Drake Samuel Adams
The Taking of Louisburg 1745
The Provincial Navy.
Thanks to the enthusiasm of the young men in enlisting, and the energy of the authorities in equipping them, the four thousand men called for were mustered under arms, ready for service, in a little more than seven weeks. In this short time, too, a hundred transports had been manned, victualled, and got ready for sea. The embargo had provided both vessels and sailors. More than this, a little squadron of fourteen vessels, the largest carrying only twenty guns, was created as if by enchantment. Here was shown a vigor that deserved success.
The Connecticut and New Hampshire contingents were also ready to march, but Rhode Island had not yet completed hers. By disarming Castle William in Boston harbor, or borrowing old cannon wherever they could be found, Shirley had managed to get together a sort of makeshift for a siege-train. All being ready at last, after a day of solemn fasting and prayer throughout New England, the flotilla set sail for the rendezvous at Canso in the last week of March. “Pray for us while we fight for you,” was the last message of the departing provincial soldiers to their friends on shore.
Equal good-fortune attended the transportation of the army by sea to a point several hundred miles distant, during one of the stormiest months of the year. By the 10th of April the whole force was assembled at Canso in readiness to act offensively as soon as the Cape Breton shores should be free of ice. All this had been done without the help of a soldier, a ship, or a penny from England. At the very last moment Shirley received from Commodore Warren, in answer to his request for assistance, a curt refusal to take part in the enterprise without orders, and Shirley could only say to Pepperell when he took leave of him, that his best and only hope lay in his own resources.
But by this time the enthusiasm which had carried men off their feet had begun to cool. The excitements, under the influence of which this or that obstacle had been impatiently brushed aside, had given way to the sober second thought. One by one they rose grimly before Pepperell’s troubled vision like the ghosts in Macbeth. Land the troops and storm the works had been the popular way of disposing of a fortress which the French engineers had offered to defend with a garrison of women.
VII
THE ARMY AT CANSO
The Plan of Attack.
The crude plan of attack, as digested at Boston, consisted in an investment of Louisburg by the land forces and a blockade by sea. To enforce this blockade, Shirley had sent out some armed vessels in advance of the expedition, with orders to cruise off the island, and to intercept all vessels they should fall in with, so that news of the armament might not get into Louisburg, by any chance, before its coming.
Shirley’s Project.
This was all the more necessary because Shirley had indulged hopes, from the first, of taking the place by surprise, and so obstinately was he wedded to the notion that the thing was practicable, that he had drawn up at great length a plan of campaign of which this surprise was the chief feature, and in which he undertook to direct, down to the minutest detail, where, how, and when the troops should land, what points they should attack, what they should do if the assault proved a failure or only partially successful, where they should encamp, raise batteries and post guards; how the men must be handled under fire, and even how the prisoners should be disposed of, for Shirley, as we have seen, was considerably given to counting his chickens before they were hatched.
A Saving Clause.
Being a lawyer rather than a soldier, Shirley had written out a brief instead of an order – clear, concise, direct. But, lengthy as it was, the plan had one redeeming feature, which turns away criticism from the absurdities with which it was running over. This was the postscript appended to it: “Sir, upon the whole, notwithstanding the instructions you have received from me, I must leave it to you to act upon unforeseen emergencies according to your best discretion.” The reading of it must have lifted a load from Pepperell’s mind! It really looked as if Shirley had meant to be the real generalissimo himself, and to capture Louisburg by proxy.
Pepperell’s Council.
Pepperell was still hampered, however, with a council of war, consisting of all the general and field officers of his army, whom he was required to summon to his aid in all emergencies. If it be true that in a multitude of counsels there is wisdom, then Pepperell was to be well advised, for his council aggregated between twenty and thirty members.
Pepperell seems to have conceived that he ought to submit himself wholly to Shirley’s guidance, since he himself was now to serve his first apprenticeship in war, for it was now loyally attempted to carry out Shirley’s instructions to the letter. In all these preliminary arrangements the difference between Shirley’s brilliancy and dash and Pepperell’s methodical cast of mind is very marked indeed. It would sometimes seem as if the two men ought to have changed places.
Why the army was at Canso.
Importance of St. Peter’s.
Shirley had appointed the rendezvous to be at Canso, which place had been abandoned soon after it was taken from us; first, because it was the natural base for operations against Cape Breton, and next so that if the descent on Louisburg failed, Canso and the command of the straits would, at least, have been recovered. It was, as we have said, within easy striking distance of Louisburg. Out in front of Canso, between the Nova Scotia and Cape Breton shores, lay Isle Madame or Arichat, on which a few French fishermen were living. Across the water from Arichat, at the entrance to the Bras d’Or, lay the Village of St. Peter’s, the second in point of importance in Cape Breton, Louisburg being the first. At Arichat everything that was being done at Canso could be easily seen and communicated to St. Peter’s. At St. Peter’s word could be sent to Louisburg by way of the Bras d’Or Lakes. It therefore stood Pepperell in hand to clear his vicinity of these spies and informers without delay, unless he wished to find the enemy forewarned and forearmed.
