The English fleet anchored in Gabarus Bay, to the southward of Louisbourg, on the 2nd of June, 1758. It was composed of over fifty ships, twenty-two of which were "liners," and carried eighteen hundred guns altogether. The army comprised between eleven and twelve thousand men, including a small force of provincial rangers. The fortress, which had been considerably strengthened since 1745, was defended by over three thousand regular troops, and a small number of Indians and inhabitants. A fleet of fourteen men-of-war, with a crew of nearly three thousand men, and five hundred and sixty-two guns, were in the harbour. Chevalier Drucour was governor of the island, and conducted the defences with skill and resolution, and had Admiral Desgouttes been as brave and capable as the former, Louisbourg would hardly have fallen so easily. On the morning of the 27th July, the English took possession of the West gate, and the cross of St. George was hoisted on the citadel of a fortress which was destined from that time to disappear from the pages of the world's history. In 1763 the fortress was levelled to the ground, and now a few mounds of turf alone represent the ambitions of France a century and a half ago. Nature has resumed dominion over the site of the once famous fortress, and the restless ocean, which stretches away beyond to the eastward without a break to Europe, brings no message of the fleets that came once, richly freighted, to this historic fort. Louisbourg is now only a place of memories—of associations which connect Cape Breton with most glorious episodes of England's history, with times when the genius of Pitt triumphed over France.
After the taking of Louisbourg, the English occupied the island of St. John, now Prince Edward, where there were several prosperous settlements at Port La Joye (Charlottetown), St. Pierre, and other places on the bays of the low-lying coast. The population was composed chiefly of Acadians, who had commenced to cross from Nova Scotia after the Treaty of Utrecht, and probably numbered in 1758 four thousand souls, engaged in fishing and farming. These people were able to supply Louisbourg with provisions, as no agricultural operations of importance were carried on in Cape Breton.
Louisbourg medals of 1758.
Wolfe destroyed the French settlements around the bays of Gaspé, Miramichi, and Chaleurs, while Colonel Monckton performed the same painful duty in the valley of the St. John River. Acadia, according to its "ancient limits," was at last completely in the possession of England.
The news of the capture of Louisbourg was received in America and Europe with many rejoicings, and the eleven stands of colours won at this gateway of Canada were deposited in St. Paul's Cathedral amid the roar of cannon. This victory came at an opportune moment, since Abercromby had suffered a humiliating repulse on the banks of Lake Champlain. With a splendid force of regular and provincial troops, from fourteen to fifteen thousand altogether, but entirely destitute of artillery,—an evidence of extraordinary incapacity, or of culpable negligence,—he had thrown himself upon most formidable entrenchments of fallen trees, with their sharp ends pointing outwards, that the French had ingeniously constructed in front of Carillon, which was still incomplete, and defended by less than three thousand men under Montcalm and Lévis. The most unhappy incident of this disaster was the death of Lord Howe, described by Wolfe, who knew him well, "as the noblest Englishman that has appeared in my time, and the best soldier in the British army." Abercromby hurriedly retired to the head of Lake George, and was soon afterwards superseded by the cautious Amherst. Montcalm was greatly encouraged by the spirit of his soldiers throughout the attack, and erected a cross on the battle ground with the following inscriptions of his own—the latter his paraphrase of the first:
Quid dux? Quid miles? Quid strata ingentia ligna?
En signum! en victor! Deus hîc, Deus ipse triumphat.
"Chrétien! ce ne fut point Montcalm et la prudence,
Ces arbres renversés, ces héros, ces exploits,
Qui des Anglais confus ont brisé l'espérance,
C'est le bras de ton Dieu, vainqueur sur cette croix." [2]