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^ THE SECOND CAPTURE 
 
 OF LOUISBURGc^^^c^^^ 
 
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 _ A recent novel, which opens in 1762, describes the deHght 
 
 "^ and astonishment witii which the successive and quickly 
 
 recurring victories of the English over the French and 
 Spaniards, affected the public mind of that day. On one day, 
 it was said, that the Windward group of Islands had been cap- 
 tured from France ; on another that Havana had fallen ; on 
 ' a third that Manila and the Philippines had been taken. Each 
 
 man saluted his neighbor with the inquiry, "What next?" 
 The occurrences of the past year recalls to us the events of 1762. 
 
 This has witnessed the extinction of Spanish power in this 
 hemisphere — that witnessed the banishment of the power of 
 France east of the Mississippi. 
 
 It is, however, to only one event in the series of English 
 and Colonial successes that I desire to call your attention 
 this evening — the second capture of the City of Louisburg, 
 on Cape Breton, m 1758. 
 
 This capture — the second which occurred in the Colonial 
 Wars — has.cerhaps been rather dwarfed in importance by the 
 first captur^Tn 1744, in which the New England Colonies 
 took so large a part, and which was regarded as an event 
 largely of their achievement. 
 
 The general Society of Colonial Wars has already done 
 nwicJi to commemorate the first siege of Louisburg; but the 
 second capture has some points of interest which should not 
 be overlooked, especially by our New York Society. 
 
 Louisburg had been returned to France by the Treaty of Aix 
 La Chapelle in 1748, (in accordance with the plan of mutual res- 
 titution of conquests on which that Treaty was based) much 
 to the chagrin of the American Colonies. France maintained 
 a considerable armed force at this point, and from its harbor 
 ships sallied out for the destruction of New England com- 
 
 A paper read before the Society of Colonial Wars, New York, March 
 20, 1899. 
 
merce. Louisbttrg was commonly spoken of as the American 
 Dunkirk — a nearby enemies' port convenient for the equip- 
 ment and refuge of privateers, and in too dangerous proximity 
 to be regarded with equanimity. Its position and relations 
 to the war which ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763 made 
 its final fall, by the second capture in 1758, therefore, an event 
 of no ordinary importance. 
 
 The final struggle for supremacy between the English and 
 French Colonies, in America, opened in 1754, with the Brad- 
 dock Campaign, although this expedition preceded any ac- 
 tual declaration of war, as that did not occur until February, 
 
 1756. 
 
 The result of the war became assured by the subjugation 
 of Canada in 1760, and the culmination of the contest, and the 
 permanency of the English success, was clinched by the vic- 
 tories over the French at Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, 
 Tobago, and Grenada ; and over Spain (the belated ally of 
 France) at Havana, in August, and at Manila in October, 
 1762. 
 
 The West India victories of 1762 were looked upon as the 
 harbingers of peace, which was, in fact, concluded at Paris 
 on February 10, 1763. The Province of New York had a 
 large share in their achievement, for many of the troops which 
 captured Havana sailed from New York, after having been 
 in camp for some months on Staten Island, and were under 
 the command of General Monckton, the Governor of the 
 Province, and of Lord Albemarle. 
 
 The expedition of 1758 to Louisburg marked the turning 
 of the tide of success in favor of the English arms in the nine 
 years' contest, which commenced in 1754. LTp to and includ- 
 ing 1757, the French arms in America had been nearly every- 
 where successful. 
 
 The Braddock Campaign of 1754 had ended, as is well 
 known, in slaughter and retreat. 
 
 Fort Oswego had been captured by the French under Mont- 
 calm, in 1757, an event which was looked upon as securing 
 communication between Canada and the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 Fort William Henry had fallen in the same year, under cir- 
 
cumstances which were far from creditable to the Enghsh 
 commander. 
 
 Lord Louden had led an army of 6,000 men from New 
 York to Halifax in 1757, with a view of laying siege to Louis- 
 burg, but had ingloriously returned to New York at the end 
 of the season, without attacking, because of the report that 
 the French at Louisburg had nineteen ships of war with which 
 to oppose the seventeen of the English Admiral, Halbourne — 
 a disproportion in odds which did not always daunt English 
 seamen. 
 
 A new master-spirit came, however, into control in 1758. 
 William Pitt became Secretary of State in England — succeed- 
 ing the incompetent Duke of Newcastle in the management 
 of the war — and from that time the tide of battle turned, and, 
 with the exception of the Ticonderoga fiasco, in the early 
 Summer of that year, success followed success, until all of 
 America east of the Mississippi was swept of French domina- 
 tion. 
 
