Joseph Broussard

Life Broussard was born in Port-Royal, Acadia, in 1702 to Jean-François Broussard and Catherine Richard. His father came from Poitiers and his mother was born in Port Royal. He lived much of his life at Le Cran (present-day Stoney Creek, Albert County, New Brunswick), along the Petitcodiac River with his wife Agnes and their eleven children.

During Father Rale's War, Broussard participated in a raid on Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia (1724).

King George's War

During King George's War, under the leadership of French priest Jean-Louis Le Loutre, Broussard began a resistance movement against British rule in Acadia. Broussard's forces frequently included Mi'kmaq militia, long-time allies of the Acadians. In 1747 he participated in and was later charged for his involvement with the Battle of Grand Pré.

Father Le Loutre's War During Father Le Loutre's War, after the construction of Fort Beausejour in 1751, Broussard joined Jean-Louis Le Loutre at Beausejour. In an effort to stop the emigration of British settlers into Acadia, in 1749 Broussard was involved in one of the first raids on Dartmouth, Nova Scotia which resulted in the deaths of five British settlers. The following year, Broussard was in the Battle at Chignecto and then shortly afterward he led sixty Mi'kmaq and Acadians to attack Dartmouth again, in what would be known as the "Dartmouth Massacre" (1751). Broussard and the others killed twenty British settlers and took a few as prisoners. Cornwallis temporarily abandoned plans to settle Dartmouth.

In late April 1754, Beausoleil and a large band of Mi'kmaq and Acadians left Chignecto for Lawrencetown. They arrived in mid-May and in the night opened fire on the village. Beausoleil killed and scalped four British settlers and two soldiers. By August, as the raids continued, the residents and soldiers were withdrawn to Halifax.

Capture of French ships Alcide and Lys off Newfoundland. The ships were carrying war supplies for Acadians and Mi'kmaq In the action of 8 June 1755, a naval battle off Cape Race, Newfoundland, on board the French ships Alcide and Lys were found 10,000 scalping knives for Acadians and Indians serving under Chief Jean-Baptiste Cope and Acadian Beausoleil as they continue to fight Father Le Loutre's War.

Broussard was also active in the fight against Lieutenant Colonel Robert Monckton in the Battle of Beausejour.

Seven Years' War With Le Loutre imprisoned after the Battle of Beausejour, Broussard became the leader of the Acadian resistance to the expulsion of the Acadians (1755–1764), leading assaults against the British on several occasions between 1755 and 1758 as part of the forces of Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot. Unable to adapt to the climate and diseases that were killing Acadians, he led the group to settle in Louisiana.

He was among the first 200 Acadians to arrive in Louisiana on February 27, 1765, aboard the Santo Domingo. On April 8, 1765, he was appointed militia captain and commander of the "Acadians of the Atakapas" the area around present-day St. Martinville. His 21st-century descendants include Celestine "Tina" Knowles, her two daughters Beyoncé and Solange, along with singer Tracie Spencer.

Commemoration In 2022, Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil was designated as a National Historic Figure by the government of Canada and a commemorative plaque was installed in Moncton, New Brunswick .

Modern cultural references

The Cajun music group BeauSoleil is named in honor of Broussard.

A New Brunswick group "Beausoleil Broussard" was very popular in the 1970s.

Broussard is a character in the novel Banished from Our Home: The Acadian Diary of Angelique Richard, Grand-Pre, Acadia, 1755 (2004) by Sharon Stewart.

A dramatized, historically inaccurate version of Beausoleil is featured in the Acadian novel Pélagie-la-Charrette, by Antonine Maillet.

Part of his militant Acadian hero story is told in the documentary feature "Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart" by Acadian director Phil Comeau.