1755_, an
exaggerated account. _Vaudreuil au Ministre, 18 Oct. 1755_, sets
Boishebert's force at one hundred and twenty-five men.]
Winslow had indeed some cause for anxiety. He had captured more Acadians
since the fifth; and had now in charge nearly five hundred able-bodied
men, with scarcely three hundred to guard them. As they were allowed
daily exercise in the open air, they might by a sudden rush get
possession of arms and make serious trouble. On the Wednesday after the
scene in the church some unusual movements were observed among them, and
Winslow and his officers became convinced that they could not safely be
kept in one body. Five vessels, lately arrived from Boston, were lying
within the mouth of the neighboring river. It was resolved to place
fifty of the prisoners on board each of these, and keep them anchored in
the Basin. The soldiers were all ordered under arms, and posted on an
open space beside the church and behind the priest's house. The
prisoners were then drawn up before them, ranked six deep,--the young
unmarried men, as the most dangerous, being told off and placed on the
left, to the number of a hundred and forty-one. Captain Adams, with
eighty men, was then ordered to guard them to the vessels. Though the
object of the movement had been explained to them, they were possessed
with the idea that they were to be torn from their families and sent
away at once; and they all, in great excitement, refused to go.
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