Île Saint-Jean Campaign
| Ile Saint-Jean Campaign | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of French and Indian War | |||||
 Isle Saint-Jean before the deportation |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||
| Andrew Rollo, 5th Lord Rollo |
Gabriel Rousseau de Villejouin Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot |
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| Units involved | |||||
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40th Regiment of Foot Roger's Rangers |
Acadia militia Wabanaki Confederacy (Maliseet militia and Mi'kmaq militia) |
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The Ile Saint-Jean Campaign was a series of military operations in fall 1758, during the Seven Years' War, to deport the Acadians who either lived on Ile Saint-Jean (present-day Prince Edward Island) or had taken refuge there from earlier deportation operations. Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Rollo led a force of 500 British troops (including James Rogers leading his company of Rogers Rangers) to take possession of Ile Saint-Jean. The percentage of deported Acadians who died during this expulsion made it the deadliest of all the deportations during the Expulsion (1755–1762). The total number of Acadians deported during this campaign was second only to that of the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755).
The British Conquest of Acadia happened in 1710. Over the next forty-five years the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. During this time period Acadians participated in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour. During the Seven Years' War, the British sought both to neutralize any military threat Acadians posed and to interrupt the vital supply lines Acadians provided to Louisbourg by deporting Acadians from Acadia.
The first wave of these deportations began in 1755 with the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755). Many Acadians fled those operations to the French colony of Ile Saint-Jean, now known as Prince Edward Island. Ile Saint-Jean's major and commandant was Gabriel Rousseau de Villejouin. Villejouin occasionally sent Mi'kmaq to Acadia to pillage and harass the English during this time. In the summer of 1756, for example, Villejouin sent seven Mi'kmaq to Fort Edward where they scalped two English people and returned to Villejouin with the scalps and a prisoner. (Rollo found numerous British scalps at the Governor's house when he took over Ile St. Jean. )
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