214 J. G. BOURINOT 



afraid of some trick of the enemy he would uot veutiire uear until he bribed an Indian 

 with a bottle of spirits to approach as close as possible, as if he were drunk or crazy. 

 Finding everything perfectly still the Indian climbed into an embrasure and found the 

 battery deserted. Vaughan and his men took possession, and as they had no flag with 

 them a lad climbed the flagstalf and fastened his red coat at the top.' The colonists held 

 the battery successfully until reinforcements arrived, altliough the French commenced at 

 once firing on them from the batteries of the town, and a number of men in several boats 

 attempted to land and reoccupy the works which had been deserted in so cowardly a 

 manner. These boats, it is probable, were sent for the purpose of completing the spiking 

 of the cannon and carrying oif the stores in the battery. 



This is the story that has generally found currency in English histories of the siege, 

 but it would appear from the very candid and evidently truthful narrative of the inhabi- 

 tant of Louisbourg to which I have previously referred, that the French troops in the 

 battery were seized with fright the moment Vaughan's force made its appearance on its 

 way to burn the storehouses, and immediately evacuated the works without waiting for 

 the enemy to fire a shot, and show an intention to attack.- The French governor, on the 

 other hand, asserts that Captain Thiery, who had charge of the battery, evacuated it in 

 accordance with the decision of a council of war which was called to consider his state- 

 ment that it could uot successfully resist for any time an attack by the enemy. We are 

 also told that Monsieur Verrier, the chief engineer, objected to the proposition to blow up 

 the battery, and the council yielded to his advice, the force of which it is impossible to 

 appreciate when we consider that, if left intact, it would be of some use to the besiegers. 

 One thing is quite certain that the French left the battery in great haste, and did their 

 work of spiking the guns so ineffectively that these were soon made available for the 

 purposes of the siege. The history of this affair affords of itself evidence of Ducham- 

 bon's carelessness and incompetence. The fact that the storehouses were left, with all 

 their contents, to fall into the possession of the besiegers, shows that the officials had 

 lost their heads as soon as the enemy had made their appearance in force. These store- 

 houses should have been immediately destroyed as was done in 1758. If the battery 

 could not be held, as Captain Thiery believed, it should have been blown up on the 

 instant. As it was, however, the English colonists obtained easy possession of a work 

 which was immediately used against the town, and the first step was taken towards facil- 

 itating the entrance of the fleet into the harbour, of which this battery formed one of the 

 most important defences. By another lucky stroke of fortune, thirty cannon were sub- 

 sequently found near the careening cove on the east side of the northeast arm, and were 

 used in the execution of a project which the besiegers found was absolutely necessary to 

 the reduction of the fortress, and that was the construction of a battery at Lighthouse 

 Point to silence the guns on the island, which effectively prevented the English fleet from 

 coming into the harbour, and attacking the town at close quarters. The difficulties of 

 constructing the works of the besiegers and carrying cannon and materials over the rocky, 

 swampy ground around Louisbourg were enormous and entailed great hardship on the 



' William Tufts, of MeJford, aged 18. Samuel Adams Drake, in his short account of the "Taking of Louis- 

 bourg," (Boston, i. 1890) falls into the error (p. 11.3) of making this exploit of a courageous New Enghmd lad an 

 episode of the disastrous attempt of the party, headed by Captain Brook.s some time later, to obtain possession of 

 the island battery. See infra, next page. 



- Parkman, ("Atlantic Monthly," April, p. 517) cites the words of the inhabitant of Louisbourg. 



