46 SIE ADAMS AECHIBALD ON 



out ou a recounoitriug expedition. They pushed their way through the forest to the top 

 of the hill. From that point they overlooked the fort. They shewed themselves for a 

 moment on the crest of the hill, then uttered a defiant shout to the soldiers on the walls. 

 Then they plunged again into the forest on the hill side, and made their way towards 

 the upper part of the harbour. Two miles above the fort, on the edge of the harbour, 

 stood several warehouses filled with quantities of pitch, tar and other inllanimables. To 

 these they set fire. In an incredibly short space of time the whole was one mass of 

 flame. The smoke from the burning buildings and materials was driven by the wind in 

 the direction of the grand battery already mentioned. The garrison of this post thought 

 that the whole British force was upon them. They immediately reported the state of 

 things to Duchambon, and obtained his consent to abandon the battery, first spiking 

 their cannon. In hot haste they acted on this permission, hardly taking time to spike 

 the guns effectually. They escaped to Louisbourg at midnight, leaving the French flag 

 floating on the staff. Next morning Col. Yaughan, on returning from his reconnoitring 

 expedition, with a small detachment of thirteen men of whom one was an Indian, came 

 in sight of the battery. The flag was flying, but he was surprised not to see any smoke 

 issuing from the chimneys. After waiting a while, and seeing no appearance of motion 

 or life in the fort, he sent the Indian to scale the wall and ascertain what all this meant. 

 The Indian, on climbing up, found that the fort had been abandoned. He then opened 

 the gate and let his comrades in. Vaughan immediately ordered the French flag to be 

 hauled down, and having none of his own to replace it with, he directed one of the men 

 to nail a soldier's red coat to the mast. He then sent a message to the general, informing 

 him that " by the Grace of God, and the courage of thirteen men, he was in possession of 

 the grand battery," and asked for a reënforcement and a flag. 



But it seemed for a while as if Vaughan was not likely to keep his new possession 

 long. Duchambon, ashamed apparently of the cowardly abandonment of the battery, 

 sent next morning a body of sixty soldiers, in boats, to retake the fort. Yaughan saw 

 the boats leaving the wharf, and steering towards the foot of the hill on which the 

 battery stood. He immediately rushed with his thirteen men to the shore, and opened 

 fire on the boats. This was returned A^gorously. For many minutes there seemed no 

 hope of successful resistance, but Yaughan and his men were determined to sell their 

 lives dear. They continued their fire. At length they had the satisfaction to see the 

 boats turn about and head towards the town. The little band marched back in triumph 

 to their battery, where they were soon joined by such a reënforcement as put the reten- 

 tion of the post beyond the region of doubt. 



An immense number of powerful guns, and a great quantity of shells and other war 

 material were found in the battery. The gunsmiths, of whom there were many in the 

 ranks of the volunteers, soon drilled out the spikes, and within a week, the powerful 

 armament of this battery was turned against the fortress it was built to protect, doing, 

 with its plunging shot, infinite damage to the walls and buildings of the beleaguered fort. 



At the same time, the invading force, after reaching the crest of the hill, were gradually 

 advancing their batteries down the hill side, sloping towards the fort. Each battery came 

 nearer and nearer the walls. From these batteries and from that which the thirteen men 

 had captured, a constant cannonade was kept up. At last, a battery was constructed within 

 the eighth of a mile from the walls, and played directly on the west gate. The balls from 