The Ice Blockade at Louisburg.
Shirley had directed Pepperell to destroy St. Peter’s. Pepperell, therefore, sent a night expedition there, which, however, returned without accomplishing its purpose. But his greatest fear, lest supplies or re-enforcements should get into Louisburg by sea, was set at rest on finding that the field or pack-ice, which had come down out of the St. Lawrence, and the east winds had driven up against the shores of Cape Breton, formed a secure blockade against all comers, himself as well as the enemy. This contingency had not been sufficiently weighed.
Canso fortified.
Meanwhile, Pepperell set to work fortifying Canso. A blockhouse, ready framed, had been sent out for the purpose. This was now set up, garrisoned, and christened Fort Prince William. Some earthworks were also thrown up to cover this new post. In these occupations, or in scouting or exercising, the troops were kept employed until the ice should move off the shores.
French Cruiser driven off.
On the 18th of April a French thirty-gun ship was chased off the coast, while trying to run into Louisburg. Being the better sailer, she easily got clear of the blockading vessels, after keeping up for some hours a sharp, running fight. Even this occurrence does not seem to have fully opened the eyes of the French commandant of Louisburg to the true nature of the danger which threatened him, since he has declared that he thought the vessels he saw watching the harbor were only English privateers. Perhaps nothing about the whole history of this expedition is more strange than that this officer should have remained wholly ignorant of its being at Canso for nearly three weeks.
April 23, Warren’s Fleet arrives.
Effect on the Army.
The army had been lying nearly two weeks inactive, when, to Pepperell’s great surprise as well as joy, Commodore Warren appeared off Canso with four ships of war, and, after briefly communicating with the general, bore away for Louisburg. At last he had received his orders to act in concert with Shirley, and, like a true sailor, he had crowded all sail for the scene of action. His coming put the army in great spirits, for it was supposed to be part of the plan, already concerted, by which the attack should be made irresistible. And for once fortune seems to have determined that the bungling of ministers should not defeat the objects had in view.
April 24, Connecticut Forces arrive.
On the following day, the Connecticut forces joined Pepperell. The shores of Cape Breton were now eagerly scanned for the first appearance of open water, but even as late as the 28th Pepperell wrote to Shirley, saying, “We impatiently wait for a fair wind to drive the ice out of the bay, and if we do not suffer for want of provisions, make no doubt but we shall, by God’s favor, be able soon to drive out what else we please from Cape Breton.” The consumption of stores, occasioned by the unlooked-for detention at Canso, had, in fact, become a matter of serious concern with Pepperell, whose nearest source of supply was Boston.
VIII
THE SIEGE
Fleet sails from Canso, April 29.
Our guard-vessels having reported the shores to be at last free from ice, and the wind coming fair for Louisburg, the welcome signal to weigh anchor was given on the 29th of April. On board the fleet all was now bustle and excitement. In a very short time a hundred transport-vessels were standing out of Canso Harbor, under a cloud of canvas, for Gabarus Bay, the place fixed upon by Shirley for making the contemplated descent.
Night Assault given up.
Bound to the letter of his orders, Pepperell seems to have first purposed making an attempt to put Shirley’s rash project in execution. To do this, he must have so timed his movements as to reach his anchorage after dark, have landed his troops without being able to see what obstacles lay before them, have marched them to stations situated at a distance from the place of disembarkation, over ground unknown, and not previously reconnoitred, to throw them against the enemy’s works before they should be discovered. And this most critical of all military operations, a night assault, was to be attempted by wholly undisciplined men.
Providentially for Pepperell, the wind died away before he could reach the designated point of disembarkation, so that this mad scheme perished before it could be put to the test; but early the next morning the flotilla was discovered entering Gabarus Bay, five miles southeast from the fortress, and in full view from its ramparts. So, also, the New England forces could see the gray turrets of the redoubtable stronghold rising in the distance, and could hear the bells of Louisburg pealing out their loud alarm. The fortress instantly fired signal guns to call in all out parties. It is said that there had been a grand ball the night before, and that the company had scarce been asleep when called up by this alarm. The booming of artillery, sounding like the drowsy roar of an awakening lion, was defiantly echoed back from the bosom of the deep, and borne on the cool breeze to the startled foemen’s ears the distant roll of drum, and bugle blast, peopled the lately deserted sea with voices of the coming strife.
