Part 6

An unpublished letter of General Dwight, written three days after the entry of the provincial troops, relates the closing scenes of this truly memorable contest. It runs as follows:—

“We entered the city on Monday last (17th) about five o’clock P.M., with colors flying, drums, hautboys, violins, trumpets, etc. Gentlemen and ladies caressing (the French inhabitants) as well they might, for a New England dog would have died in the holes we drove them to—I mean the casemates where they dwelt during the siege.

“This fortress is so valuable, as well as large and extensive, that we may say the one half has not been conceived.... Sometimes I am ready to say a thousand men in a thousand years could not effect it. Words cannot convey the idea of it.... One half of ye warlike stores for such a siege were not laid in; however, the Vigilant (French supply ship) being taken and Commodore Warren’s having some supply of stores from New England was very happy, and so it is that his readiness has been more than equal to his ability.”

Governor Duchambon puts his whole force at thirteen hundred men at the beginning of the siege, and at eleven hundred at its close. About two thousand men were, however, included in the capitulation, of which number six hundred and fifty were veteran troops. The besiegers’ shot had wrought destruction in the city. There was not a building left unharmed or even habitable, by the fifteen thousand shot and shells that Pepperell’s batteries had thrown into it.

When Pepperell saw the inside of Louisburg he probably realized for the first time the magnitude of the task he had undertaken. On looking around him, he said, with the expeditionary motto in mind no doubt, “The Almighty, of a truth, has been with us.”

As the expedition began, so it now ended, with a prayer, which has come down to us as a part of its history. Pepperell celebrated his entry into Louisburg by giving a dinner to his officers. When they were seated at table, the general called upon his old friend and neighbor, the Rev. Mr. Moody of York, to ask the Divine blessing. As the parson’s prayers were proverbial for their length, the countenances of the guests fell when he arose from his chair, but to everybody’s surprise the venerable chaplain made his model and pithy appeal to the throne of grace in these words:

“Good Lord! we have so many things to thank thee for, that time will be infinitely too short to do it: we must therefore leave it for the work of eternity.”

[22]General John Nixon is one of those referred to.

[23]Douglass (Summary), Belknap (“History of New Hampshire”) and Hutchinson (“History of Massachusetts Bay”) have accounts of the Louisburg expedition. Douglass and Hutchinson wrote contemporaneously, and were well informed, the latter especially, upon all points relating to the inception and organization. Of their military criticism it is needless to speak. There is a host of authorities, both French and English, most of which are collected in Vol. V. “Narrative and Critical History of America.”

[24]Richard Gridley subsequently laid out the works at Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights, in much the same manner.

[25]Shirley’s second messenger, Captain Loring, on presenting his despatches, was allowed but twelve hours in London, being then ordered on board the Princess Mary, one of the ships referred to.

X AFTERTHOUGHTS

And now comes the strangest part of the story. We get quite accustomed to thinking of the American colonies as the football of European diplomacy, our reading of history has fully prepared us for that: but we are not prepared to find events in the New World actually shaping the course of those in the Old. In a word, England lost the battle in Europe, but won it in America. France was confounded at seeing the key to Canada in the hands of the enemy she had just beaten. England and France were like two duellists who have had a scuffle, in the course of which they have exchanged weapons. Instead of dictating terms, France had to compromise matters. For the sake of preserving her colonial possessions, she now had to give up her dear-bought conquests on the continent of Europe. Hostilities were suspended. All the belligerents agreed to restore what they had taken from each other, and cry quits; but it is plain that France would never have consented to such a settlement at a time when her adversaries were so badly crippled, when all England was in a ferment, and she hurrying back her troops from Holland in order to put down rebellion at home, thus leaving the coalition of which she was the head to stand or fall without her. France would not have stayed her victorious march, we think, under such circumstances as these, unless the nation’s attention had been forcibly recalled to the gravity of the situation in America.

In some respects this episode of history recalls the story of the mailed giant, armed to the teeth, and of the stripling with his sling.

As all the conquests of this war were restored by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Cape Breton went to France again.

Thus had New England made herself felt across the Atlantic by an exhibition of power, as unlooked-for as it was suggestive to thoughtful men. To some it was merely like that put forth by the infant Hercules, in his cradle. But to England, the unnatural mother, it was a notice that the child she had neglected was coming to manhood, ere long to claim a voice in the disposal of its own affairs.

