Fortress of Louisbourg
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The Fortress of Louisbourg (in French, Forteresse de Louisbourg) is a National Historic Site and the location of a partial reconstruction of an 18th century French fortress at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.
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[edit] History
French settlement on Île Royale (now Cape Breton Island) can be traced to the early 17th century following settlements in Acadia that were concentrated on Baie François (now the Bay of Fundy) such as at Port-Royal and other locations in present-day peninsular Nova Scotia.
[edit] Ste-Anne
A French settlement at Ste-Anne (now St. Anns) on the central east coast of Île Royale was established in 1629 and named Fort Ste-Anne, lasting until 1641. A fur trading post was established on the site from 1650–1659 but Île Royale languished under French rule as attention was focused on the St. Lawrence River colony of New France (now Quebec) and the small agricultural settlements of Acadia.
The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 gave Britain control of part of Acadia (peninsular Nova Scotia) and Newfoundland, however France maintained control of its colonies at Île Royale, Île St-Jean (now Prince Edward Island), and New France, with Île Royale being France's only territory directly on the Atlantic seaboard (now controlled by Britain from Newfoundland to Florida) and it was strategically close to important fishing grounds on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, as well as being well placed for protecting the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
That year, in 1713, France set about constructing Port Dauphin and a limited naval support base at the former site of Fort Ste-Anne, however the winter icing conditions of the harbour led the French to a harbour on the extreme southeastern part of Île Royale. The harbour, being ice-free and well protected, soon became a winter port for French naval forces on the Atlantic seaboard and they named it Havre Louisbourg after the King.
[edit] Louisbourg
In 1719, France began construction on a fortified town located along the sheltered southwestern shore of Havre Louisbourg, naming the settlement Louisbourg. Construction would only be finished by the eve of the first British siege in 1745. The sheer volume of the French investment in construction and a growing economy based almost entirely on the Grand Banks fishery, coupled with some out-migration of Acadians living in the British colony now named Nova Scotia, soon saw the town of Louisbourg become a thriving community. The mounting costs for construction[1] also led to King Louis XV's famous musing to his ministers (to whom he had authorized the fortress's construction) if he should one day be able to see Louisbourg rising over the western horizon from his palace at Versailles.
As construction progressed and the settlement and its economy grew, Louisbourg soon became an important hub for commerce between France, New France, and French colonies in the West Indies. The fog-bound harbour at Louisbourg was a year-round hazard to shipping so a lighthouse was constructed on the southeastern headland opposite the town in 1734. A cross-fire battery was also built at this location to aid in harbour defences. While Louisbourg thrived, world geopolitical events continued to evolve with the eventual deterioration in 1740 into the War of the Austrian Succession, with military operations in North America between French and British forces being referred to as King George's War.
[edit] Siege of 1745
The siege lasted six weeks. While Louisbourg's construction and layout was acknowledged as having superior seaward defences, its landward defences were vulnerable to siege batteries as they were overlooked by a series of low rises.
The declaration of war between France and Britain was seen as an opportunity by British colonists in New England who were increasingly wary of the threat Louisbourg posed to their fishing fleets working the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The wariness bordered on an almost fanatical paranoia or a religious fervour, stirred by false accounts of the size and scale of Louisbourg's fortifications and the general anti-French sentiment shared among most British colonists at the time.
New Englanders' paranoia increased after a small French force sailed from Louisbourg in the summer of 1744 to the nearby British fishing port of Canso, attacking a small fort on Grassy Island and burning it to the ground. This port was used by the New England fishing fleet as it was the closest mainland North American British port to the fishing grounds, however the Canso Islands offshore (including Grassy Island) were contested by both Britain and France.
In 1744–1745, the governor of Massachusetts William Shirley, and New Hampshire governor Benning Wentworth, issued a call for volunteers in surrounding British colonies to join an expedition to take the Fortress of Louisbourg, however the force was largely raised in New England. Under the command of William Pepperrell of Kittery (in what is now Maine), the Massachusetts expedition set sail from Boston in stages beginning in early March 1745 with 4,200 soldiers and sailors aboard a total of 90 ships.
