92 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



selected William Pepperell of Kittery, Maine, a merchant 

 and the son of a fisherman. At first Pepperell was reluc- 

 tant to assume command, realizing his lack of fitness for 

 the position; but Shirley's choice probably was the best 

 that could have been made, "for Pepperell joined to an 

 unbounded popularity as little military incompetency as 

 anybody else who could be had." 1 



The story of the capture of Louisburg is one of enthu- 

 siasm, of hardihood and exposure, of splendid achievement. 

 The credit belongs wholly to New England and to the 

 people of those colonies who lived on the seaboard of New 

 England. A thousand men, mostly fishermen, came from 

 Maine to join the expedition. Connecticut sent five hun- 

 dred or more, New Hampshire four hundred and fifty. A 

 government sloop was provided from Rhode Island and 

 ten cannon were loaned by New York. Early in April, 

 1745, this expedition of New England farmers and fisher- 

 men assembled at Canso before entering upon the active 

 work of besieging Louisburg. 



The daring and hardihood of the men who composed this 

 expedition seemed incredible. There was lack of sufficient 

 tents for shelter; in their stead the men used old sails and 

 when these failed huts were built of sod, with roofs of 

 spruce boughs. Many days were spent in landing cannon 

 and supplies from flatboats. To do this the men waded 

 through ice-cold water to their waists, then, after the day's 

 labor was over, went ashore to sleep with no change of 

 clothing, exposed to the chill of foggy nights, and yet 

 "cheerfully underwent all of these difficulties for the sake 

 of executing a project they had voluntarily undertaken." 

 Teams consisting of two hundred men, with straps over 

 their shoulders, dragged cannon and sledges over marshes 

 where cannon on wheels had actually sunk from sight in 

 the mud. This kind of work, too, was done at night or 



i Parkman, Half-century of Conflict, II, p. 99. 



