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BÂTARD, ÉTIENNE (Anthony), Micmac from Miramichi (N.B.); d. probably in Nova Scotia sometime between 1754 and 1760.

Étienne Bâtard was a Micmac warrior who was involved in many adventures during the Anglo-Micmac war of 1749–53. Abbé Pierre Maillard’s “Lettre . . . sur les missions micmaques” suggests that Bâtard had taken part around 1740 in a “theological” discussion at Port-Toulouse (St Peters, n.s.) between the merchant Edward How and a group of Micmacs. The Micmacs were said to have been shocked at that time by How’s remarks, and the latter is supposed to have escaped rough treatment thanks only to the presence of mind of the interpreter Barthélemy Petitpas.

In September 1750, when the French were trying to prevent the establishment of Fort Lawrence (near Amherst, N.S.) and were building Fort Beauséjour not far away, the Micmacs from the various regions of Acadia gathered in the neighbourhood of Beauséjour and carried out raids against the English. On 15 October (N.S.) a group of Micmacs disguised as French officers called Edward How to a conference. This trap, organized by Étienne Bâtard, gave him the opportunity to wound How seriously, and How died five or six days later, according to Captain La Vallière (probably Louis Leneuf* de La Vallière), the only eye-witness.

On 15 July 1751, after a series of skirmishes, Saint-Ours (perhaps François-Xavier), the officer commanding the Indians’ movements, sent them away from Beauséjour. But Bâtard and a few confederates remained near the fort, where they were surprised in discussions with some English officers who “received them very well, gave them gifts, and tried by all means to make peace with them.” La Vallière then vainly suggested to his superiors that the traitors be arrested; Bâtard left Beauséjour in complete liberty on 27 July.

He reappears in 1753, as a participant in the punitive expedition led by Jean-Baptiste Cope, another Micmac, against some soldiers from Halifax. Bâtard succeeded in saving Anthony Casteel, the only survivor of the group, from the other Micmacs, who, having become drunk, were preparing to murder him. Bâtard is then lost from sight; his name is not on any of the peace treaties concluded after 1760 between the various Micmac tribes and the English authorities in Halifax. Presumably he died sometime between 1754 and 1760.

The accounts of How’s death are far from agreeing: Albert David has called attention to no fewer than nine, which contain considerable contradiction. Numerous English-language historians, particularly Beamish Murdoch* and Francis Parkman*, maintain the possibility of Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre*’s involvement in the incident, but this interpretation has been vigorously criticized by Henri-Raymond Casgrain* and Édouard Richard. The historian David had two obvious aims in attempting to reconstruct Edward How’s murder: to prove Le Loutre’s innocence, and to minimize How’s importance. Although it is strongly slanted, the analysis he makes of the nine accounts leads to the firm conclusion that Bâtard was indeed How’s murderer. Since no document coming directly from the Micmacs exists, no valid suggestion of Bâtard’s motives can be made. Nor can Abbé Le Loutre’s participation, direct or indirect, in this affair be affirmed or denied.

Micheline D. Johnson

AN, Col., C11A, 97, ff. 16–34; C11B, 29, ff.130–31. ASQ, Lettres, R, 190. [Anthony Casteel], “Anthony Casteel’s journal,” Coll. doc. inédits Canada et Amérique, II (1889), 111–26. [Louis Leneuf de La Vallière?], “Journal de ce qui s’est passé à Chicnitou et autres parties des frontières de l’Acadie depuis le 15 septembre 1750 jusqu’au 28 juillet 1751,” PAC Rapport, 1905, II, pt.iii, 324–30. [Pierre Maillard], “Lettre de M. l’abbé Maillard sur les missions de l’Acadie et particulièrement sur les missions micmaques,” Les soirées canadiennes; recueil de littérature nationale (Québec), III (1863), 289–426 (see p.405). “Memoire du Canada,” APQ Rapport, 1924–25, 103. N.SArchives, I, 194–96, 210, 394. Pichon, Lettres et mémoires, 239–45. PAC Report, 1894, 181. Casgrain, Un pèlerinage au pays d’Évangéline, 43, 505–7; Une seconde Acadie, 230–32. E. A. Hutton, “The Micmac Indians of Nova Scotia to 1834” (unpublished ma thesis, Dalhousie University, Halifax, 1961). Johnson, Apôtres ou agitateurs, 105–28. Murdoch, History of Nova-Scotia, II, 191–94. Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe (1884), I, 123–24. Richard, Acadie (D’Arles), II, 85–121. J. C. Webster, The forts of Chignecto; a study of the eighteenth century conflict between France and Great Britain in Acadia (n.p., 1930), 32–33. H.-R. Casgrain, “Coup d’oeil sur l’Acadie avant la dispersion de la colonie française,” Canada-Français, 1re sér., I (1888), 114–34. Albert David, “L’affaire How d’après les documents contemporains,” Revue de l’Université d’Ottawa, VI (1936), 440–68. R. O. MacFarlane, “British Indian policy in Nova Scotia to 1760,” CHR, XIX (1938), 154–57.

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Cite This Article

Micheline D. Johnson, “BÂTARD, ÉTIENNE,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 3, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 28, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/batard_etienne_3E.html.

The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:


Permalink:   http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/batard_etienne_3E.html
Author of Article:   Micheline D. Johnson
Title of Article:   BÂTARD, ÉTIENNE
Publication Name:   Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 3
Publisher:   University of Toronto/Université Laval
Year of publication:   1974
Year of revision:   1974
Access Date:   March 28, 2024