The force, beginning to take on the air of a religious crusade, stopped at Canso to reprovision and were augmented by a small number of British army and Royal Navy regulars. In late March, the naval forces began to blockade Louisbourg, however the ice fields of the Gulf of St. Lawrence were being swept by winds off Louisbourg that spring, presenting a considerable hazard to wooden-hulled sailing ships. The poor weather and general state of disorganization of the New England naval forces saw numerous delays to the expedition, however, they kept themselves busy harassing French fishing and shipping in the waters surrounding Île Royale, as well as destroying several coastal villages opposite from Canso.
With the ice fields gone by late April, the naval siege began in earnest on April 28 and Pepperell's land forces sailed in transports from Canso, landing 8 km west of Louisbourg at Fresh Water Cove in a flanking manoeuvre and proceeded overland with their cannon on sleds designed by Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Meserve of the New Hampshire Militia who was a shipwright by trade, to the series of low hills overlooking the west walls of the fortress. Pepperell's land forces were aided by the fact that conditions for French soldiers inside Louisbourg were almost mutinous over lack of pay and poor provisions. The French were not helped by the fact that the government in Paris had had forewarning of the New Englanders' intentions to attack, but the decision was made not to augment defences or send reinforcements. The French defenders were seriously outmanned, and French commanders kept their soldiers within the walls of the fortress, rather than confronting the British forces at the landing site, fearing that the French troops would defect.
The New Englanders' landward siege joined their naval counterparts on May 1 and following 46 days of siege and bombardment, French forces at Louisbourg capitulated on June 16, 1745. News of the victory reached Governor Shirley in Boston on July 3 and New Englanders celebrated as they controlled France's mighty fortress on the Atlantic.
[edit] Louisbourg Returned
The New Englanders' victory turned to disgust 3 years later when the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, signed on October 18, 1748 ended the War of the Austrian Succession and stipulated the restitution of the Fortress of Louisbourg to France by the New England occupation forces (more likely a small garrison was maintained at the fortress). The New England forces left, taking with them the famous Louisbourg Cross which had hung in the fortress chapel. This cross was only rediscovered in the Harvard University archives in the latter half of the 20th century; it is now on long-term loan to the Louisbourg historic site.
France, while not having control of the Atlantic seaboard (aside from the newly reinstated Île Royale), did control vast amounts of North America – far more than Britain. At the time of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, France claimed all territories from the Alleghenies to the Rockies and from the
Gulf of Mexico to the North Pole. France also controlled the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. And the French wanted to keep the British penned in on the Atlantic coast to prevent the separation of New France from their Louisiana territory.
Britain's response, in 1749, to the reinstatement of Louisbourg was to create their own fortified town on Chebucto Bay which they named Halifax. It soon became the largest Royal Navy base on the Atlantic coast and hosted large numbers of British army regulars as well including the 29th Regiment of Foot who cleared the land for the port and settlement.
Britain's North American (American) colonies were getting restless and the efforts by French forces, with aid from their First Nations allies, to seal off the westward passes and approaches through which American colonists could move west soon led to the skirmishes which would develop into the French and Indian War in 1754 and devolve into the larger Seven Years' War by 1756, which also involved all the major European powers. Image:Louisbourg.jpg
[edit] Siege of 1758
| Siege of Louisbourg | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the French and Indian War | |||||||
|
|||||||
| Combatants | |||||||
| Britain | France | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst
Edward Boscawen (naval commander) |
Chevalier de Dracour | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 14,000 soldiers (regulars and militia), 150 transport vessels, 40 men-o-war | 3,500 soldiers, 3,500 sailors and marines, 5 warships (including 74-gun L'Entrepenant) | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| ??? | ??? KIA, remainder surrendered
5 warships |
||||||
Early in 1758, the planning for a large assault on the Fortress of Louisbourg was planned. The British government realized that with Louisbourg still operational, there was no way that the Royal Navy could sail down the St. Lawrence River for an attack on Quebec.
Prime Minister William Pitt assigned the duty of capturing the fortress to General Jeffery Amherst. On this mission, Amherst's brigaders would be Charles Lawrence, James Wolfe and Edward Whitmore. Naval Command was assigned to Edward Boscawen.
