Siege of Louisbourg (1758)

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Siege of Louisbourg
Part of the French and Indian War

Burning of the French ship Prudent and capture of Bienfaisant, during the siege of Louisbourg in 1758, Richard Paton
Date8 June – 26 July 1758
Location45°55′17″N 59°58′13″W / 45.92139°N 59.97028°W / 45.92139; -59.97028
Result British victory[1][2]
Belligerents
 Great Britain
British America
 France
Mi'kmaq
Acadians
Commanders and leaders
Jeffery Amherst
James Wolfe
Charles Lawrence
Edward Whitmore
Edward Boscawen
Robert Rogers
Augustin de Drucour
Jean Vauquelin
Beaussier de l'Isle
Strength
26,000
40 warships
150 transport vessels
7,000
5 ships of the line
Casualties and losses
172 killed
355 wounded[3]
102 killed
303 wounded
6,600 captured[3]
4 ships of the line destroyed
1 ship of the line captured

The siege of Louisbourg was a pivotal operation of the Seven Years' War (known in the United States as the French and Indian War) in 1758 that ended the French colonial era in Atlantic Canada and led to the subsequent British campaign to capture Quebec in 1759 and the remainder of French North America the following year.[4]

Background[edit]

The British government realized that with the Fortress of Louisbourg under French control, the Royal Navy could not sail up the St. Lawrence River unmolested for an attack on Quebec. After an expedition against Louisbourg in 1757 led by Lord Loudon was turned back due to a strong French naval deployment, the British under the leadership of William Pitt resolved to try again with new commanders.

Pitt assigned the task of capturing the fortress to Major General Jeffery Amherst. Amherst's brigadiers were Charles Lawrence, James Wolfe and Edward Whitmore, and command of naval operations was assigned to Admiral Edward Boscawen. The chief engineer was John Henry Bastide who had been present at the first siege of Louisbourg in 1745 and was chief engineer at Fort St Philip, Minorca, in 1756 when the British had surrendered the fort and island to the French after a long siege.

As they had in 1757, the French planned to defend Louisbourg by means of a large naval build-up. However, the British blockaded the French fleet sailing from Toulon when it arrived in Cartagena, and defeated a French relief force at the Battle of Cartagena.

The French consequently abandoned their attempt to reinforce Louisbourg from the Mediterranean, and only 11 ships were available to oppose the British off Louisbourg. Most of the cannons and men were moved inside the fort and five ships (Appolon, Fidèle, Chèvre, Biche, Diane) were sunk to block the entrance to the harbour.[5] On 9 July, Echo tried to slip out of the harbour under the cover of a dense fog, but was intercepted and seized by HMS Scarborough and HMS Junon. This left the French with only five half-empty ships in the harbour : Célèbre (64), Entreprenant (74), Capricieux (64), Prudent (74) and Bienfaisant (64).

British forces assembled at Halifax, Nova Scotia where army and navy units spent most of May training together as the massive invasion fleet came together. After a large gathering at the Great Pontack, on 29 May, the Royal Navy fleet departed from Halifax for Louisbourg.

Order of battle[edit]

The fleet consisted of 150 transport ships and 40 men-of-war. Housed in these ships were almost 14,000 soldiers, almost all of whom were regulars (with the exception of four companies of American rangers). The force was divided into three divisions: Red, commanded by James Wolfe, Blue, commanded by Charles Lawrence and White commanded by Edward Whitmore. On 2 June the British force anchored in Gabarus Bay, 3 miles (4.8 km) from Louisbourg.

The French commander (and governor of Île-Royale (New France)), the Chevalier de Drucour, had at his disposal some 3,500 regulars as well as approximately 3,500 marines and sailors from the French warships in the harbour. However, unlike the previous year, the French navy was unable to assemble in significant numbers, leaving the French squadron at Louisbourg outnumbered five to one by the British fleet. Drucour ordered trenches to be prepared and defended by some 2,000 French troops, along with other defences, such as an artillery battery, at Kennington Cove.

