The infamous Edward Cornwallis, fear the Acadians of "indian" descent

Governor of Nova Scotia, the infamous Edward Cornwallis expressed concern over the fact that many “Inhabitants” (“Acadians”) were of “Indian” (First Nations) descent in a December 07, 1749 letter that he wrote at Halifax, Nova Scotia to the “Board of Trade.” A transcription of this letter can be found on pages 161 to 168 of the “Public Archives Canada’s” record collection entitled, “Colonial Office, Nova Scotia “A” Mascarene and Cornwallis 1749. MG 11 N.S. “A” Vol. 35,”which can be found on “Public Archives Canada Microfilm C-9124.” The relevant section of this document, which concerns Governor Cornwallis’ fears of the “French” attempting to take repossession of Nova Scotia and “the Limits of Accadie,” can be found on page 165 of this transcription and reads as follows:

“… These things, circumstanced as we are, may become Serious, a number of Inhabitants secretly our Enemys will at least assist them with Intelligence and Supplies – Some of them will probably take Arms, as they can easily disguise themselves, many of them are of Indian Blood & not unlike them – Therefore My Lords upon my word the Settling this Province, preserving our rights & making this Country what it is intended to be a frontier to the other Colonys, depends upon more force…”

This excerpt is very important for a couple of reasons, the first being that Governor of Nova Scotia, Edward Cornwallis acknowledges that of the “Inhabitants” (“Acadians”) of Nova Scotia and Acadia in December of 1749, “many of them are of Indian Blood & not unlike them,” which created a sense of fear for Governor Cornwallis.

With this in mind, the second importance of this excerpt is that this “Indian Blood” allowed “many”of these “Inhabitants” (“Acadians”) to be able to “easily disguise themselves,”which Governor Edward Cornwallis believed to be a reason for the British to send him “more force” to combat these “Enemys” (the “Inhabitants”/“Acadians”) whom he perceived to be a threat to British settlement of Nova Scotia and the other areas within “the Limits of Accadie.”

Editor’s note: Another real interesting fact about this letter is also that Cornwallis himself recognize those Sang-mêlés as a unique breed of people with their own specific feature as we can see in this excerpt: “many of them are of Indian Blood & not unlike them,”. It also bring to light the underestimate and even forgotten role the Acadian/Mi’gmaq played before, during and after the British conquest of the Maritimes. Sadly many years of suffering and genocide were ahead of those Sang-mêlés as we explore in this post;