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PORT OF LOUISBOURG - A BONE FOR CONTENTION This peaceful neutrality ended in 1744 when Louis XV of France declared war on George II of Great Britain The first act of aggression in the New World occurred when an expedition from Louisbourg captured the British fishing settlement at Canso. New England traders were incensed. A party of 4000 militia from New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts descended on Louisbourg under the leadership of William Pepperrell of Kittery Maine to capture the town.[1] The
force was launched in early April 1745, but did
not advance to Louisbourg until May 11.
By that time, a British warship commanded by Commodore Warren blocked
the entrance to Louisbourg harbour.
Pepperrell's forces landed at Freshwater Cove, about four miles south
and west of the town, and advanced on
Louisbourg across marshy land, hoping for immediate capture. Under military governor Louis Duchambon,
Louisbourg was ill equipped for the challenge.
By May, residents were existing on short rations. Canon requested from France had not arrived,
and the troops posted to the fortress remained ill-equipped. Still, the French fended off invasion until
May 18 when the New Englanders changed tactics and laid siege to the town. During the next forty-seven days, British
forces built their own batteries outside Louisbourg's defences and used them as
platforms to strafe the area inside the walls.
Pepperrell later estimated that about 9,000 cannon shot and 600 mortar
bombs were fired: "'Never was a
place so mauled with cannon and shells.'"[2] All the while, a second battle raged for
control of the harbour. The British captured several merchant ships and a
rescuing man-of-war, the Vigilant.
They subdued the town's harbour defences one at a time. When British land and sea forces gathered
for a final assault on June 26th 1747, Louisbourg surrendered. Louisbourg was occupied by New England militia from 1747-48. That winter, 890 soldiers died from scurvy -- more than had been lost in the actual battle. The militia's task was to maintained the strategic position, repair and expand the town's defences to ward off a French counter-attack. In the end, it was not battle but diplomacy that defeated the New Englanders' efforts. Louisbourg was returned to France at the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 in exchange for British retention of Madras (India). Realizing a counterbalance to French influence at Louisbourg was essential, the British founded Halifax in 1749. At Louisbourg, French merchants resumed their trading.
Peace lasted only a few short years, but during that
time the British had an opportunity to reassess Louisbourg's place in the
scheme of things. Once they were
operating from Halifax, the British Army quickly became frustrated with its
inability to control the Acadian areas that had nominally been in British hands
since 1713. Acadians were given an
opportunity to demonstrate allegiance, then
deported
to the British Colonies in 1755 - and throughout the period of war - along the
Atlantic seacoast (Massachusetts to Georgia - Note:
As well, after the war was over, an
immigration to Louisiana occurred as a matter of choice by the Acadians.)
The British also attempted with little success to
make peace with France's Amerindian allies. Louisbourg's role as a focal centre
for French sympathy was acknowledged. When the Seven Years War had began in 1756, Louisbourg
was identified as an important military target. This time, the attackers were
seasoned British regulars. Admiral
Boscawen of the British Navy led a powerful fleet of one hundred and
fifty-seven ships to attack the town by sea.
General Amherst, ably seconded by Brigadier-Generals Wolfe and Lawrence
of the British Army, directed 16,000 troops on land.[3] French forces fought valiantly under M. de
Drucourt, but they were both outnumbered and outclassed. The
siege lasted seven weeks and ended on
July 26 1758. Louisbourg's fall in 1758 has been called "The
final triumph of British power in North America".** Louisbourg became an occupied town. Its merchants were returned to France in
English ships, and its soldiers and officials transported to England as
prisoners of war. In 1760, on direct
orders from William Pitt, the town's defences
were mined ending the possibility Louisbourg could be revived as a bastion
of resistance. Britain was determined
to crush French influence for good.
This objective met when Cape Breton was formally ceded to the British in
1763 at the Peace of Paris. After 1763, Britain governed Cape Breton as a civil area. During the next few years, the rudiments of British law and order were put into place. Land, the basis of British civil administration, was surveyed for allocation. The Royal Engineers divided property in the Louisbourg area into lots, initially retaining the former townsite as military land. When the garrison left Louisbourg in 1768 (because the British refused to maintain a military fort that could not provision itself), Louisbourg's townsite was declared surplus and sold as private property. After 1768 Cape Breton residents had the same rights as other British subjects. They were taxed on the basis of land, represented in Nova Scotia's Colonial Assembly, and subject to British justice. Once this standard system of British civil administration was in place, Great Britain treated Louisbourg like any other colonial area. It was a backwater village centre. There was no longer a need for Louisbourg's strategic position, and its capability as a defensible site had been destroyed. After the American Revolution, Nova Scotia was
subided to accommodate the United Empire Loyalist population explosion. Cape Breton became a separate province. Louisbourg, which had continued to act as
the administrative centre for such official activities as circuit court, was
named provincial capital in 1784. Just
one year later, Cape Breton's capital was relocated to Sydney in response to
pressure from the resident military garrison.
and Louisbourg surrendered all claim to being an administrative centre. Illustrations
Map
Chronology Items
Endnotes
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