British forces[edit]

Major General Jeffery Amherst was tasked with the capture of the French Fortress of Louisbourg

British forces were commanded by General Jeffery Amherst (appx. 11,000 regulars and 200 American rangers (colonials)).[6][7]

French forces[edit]

Ground troops[edit]

The French garrison based within the Fortress of Louisbourg was commanded by Augustin de Boschenry, Chevalier de Drucour. Between 1755 and the time of the siege, the French garrison expanded from 1,200 troops to around 6,000 troops.[6] Troops forming the garrison included:[7][11]

  • 2nd Battalion, Regiment of Artois – 2éme Bataillon du Régiment d'Artois (520 Troops)
  • 2nd Battalion, Regiment of Burgundy2éme Bataillon du Régiment de Bourgogne (520 Troops)
  • 2nd Battalion, Regiment of Cambis – 2éme Bataillon du Régiment de Cambis (650 Troops), Battalion arriving just before the siege, based in Port-Dauphin and marched to Louisbourg due to the town being blockaded by the Royal Navy
  • 2nd Battalion, Regiment of Foreign Volunteers – 2éme Bataillon du Régiment des Volontaires Étrangers (660 Troops)
  • 1,000 Compagnies Détachées (mostly from the Compagnies Franches de la Marine)
  • 120 gunners from Bombardiers de la Marine
  • 700 "burgher militia"
  • Tribe of unknown Natives
  • Crews from the French fleet

Naval forces & reinforcements[edit]

Many naval forces were sent from France to Louisbourg, but the majority of them did not arrive in time. The divisions and squadrons sent to assist included:

Siege[edit]

Weather conditions in the first week of June made any landing impossible and the British were only able to mount a bombardment of the improvised shore defences of Gabarus Bay from a frigate. However, conditions improved, and at daybreak on 8 June Amherst launched his assault using a flotilla of large boats, organized in seven divisions, each commanded by one of his brigadiers. French defences were initially successful and after heavy losses, Wolfe ordered a retreat. However, at the last minute, a boatload of Howe's light infantry in Wolfe's division found a rocky inlet protected from French fire and secured a beachhead.[citation needed] Wolfe redirected the rest of his division to follow. Outflanked, the French retreated rapidly back to their fortress.

Continuing heavy seas and the difficulty inherent to moving siege equipment over boggy terrain delayed the commencement of the formal siege. In the meantime, Wolfe was sent with 1,220 picked men around the harbour to seize Lighthouse Point, which dominated the harbour entrance. This he did on 12 June. After eleven days, on 19 June, the British artillery batteries were in position and the orders were given to open fire on the French. The British battery consisted of seventy cannons and mortars of all sizes. Within hours, the guns had destroyed walls and damaged several buildings. On 21 July a mortar round from a British gun on Lighthouse Point struck a 64-gun French ship of the line, Le Célèbre , and set it ablaze. A stiff breeze fanned the fire, and shortly after Le Célèbre caught fire, two other French ships, L'Entreprenant and Le Capricieux, had also caught fire. L'Entreprenant sank 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 23 July, at 10:00. A British "hot shot" set the King's Bastion on fire. The King's Bastion was the fortress headquarters and the largest building in North America in 1758. Its destruction eroded confidence and reduced morale in the French troops and their hopes to lift the British siege.

Naval action[edit]

Most historians regard the British actions of 25 July as the "straw that broke the camel's back". Using a thick fog as cover, Admiral Boscawen sent a cutting-out party to destroy the last two French ships in the harbour. The British raiders eliminated these two French ships of the line, capturing Bienfaisant and burning Prudent, thus clearing the way for the Royal Navy to enter the harbour. James Cook, who later became famous as an explorer, took part in this operation and recorded it in his ship's log book.[14]

Capitulation[edit]

On 26 July the French surrendered. Having fought a spirited defence, the French expected to be accorded the honours of war, as they had given to the surrendering British at the Battle of Minorca. However, Amherst refused, tales of the atrocities supposedly committed by France's native allies at the surrender of Fort Oswego and Fort William Henry probably fresh in his mind.[citation needed] The defenders of Louisbourg were ordered to surrender all of their arms, equipment and flags. These actions outraged Drucour, but because the safety of the non-combatant inhabitants of Louisbourg depended upon him he reluctantly accepted the terms of surrender. The Cambis regiment refused to honour the terms of surrender, breaking its muskets and burning its regimental flags rather than hand them over to the British victors.[15] Brigadier-General Whitmore was appointed the new Governor of Louisbourg, and remained there with four regiments.[16]

Aftermath[edit]

Louisbourg had held out long enough to prevent an attack on Quebec in 1758. However the fall of the fortress led to the loss of French territory across Atlantic Canada. From Louisbourg, British forces spent the remainder of the year routing French forces and occupying French settlements in what is today New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. The second wave of the Acadian expulsion began. The British engaged in the St. John River Campaign, the Cape Sable Campaign, the Petitcodiac River Campaign, the Ile Saint-Jean Campaign, and the removal of Acadians in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign (1758).

