The army marching westward from Albany had, in the meantime, paused discouraged at Os-we´go, while the one moving northward beat the French on the shores of a lake, which they called George, in honor of the victory won for their king (1755). The French officer Dieskau (dees´kow) was captured there, and among the English dead was Ephraim Williams, who left his fortune to found the college in Massachusetts which bears his name.
Fearing that the Acadian farmers, who still spoke French and loved their mother country, would turn against them, the British now tried to make the peasants take an oath of fidelity. When they refused, the men and boys were bidden to assemble, and then, after some delay, they and their families were sent on board British ships and taken away (1755). In the confusion several families were separated.
Expulsion of the Acadians.
Thus ruthlessly torn from home, the Acadians were scattered throughout the colonies. Many made their way to Louisiana, so as to be still under French rule; others escaped into the woods; and a few spent long years vainly seeking those they loved. If you care to learn how one girl wandered thousands of miles in quest of her lover, you should read Long´fel-low's beautiful poem "E-van´ge-line."
LVI. WOLFE AT QUEBEC.
Until 1756, the war between the French and the British raged only in America; but after that it broke out in Europe also, where it was known as the "Seven Years' War."