USA > New Hampshire > The history of New-Hampshire > Part 36
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(1) Douglass, i. 336. (2) Private MS. letters. 37
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and that a mark should be set on all places suspected. Another gentleman of equal ingenuity, sent the general a model of a flying bridge, to be used in scaling the walls of Louisburg. It was so light, that twenty men could carry it on their shoulders to the wall, and raise it in a minute. The apparatus for raising it consisted of four blocks, and two hundred fathoms of rope. It was to be floored with boards, wide enough for eight men to march abreast ; and to prevent danger from the enemy's fire, it might be covered with raw hides. This bridge, it was said, might be erected against any part of the wall, even where no breach had been made ; and it was supposed that a thousand men might pass over it in four minutes.
But the most extraordinary project of all, was Shirley's scheme for taking the city by surprise, in the first night after the arrival of the troops, and before any British naval force could possibly come to their assistance. It is thus delineated in a confidential letter which he wrote to Wentworth, when he urged him to send the New-Hampshire troops to Boston, to proceed thence with the fleet of transports. 'The success of our scheme for sur- ' prising Louisburg will entirely depend on the execution
Mar. 2. ' of the first night, after the arrival of our forces. For ' this purpose, it is necessary, that the whole fleet should make ' Chappeau-rouge point just at the shutting in of the day, when ' they cannot easily be discovered, and from thence push into the ' bay, so as to have all the men landed before midnight ; (the 'landing of whom, it is computed by captain Durell and Mr. Bas- ' tide, will take up three hours at least.) After which, the form- ' ing of the four several corps, to be employed in attempting to ' scale the walls of Louisburg, near the east gate, fronting the ' sea, and the west gate, fronting the harbor ; to cover the retreat ' of the two beforementioned parties in case of a repulse ; and, ' to attack the grand battery ; (which attack must be made at the ' same time with the two other attacks) will take up two hours ' more at least. After these four bodies are formed, their march ' to their respective posts from whence they are to make their at- ' tacks and serve as a cover to the retreat, will take up another ' two hours ; which, supposing the transports to arrive in Chap- ' peau-rouge bay at nine o'clock in the evening, and not before, ' as it will be necessary for them to do, in order to land and march ' under cover of the night, will bring them to four in the morning, ' being day break, before they begin the attack, which will be full ' late for them to begin. Your excellency will from hence per- ' ceive how critical an affair, the time of the fleet's arrival in ' Chappeau-rouge bay is, and how necessary it is to the success 'of our principal scheme, that the fleet should arrive there, in a ' body, at that precise hour.'
It is easy to perceive that this plan was contrived by a person
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totally unskilled in the arts of navigation and of war. The coast of Cape-Breton was dangerous and inhospitable ; the season of the year rough and tempestuous, and the air a continual fog ; yet, a fleet of an hundred vessels, after sailing nearly two hundred leagues (for by this plan they were not to stop) must make a cer- tain point of land ' at a precise hour,' and enter an unknown bay, in an evening. The troops were to land in the dark, amidst a vi- olent surf, on a rocky shore ; to march through a thicket and bog three miles, to the city, and some of them a mile beyond it to the royal battery. Men who had never been in action, were to per- form services, which the most experienced veteran would think of with dread ; to pull down pickets with grapling irons, and scale the walls of a regular fortification, with ladders, which were after- ward found to be too short by ten feet ; all in the space of twelve hours from their first making the land, and nine hours from their debarkation. This part of the plan was prudently concealed from the troops.
The forces which New-Hampshire furnished for this expedi- tion, were three hundred and fifty men, including the crew of an armed sloop which conveyed the transports and served as a cruiser. They were formed into a regiment, consisting of eight companies, and were under the command of colonel Samuel Moore. The sloop was commanded by captain John Fernald ; her crew con- sisted of thirty men. The regiment, sloop and transports, were, by governor Wentworth's written instructions to the general, put under his command. Besides these, a body of one hundred and fifty men was enlisted in New-Hampshire and aggregated to the regiment in the pay of Massachusetts. Thus New-Hampshire employed five hundred men ; about one eighth part of the whole land force .* In these men, there was such an ardor for action, and such a dread of delay, that it was impracticable to put them so far out of their course, as to join the fleet at Boston.1 Shir- ley therefore altered the plan, and appointed a rendezvous at Canseau ; where the forces of New-Hampshire arrived, Mar.31. two days before the general and his other troops from Boston.
