homes; they were employed in supplying the needs of the
troops, or in strengthening the British fortifications;
yet they seem to have patiently accepted the inevitable.
The Indians committed acts of violence, but the Acadians
remained peaceable. There was, too, a certain amount of
intermarriage between Acadian girls and the British
soldiers. In those early days of Nova Scotia, girls of
a marriageable age were few and were much sought after.
There was in Annapolis an old French gentlewoman 'whose
daughters, granddaughters, and other relatives' had
married British officers. These ladies soon acquired
considerable influence and were allowed to do much as
they pleased. The old gentlewoman, Marie Magdalen Maisonat,
who had married Mr William Winniett, a leading merchant
and one of the first British inhabitants of Annapolis,
became all-powerful in the town, not only on account of
her own estimable qualities, but also on account of the
position held by her daughters and granddaughters. Soldiers
arrested for breach of discipline often pleaded that they
had been 'sent for to finish a job of work for Madame';
and this excuse was usually sufficient to secure an
acquittal. If not, the old lady would on her own authority
order the culprit's release, and 'no further enquiry was
made into the matter.' One British officer, who had
incurred her displeasure, was told that 'Me have rendered
King Shorge more important service dan ever you did or
peut-etre ever shall, and dis is well known to peoples
en autorite,' which may have been true if, as was asserted,
she sometimes presided at councils of war in the fort.
[Footnote: Knox, An Historical Journal of the Campaigns