Edward Butts - Rum, Blood & Treasure: Stories Strange and True from Atlantic Canada

The Acadian Civil War was one of the bloodiest episodes in the early history of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Taking place amidst the larger FrenchEnglish conflict, it was a vicious struggle between rival French colonizers. Central to the dramatic events was Charles de Sainte-tienne de La Tour, an ambitious rogue whose life had all the elements of a romantic swashbuckling adventure.

In 1610, seventeen-year-old La Tour sailed from Dieppe, France, to Acadia with his father Claude. They were with an expedition led by Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt de Saint-Just, who intended to re-establish Samuel de Champlains colony at Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal). That settlement, founded in 1604, had failed because of financial difficulties. The La Tours had been there from 1606 until it was abandoned in 1607.

Young La Tour loved the wilds of the New World. In his free time he would fish and hunt, pursuits that were only for the aristocracy in France. Fur trading was the colonys principal economic activity, and La Tour became friendly with the Mikmaq trappers. Soon he could speak their language.

Charles La Tour was excited to be in Port Royal, but Poutrincourts plans for revitalizing the colony would not go well. Maintaining the settlement was expensive, and fur smuggling deprived Poutrincourt of badly needed funds. In 1612, young La Tour was involved in a fight with a poachers ship, and in November 1613, while Poutrincourt was in France, an English force from Virginia sacked Port Royal. Some of the surviving colonists set off on an arduous overland journey for the new French settlements on the St. Lawrence River. The La Tours and a few others went to live with the Mikmaq.

Poutrincourt returned in the spring of 1614 and saw the desolation. The destruction of Port Royal broke him both financially and in spirit. He sailed back to France, taking with him any disheartened settlers whod had enough. But the La Tours and a handful of others still saw possibilities in Acadia and stayed.

Over the next few years, the tough colonists bartered with Mikmaq for furs and partially rebuilt Port Royal. Periodically ships arrived from France with supplies and trade goods, leaving with holds full of pelts that were fetching increasingly higher prices in Europe. In one year, more than 25,000 pelts of beaver, otter, marten, moose, and deer were shipped from Acadia.

In about 1626, Claude La Tour returned to France on one of the supply ships, and shortly after, Charles established a post on Cap de Sable off Nova Scotias southeast coast. He called it Fort Lomeron in honour of David Lomeron, his partner and agent, and it soon became a thriving fur trade centre. La Tour established outposts on the Nova Scotia mainland and cracked down on fur poachers. He was the leader of Acadia in everything but title. He knew the country and had important contacts in France. La Tour had also married a Mikmaq woman, whose name was not recorded, with whom he had three daughters.

In 1627, England and France were again at war. Charles wrote letters to King Louis XIII and his chief minister Cardinal de Richelieu explaining that with little help from France, he had held Acadia by training a company of Frenchmen and natives to harass English intruders. Now, Charles pleaded, he needed supplies, reinforcements, and an official commission authorizing him to defend Acadia. La Tour sent the letters to his father in Paris, who personally delivered them to the king and Richelieu.

In the spring of 1628, Claude La Tour sailed from France with a fleet of four ships. But en route to Acadia, they were waylaid by the English privateer Sir David Kirke. Claude was taken to England as a prisoner. No help from France reached Acadia that year or the next.

During his incarceration, Claude was won over to the English side with promises of wealth and position. When two English warships arrived at Cap de Sable in the spring of 1630, Claude was with them. He went ashore and tried to convince his son to surrender Fort Lomeron, for which Charles would be well rewarded. According to reports, Charles told his father that he would rather have died than consent to such baseness as to betray his king. Claude returned to his ship.

The English attacked Fort Lomeron, but the assault failed. Licking their wounds, the English withdrew to a new post they had established near the ruins of Port Royal. Because Claude had failed to deliver Fort Lomeron, the English did not deliver on their promises to him. He eventually returned to the French side, was granted clemency, and reconciled with his son. Claude lived in the home Charles provided for him on Cap de Sable.