The instructions which Pepperrell received from Shirley, were conformed to the plan which he had communicated to Wentworth, but much more particular and circumstantial. He was ordered to proceed to Canseau, there to build a block-house and battery,
(1) Wentworth's letters, MS.
* In the introductory part of Dr. Ramsay's elegant history of the American Revolution, (page 34) it is said, that ' this enterprise was undertaken by the ' sole authority of the legislature of Massachusetts.' This is not sufficiently accurate. It originated in Massachusetts ; but the colonies of New-Hamp- shire, Rhode-Island and Connecticut, by their legislative authority, furnished troops and stores. New-York sent a supply of artillery, and Pennsylvania of provisions ; but the troops from Rhode-Island, and the provisions from Penn- sylvania, did not arrive till after the surrender of the city.
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and leave two companies in garrison, and to deposite the stores which might not immediately be wanted by the army. Thence he was to send a detachment to the village of St. Peters, on the island of Cape-Breton and destroy it ; to prevent any intelligence which might be carried to Louisburg; for which purpose also, the armed vessels were to cruise before the harbor.1 The whole fleet was to sail from Canseau, so as to arrive in Chappeau-rouge bay about nine o'clock in the evening. The troops were to land in four divisions, and proceed to the assault before morning. If the plan for the surprisal should fail, he had particular directions where and how to land, march, encamp, attack and defend ; to hold councils and keep records ; and to send intelligence to Bos- ton by certain vessels retained for the purpose, which vessels were to stop at Castle William, and there receive the governor's orders. Several other vessels were appointed to cruise between Canseau and the camp, to convey orders, transport stores, and catch fish for the army. To close these instructions, after the most minute detail of duty, the general was finally ' left to act upon unforeseen ' emergencies according to his discretion ;' which, in the opinion of military gentlemen, is accounted the most rational part of the whole. Such was the plan, for the reduction of a regularly con- structed fortress, drawn by a lawyer, to be executed by a mer- chant, at the head of a body of husbandmen and mechanics ; animated indeed by ardent patriotism, but destitute of profession- al skill and experience. After they had embarked, the hearts of many began to fail. Some repented that they had voted for the expedition, or promoted it ; and the most thoughtful were in the greatest perplexity.2
The troops were detained at Canseau, three weeks, waiting for the ice which environed the island of Cape-Breton, to be dissolved. They were all this time within view of St. Peters, but were not discovered.3 Their provisions became short ; but they were sup- plied by prizes taken by the cruisers. Among others, the New- Hampshire sloop took a ship from Martinico, and retook one of the transports, which she had taken the day before. At length, Apr. 23. to their great joy, commodore Warren, in the Superbe, of sixty guns, with three other ships of forty guns each, ar- rived at Canseau, and having held a consultation, with the general, proceeded to cruise before Louisburg. The general having sent the New-Hampshire sloop, to cover a detatchment which destroy- Apr. 29. ed the village of St. Peters, and scattered the inhabitants,
sailed with the whole fleet ; but instead of making Chap- peau-rouge point in the evening, the wind falling short, they made it at the dawn of the next morning ; and their appearance in the bay, gave the first notice to the French, of a design formed a- gainst them.3
(1) Original instructions, in MS. (2) Princo's thanksgiving sermon, p. 25. (3) Pepperrell's letters to Shirley.
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The intended surprisal being thus happily frustrated, the next thing after landing the troops, was to invest the city .- Vaughan, the adventurer from New-Hampshire, had the rank and pay of a lieutenant-colonel, but refused to have a regular com- mand. He was appointed one of the council of war, and was ready for any service which the general might think suited to his genius. He conducted the first column through the woods, with- in sight of the city, and saluted it with three cheers. He headed a detatchment, consisting chiefly of the New-Hampshire troops, and marched to the northeast part of the harbor, in the night ; where they burned the ware-houses, containing the naval stores, and staved a large quantity of wine and brandy. May 1.
