The History of the Thirteen Colonies of North America 1497-1763

by Reginald W. Jeffery

The first expedition—in which the colonials were not employed—was the capture of Louisburg. The possession of this fortress on Cape Breton Island by the English would ensure the starvation of the Canadians, who were at this time, practically without food. The men chosen for the work were Admiral Boscawen, a hard fighter and typical English seaman; General Jeffrey Amherst, a good but cautious soldier; and three others, Whitmore, Laurence, and General James Wolfe, of "whom the youngest was the most noteworthy,"[295] and whose name is so famously connected with the story of the British in North America.

GENERAL JAMES WOLFE
FROM THE PICTURE BY SCHAAK IN THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

James Wolfe was born in Kent in 1727. When most modern boys are still at school, he was adjutant of his regiment, and took part in the Battle of Dettingen. He then went through the arduous campaign necessitated by the Jacobite Rising of 1745. At twenty-five years of age he found himself a full colonel. There can be little doubt that he was possessed of many ennobling qualities, but his appearance was much against him, as his face, with its pointed nose and receding forehead and chin, resembled very closely the flap of an envelope. His figure was loose and ungainly, and though over six feet in height, he lacked the smart appearance of the military man. As a soldier he showed the greatest enthusiasm in everything connected with his profession; he worked hard at mathematics, tactics, and strategy, and did his best to perfect himself in the French language. The records of this man's life go to prove that he won the affection and regard of every one, and that he was almost worshipped in the different places in which he was quartered. He never, however, lost his good sense, never became puffed up with pride, never thought himself greater than others. His gallantry in the unfortunate enterprise against Rochefort in January 1758 had come to the notice of the great Pitt, and it was for this reason that he was chosen to accompany Amherst in the attempt to capture the "Dunkirk of America."

Boscawen's fleet with the transports containing the army came in sight of Louisburg in June. Since the capture of the fort by the Massachusetts militia in 1745, something had been done to strengthen its walls, and it was now regarded in Europe as impregnable, though it was probably not so formidable as it looked, since Drucour afterwards referred to it as "crumbling down in every flank, face, and courtine, except the right flank of the king's bastion, which was remounted the first year after my arrival."[296] A town of about four thousand inhabitants nestled in false security beneath the apparently[297] massive walls; but it was of little good for them to imagine that assistance could reach them from France, for the British navy made it impossible for her to send soldiers or supplies. The English force was at last landed, and batteries were at once erected under the distinguished guidance of Wolfe. These fortified entrenchments were moved day by day nearer the doomed stronghold. The guns never ceased to bombard the wretched town that had once considered itself so secure. Within the harbour were eleven French men-of-war, but soon four of these were deliberately sunk at the mouth of the harbour by Drucour, while the rest were driven on shore or captured by a cutting-out expedition. On the 20th of July, Wolfe had erected his last battery; an enormous shell was sent into the chapel of the town, and a fearful explosion occurred. On the 27th the French, under their Governor, Drucour, were forced to capitulate, and Amherst and Wolfe entered the fortress in triumph. Shortly afterwards the vast fortifications were razed to the ground, and to this day there remains nothing save some few ruined casements and huge, grass-grown stones, lying in dismantled heaps upon the edge of the restless Atlantic, to mark the spot where once stood one of the great triumphs of Vauban's engineering art.

The news that Louisburg had fallen was received with every expression of joy in all the colonies, and even the Quakers, who could not fight themselves, gave way to the general outburst and showed suitable signs of rapture at the victory of British arms. The news came at a moment when such glad tidings were sadly needed, for only three weeks before the colonies had been plunged into despair by the horrors of a great tragedy. General Abercromby, with a large force of regulars and colonials, had set out from Albany in May, and after tedious delays had come on July 5th to within striking distance of Ticonderoga. In a skirmish, two days before the great fight, Lord Howe, the most beloved of the British officers, was killed. On July 7th Montcalm with Lévis hurriedly erected a palisade of pines with their branches outward about half a mile from the actual fort. The English general most foolishly did not bring up his guns, fearing lest they should impede his progress. On the morning of July 8 the assault began upon this palisade manned by the trained marksmen of Canada; regiment after regiment of the English were ordered to their annihilation. The Black Watch, for example, went into action about a thousand strong; they straggled out of that awful Gehenna with only half their numbers. At last, having thrown away the lives of two thousand men, Abercromby ordered the retreat, and left Montcalm for the third time the victor.

Amongst the men who fell in that disastrous expedition, no one was so honestly mourned as Lord Howe. Pitt spoke of him as "a complete model of military virtue in all its branches,"[298] but these words in no way summed up the character of one who was not only beloved by the English Army, but also by every man in the colonial contingent. Wolfe himself wrote, "if the report of Howe's death be true, there is an end of the expedition, for he was the spirit of that army, and the very best officer in the King's service."[299] It was in winning the goodwill, respect, and admiration of the settlers that Howe differed so remarkably from his fellow officers. Burke writes of him, "from the moment he landed in America he had wisely conformed and made his regiment conform to the kind of service which the country required."[300] In other words, he acted in a manner which would have caused Braddock to shudder; but it was the right thing to do. The long-tailed tunic of the British regular, his wonderful pig-tail, his buttons and smart points were ruthlessly cut off because they were in the way. He dressed his men as nearly as possible like the colonials, for he it was who for the first time recognised that from them the English might gain experience in this new and strange warfare. He learnt much from men like Rogers the Ranger; and he taught much. Had Lord Howe and James Wolfe been spared to give more of their short lives to the American people, the later history of the Thirteen Colonies must have been very different.

As a set-off to the Ticonderoga disaster, two great victories marked the last six months of 1758. Colonel Bradstreet, in August, with a small portion of Abercromby's army, took Fort Frontenac, thus temporarily cutting off the communication between the French in the Ohio forts with those on the upper lakes. Besides this, Bradstreet was able to destroy the presents collected for the Western Indians and all the winter provisions for Fort Duquesne. These facts considerably assisted General Forbes, who was no less successful in his undertaking. He had to contend against the squabbles of Virginia and Pennsylvania, but he managed to get both men and money. With a force of about six thousand, for the most part settlers from the southern states, but also including a Highland regiment, he set out for Fort Duquesne. His first attack was repulsed; but in November on again advancing he found that the French commander De Ligneries had been obliged, owing to Indian desertions, to evacuate and destroy the fort. A stockade was at once erected by the English to take the place of the once formidable French fortress, and was now christened by the old general, in honour of his master, Pittsburg.

The year 1759 is called "the year of victories," and one of the chief of these was the capture of Quebec. With the actual struggle for the possession of the capital of New France, the colonials had little or nothing to do; the work was entirely that of the British sailors and soldiers. The expedition against Quebec, however, was only a part of a general plan of attack upon Canada, and in this the settlers showed some activity under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief General Amherst. In May, acting under Amherst's orders, General Prideaux, with two regiments and a small body of colonials, joined Sir William Johnson and his Mohawks at Schenectady. The plan of campaign was that this force should move forward to Fort Niagara, then commanded by Pouchot, and if possible drive out the French. Prideaux's force was quite sufficient for this, but his lack of skill seems to have delayed the surrender of the fort. On July 20 Prideaux was killed and the command devolved upon the more fiery Johnson, who first marched out and defeated a large French reinforcement, and then returned to receive Pouchet's surrender. The capitulation of Niagara was of considerable importance, as from that moment the French were debarred from exercising any influence on the lower lakes. Burke says that it "broke off effectually that communication so much talked of and so much dreaded between Canada and Louisiana."[301]