Duchambon, commander of the fortress, instantly hurried off a hundred and fifty men to oppose the landing of our troops.
Landing at Gabarus Bay, April 30.
The fleet quickly came to an anchor, and the signal was hoisted for the troops to disembark at once. Before them stretched the lonely Cape Breton shore, on which the breakers rose and fell in a long line of foam. Though this heavy surf threatened to swamp the boats, the men crowded into them as if going to a merry-making. It was a gallant and inspiring sight to see them dash on toward the beach, emulous who should reach it first, and eager to meet the enemy, who were waiting for them there. By making a feint at one point, and then pulling for another at some distance from the first, the boats gained an undefended part of the shore before the French could come up with them. As soon as one struck the ground, the men jumped into the water, each taking another on his back and wading through the surf to the shore. In this manner the landing went on so rapidly that, when the enemy finally came up, they were easily driven off, with the loss of six or seven men killed, and some prisoners. Before it was dark two thousand men bivouacked for the night within cannon shot of Louisburg.
Vaughan now led forward a party after the retreating enemy, who, finding themselves pursued, set fire to thirty or forty houses outside the city walls.
On the next day, the work of landing the rest of the army, the artillery and stores, was pushed to the utmost, though the heavy surf rendered this a work of uncommon difficulty. Pepperell now pitched his camp in an orderly manner next the shore, at a place called Flat Point Cove, where he could communicate with the transports and fleet, and they with him. He now took his first step towards clearing the two miles of open ground lying between him and Louisburg harbor, with the view of fixing the location of his batteries, and of driving the enemy inside the walls of the fortress.
Royal Battery deserted.
To this end four hundred men were sent out to destroy the enemy’s magazines situated at the head of the harbor, Vaughan again marching with them. This detachment having set fire to some warehouses containing naval stores, the smoke from which drifted down upon the Royal Battery, the officer in command there, convinced that the provincials were about to fall upon him, spiked his cannon and abandoned the works in haste, though not till after receiving permission to do so.
In the morning, as Vaughan was returning to camp with only thirteen men, the deserted appearance of the battery caused him to carefully examine it, when, seeing no signs of life about the place, – no flag flying or smoke rising or sentinels moving about, – he sent forward an Indian of his party, who, finding all silent, crept through an embrasure, and undid the gate to them. Vaughan then despatched word to the camp that he was in possession of the place, and was waiting for a re-enforcement and a flag; but meantime, before either could reach him, one of his men climbed up the staff, and nailed his red coat to it for a flag.
Vaughan attacked.
At about the same hour Duchambon was sending a strong detachment back to the battery, to complete the work of destruction that his lieutenant had left unfinished. At least this is his own statement. It was supposed that the battery was still unoccupied or occupied weakly, otherwise the French would hardly have risked much for its possession. When this detachment came round in their boats to the landing-place, near the battery, Vaughan’s little band attacked them with great spirit, keeping them at bay until other troops had time to join him, when the discomfited Frenchmen were driven back whence they came.
Advantage of this Capture.
Thus unexpectedly did one of the most formidable defences fall into our hands; for though its isolated situation invited an attack, and though communication with the city could be easily cut off except by water, the prompt attempt to recover the Royal Battery implies that its abandonment was at least premature. Yet as this work was primarily a harbor defence only, it was evidently not looked upon as tenable against a land attack, although it is quite as clear that the time had not yet come for deserting it. But the fact that it was left uninjured instead of being blown up assures us that the garrison must have left in a panic.
But whether the French attached much or little consequence to this battery so long as it remained in their hands, it became in ours a tremendous auxiliary to the conquest of the city. By its capture we obtained thirty heavy cannon, all of which were soon made serviceable, besides a large quantity of shot and shell, than which nothing could have been more acceptable at this time. And although only three or four of its heavy guns could be trained upon the city, its capture removed one of the most formidable obstacles to the entrance of our fleet. It also afforded an excellent place of arms for our soldiers, whose confidence was greatly strengthened. In a word, the siege was making progress.
We cannot help referring here to the fact that notwithstanding Shirley’s idea had met with so much ridicule it had, nevertheless, come true in one part at least, since if the proposal to turn the enemy’s own cannon against them had seemed somewhat whimsical when it was broached, it certainly proved prophetic in this case, for within twenty-four hours after its taking the guns of the Royal Battery were thundering against the city.
Firing begun.
Pepperell had at once ordered Waldo’s regiment into the captured battery. The enemy had not even stopped to knock off the trunnions of the cannon, so that the smiths, under the direction of Major Pomeroy,18 who was himself a gun-smith, had only to drill them out again. Waldo fired the first shot into the city. It is said to have killed fourteen men. The fire was maintained with destructive effect, and it drew forth a reply from the enemy, with both shot and shell.