The smoke of this fire being driven by the wind into the grand battery, so terrified the French, that they abandoned it and retired to the city, after having spiked the guns and cut the halliards of the flag-staff. The next morning as Vaughan was return- ing, with thirteen men only, he crept up the hill which May 2. overlooked the battery, and observed, that the chimneys of the barrack were without smoke, and the staff without a flag. With a bottle of brandy, which he had in his pocket, (though he never drank spirituous liquors) he hired one of his party, a Cape Cod Indian, to crawl in at an embrasure and open the gate. He then wrote to the general, these words, ' May it please your honor, to ' be informed, that by the grace of God, and the courage of thir- ' teen men, I entered the royal battery, about nine o'clock, and ' am waiting for a reinforcement, and a flag.' Before either could arrive, one of the men climbed up the staff, with a red coat in his teeth, which he fastened by a nail to the top. This piece of triumphant vanity alarmed the city, and immediately an hun- dred men were despatched in boats to retake the battery. But Vaughan, with his small party, on the naked beach, and in the face of a smart fire from the city and the boats, kept them from landing, till the reinforcement arrived. In every duty of fatigue or sanguine adventure, he was always ready ; and the New- Hampshire troops, animated by the same enthusiastic ardor, par- took of all the labors and dangers of the siege. They were em- ployed for fourteen nights successively, in drawing cannon from the landing place to the camp, through a morass ; and their lieu- tenant-colonel Meserve, being a ship carpenter, constructed sledg- es, on which the cannon were drawn, when it was found that their wheels were buried in the mire. The men, with straps over their shoulders, and sinking to their knees in mud, performed labor be- yond the power of oxen ; which labor could be done only in the night or in a foggy day; the place being within plain view and random shot of the enemy's walls. They were much disappointed and chagrined, when they found that these ineritorious services were
(1) Original MS.
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HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1745.
not more distinctly acknowledged in the accounts which were sent to England, and afterwards published.1
In the unfortunate attempt on the island battery by four hun- dred volunteers from different regiments, the New-Hampshire
May 26. troops were very active. When it was determined to erect a battery on the light-house cliff ; two companies of them (Mason's and Fernald's) were employed in that laborious service, under cover of their armed sloop ; and when a proposal was made for a general assault by sea and land, colonel Moore, who had been an experienced sea commander, offered to go on board the Vigilant, with his whole regiment, and lead the attack, if in case of success he might be confirmed in the command of the ship ; but when this was denied, most of the men who were fit for duty, readily went on board the Princess Mary, to act as marines on that occasion.
It has been said, that ' this siege was carried on in a tumultua- ' ry, random manner, resembling a Cambridge commencement.' 2 The remark is in a great measure true. Though the business of the council of war was conducted with all the formality of a legis- lative assembly ; though orders were issued by the general, and returns made by the officers at the several posts ; yet the want of discipline was too visible in the camp .* Those who were on the spot, have frequently in my hearing, laughed at the recital of their own irregularities, and expressed their admiration when they reflected on the almost miraculous preservation of the army from destruction. They indeed presented a formidable front to the enemy ; but the rear was a scene of confusion and frolic. While some were on duty at the trenches, others were racing, wrestling, pitching quoits, firing at marks or at birds, or running after shot from the enemy's guns, for which they received a bounty, and the shot were sent back to the city. The ground was so uneven and the people so scattered, that the French could form no estimate of their numbers; nor could they learn it from the prisoners, taken at the island battery, who on their examina- tion, as if by previous agreement, represented the number to be vastly greater than it was. The garrison of Louisburg had been so mutinous before the siege, that the officers could not trust the men to make a sortie, lest they should desert ; had they been united and acted with vigor, the camp might have been surprised and many of the people destroyed.
Much has been ascribed, and much is justly due to the activity and vigilance of Commodore Warren, and the ships under his
(1) Wentworth's letters, MS. (2) Douglass, i. 352.
[There is in the library of the New-Hampshire Historical Society, a man- uscript volume of about 260 pages, in folio, which contains a record of the " General Courts Martial and Courts of Inquiry, held in the city of Louis- burg, in the island of Cape-Breton, in the years 1746, 1747 and 1748." It ap- pears to be the original.]
