38. The Louisbourg Medal, 1758.
In 1745, an expedition, entirely colonial, organized by General Shirley, of Massachusetts, and William Vaughan, of New Hampshire, sailed from Boston under General Pepperell. After a siege of forty days Louisbourg surrendered. In 1748, the fortress was again restored to the fleur-de-lis by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, but only to be retaken by Wolfe, in 1758, and the Queen Anne Jack, which the United Colonies had before placed above it, was restored and is shown again in the Louisbourg medal,[100] used to commemorate Wolfe's victory (38).
On yet another field the United Colonists carried the Union Jack. In 1762, when Havana was captured from the Spanish by Lord Albemarle, there were in his fleet of 203 vessels, and among his land forces of 12,000 men, alongside the men from across the sea, colonial contingents sent by the colonies of Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Maine.[101]
When Cuba was thus gained for the Union Jack the colonists of America were joined with their British brothers from the Old Land in lowering the flag of Spain, but the island was restored to Spain by the Treaty of Paris, February 10th, 1763.[102]
Thus for over two and a half centuries (1497-1762) had the English Jacks wrestled with the forests and battled along the shores of America, carried first by the merchant adventurers, and afterwards by the several and the United Colonies, as sign of their origin and allegiance. For yet another long period was the two-crossed Jack to be carried by those who had so manfully won competence and glory beneath it, so that at length, even when joining for contest with their parent realm, the Thirteen Colonies held its past and record in such esteem that they placed the Union Jack of Queen Anne in their new Union Ensign as a sign and remembrance of their common history.
[CHAPTER XVI.]
THE UNION FLAGS OF THE UNITED STATES.