History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

286 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1755.
Operations Sus- No further movement was made towards
pe'^'ied. the reduction of Crown Point. Fort Wil-
liam Henry was erected at the southern extremity
of Lake George, which together with Fort Edward
was properly garrisoned. The rest of the army was withdrawn.
No Ou traces in Though the Indians did not appear in this
Hampshire County, towu duriug the year, there was constant
anxiety throughout the county. The ope-
rations against Crown Point concentrated the attention of
both French and Indians, and very little was seen of the
latter elsewhere. In the diary of Rev. Jonathan Judd are
constant allusions to the state of affairs. Volunteers were
mustered in Southampton in May, and in July the pastor
read from the pulpit a letter from Major Hawley, "which,
gave an account of Indians out ; read it after exercise in
public.
"
French Neutrals. The expedition to Nova Scotia under John
Winslow, great grandson of Edward Winslow,
started in May, speedily reduced the French forts, and
obtained entire possession of the country. Two battalions
were recruited in Massachusetts, but no soldiers were enlisted
from Hampshire County, though Col. Israel Williams
received orders to draw three hundred fifty men from
his regiment to be held in readiness for any emergency.
Incidentally only is this movement of local interest. In
the deportation of the inhabitants of Acadia^ which followed,
one family was assigned to Northampton, " Silvean
1 When Nova Scotia was ceded to the English, the French inhabitants refused to
take the oath of allegiance to the British crown unless they should be exempted
from bearing arms against their countrymen ; hence they were termed " French Neutrals."
Gen. Winslow found numbers of them in the ranks of the enemy, and their
influence had been everywhere opposed to the English government. Consequently
it was determined to remove and distribute the entire population of Acadia throughout
the English colonies. They were to be supported by the several towns to which
they were sent, thereby reducing a virtuous, self-supporting, industrious Catholic people
to absolute pauperism. They were transplanted into communities in which their
language was not understood, and which hated Frenchmen, loathed paupers, and bitterly
detested Catholics. On this shameful transaction was founded Longfellow's
immortal poem, " Evangeline," as well as Whittier's vigorous but shorter lyric,
"Marguerite." Two thousand Acadiaus were brought to Massachusetts and distributed
among the towns. In Hampshire County usuallj' but one family was quartered
on a town. They were cared for by the several municipalities as far as their circumstances
required, and were everywhere treated with kindness.