money from the courts to build dykes in Acadia so that low-lying lands could be protected from the tides and land could be used for raising cattle and growing crops so that there would no longer be problems of starvation. He was granted other money sources for his mission and sailed to Acadia with other Missionaries in 1753.

Upon his arrival, he encouraged the Indians to break the peace they had signed with the British while he was gone and used them to harass British settlers. He paid 1800 pounds for 18 British scalps. Le Loutre threatened to abandon Acadians and that the Micmacs would retaliate, and the Acadians petitioned to Cornwallis that they could not sign an oath because the Micmacs would not forgive them for doing so. In 1755, British forces obliged surrender at Fort Beauséjour and soon after, deportation of the Acadians began.

Imprisonment

Le Loutre knew he was in danger and escaped to Quebec through the woods. In the late summer, he returned to Louisbourg where he sailed to France. The ship that he was on was seized by the hands of the British in September and Le Loutre was taken prisoner and was not released until 8 years later, after the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763). He tried to help deported Acadians settle in lands such as Morlaix, Saint-Malo, and Poitou. However, on the trip to Poitou to show some Acadians the land, Le Loutre died at Nantes on September 30, 1772.

Controversy

The issue of Le Loutre's relationship to the Acadians has created much debate. Some define Le Leloutre as a villian to the Acadians, while others see Le Le Loutre as a leader of the Acadian resistance to protestant dominantion of Acadia, which would eventually lead to their deportation. For those who argue that Le Loutre was a villian to the Acadians, there are a number of incidents from his life that are highlighted.

The first is his ordering of the burning of Acadian village of Beaubassin. Others point out that Le Loutre gave the order to burn the village during a New England seige of the village, for which they would have used to the village as a base to attack the Acadian position at Beausejour.

There are also reports of Acadians being threatened by Mi'kmaq, under the direction of Le Loutre, to leave their lands. Mobilizing military members to act according to military orders can be difficult, the fact that it may have been difficult to mobilize a whole civilian population accordingly seems reasonable to assume. The reality remains that most Acadians chose to follow Le Loutre and leave the Cobequid.

There are reports that Acadians only fought the New Englanders because they were forced to by the Mi'kmaq. There are others who argue that it is significant that these accounts were given by Acadians to the New Englanders after they were captured. It seems reasonable that the captured Acadians would attempt to blame the Mi'kmaq rather than risk the fate of taking responsiblity in the face of New England aggression.

There are also reports of Acadians being unhappy upon arriving at Ile St. Jean. Reports of these Acadians been unhappy for having to leave their home lands does not equate with them thinking they should not leave their home lands.

There are reports that he blamed the Mi'kmaq for his own aggression. This practice was similar to both sides and the intent was to prevent large scale war fare between New England and New France.

For those that support the idea that Le Loutre was a supporter of the Acadians they point to the close connections that existed between the Mi'kmaq and the Acadians. A significant part of this connection was their shared religion, Catholicism. Clearly, the Mi'kmaq community supported Le Loutre's efforts. As a result, it seems likely that both Acadians and Mi'kmaq were both committed to their religion and following their direction of their religious leaders.

There are also many reports of Acadians trading with New Englanders, which sometimes is used to indicate that the Acadians would be either neutral or supporters of the New Englanders. While wanting to trade and make money off of protestants, it seems unlikely that this desire is the same as wanting to be ruled by them. Acadians knew the fate of Irish Catholics at the hands of the British government. Further, the New Englanders had been burning, pillaging and taking prisones from Acadian communities over the previous hundred years, which undoubtedly lead the Acadians to not feel welcoming toward New England domination.

Ironcically, for those arguing that Le Loutre was an enemy to the Acadians, they are making a similar arguement as the New Englanders who deported the Acadians and the English historians that followed who also defined Le Loutre as evil.

Finally, Le Loutre left in his will his worldly possessions to the displaced Acadians.

Links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• History of Nova Scotia - Abbé Le Loutre
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Louis-Joseph Le Loutre" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.