V. 1758. gratification of this hope, if ever realised, must be deferred C H A P. at least till the succeeding year; as the cabinet of England had determined, for the protection of the English commerce from the cruisers and privateers of France, to employ a considerable part of the forces in an attack upon Louisburg, and to commence its new system of operations by the reduction of that place. Three expeditions were proposed for this year: the first, against Louisburg; the second, against Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and the third against Fort Du Quesne. In prosecution of the first of these enterprises, Admiral Boscawen, sailing from Halifax with a fleet of twenty ships of May 28. the line and eighteen frigates, conveying an army of 14,000 men, conducted by Amherst, and of which but a small proportion were provincial troops, arrived before Louisburg on the second of June. The garrison of this place, commanded by June 2. the Chevalier de Drucourt, an intrepid and experienced officer, was composed of two thousand five hundred regulars, aided by six hundred militia. The condition of the harbour, which was secured by five ships of the line, one fifty-gun ship, and five frigates, three of which were sunk across the mouth of the bason, rendered it necessary for the invaders to land at some distance from the town. From the defensive precautions which the enemy had adopted, this operation was attended with considerable difficulty; but at length by the daring resolution and intrepidity of General Wolfe, it was accomplished with success and little loss and the troops having been landed at the creek of Cormoran, and the artillery stores June 8. brought on shore, Wolfe was detached with two thousand men to seize a post which had been occupied by the enemy at the Lighthouse-point, and which was calculated to afford advantage to the besiegers by enabling them severely to annoy the ships in the harbour and the fortifications of the town. On the approach of Wolfe, the post was abandoned, and there the British soon erected a formidable battery. Approaches June 12. were also made on the opposite side of the town: and the siege was pressed with a resolute activity characteristic of the English commanders, and yet with a severe and guarded caution inspired by the strength of the place and the reputation of its governor and garrison, who fully supported the high idea that had been entertained of them, by the skilful X. 1758. BOOK and obstinate valour which they exerted in their defence. In all the operations of the siege, the dauntless courage and indefatigable energy of Wolfe were signally pre-eminent. A heavy cannonade having been maintained against the town and harbour, a bomb, exploding, set fire to one of the large ships which soon blew up; and the flames were communicated to two others which shared the same fate. The English admiral in consequence of this success, despatched boats manned with six hundred men into the harbour to make an attempt during the night on the two ships of the line which still remained to the enemy. In spite of a tremendous fire of cannon and musketry, the assailants accomplished this perilous feat; and one of the ships which happened to be aground was destroyed, while the other was towed off in triumph.1 By this gallant exploit the English gained complete possession of the harbour; and already more than one practicable breach in the works had been produced by their batteries. The governor now judged the place no longer defensible, and offered to capitulate: but his propositions were refused; and it was required that the garrison should surrender at discretion, or abide the issue of an assault by sea and land. These humiliating terms, though at first rejected, were afterwards acceded to: and Louisburg, with all its artillery, provisions, and military stores, together with Isle Royale, St. John's, and their dependencies, were surrendered on the 26th of July to the English; who, without farther difficulty Conquest took entire possession of the island of Cape Breton. Four of Cape hundred of the besiegers, and fifteen hundred of the garrison were killed or wounded during the siege; and the town of Louisburg was nearly reduced to a heap of ruins. In this town the conquerors found two hundred and twenty-one pieces of cannon, eighteen mortars, and a vast quantity of stores and ammunition. The inhabitants of Cape Breton were sent to France in English ships; but the French garrison and naval forces were carried prisoners of war to England, where the unwonted tidings of victory and conquest were hailed with demonstra Breton. The renowned Captain Cook, then serving as a petty officer on board of a British ship of war, co-operated in this exploit, and wrote an account of it to a friend in England. That he had honourably distinguished himself, may be inferred from his promotion to the rank of lieutenant in the royal navy, which followed soon after.. V. 1758. tions of the liveliest triumph and joy. The French colours CHAP. taken at Louisburg were carried in grand procession from Kensington Palace to the Cathedral of St. Paul's; and a form of thanksgiving was appointed to be used on the occasion in all the churches of England. The sentiments of the parent state were re-echoed in America; where the people of New England, more especially, partook the warmth of an exultation that revived the glory of their own previous achievement in the first conquest of Cape Breton.1 Before this conquest was completed, the expedition against Ticonderoga and Crown Point occurred to chequer the new and victorious career of the British arms in America. This enterprise was conducted by General Abercrombie, who on the 5th of July embarked his troops on Lake George in a hundred and twenty-five whale-boats and nine hundred batteaux. His army consisted of sixteen thousand effective men, of whom nine thousand were provincials, and was attended by a formidable train of artillery. Among other officers, he was accompanied by Lord Howe, a young English nobleman who exhibited the most promising military talents, and whose