The Cajun Way

The Cajun Way

The day started out like any other in the year of our Lord 1755. We got to the fields and worked, but the day changed quickly as ships were spotted off the shore. The British soldiers came fast and demanded that we pledged ourselves to their king. We refused to turn our backs to our Church for King George the Second. We are stubborn to this day.

The soldiers demanded day after day for us to pledge ourselves and day after day we demurred. Finally, the soldiers had had enough. The separated the males from the females. They put the males into the church, then had the females stand in a line. They gave each female a number. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. For there were six ships. If a mother held her child she would be one number while the child was another. After counting them off and boarding them onto the ships, the soldiers then made the males come out. They did the same thing as before. Counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. They loaded the males onto the ships.

“Burn it to the ground!” The General shouted. As his men burned the village, the General brought my ancestor onto the deck. With a devilish smirk he asked, “Where is your God now?”

Thankfully, not everyone was taken that day. Some were able to hide in the fields, but with their families gone and their home burned, they had no where to go.

But it did not stop there. The British lost two ships while heading to the nearest port. No one is said to have survived. The remaining ships stopped at the ports and dropped a few Acadians off. The British started in Madawaska- Maine/Canada, then on to Maryland, to Connecticut, to Massachusetts, to New York, to Pennsylvania, to South Carolina, and finally to Georgia.

When the ships were empty the British left. They never looked back. But Acadians are not only stubborn, but smart. We had figured out what the British were doing. We set out going to every port asking, “Have any Acadians arrived?”

We slowly gathered everyone that would come and that we could find. We heard that the Louisiana area was French territory. We settled there. We would never forget what happened. We would never let our children forget.

This story may be old, but it shows the soul of every Cajun. We are stubborn. We are smart. We are strong. We live on.