Following the Council of Nova Scotia's unanimous decision to deport the Acadians, on July 28, 1755, Colonel Charles Lawrence summoned the Acadian delegates to inform them of their imminent expulsion. On July 31, he put Colonel Robert Monckton in charge of expelling the Acadians from the Isthmus of Chignectou, Colonel John Winslow of expelling those from the Minas Basin, Captain Alexander Murray of expelling those from Pigiguit and Major John Handfield of expelling the Acadians from Annapolis Royal. To prevent and discourage the Acadians from ever returning, the British authorities adopted a true scorched-earth policy, destroying and burning their houses, their mills, their churches and their crops. Following the capture of Louisbourg in 1758, the Acadians from îles Royale and Saint-Jean suffered the same fate. The Deportation lasted until 1764 and affected, in one way or another, all of Acadie's 14,000 inhabitants.