valour, virtue, courtesy, and good sense had wonderfully endeared him both to the English and the provincial troops. The mass of mankind are always prone to regard with veneration those titular distinctions which, having no real substance, afford unbounded scope to fanciful apprehension: and almost universal suffrage is won, when the possession of such lofty though unsolid pretensions, seems to justify them by merit, and mitigate them by generosity, instead of arrogating them with stern insolence, or reposing on them with indolent pride. From the day of his arrival in America, Lord Howe had conformed himself and caused his regiment to conform to the style of service which the country required. He was the first to encounter the danger to which he conducted others, and to set the example of every sacrifice which he required them to incur. While the strict discipline which he maintained commanded respect, the kind and graceful benevolence of his manners conciliated affection. He was the idol and soul of the army. The first operations of Abercrombie were directed against Ti Minot. Trumbull. Smollett. Annual Register for 1758. Holmes. July 5. X. 1758. BOOK conderoga. Having disembarked at the landing-place in a cove on the western side of the lake, the troops were formed into four columns, of which the centre was occupied by the British, and the flanks by the provincials. In this order, they marched against the advanced guard of the French, which, consisting of one battalion only, destroyed its encampment and made a precipitate retreat. Advancing from this post, against Ticonderoga, the British columns, bewildered by tangled thickets, and misled by unskilful guides, were thrown into confusion and commingled in a disorderly manner. At this juncture, Lord Howe advancing at the head of the right centre column, unexpectedly encountered the fugitive battalion of the French who had lost their way in the woods, and thus stumbled upon the enemy from whom they were endeavouring to escape. They consisted of regulars and a few Indians; and notwithstanding their surprise and inferiority of numbers, displayed a promptitude of skill and courage that had nearly reproduced the catastrophe of Braddock. With a confident audacity, which, in war, frequently prevails over superior strength, they attacked their pursuers: and at the first fire July 6. Lord Howe with a number of his soldiers fell. The sudden. July 7. ness of the assault, the terror inspired by the Indian yell, and the grief and astonishment created by the death of Lord Howe, excited a general panic among the British regulars: but the provincials, who flanked them, and were better acquainted with the mode of fighting practised by the enemy, stood their ground and soon defeated them, with a slaughter, compared to which, the loss of the British, in point of numbers, was inconsiderable. But the death of Lord Howe had depressed the spirit and enfeebled the councils of the army; and to this circumstance its subsequent misfortunes were mainly ascribed. The loss of this brave and accomplished officer was generally deplored in America: and the assembly of Massachusetts, not long after, caused a monument to be erected to his memory in Westminster abbey.1 The British forces, without farther opposition, took pos 1 The popularity of his name has been, perhaps, impaired by the circumstance, that his brother, Sir William Howe, commanded the British army in the subsequent revolutionary war in America. It was doubted, and is still doubtful, whether Lord Howe fell by the fire of the enemy, or by a misdirected shot from some unhappy hand among his own confused and startled soldiers. V. 1758. session of a post situated within two miles of Ticonderoga, CHA P. and previously occupied by an advanced guard commanded by Colonel Bradstreet, an officer distinguished by his courage, activity, and intelligence. The general, understanding that the garrison at Ticonderoga consisted of about six thousand men, and that a reinforcement of three thousand more was daily expected, resolved on an immediate assault of the place. He ordered his engineer to reconnoitre the position and entrenchments of the enemy; and, trusting to a hasty survey and rash report upon their weakness, embraced the dangerous purpose of forcing them without the assistance of cannon. The troops having received orders to march up briskly, to rush upon the enemy's fire, and to reserve their own until they had passed a breastwork which was represented as easily superable, advanced to the attack with the highest intrepidity. But un- July 8. looked for impediments resisted their progress. The breastwork proved much more formidable than had been represented; and in front of it, to a considerable distance, trees had been felled with their branches protruding outward and sharpened to a point; by which obstruction the assailants were not only retarded in their advance, but, becoming entangled among the boughs, were exposed in helpless embarrassment and disorder to a galling and destructive fire. The provincials, meanwhile, who had been posted behind the regulars, inflamed with impatience, and not sufficiently restrained by discipline, could not be prevented from firing: and, notwithstanding their expertness as marksmen, their fire was supposed to have proved more fatal to their friends than their enemies. This sanguinary conflict was protracted during four hours. Of the assailants there were killed and wounded about two thousand men, including four hundred of the provincials. One-half of a highland regiment commanded by Lord John Murray, with twenty-five of its officers, were either killed or desperately wounded. The loss of the enemy, meanwhile, covered as they were from danger, was very inconsiderable. At length, Aber- Repulse at crombie gave the signal to desist from the desperate assault; and, to an ill-concerted enterprise, succeeded a retreat no less precipitate and injudicious. The British army, still amounting to nearly fourteen thousand men, greatly outnumbered the enemy and if the artillery had been brought up to their Ticonde roga. |