To New England herself the consequences of her great exploit were very marked. The martial spirit was revived. In the trenches of Louisburg was the training-school for the future captains of the republic. Louisburg became a watchword and a tradition to a people intensely proud of their traditions. Not only had they made themselves felt across the ocean, but they now first awoke to a better knowledge of their own resources, their own capabilities, their own place in the empire, and here began the growth of that independent spirit which, but for the prompt seizure of a golden opportunity, might have lain dormant for years. Probably it would be too much to say that the taking of Louisburg opened the eyes of discerning men to the possibility of a great empire in the West; yet, if we are to look about us for underlying causes, we know not where else to find a single event so likely to give birth to speculative discussion, or a new and enlarged direction in the treatment of public concerns. What had been done would always be pointed to as evidence of what might be done again. So we have considered the taking of Louisburg, in so far as the colonies were concerned, as the event of its epoch.[26]

Nor would these discussions be any the less likely to arise, or to grow any the less threatening to the future of crown and colony, when it became known that to balance her accounts with other powers England had handed over Cape Breton to France again, thus putting in her hand the very weapon that New England had just wrested from her, as the pledge to her own security. The work was all undone with a stroke of the pen. The colonies were still to be the football of European politics.

Nobody in the colonies supposed this would be the reward of their sacrifices—that they should be deliberately sold by the home government, or that France, after being once disarmed, would be quietly told to go on strengthening her American Gibraltar as much as she liked. Yet this was what really happened, notwithstanding the Duke of Newcastle’s bombastic declaration that “if France was master of Portsmouth, he would hang the man who should give up Cape Breton in exchange for it.”

King George, who was in Hanover when he heard of the capture of Louisburg, sent word to Pepperell that he would be made a baronet, thus distinguishing him as the proper chief of the expedition. This distinction, which really made Pepperell the first colonist of his time, was nobly won and worthily worn. After four years of importunity the colonies succeeded in getting their actual expenses reimbursed to them, which was certainly no more than their dues, considering that they had been fighting the battles of the mother country.[27]

Warren was made an admiral. The navy came in for a large amount of prize money, obtained from ships that were decoyed into Louisburg after it fell, to the exclusion of the army.[28] This disposition of the spoils was highly resented by the army, who very justly alleged that, while the success of the army without the fleet might be open to debate, there could be no question whatever of the fleet’s inability to take Louisburg without the army.

[26]The surrender caused great rejoicing in the colonies, as was natural it should, with all except those who had always predicted its failure. For some reason the news did not reach Boston until July 2, in the night. At daybreak the inhabitants were aroused from their slumbers by the thunder of cannon. The whole day was given up to rejoicings. A public thanksgiving was observed on the 18th. The news reached London on the 20th. The Tower guns were fired, and at night London was illuminated. Similar demonstrations occurred in all the cities and large towns of the kingdom. At Versailles the news caused deep gloom. De Luynes speaks of it thus in his Memoirs: “People have been willing to doubt about this affair of Louisburg, but unhappily it is only too certain. These misfortunes have given rise to altercations among ministers. It is urged that M. Maurepas is at fault in having allowed Louisburg to fall for want of munitions. The friends of M. Maurepas contend that he did all that was possible, but could not obtain the necessary funds from the Treasury.” The government got ready two fleets to retake Louisburg. One was scattered or sunk by storms in 1746, and one was destroyed by Lord Anson, in 1747, off Cape Finisterre.

[27]The amount was £183,649 to Massachusetts, £16,355 to New Hampshire, £28,863 to Connecticut, and £6,332 to Rhode Island. Quite a large portion was paid in copper coins.

[28]Among others the navy took a Spanish Indiaman, having $2,000,000, besides gold and silver ingots to a large value, stowed under her cargo of cocoa. The estimated value of all the prizes was nearly a million sterling, of which enormous sum only one colonial vessel got a share.

THE END

INDEX

A Acadia (Nova Scotia), Louisburg designed to protect, 29. Acadians, refuse to emigrate, 34; and refuse to become British subjects, 35; why called Neutrals, 36; desire to remove elsewhere, 36. Aix-la-Chapelle, Peace of, 127. Annapolis, N. S., attempted capture of, 43; attack on, frustrated, _note_ 100. Auchmuty, Robert, proposes the taking of Louisburg, _note_ 58.

B Boston, defenceless condition of, 11. Bradstreet, Colonel John, at Louisburg, 70. Brooks, Captain, killed at Louisburg, 113.