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command ; much is also due to the vigor and perseverance of the land forces, and the success was doubtless owing, under God, to the joint efforts of both. Something of policy, as well as brav- ery, is generally necessary in such undertakings ; and there was one piece of management, which, though not mentioned by any historian, yet greatly contributed to the surrender of the city.
The capture of the Vigilant, a French sixty-four gun ship, commanded by the Marquis de la Maison forte, and richly laden with military stores for the relief of the garrison,
May 19. was one of the most capital exploits performed by the navy. This ship had been anxiously expected by the French ; and it was thought that the news of her capture, if properly commu- nicated to them, might produce a good effect ; but how to do it was the question. At length, the commodore hit on this June 1.
expedient, which he proposed to the general, who ap- proved, and put it into execution.1 In a skirmish on the island, with a party of French and Indians, some English prisoners had been taken by them and used with cruelty. This circumstance was made known to the marquis, and he was requested to go on board of all the ships in the bay where French prisoners were confined, and observe the condition in which they were kept. He did so, and was well satisfied with their fare and accommoda- tions. He was then desired to write to the governor of the city, and inform him how well the French prisoners were treated, and to request the like favor for the English prisoners. The humane marquis readily consented, and the letter was sent June 7. the next day by a flag, intrusted to the care of Captain Mac- donald. He was carried before the governor and his chief offi- cers ; and by pretending not to understand their language, he had the advantage of listening to their discourse; by which he found, that they had not before heard of the capture of the Vigilant, and that the news of it, under the hand of her late commander, threw them into visible perturbation. This event, with the erec- tion of a battery on the high cliff at the light house, under the di- rection of lieutenant colonel Gridley, by which the island battery was much annoyed, and the preparations which were evidently making for a general assault, determined Du- June 15-17. chambon to surrender ; and accordingly, in a few days he ca- pitulated.
Upon entering the fortress and viewing its strength, and the plenty and variety of its means of defence, the stoutest hearts were appalled, and the impracticability of carrying it by assault, was fully demonstrated.
No sooner was the city taken, and the army under shelter, than the weather, which during the siege, excepting eight or nine days after the first landing, had been remarkably dry for that cli-
(1) MS. letters of Warren and Pepperrell.
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mate, changed for the worse ; and, an incessant rain of ten days succeeded.I Had this happened before the surrender, the troops who had then begun to be sickly, and had none but very thin tents, must have perished in great numbers. Reinforcements of men, stores and provisions arrived,* and it was determined in a council of war to maintain the place and repair the breaches. A total demolition might have been more advantageous to the nation ; but in that case, individuals would not have enjoyed the profit of drawing bills on the navy and ordnance establishments. The French flag was kept flying on the ramparts ; and several rich prizes were decoyed into the harbor. The army supposed that they had a right to a share of these prizes ; but means were found to suppress or evade their claim ; nor did any of the colony cruis- ers, (except one) though they were retained in the service, under the direction of the commodore, reap any benefit from the cap- tures.
The news of this important victory filled America with joy, and Europe with astonishment. The enterprising spirit of New-Eng- land gave a serious alarm to those jealous fears, which had long predicted the independence of the colonies. Great pains were taken in England to ascribe all the glory to the navy, and lessen the merit of the army. However, Pepperrell received the title of a baronet, as well as Warren. The latter was promoted to be an admiral ; the former had a commission as colonel in the British establishment, and was empowered to raise a regiment in America, to be in the pay of the crown. The same emolument was given to Shirley, and both he and Wentworth acquired so much repu- tation as to be confirmed in their places. Vaughan went to Eng- land to seek a reward for his services, and there died of the small pox.+ Solicitations were set on foot for a parliamentary reim- bursement, which, after much difficulty and delay, was obtained ; and the colonies who had expended their substance were in credit
(1) Pepperrell's letters, MS.
