Lost in the Crowd

In December 1915, Acadian leaders meeting in New Brunswick deplored how their soldiers were 'lost in the crowd' of Anglophone Maritime units in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. They successfully lobbied the federal government for the creation of an Acadian national unit that would be French-speaking, Catholic, and led by their own. In Lost in the Crowd, Gregory Kennedy leverages multiple sources including military archives, censuses, newspapers and soldiers' letters to present a revolutionary kind of history focusing on the experiences of soldiers and their families before, during, and after the conflict. He shows that Acadians were just as likely to enlist as their English-speaking counterparts in the Maritime Provinces, but the backgrounds of the volunteers were quite different. Kennedy tackles controversial topics often missing from traditional regimental histories, such as underage recruits, desertion, and discipline. Further, with the help of the 1921 Canadian Census, he explores the factors that influenced postwar outcomes, positive and negative. A major contribution to Acadian and Atlantic Canadian history, this groundbreaking study also showcases the potential for new methods from the digital humanities to fundamentally alter the field of Canadian history. Over a thousand Acadians from across the Maritimes, Quebec, and the northeastern United States answered the call to military service. Although largely forgotten because their unit was later disbanded and most members relegated to the Canadian Forestry Corps, this important contribution from a French-speaking minority group deserves attention as important piece of a more inclusive history of Canada's First World War.