 The first of these successes was the capture of Louisburg 
 on July 26, 1758. 
 
 The expedition was under the command of Admiral, the 
 Hon. Edward Boscawen, as to the Navy, and under General 
 Amherst, as to the Army. Twenty-two ships of the line, 
 fifteen frigates, one hundred and twenty smaller vessels, and 
 a land force variously stated at from nine to eleven thousand 
 men were engaged in the expedition. 
 
 Generals Lawrence and Whitemore and Wolfe were in com- 
 mand of brigades. 
 
 In General Wolfe's brigade served one of the most strenu- 
 ous opponents, in Parliament, in after years, of the taxation 
 of America, Isaac Barre. 
 
 New York was represented by many, and, among others, 
 by the brave Richard Montgomery, who in after years died 
 for his country, under the walls of Quebec. Richard Monck- 
 ton, afterwards Governor of the Province of New York, had 
 a prominent place in the expedition. 
 
 Louisburg was defended by the Chevalier de Drucour and 
 a garrison of from 5,000 to 6,000 men. He had five ships of 
 
the line and seven frigates and smaller vessels, four of which 
 he sunk across the mouth of the harbor to prevent the ingress 
 of the British fieet. 
 
 Those who know the city and harbor of Louisburg will re- 
 member that the city and principal fortifications occupy a 
 promontory at the Southwestern part of the harbor. The har- 
 bor opens to the Southeast, and the entrance is partly occupied 
 and defended by several small islands, the principal one of 
 which is Goat Island. South of the City, and beyond Black 
 Point, or Cape Noir, is Gabarus (or Gabreuse) Bay, which 
 was the scene of the landing of the Provincial troops in the 
 capture of 1744, and, at the second siege, was the place of 
 landing of the brigade led by Wolfe. 
 
 With an enemy in command of the sea, and with an army 
 landed at Gabarus Bay, Louisburg is essentially invested and 
 cut off from succor. 
 
 On June 8, 1758, after waiting some six days for a violent 
 surf to subside, a force, under General Wolfe, consisting of 
 four companies of grenadiers and light infantry, and the New 
 England Rangers, effected a landing. Divisions were rowed 
 to the shore in small boats, under the fire of seven frigates, 
 at three points in Gabarus Bay — White Point, Flat Point and 
 Fresh Water Cove. Wolfe's division approached Fresh 
 Water Cove, and were met by a hot fire, which caused signals 
 to be given in return, but the boats of Lieutenants Hopkins 
 and Brown, and of Ensign Grant disregarded or misunder- 
 stood the orders and pushed on, and Wolfe himself leaping 
 into the surf and wading ashore, came to their support, and 
 the French were driven from their positions. 
 
 On the nth of June, artillery and supplies were landed, and 
 the French retreated to the fortifications of the town proper. 
 
 A few days later. General Wolfe circled the city to the 
 Northern Promontory which projects into the harbor oppo- 
 site the city, and which was occupied by a lighthouse and for- 
 tifications, and succeeded in capturing those points. Placing 
 a battery on Lighthouse Point, on the North of the harbor 
 entrance, he was in a position to command the French bat- 
 tery on the Island in the center of the harbor exit, and to 
 reach the shipping in the harbor itself. 
 
I need not recall the incidents of the siege which have been 
 so graphically told by Parkman, nor detail all of the courte- 
 sies which took place between the chivalrous commanders. 
 
 The Chevalier Drucour, after the losses on both sides had 
 become considerable, sent word that the garrison had the 
 advantage of having a distinguished surgeon, whose services 
 he placed also at the command of any wounded officer of the 
 besiegers, and General Amherst, on the arrival of a supply 
 ship from the West Indies, sent in a flag of truce with a 
 present of fresh pineapples, with his compliments to the brave 
 wife of the French General. 
 
 The siege advanced, step by step, for weeks, drawing the 
 lines tighter and tighter around the doomed city, but marked 
 by little incident except a partially successful sally of the 
 French on July 9th, which resulted in the death of the English 
 Earl of Dundonald. 
 
