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In December 1915, as the First World War wore on, Acadian leaders meeting in New Brunswick deplored how soldiers from their communities were “lost in the crowd” of 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. More than a thousand Acadians from across the Maritime provinces, Quebec, and the American northeast answered the call.
In Lost in the Crowd Gregory Kennedy draws on military archives, census records, newspapers, and soldiers’ letters to present a new kind of military history focusing on the experiences of Acadian soldiers and their families before, during, and after the war. He shows that Acadians were just as likely to enlist as their English-speaking counterparts across the Maritimes, though the backgrounds of the volunteers were quite different. Kennedy tackles controversial topics often missing from the previous historiography, such as underage recruits, desertion, and army discipline. With the help of the 1921 Canadian Census, he explores the factors that influenced post-war outcomes, both positive and negative, for soldiers, families, and communities.
Lost in the Crowd offers a completely new and replicable approach to the traditional regimental history, reconstituting the lives of soldiers and their families. The focus on the Acadians, a francophone minority group in the Maritime provinces, significantly shifts our understanding of French Canada and the First World War.
"What makes this book particularly valuable is its deliberate use of social history to enhance its utility. Kennedy has done extraordinary research into military and census records that reveal who enlisted, while soldiers’ letters reveal what they thought of the war, their service, their officers, and home. Extensive charts provide data in a way few, if any, regimental histories do. Highly recommended." Choice
"Insightful and highly readable, Lost in the Crowd brings the First World War experiences of Acadians into the spotlight and asserts a place for Acadian history at the heart of long-running historiographical conversations about both the CEF and the Canadian home front ... essential reading for anyone interested in New Brunswick’s wartime history or Acadian history and culture writ large." Journal of New Brunswick Studies
"A stellar contribution to the Canadian literature of the First World War. Kennedy's command of the 165th’s statistical profile, paired with comparisons to relevant battalions, allows him to effectively contextualize the Acadian wartime experience — and sidestep a Canadian historiography mired in old debates. His refreshing 'longitudinal' approach to the First World War might, as he suggests, be replicated by future historians, and this reviewer certainly hopes it is." Journal of History
"Using the men of the 165th (Acadian) Regiment in 1916 as his starting point, Kennedy creates a compelling portrait of one minority community’s experience of war. Lost in the Crowd restores another lost perspective to the war zone and, by tying the men to the communities that sent them, also deepens our understanding of the war’s battle lines at home." Canadian Writers Abroad blog
"In his fine new book, Kennedy has reconstructed the service of Acadians as they struggled to survive, to fight, to endure discipline, and, for the survivors, to deal with the war’s impact on their postwar health. [He] has done important work in restoring their history. No longer are they 'lost in the crowd.'" Canada's History
« Une lecture renouvelée et profondément humaine de la Première Guerre mondiale [qui] redonne vie aux parcours oubliés des soldats acadiens ayant participé à l’effort de guerre, offrant ainsi un récit plus riche non seulement de cet événement majeur, mais aussi de l’histoire acadienne. Alors que l’historiographie a plutôt insisté sur le manque d’engagement des francophones durant les guerres mondiales, Lost in the Crowd offre une autre perspective : les Acadiens étaient tout aussi volontaires pour s’enrôler que leurs pairs anglophones, un engagement en partie stratégique pour accroître leur légitimité dans l’espace canadien. » Jury du Grand Prix de l’Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française
“Kennedy commands an uncommonly deep understanding of both francophone and anglophone historiographies of Canada’s First World War. His extensive, longitudinal research illuminates how the war unfolded amid social and economic transitions that saw many young Acadian men and their families on the move from rural communities in search of work as the war broke out. Population shifts, Acadian national goals, and conscription debates form the complex context in which more than 5,000 Acadians volunteered for service overseas – roughly 25 per cent of the military-aged population. Lost in the Crowd marks an important new contribution to understanding French-Canadian participation in the First World War outside Quebec.” C.P. Stacey Award jury