Paul Laurent was a Chief of the La Have Mi’kmaq tribe. He was aligned with Father Le Loutre throughout

Father Le Loutre’s War Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the Britis ...

. The British killed his father when he was younger, which he tried to avenge by killing one of

Jean-Baptiste Cope Jean Baptiste Cope (Kopit in Mi’kmaq meaning ‘beaver’) was also known as Major Cope, a title he was probably given from the French military, the highest rank given to Mi’kmaq. Cope was the sakamaw (chief) of the Mi'kmaq people of Shubena ...

’s prisoners.

Peace Proposal (1754)

He also sought to support Le Loutre, John Hamilton, and Mi’kmaq attempts to have the British acknowledge their land claims early in 1755. When this initiative was rejected and Fort Beausejour fell, Laurent joined Father Manach and Charles Deschamps de Boishébert’s armed resistance against the British.

Battle at St. Aspinquid's Chapel

Tradition indicates that during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

, Lahave Chief Paul Laurent and a party of eleven invited Shubenacadie Chief

and five others to

St. Aspinquid’s Chapel St. Aspinquid's Chapel was established by Priest Louis-Pierre Thury at Chebucto (present day Halifax, Nova Scotia) in the late 17th century. The chapel is a natural stone amphitheatre located by Chain Rock Battery on the Northwest Arm at Point Pl ...

in present-day

Point Pleasant Park Point Pleasant Park is a large, mainly forested municipal park at the southern tip of the Halifax peninsula. It once hosted several artillery batteries, and still contains the Prince of Wales Tower - the oldest Martello tower in North America (1 ...

to negotiate peace with the British. Chief Paul Laurent had just arrived in Halifax after surrendering to the British at Fort Cumberland on 29 February 1760. In early March 1760, the two parties met and engaged in armed conflict. Chief Paul Larent's party killed Cope and two others. Chief Cope’s party killed five of the British supporters. Shortly after Cope's death, Mi'kmaq chiefs signed a peace treaty in Halifax on 10 March 1760. Chief Paul Laurent signed on behalf of the Lahave tribe and a new chief, Claude Rene, signed on behalf of the Shubenacadie tribe.Paul Laurent's biographer Michael Johnston notes that another chief from La Heve signed another treaty with the English on 9 Nov. 1761. (During this time of surrender and treaty making, tensions among the various factions who fought the British were evident. For example, a few months after the death of Cope, the

Mi'kmaq militia The military history of the Mi'kmaq consisted primarily of Mi'kmaq warriors (''smáknisk'') who participated in wars against the English (the British after 1707) independently as well as in coordination with the Acadian militia and French roya ...

and

Acadian militia The military history of the Acadians consisted primarily of militias made up of Acadian settlers who participated in wars against the English (the British after 1707) in coordination with the Wabanaki Confederacy (particularly the Mi'kmaw mil ...

s made the rare decisions to continue to fight despite losing the support of the French priests who were encouraging surrender.)

References

Endnotes Texts * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laurent, Paul 18th-century indigenous leaders of the Americas Canadian Mi'kmaq people Military history of Nova Scotia People of Father Le Loutre's War

Peace Proposal (1754)

Battle at St. Aspinquid's Chapel

See also

References