ohn,
was at St. Annes Point, where the City of Fredericton stands today.
Here the Acadians had cleared 600 or 700 acres of land and built a
thriving village with a little chapel (near the site of Government
House) and probably there was a sprinkling of houses along the river
as far up as the Indian village of Aukpaque, six miles above. Their
next settlement was at the mouth of the Oromocto, where 300 acres of
land had been cleared. A very old settlement existed near the
abandoned fort at the mouth of the Jemseg, but its growth had been
retarded by the annoyances of the spring freshets and many of the
inhabitants had been obliged to remove. There was an important
settlement on the site now occupied by the village of Gagetown and
houses were scattered along the river for several miles below. Another
small settlement existed above the mouth of the Bellisle, and there
may have been a few inhabitants at the mouth of the Nerepis where
stood Fort Boishebert. At St. John the French had cleared some land on
the west side of the harbor, and in Bruce's map of 1761 the places
cleared are marked as "gardens," but it is probable that the
inhabitants abandoned them and fled up the river in 1755 when their
fort, "Menagoueche," was destroyed by Captain Rous.

In the year 1756 England declared war against France and the capture
of Louisbourg was proposed. The governor of Canada ordered Boishebert
to hold himself in readiness to aid in its defence, and he accordingly
proceeded to Cape Breton with a force of 100 Acadians and Canadians
and about 250 Indians, many of them Maliseets of the River St. John.
The latter did not go very willingly, for they had been reduced to so
great a state of misery in consequence of not receiving the supplies
they had expected from the French that they had entered into peace
negotiations with the English. However by means of harangues and
promises Boishebert contrived to bring them with him.

The Chevalier de Drucour, the commander at Louisbourg, urged the
French minister to send at once presents and supplies for the savages.
"These people," he observes, "are very useful in the kind of warfare
we are making, but unless we act towards them as they have been led to
expect I will not answer that we shall have them with us next year."
He urges the French minister to send him some medals for distribution.
The distinction of possessing one was very highly prized and often
retained the fidelity of a whole village o