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_{Source: Battle of the Restigouche National Historic Site of Canada Management Plan 2007}In the spring of 1760 the future of Canada was still unclear. The British had captured Quebec city the previous autumn but were soon besieged inside the fortress, while French forces controlled the countryside. Relief for both sides was en route from Europe. French hopes were dashed when their relief force was intercepted in the Gulf of St Lawrence in May and took refuge in the upper reaches of the Bay of Chaleur. There, in the Battle of the Restigouche in June and July 1760, the fate of the French empire in North America – and of Canada -- was sealed.

With much of their fleet destroyed the previous year by the British, the French could mount only a modest relief force in the spring of 1760. Six ships carrying supplies and a small number of troops departed Bordeaux for Quebec in April 1760. The man in command was the “very able” Lieutenant de Fregate Francois Chenard de la Giraudais.

The British blockade along the French coast captured two vessels, while a third ran aground. Only three managed to escape the British cordon off Bordeaux.

Upon arrival in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, La Giraudais set about causing havoc amongst British ships headed to Quebec with supplies. By the 17th of May, he had managed to capture eight British vessels. However, he soon discovered that the British had reached the St Lawrence in force ahead of him. There was no way to sail directly to Quebec.

_{Source: Battle of the Restigouche National Historic Site of Canada Management Plan 2007}Despite orders that allowed him to sail for the Caribbean if the British had reached the St. Lawrence first, La Giraudais decided to shelter in the Bay of Chaleur and await orders from the governor of Canada. And so, on May 19th, 1760, he anchored his fleet on the north shore of the bay off the Acadian settlement La Petite Rochelle, near what is now known as Battery Point. La Giraudais and his fleet soon became a “magnet” for starving Acadians who had sought refuge in the area from the British expulsion campaign.

Word was sent to Montreal of the fleet’s arrival, and one of the captured British schooners was manned and sent out into the Bay of Chaleur to watch for the British. La Giraudais was confident that the British were unaware of their presence and would not respond.

But La Giraudais was overconfident; the British knew he and fleet had arrived and sent a massive force to deal with them.

_{“Foulweather Jack” Byron,
Source: Wikipedia}The man selected to crush the French flotilla was Captain J. “Foul-Weather Jack” Byron R.N. He led a powerful force of eight warships from Louisbourg, which was backed by nine more from the force guarding the entrance to the St Lawrence River. Many of these were “ships of the line” carrying 60 to 80 guns. It was an overwhelming show of power.

Ironically, it was foul weather that caused Byron and his ship to arrive in the Bay of Chaleur before the remainder of the British fleet. Byron immediately captured the schooner La Giraudais had sent out to warn of the British arrival, but word soon arrived that a British squadron was in the bay.

La Giraudais set about preparing for battle. His force included his small frigate Machault (26 guns), and two merchant ships Bienfaisant (22 guns) and Marquis de Malauze (18 guns), and fourteen hundred men comprising four hundred and twenty soldiers and sailors, plus Acadian militia and Mi’kmaq allies. Rather than meet the British head-on, La Giraudais fortified the river to make the British pay an “unacceptable price” for victory.

_{The Battle of the Restigouche. Mike Bechtold}La Giraudais hoped to hold the British at what is now called Battery Point. The northern channel of the bay passes just off shore at that point, so La Giraudais landed four 12-pound and one 6-pound cannons and half of Machault’s powder and built a battery commanding the channel. He then sank five British ships to create an obstacle covered by fire from the battery. The rest of the ships were moved to a sheltered anchorage just inside the Restigouche River. The French completed their work on June 27th, 1760, the same day the British made their first assault.

Over the next five days, British ships bombarded the French battery with little result. By July 3rd Byron had discovered the southern channel in the bay and finally managed to work his way behind the battery and out of harm’s way. Outmaneuvered, the French spiked the battery’s guns and retreated to the mouth of the Restigouche. Under the covering fire of his ships, Byron landed 200 men, who set about destroying the French artillery and burning the village of La Petite Rochelle.

Beaten but not broken, La Giraudais had prepared accordingly. He also built batteries to cover the narrows at the mouth of the Restigouche between Martin’s Point (Campbellton) and Pointe-a-la-Croix, Quebec.

When the British reached Martin’s Point on July 7th, the French were ready. The attack was beaten back twice. Then the British towed their two small frigates – Scarborough and Repulse -- upriver using rowboats to silence fire from the Campbellton side. Once the small battery at Martin’s Point was destroyed, the British set their sights on the French ships sitting beyond Pointe-a-la-Croix.

On July 8th, 1760, the final battle began. At 5 am, the British frigate Repulse exchanged fire with Machault and the battery at Pointe-a-la-Croix which barred the way up river. Despite taking enormous damage – at one point sinking to the bottom before shot holes could be plugged and water pumped out -- Repulse battered Machault into submission. With the battle lost, La Giraudais ordered his frigate and the Maquis de Malauze set ablaze to avoid capture.

However, the Bienfaisant could not be burned because she was full of British prisoners. The French left the prisoners to their fate, but one prisoner dove into the river and swam to the British fleet. A rescue mission of ship’s boats was launched and sent upriver under intense French artillery and musket fire. The men were recovered and rowed to safety, but six lost their lives in the act.

Little now remained of the French fleet. To settle the matter, Byron sent 425 men upriver in boats to “finish the job.” The French burned four ships and defended the rest with musket fire so furious that the British withdrew. Instead of another assault, Byron, content that he had annihilated the French relief effort, sailed downriver on July 9th and anchored.

The Battle of the Restigouche, in the words of historian Marc Milner, “settled the fate of Canada.” The only French attempt to relieve Quebec was destroyed.

_{Source: Battle of the Restigouche National Historic Site}La Giraudais escaped the British blockade in the Bay of Chaleur on August 10th, 1760, and returned to France. The remaining men from the Restigouche garrison were not so lucky. Their attempt to escape was driven back by British ships. The French commander at Restigouche soon received a British letter ordering him to adhere to the terms of surrender of New France. On October 30th, the garrison departed for France.

_{Source: NBMHP | Battle of the Restigouche | UNB}The Battle of the Restigouche seldom features in Canadian history books, or accounts of the fall of New France. It seems not only remote from the main theatre of drama along the St Lawrence, but it is also an Acadian story and so remote from the consciousness of Quebecois. It is commemorated by a National Historic Site and a small museum at Pointe-a-la-Croix. On the New Brunswick side two French cannons resting in Riverview Park on Water Street in Campbellton mark the Gilbert Battery at Martin’s Point.