 On July 2 1 St, three of the largest French ships, the Entre- 
 prennant, Capricieux and Celebre, took fire, the Entrepren- 
 nant from shells from the Light House Point or Maine bat- 
 tery, and the others from the Entreprennant. On July 22d, 
 the citadel was burned and the town became practically a ruin. 
 Forty of the fifty-two cannon were disabled. On the 25th of 
 July, two English captains, Laforey and Balfour, entered the 
 harbor at night in small boats and captured and burned the 
 seventy-four-gun ship Prudent, and towed out the sixty-four- 
 gun ship Bienfasant, with all on board, from under the walls 
 of the town into the Northeastern harbor, where she was 
 secured. 
 
 The celebrated navigator, James Cook, took part in this 
 assault. 
 
 On the 26th of July, Chevalier Drucour capitulated — yield- 
 ing to the importunities of the inhabitants, although himself 
 desiring to defend against the impending assault. 
 
 I have here one of the original oiflcial notifications by Ad- 
 miral Boscawen of the capitulation of the city. It is addressed 
 to Governor Denny, of Pennsylvania, and is probably one of 
 several notices in similar form sent to the different Colonial 
 Governors. The laconic terms in which he announces this 
 great event are worthy of imitation. 
 
"Namur in Gabreuse Bay, 27th July, 1758. 
 Sir: 
 
 I have the pleasure to acquaint you that the Town of Louis- 
 bourg surrendered yesterday. A copy of the capitulation I 
 send enclosed, and am Sir 
 
 Your Most obedient Humble Servant, 
 
 E. Boscawi;n. 
 
 P. S. The ships taken, burnt or destroyed are as follows, 
 viz. :" 
 
 Prudent, 74 guns; Burnt by the boats of the fleet under 
 Capt. Leforey. 
 
 Entreprennant, 74 guns ; Blown up and burnt by shot from 
 the Marine Battery. 
 
 Capricieux, 64 guns ; Burnt by the Entreprennant. 
 
 Celebre, 64 guns; Burnt by the Entreprennant. 
 
 Bienfaisant, 64 guns ; Taken by the boats of the fleet, towed 
 from under the Walls of the Town into the East Harbor, by 
 Captain Balfour. 
 
 Apollo, 50 guns; Chevere, Biche, Fidello, Frigates; Sunk 
 by the enemy across the Harbor's mouth to prevent the fleet 
 from going in. 
 
 Diana, 36 guns ; Taken by his Majesty's ship Boreas. 
 
 Echo, 26 guns; Taken by his Majesty's ship Juno. 
 
 To William Denny, Esq. 
 
 The capture of Louisburg, after the disastrous failures of 
 the preceding years, created great enthusiasm both in Amer- 
 ica and England. 
 
 Captain Amherst, brother of the General, carried the news 
 to England. Eleven stand of captured colors were borne in 
 triumph through the streets of London and deposited in St. 
 Paul's Cathedral. Admiral Boscawen and General Amherst 
 were honored with ofificial congratulations, but General 
 Wolfe's dash and resourceful energy made him the popular 
 hero, and insured for him the command of the expedition 
 against Quebec in the following year. 
 
 New York celebrated the news by an ofificial dinner at the 
 Province Arms Tavern on Broadway, and by an illumination 
 and fireworks. 
 
Looking back, now, to the series of events which marked the 
 fall of French power in America — commencing with this cap- 
 ture of Louisburg — we see and recognize the inevitable na- 
 ture of the conflict which then took place. The French and 
 English systems could not exist side by side on this continent. 
 The time had come when the autocratic system of France and 
 the free and popular methods of the English Colonies, inten- 
 sified by the ancient antipathies of the parent nations, came 
 to the point of an irreconcilable clash. 
 
 Many of the ostensible causes which precipitated war, seem 
 now, as we look back upon them, most trivial in their nature, 
 but it is clear that a "psychological moment" had arrived for 
 conflict which made specific complaint almost unnecessary. 
 Encroachments upon asserted territorial rights of each nation 
 on the American continent were made the pretext for resort 
 to arms, but it is difficult for us now to appreciate how vague 
 territorial claims then were, or how comparatively unknown 
 and undetermined were all boundaries in America only one 
 hundred and fifty years ago. 
 
 England laid claim to nearly the whole of North America 
 under the coast discoveries of Cabot, in 1496, and under the 
 settlements which were effected early in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury. France asserted jurisdiction in Canada, and Southward 
 to the Ohio and along the Mississippi to its mouth, by virtue 
 of the discoveries and travels of Joliet, De La Salle, D'lber- 
 ville, Crozat and others. 
 