The loss of Louisbourg deprived New France of naval protection, opening the Saint Lawrence to attack. Louisbourg was used in 1759 as the staging point for General Wolfe's famous siege of Quebec ending French rule in North America. Following the surrender of Quebec, British forces and engineers set about methodically destroying the fortress with explosives, ensuring that it could not return to French possession a second time in any eventual peace treaty. By 1760, the entire fortress was reduced to mounds of rubble. In 1763 the Treaty of Paris saw France formally cede Canada, including Cape Breton Island, to the British. In 1768 the last of the British garrison departed along with most of the remaining civilian inhabitants.[17]

Royal Navy fleet throughout the siege[edit]

Ship Guns Admiral Captain
HMS Namur 90 Edward Boscawen Matthew Buckle
HMS Royal William 84 Sir Charles Hardy Thomas Evans
HMS Princess Amelia 80 Admiral Philip Durell John Bray
HMS Invincible 74 John Bentley
HMS Dublin 74 George Rodney
HMS Terrible 74 Richard Collins
HMS Northumberland 70 Lord Colville
HMS Vanguard 70 Robert Swanton
HMS Orford 70 Richard Spry
HMS Burford 70 James Gambier
HMS Somerset 70 Edward Hughes
HMS Lancaster 70 George Edgcumbe
HMS Devonshire 66 William Gordon
HMS Bedford 64 Thorpe Fowke
HMS Captain 64 John Amherst
HMS Prince Frederick 64 Robert Mann
HMS Pembroke 60 John Simcoe
HMS Kingston 60 William Parry
HMS York 60 Hugh Pigot
HMS Prince of Orange 60 John Fergusson
HMS Defiance 60 Patrick Baird
HMS Nottingham 60 Samuel Marshall
HMS Centurion 54 William Mantell
HMS Sutherland 50 John Rous

[18]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Primary sources

Endnotes

  1. ^ New France was doomed, Chartrand p. 84
  2. ^ Brumwell p. 158
  3. ^ a b Chartrand p. 81
  4. ^ Johnston, A.J.B. (2007). Endgame 1758: The Promise, the Glory and the Despair of Louisbourg's Last Decade. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
  5. ^ Guerre du Canada. 1756–1760. Montcalm et Lévis. 1891. Retrieved 1 October 2017. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  6. ^ a b "Capture of Louisburg 1758". www.britishbattles.com. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Glossems on Historical Events: The English and French Regiments at Louisbourg: 1758". 20 January 2008. Archived from the original on 20 January 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  8. ^ "1757 – British expedition against Louisbourg – Project Seven Years War". www.kronoskaf.com. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  9. ^ Duncan, History of the Royal Artillery, Part I, pp, 194–195.
  10. ^ "1757 – British expedition against Louisbourg – Project Seven Years War". www.kronoskaf.com. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  11. ^ René Chartrand, Louisbourg 1758, Osprey Publishing, 2000 (ISBN 1-84176-217-2). p. 41.
  12. ^ Jean-Michel Roche, , t. 1, de 1671 à 1870, éditions LTP, 2005, p. 28.
  13. ^ Partial composition provided by Lacour-Gayet 1910, p. 532, completed with Troude 1867–1868, p. 369.
  14. ^ Hough p. 21
  15. ^ Fowler, p. 171
  16. ^ Parkman, p. 295
  17. ^ Chartrand p. 92
  18. ^ The Naval Chronicle Vol. 07, pp. 202–203

Bibliography[edit]

  • Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War (2000) pp 250–256
  • Brumwell, Stephen. Paths of Glory: The Life and Death of General James Wolfe. Hambledon Continuum, 2007 ISBN 9781847252081
  • Chartrand, Rene Louisbourg 1758
  • Hough, Richard. Captain James Cook: a biography. Hodder & Stoughton, 1995
  • Fowler, William M. Empires at War: The French and Indian War and the Struggle For North America. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 2005
  • Hitsman, J. McKay and C.C.J. Bond. "The Assault Landing at Louisbourg, 1758," Canadian Historical Review (1954) 35:314–330.
  • A.J.B. Johnson, Endgame 1758:The Promise, the Glory and the Despair of Louisbourg's Last Decade, Sydney, NS: Capre Breton University Press, 2008
  • McLennan, J.S (2000, originally 1918). Louisbourg: From its Foundation to its Fall, 1713–1758. Halifax: The Book Room Limited.
  • Warner, Oliver. With Wolfe to Quebec. Toronto: William Collins Sons and Company Ltd., 1972 ISBN 0002119420
  • The Naval Chronicle. Vol. 07. Bunney & Gold.