The siege may now be said to have fairly begun, and begun prosperously. Both sides had stripped for fighting, and it remained to be seen whether Pepperell’s raw levies would continue steadfast under the many trials of which these events were but a foretaste.
Louisburg was now practically invested on the land side, the fleet, with its heavy armament, remaining useless, however, with respect to active co-operation in the siege itself, because its commander dared not take his ships into the harbor under fire of the enemy’s batteries. The army and navy were acting therefore without that concert which alone would have allowed their united strength to be effectively tested. On its part, the navy was simply making a display of force which could not be employed, though it maintained a strict blockade. In any case, then, the brunt of the siege must fall on the army, since, as Warren informed Pepperell, the fleet could take no part in battering the city until the harbor defences should first have been taken or silenced. And when this was done, the siege must probably have been near its end, fleet or no fleet.
Pepperell manfully turned, however, to a task which he had supposed would be shared between the commodore and himself. If he was no longer confident under fresh disappointments, they developed in him unexpected firmness and most heroic patience. Let us see what this task was, and in what manner the citizen-general set about it. That it was done with true military judgment is abundantly proved by the fact that, when Louisburg was assaulted and taken in 1758, by the combined land and naval forces of Amherst and Boscawen, Pepperell’s plan of attack was followed step by step, and to the letter.
The Harbor Defences.
The most formidable of the harbor defences were the Island Battery, to which attention has been called in a previous chapter, the Circular Battery, a work situated at the extreme northwest corner of the city walls, and forming the reverse face of the powerful Dauphin Bastion, from which the West Gate of the city opened, with the Water Battery, or Batterie de la Gréve, placed at the opposite angle of the harbor shore.19 The cross-fire from these two batteries effectually raked the whole harbor from shore to shore, but it was by no means so dangerous as that of the Island Battery, where ships must pass within point-blank range of the heaviest artillery.
Such, then, was the admirable system of harbor defences still remaining intact, even after the fall of the Royal Battery. Instead, therefore, of concentrating his whole fire upon one or two points, in his front, with a view of breaching the walls in the shortest time, and of storming the city at the head of his troops, Pepperell was made to throw half his available fire upon the batteries that were not at all in his own way, though they blocked the way to the fleet.20
It will be seen that these circumstances imposed upon Pepperell a task of no little magnitude. They compelled him to attack the very strongest, instead of the weakest, parts of the fortress, and necessarily confined the siege operations within a comparatively small space of the enemy’s long line.
No time was lost in getting the siege train over from Gabarus Bay to the positions marked out for erecting the breaching batteries. The infinite labor involved in doing this can hardly be understood except by those who have themselves gone over the ground. Every gun and every pound of provisions and ammunition had to be dragged two miles, through marshes and over rocks, to the allotted stations. This transit being impracticable for wheel-carriages, sledges were constructed by Lieutenant-Colonel Meserve of the New Hampshire regiment, to which relays of men harnessed themselves in turn, as they do in Arctic journeys, and in this way the cannon, mortars, and stores were slowly dragged through the spongy turf, where the mud was frequently knee-deep, to the trenches before Louisburg. None but the rugged yeomen of New England – men inured to all sorts of outdoor labor in woods and fields – could have successfully accomplished such a herculean task. But such severe toil as this was soon put half the army in the hospitals.
Nova Scotia freed of Invaders.
By the 5th of May Pepperell had got two mortar-batteries playing upon the city from the base of Green Hill, over which the road passes to Sydney. Meantime, Duchambon, seeing himself blockaded both by sea and by land, had hurriedly sent off an express to recall the troops that had gone out some time before against Annapolis, in concert with a force sent from Quebec, little dreaming that he himself would soon be attacked.21 The first fruits of Shirley’s sagacity ripened thus early in relieving Nova Scotia from invasion.
First Sabbath in Camp.
The 5th being Sunday, divine service was held in the chapel of the Royal Battery. Pepperell’s hardy New Englanders listened to the first Protestant sermon ever preached, perhaps, on the island of Cape Breton, from the well-chosen text “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.” After their devotions were over, we are told that the troops “fired smartly at the city.”
Meantime, also, Colonel Moulton, who had been left at Canso for the purpose, rejoined the army after destroying St. Peter’s. Two sallies made by the enemy against the nearest mortar-battery had been repulsed. Its fire, augmented by some forty-two-pounders taken from the Royal Battery, already much distressed the garrison, its balls coming against the caserns and into the town, where they traversed the streets from end to end, and riddled the houses in their passage. It never ceased firing during the siege. In his report Duchambon calls it the most dangerous of any that the besiegers raised.