[edit] Order of Battle
On May 29, 1758, a Royal Navy fleet departed from Halifax for Louisbourg. The fleet consisted of 150 transport ships and 40 men-of-war. Housed in these ships were almost 14,000 soldiers, of whom all were regulars (with the exception of four companies of militia.) The force was to be divided into three units: Red:commanded by James Wolfe, Blue: commanded by Charles Lawrence and white: commanded by Edward Whitmore. On June 2, 1758, the British force anchored in Gabarus Bay, three miles from Louisbourg.
The French commander Chevalier de Dracour (Governor of Isle Royale) had at his disposal some 3,500 regulars as well as approximately 3,500 marines and sailors from the French warships in the harbour.
Dracour had ordered trenches to be prepared, along with other defences, such as an artillery battery, at Kennington Cove. 2,000 French troops manned the line of defences at the Cove.
[edit] Siege
Amherst launched the siege of Louisbourg at daybreak on June 8, 1758. Late in the morning of the eighth, a boatload of light infantry found a hole in the French defensive lines and secured a beach head. By noon on the eighth of June, the British soldiers were beginning the actual siege of the fortress.
After eleven days, on June 19, the British artillery batteries were in position and the orders were given to open fire on the French. The British battery consisted of seventy cannon and mortars of all sizes. Within hours, the guns had destroyed walls and partially destroyed several buildings.
This siege would last until July 26.
On July 21, 1758, a mortar round from a British gun on Light House Point struck a 74 gun French ship of the line, L'Entrepenant, and set it ablaze. A stiff breeze fanned the fire, and shortly after the L'Entrepenant caught fire, two other French ships had caught fire. L'Entrepenant exploded later in the day, depriving the French of the largest ship in the Louisbourg fleet.
The next major blow to French morale came on the evening of July 23, at 10:00. At this hour, a British "hot shot" set the King's Bastion, which was inside the fort, on fire. The bastion was the largest building in North America in 1758.
The destruction of the bastion eroded any confidence that the French troops had left in their commanders and in their ability to lift the British siege of their fortress.
July 25 was the "straw that broke the camel's back", so to speak. Using a thick fog as cover, Admiral Edward Boscawen sent a cutting party to destroy the French ships in the harbour. The British raiders destroyed the last two French warships at Louisbourg, thus clearing the way for the Royal Navy to seize the harbour.
[edit] Capitulation
On July 26, 1758, The French guns fell silent at Louisbourg for the last time. The French surrendered. General Amherst refused Drucour's garrison the "honors of war". The defenders of Louisbourg were ordered to surrender all of their arms, equipment and flags. These actions outraged the French commander, Drucour. Yet he realized that the safety of the non-combatant inhabitants of Louisbourg depended upon him making the correct decision, thus he reluctantly accepted the terms of surrender.
The combination of receiving no "honours of war" and the orders stating that the regimental colours were to be handed over to the British caused defiance by the Cambis Regiment. This regiment refused to honour the terms of surrender, instead deciding to break their muskets and burn their regimental flags rather than hand them over to the British victors. (Fowler, 171)
Following the surrender of Louisbourg, British forces and engineers set about methodically destroying the fortress with explosives, ensuring the fortress could not return to French possession a second time in the eventual peace treaty. By 1760, the entire fortress was left as mounds of rubble.
[edit] National Historic Site
In 1961, the government of Canada undertook a historical reconstruction of one quarter of the town and fortifications with the aim being to recreate Louisbourg as it would have been at its height in the 1740s. The work required an interdisciplinary effort by archaeologists, historians, engineers, and architects. The reconstruction was aided by unemployed coal miners from the industrial Cape Breton area, many of whom learned French masonry techniques from the 18th century and other skills to create an accurate replica. Where possible, many of the original stones were used in the reconstruction.
Today, the entire site of the Fortress of Louisbourg, including the one-quarter reconstruction, has been designated a National Historic Site with guided and unguided tours available. The fortress has also greatly aided the local economy of the town of Louisbourg as it has struggled to diversify economically with the decline of the North Atlantic fishery.
[edit] References (Siege of 1758)
Fowler, William M. Empires at War: The French and Indian War and the Struggle For North America. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 2005
Warner, Oliver. With Wolfe to Quebec. Toronto: William Collins Sons and Company Ltd., 1972 ISBN 0002119420
[edit] External links
- Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site - Parks Canada
- Louisbourg Institute
- Account of New England vessels used against Louisbourg in 1745