C Canada, the key to, 12; its political and economic weaknesses, 24 _et seq._; compared with the English colonies, 25; the fur monopoly, 26; scheme for building up the colony, 28. Canso, seized from Louisburg, 43, _note_ 45; prisoners taken there prove useful, 49; army rendezvous at, 69; environs of, 76; works thrown up at, 77. Cape Breton Island, face of the country, 16; mountains of, 17; Gabarus Bay, 23; first suggestions of its importance to Canada, 28; natural products of, 29; advantageous situation as a port of delivery and supply, 29; left to Canada by stupid diplomacy, 30; its chief harbors, 31; the Bras d’Or, 31; called Ile Royale, 32; plan for getting colonists, 33, 34; strategic points on the straits, 76; ice blockade of, 77; restored to France, 127. Cape Breton Coast, approach to, 14; blockaded by ice, 77. Circular battery of Louisburg, its design, 93; silenced, 116. Coffin, Moses, of Newbury, Mass., anecdote of, 104. Connecticut in Louisburg expedition, 57; her forces join Pepperell, 78.

D Dauphin Bastion, of Louisburg, 93; destructive fire upon, 110. De Costebello, at Louisburg, 33. De Saxe, Marshal, defeats the English, 41. Duchambon, commander of Louisburg, 84; recalls a detachment, 95; refuses to surrender, 96; changes his mind, 117; and opens a treaty, 118. Dwight, Joseph, at Louisburg, 66 and _note_ 71.

E English Harbor (Louisburg), 31. Expeditionary Army, its composition, 66; and equipment, 67, 68; favoring conditions, 68; sets sail for Louisburg, 69; at Canso, 69; council of war, 75; sails for Louisburg, 80; lands at Gabarus Bay, 84; not backed up by the navy, 90; transportation of artillery to the front, 94; it tells on the men, 95; the camp and camp life, 101 _et seq._

F Flat Point Cove, our army camps at, 85. Fontenoy, English defeated at, 41. Franklin, Benjamin, has no faith in Louisburg expedition, 57.

G Gabarus Bay, the back door to Louisburg, 23; Pepperell lands at, 80, 81. Gibson, James, volunteers for Louisburg, 63, _note_ 70. Green Hill, Louisburg shelled from, 95. Gridley, Richard, engineer at Louisburg, 66; an apt scholar, 105, _note_ 125.

H Hale, Robert, at Louisburg, _note_ 71. Hodges, Joseph, at Louisburg, _note_ 72. Hutchinson, Thomas, gives casting vote for attacking Louisburg, 55.

I Island Battery, situation of, 15; its value to the besieged, 93 and _note_ 100; disastrous attack upon, 112, 113; its fire silenced, 116; in our hands, 119. Ile Royale, see Cape Breton, 32. Isle Madame, or Arichat, 76.

L Lighthouse Point, 14; is seized and fortified, 109. Louisburg, the approach to, 14; the harbor, 15; old city, 15; old fortifications perambulated, 17; hills back of, 17; natural defences of, 18; demolition of the works, 19; and present state of, 19; Citadel, 20; natural obstacles to surmount, 21; bomb-proofs, 21; impregnable from sea, 21; graveyard and its inmates, 22; Royal Battery, 23; reasons why the fortress was erected, 24 _et seq._; to be a great mart, 28; to help Acadia, 29; called English Harbor, 31; chosen for a fortress, 32; why called Louisburg, 32; operations begun, 33; prisoners shipped to, from France, 37; strength and cost of the fortress, 38 and _note_ 45; could be defended by women, 39; its armament, 39; garrison sallies out upon Nova Scotia, 44; its fall the salvation of New England, 47; schemes for its capture, 50; its garrison mutinies, 51; forces being raised against it, 56, 57; early suggestions for its conquest, _note_ 58; is blockaded, 73; is invested, 89; its defences as related to the siege, 93; progress of siege operations, 95 _et seq._; summoned to surrender, 96; breaching batteries, 106; progress of siege, 109; a relieving vessel gets in, 110; capture of the Vigilant, 110; stratagem tried, 115; its success, 115; a general bombardment, 116; a suspension of arms, 118; the surrender, 123; the garrison, 123, 124; importance to Great Britain as a political make-weight, 126 _et seq._; restored to France, 127; many-sided importance of the conquest to the colonies, 128, 129; disgust in the colonies at its restoration, 129; cost of the campaign, _note_ 131; rejoicings, _note_ 131.