 By the treaties of Utrecht, in 1713, and Aix La Chapelle, in 
 1748, attempts had been made to specify French and English 
 territories, but so little was known of actual boundaries, and 
 perhaps so little cared about the actual delimitations of vast 
 stretches of unexplored country (not supposed to contain the 
 A^aluable minerals for which nations were then seeking) that 
 boundaries were necessarily indefinite. 
 
 In the neighborhood of Louisburg itself dififerences of 
 opinion existed as to the extent of territory claimed, which 
 left wide latitude for contention. 
 
 "Acadia" had been ceded to England by the treaty of 
 Utrecht without designation other than that it was according 
 
8 
 
 to its "ancient limits." But by some "Acadia" proper was held 
 to include not only the peninsular of Nova Scotia, but the 
 Island of Cape Breton ; by others only Nova Scotia proper, 
 and by still others the name was applicable to a region extend- 
 ing from Central New Brunswick to Southern Pennsylvania. 
 
 In a work entitled "The Present State of North America," 
 printed in London in 1755 (which I have here before me), the 
 prevailing lack of accurate information about America, even 
 at that late date, was stated as follows : 
 
 "Every person that knows anything of North America in 
 general, cr of any one Province in particular, must be sensible 
 that the histories or works of Mather, Old Nixon, Neal, Salo- 
 mon, etc., who have chiefly copied each other, and of all that 
 have copied after them relative to North America, might al- 
 most as properly have called their works Histories of Prester 
 John's, or of the Hottentots' country, as histories of North 
 America, or any other title they bear. Even Mather himself 
 said Old Nixon, in his British Empire in North America 
 had eighty-seven falsehoods in fifty-six pages. In short, there 
 is not one work yet published to the world in our language 
 that in any degree deserves the title of a History of North 
 America, but Smith's History of Virginia, and Douglas's 
 summary, historical and political, of the first settlement, pro- 
 gress and improvement, and present state of the British settle- 
 ments in North America, etc., published a few years ago at 
 Boston, in New England." 
 
 And again, the same work says : 
 
 "Most, if not all, of our maps also, preceding that of Dr. 
 Mitchell, are very erroneous and injurious to His Majesty's 
 rights. Such erroneous books and maps, as may be supposed, 
 are of more consequence than people generally imagine, for, 
 besides misleading ourselves, the French quote them against 
 us even in national discussions, as authorities." 
 
 As to the proposals that had been made to adjust differ- 
 ences, the same work said : 
 
 "An author has also proposed a plan for settling the limits 
 of North America with the French, whereby he gives the 
 French two-thirds of the whole for the sake of enjoying the 
 
other third in peace and quiet. Now, can any man, upon close 
 reflection, imagine that if the French were suffered to avail 
 themselves of and settle two-thirds of North America, we shall 
 enjoy the other third in peace ? If we submit to this and may 
 judge of the future by what is passed, they wiU soon have the 
 other third also, and by making such proposals, does it not 
 look as if he doubted the validity of our right to the whole of 
 our claim?" 
 
 With such a prevailing uncertainty as to both territory and 
 claims, it is no wonder that the acts of aggression relied on 
 as causes for war, were somewhat indefinitely set forth. 
 
 The French were supposed to be drawing a cordon of posts 
 in the interior, to surround and hold back the coast Colonies, 
 but the boundaries of those Colonies were stated in terms 
 which seem somewhat singular at the present day. 
 
 The same work, "The Present State of North America," 
 attempts to summarize the existing causes of complaint in 
 1755, and, among others, enumerates the following French 
 "aggressions" and "outrages :" 
 
 (i) That they have "settled seven villages in the Province 
 of Massachusetts Bay on the South banks of the St. Laivrence 
 River.'" 
 
 (2) That "as to the Province of Nezv York and the five na- 
 tions hereditary and conquered country, the French have got 
 possession of that part of it which lies to the Northward of 
 the St. Lazvrenee River an~d the five Great Lakes." 
 
 (3) That the French have "built two forts on Beef River, 
 which issued from the South side of Lake Erie in His Majesty's 
 Province of Pennsylvania." 
 
 (4) That in 1751 they built a fort in the Province of Virginia 
 "at the junction of the Rivers Missouri and Mississippi." 
 
 (5) That "in His Majesty's Province of Georgia the French 
 have one fort built at the mouths of the Mississippi." 
 
 These and other "insults, injuries and barbarities," com- 
 mitted (as the author said) "by the very people we have the 
 name of peace with," seemed to the men at that time to call for 
 war. Indeed, it had even then begun without formal declara- 
 tion, and Louisburg was the forerunner of the successful issue.