These soldiers were billeted upon the inhabitants of Grand Pré and wintered there, with Colonel Noble in command.
Some historians assert that it was the Acadians of Minas who informed Ramezay of the presence of the English in their houses. Immediately a detachment of four hundred Canadians and Souriquois, or Micmacs, left Chignecto under de Villiers and after a journey over the snow epic in its fortitude arrived at Piziquid.
Whether or not Ramezay had his information from Acadian messengers, it is certain that the villagers of Grand Pré warned Colonel Noble of the Frenchmen's approach, but he was not sufficiently alarmed to guard against their attack. On a snowy night, Noble and his men were surprised in their beds and after desperate resistance many of them were massacred. Those who escaped the bayonet were seized as prisoners. This has been called by Parkman "the most stubbornly contested fight that ever took place in Acadie." The graves of Colonel Noble and his soldiers lie in fields bordering the road which climbs the hill to Grand Pré Post Office.
Ever since the Treaty of Utrecht the French had been at issue with their enemies concerning the boundaries of the Acadian land which had been ceded to the English. They contended that only Nova Scotia had been surrendered, whereas the English affirmed their right to those parts of New