* Of the reinforcements, New-Hampshire sent 115 men. The loss which the New-Hampshire troops suffered was but eleven, of whom five were kill- ed and six died of sickness. This was before the surrender. More died af- terwards in garrison. Shirley's letter to Wentworth, from Louisburg, Sep- tember 2.
t [He died in London " about the middle of December 1746." (Inter- leaved almanack of Eleazar Russell, Esq.) He was born at Portsmouth, 12 September, 1703, and graduated at Harvard college in 1722. For several years, he was a merchant in his native town ; but, possessing an enterprising disposition, accompanied by a few hardy adventurers from the neighboring towns, he left Portsmouth, emigrated to the eastern country, and formed a settlement at a place called Damariscotta, about 13 miles below fort Pema- quid. He died a disappointed man ; for while the successful commander of the expedition was soon after knighted and otherwise distinguished, the in- trepid Vaughan remained more than a year in England, in the vain expecta- tion of receiving some compensation from the sovereign whom he had so sig- nally served. See the Collections of Farmer and Moore, ii. 161-165. iii. 35, 36.]
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at the British treasury .* 1 The justice and policy of this measure must appear to every one, who considers, that excepting the sup- pression of a rebellion within the bowels of the kingdom, this conquest was the only action which could be called a victory, on the part of the British nation, during the whole French war, and afforded them the means of purchasing a peace.
CHAPTER XX.
Projected Expedition to Canada. Alarm by the French fleet. State of the Frontiers. Peace.
WHILST the expedition to Cape-Breton was in hand, the active mind of Governor Shirley contemplated nothing less than the con- quest of all the French dominions in America ; and he consulted with Governor Wentworth and Mr. Atkinson on the practicability of such a design. After Louisburg was taken, he made a visit thither, and held a consultation with Sir Peter Warren and Sir William Pepperell ; and from that place wrote pressingly to the British ministry on the subject." His solicitations, enforced by the brilliant success at Louisburg, and the apparent danger in which Nova-Scotia and the new conquest were involved, had such an effect, that in the spring of the following year, a circular 1746. letter was sent from the Duke of Newcastle, secretary of April G. state, to all the governors of the American colonies, as far southward as Virginia ; requiring them to raise as many men as they could spare, and form them into companies of one hundred ; to be ready to unite and act according to the orders which they should afterwards receive.3 The plan was, that a squadron of ships of war, and a body of land forces, should be sent from Eng- land against Canada ; that the troops raised in New-England should join the British fleet and army at Louisburg, and proceed up the river St. Lawrence ; that those of New-York and the other provinces at the southward, should be collected at Albany, and march against Crown-Point and Montreal. The manage- ment of this expedition was committed to Sir John St. Clair, in conjuction with Sir Peter Warren and governor Shirley. St. Clair did not come to America. Warren and Shirley gave the orders, while Warren was here ; and afterward commodore Knowles, who succeeded him, was joined with Shirley ; but as Knowles was part of the time at Louisburg, most of the concern devolved on Shirley alone.
(1) Bollan's MS. letters. (2) Shirley's MS. letters. (3) Douglass, i. 315.
* The reimbursement to New-Hampshire was sixteen thousand, three hun- dred and fifty-five poundssterling. Thomlinson's MS. letter.
38
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Beside the danger of losing Nova-Scotia and Cape-Breton, there were other reasons for undertaking this expedition. The Indians, instigated by the governor of Canada, were ravaging the frontiers, destroying the fields and cattle, burning houses and mills, killing and carrying away the inhabitants.1 Though scouts and garrisons were maintained by the governments ; yet to act altogether on the defensive, was thought to be not only an ineffec- tual, but a disgraceful mode of carrying on the war ; especially after the success which had attended the arms of the colonists in their attempt against Louisburg. The continuance of such a mode of defence, would neither dispirit the enemy, nor secure the frontiers from their depredations.
The design was pleasing, and the colonies readily furnished their quotas of men. In New-Hampshire the same difficulty occurred as on occasion of the Louisburg expedition. The governor had no authority to consent to the emission of bills of credit, but Shirley removed that obstacle, by suggesting to him, that as the ministry did not disapprove what he had done before, so there was no reason to fear it now ; and that the im- portance of the service, and the necessity of the case, would jus- tify his conduct. The demand at first, was for levy money and victualing. The arms and pay of the troops were to be furnish- ed by the crown ; but it was afterward found necessary that the several governments should provide clothing, transports and stores, and depend on a reimbursement from the British parliament.2
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