M Meserve, Lieutenant-Colonel, his services at Louisburg, 94. Micmacs of Cape Breton, 37. Mira River, settlements on, 16. Moody, Rev. Samuel, his pithy prayer, 124. Moore, Samuel, at Louisburg, _note_ 72. Moulton, Jeremiah, at Louisburg, _note_ 71; destroys St. Peter’s, 96.

N Newcastle, Duke of, anecdote of, 44. New England alarmed by the creation of Louisburg, 39; dreads the beginning of war, 42; war is declared, 43; menace to her commerce and fisheries, 46, 47; aroused to take Louisburg, 54, 55; extraordinary war measures in, 56, 57; quality of expeditionary army, 62, 63; enthusiasm in enlisting, 64; reimbursed for her expenses, _note_ 131. Newfoundland, French removed from, 33. New Hampshire contingent, 69; _note_ 72. New Jersey in Louisburg expedition, 57. New York contributes to Louisburg expedition, 57. Nixon, John, _note_ 125. Nova Scotia (Acadia) turned over to England, 30; invaded, 43; relieved, 95.

P Pennsylvania in Louisburg expedition, 57. Pepperell, William, chosen to command, 60; his qualifications, 61, 62; impetus given by him to the project, 63, 64; his regiment, _note_ 70; hampered by instructions, 75; finds Louisburg blocked up by ice, 77; hails Warren’s arrival with joy, 78; confident of driving the enemy from Cape Breton, 79; finds Shirley’s plan impracticable, 83; finds his task greater than he had supposed, 90; his advances against the city properly made, 93; is goaded into attacking the Island Battery, 112; pushes forward preparations for a general assault, 116; grants an armistice, 118; his conduct contrasted with Warren’s, 119; made a baronet, 130. Pitts, Ebenezer, at Louisburg, _note_ 71. Pomeroy, Major Seth, at Louisburg, 89; his record, _note_ 100.

Q Quebec, as the bulwark of Canada, 11.

R Raudots, father and son, their scheme for putting new life into Canada, 26; it proposes a great naval mart at Cape Breton, 28. Rhode Island in Louisburg expedition, 56. Richmond, Sylvester, at Louisburg, _note_ 71. Royal Battery, situation and importance of, 23; taken, 86; attempt to retake it, 87; its importance to Americans, 88. Ryal, Captain, sent to England, 41.

S St. Anne, described, 31. Saint Ovide, at Louisburg, 35. St. Peter’s, destruction of, determined on, 76; is effected, 96. Seacoast defences of Mexico, Cuba, etc., 9; of the English colonies, 10, 11; of Canada, 11. Shirley, Gov. William, saves Annapolis, 43; notifies ministry, 44; writes Commodore Warren, 44; grasps the situation, 48; his personal traits, 48, 49; determines to take Louisburg, 50; applies to legislature, 52; meets defeat, 53; arouses public sentiment, 54; carries his point, 55; sets to work, 56; hears from Warren, 69; attempts to order plan of attack, 73, 74. Straits of Canso, 31.

T Tournay, invested, 41. Tufts, William, his bravery, 113. Tyng, Commodore Edward, commands colonial fleet, 67; _note_ 72.

U Utrecht, how the Peace of, affects the colonies, 30.

V Vaughan, William, who he was and what he did, 49, 50; _note_ 58; volunteers for Louisburg, 63; leads a scouting party, 85; and takes Royal Battery, 86. Vigilant, French war-ship, taken, 110.

W Waldo, Samuel, at Louisburg, 67 and _note_ 71; occupies Royal Battery, and fires first shot, 89. War of the Austrian Succession, its policy outlined, 40; produces war between England and France, 41; hostilities begin at Nova Scotia, 44. Warren, Commodore Peter, orders sent to, 44; arrives at Canso and proceeds off Louisburg, 78; takes the Vigilant, 110; is re-enforced, 111; his plan for taking the city, 111; agrees to a general attack, 116; he ignores Pepperell, 119; made an admiral, 130. Whitefield, Rev. George, 62; writes a motto for the flag, 65. Wolcott, Gen. Roger, 67 and _note_ 71.

Transcriber’s Notes

—Retained publication and copyright information from the original; this eBook is public-domain in the U.S.

—Silently corrected a few palpable typographical errors.

—Retained the consistent spelling “Pepperell” for the man usually known as “Pepperrell”

—In the text versions, enclosed italicized text in _underscore_.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Taking of Louisburg 1745, by Samuel Adams Drake