16 



Instantly Boston became the scene of busy preparation. 



William Pepperell, of Kittery, in Maine, and the son of a fisher nsa^n 

 of the. Isles of Shoals, assumed command of the expedition. The 

 merchants of Boston furnished a large part of the armed vessels and 

 transports. The fishermen of Plymouth were the first troops to arrive. 

 Those of Marblehead and Gloucester, and those who had been em- 

 ployed by Pepperell and Vaughan, followed in rapid succession. 

 Lumberers, mechanics, and husbandmen completed the force. 



Louisbourg was the point of attack; for Cape Breton would fall' 

 with its capital without another blow. This city was named in honor 

 of the king. Twenty-five years and thirty millions of Uvres were re- 

 quired to complete it. Its walls were built of bricks brought from 

 France. More than two hundred pieces of cannon were mounted to 

 defend it. So great was its strength that it was called the "Dunkirk 

 of America." It had nunneries and palaces, terraces and gardens. 

 That such a city rose upon a lone, desolate isle, in the infancy of 

 American colonization, appears incredible. Explanation is alone found 

 in the fishing enthusiasm of the period. 



The fleet sailed , from Boston in March. Singular to remark, of a 

 military order, Shirley's instructions required an ample supply of cod- 

 lines for use on the passage, so that the troops might be fed, as much 

 as possible, on the products of the sea. 



A more undisciplined and disorderly body of men never disem- 

 barked to attempt the reduction of a walled city. The squadron com- 

 manded by Warren, and ordered by the ministry to co-operate with 

 Pepperell, arrived in time to share in the perils and honors of the siege. 

 The colonial fleet and the ships of the royal navy kept up a close 

 blockade. The colonists on shore, without a regular encampment, 

 lodged in huts built of turf and bushes. With straps across their 

 shoulders, they dragged cannon in sledges over morasses impassable 

 with wheels. Making jest of military subordination, they fired at 

 marks, they fished and fowled, wrestled and raced, and chased after 

 balls shot from the French guns. Badly sheltered, and exhausted by 

 toil in mud and water, and by exposure in a cold and foggy climate, 

 fifteen hundred became sick and unfit for duty. Still the siege was 

 conducted with surpassing energy, with some skill, and courage seldom 

 equalled. Nuie thousand cannon-balls and six hundred bombs were 

 discharged by the assailants. The French commander submitted on 

 the furty-ninth day of the investment. The victors entered the " Dun- 

 kirk of the western world" amazed at their own achievement. 



A single day's delay in the surrender might have resulted in discom- 

 fiture and defeat, and in extensive mortal sickness, since, within a few 

 hours of the capitulation, a storm of rain set in, which, in the ten days, 

 it continued, flooded the camp-ground and beat down the huts which 

 the colonists abandoned for quarters within the walls. 



Pepperell and his companions were the most fortunate of men. Even 

 after the fall of the city, the French flag (which was kept flying as a 

 decoy) lured within their grasp ships with cargoes of merchandise 

 worth more than a million of dollars. , The exploit was commended in 

 the highest arid loftiest terms. Even thirty years afterwards* Mr. Hart- 



