drucour bienfaisant l'entreprenant bluenose a.j.b vauquelin boscawen brigadiers petitcodiac louisbourg célèbre brumwell chartrand louisburgh rcac junon bunney c.c.j lévis charry lunenburg mi'kmaq fowke fidèle edgcumbe chèvre montcalm scotians danks biche
who was the british brigadier general that captured lighthouse
Siege of Louisbourg ( 1758 ) - wikipedia Siege of Louisbourg ( 1758 ) Jump to : navigation , search Not to be confused with Siege of Louisbourg ( 1745 ) . This article includes a list of references , but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . ( June 2012 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message ) <Th_colspan="2"> Siege of Louisbourg <Td_colspan="2"> Part of the French and Indian War <Td_colspan="2"> Siege of Louisbourg ( 1758 ) : British burning warship Prudent and capturing Bienfaisant . <Td_colspan="2"> Date 8 June -- 26 July 1758 Location Louisbourg , present - day Nova Scotia , then the French province of Île - Royale Coordinates : 45 ° 55 ′ 17 '' N 59 ° 58 ′ 13 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 45.92139 ° N 59.97028 ° W ﻿ / 45.92139 ; - 59.97028 Result Decisive British victory <Th_colspan="2"> Belligerents Great Britain British America Kingdom of France Mi'kmaq militia Acadian militia <Th_colspan="2"> Commanders and leaders Jeffery Amherst Edward Boscawen James Wolfe Charles Lawrence Edward Whitmore Chevalier de Drucour ( POW ) Jean Vauquelin Marquis Charry des Gouttes Beaussier de l'Isle <Th_colspan="2"> Strength 14,000 soldiers 12,000 sailors and marines 150 transport vessels 40 men - o - war 3,500 soldiers 3,500 sailors and marines 5 ships of the line <Th_colspan="2"> Casualties and losses 172 killed 355 wounded 102 killed 303 wounded 6,600 surrendered 4 ships of the line burned , 1 taken <Th_colspan="2"> ( hide ) Seven Years ' War in North America : The French and Indian War , Atlantic theater <Td_colspan="2"> 1st Northeast Coast Cape Race Chignecto Bay of Fundy Petitcodiac 2nd Northeast Coast 1st Lunenburg 1st Louisbourg Bloody Creek 2nd Lunenburg 2nd Louisbourg Petitcodiac River Ile Saint - Jean Gulf of St. Lawrence Cape Sable St. John River Restigouche St. John 's The Siege of Louisbourg was a pivotal operation of the Seven Years ' War ( known in the United States as the French and Indian War ) in 1758 that ended the French colonial era in Atlantic Canada and led directly to the loss of Quebec in 1759 and the remainder of French North America the following year . Contents ( hide ) 1 Background 2 Order of battle 3 The siege 4 Capitulation 5 Aftermath 6 Royal Navy Fleet throughout the siege 7 Artifacts gallery 8 See also 9 References 10 Bibliography Background ( edit ) The British government realized that with the Fortress of Louisbourg under French control , the Royal Navy could not sail up the St. Lawrence River unmolested for an attack on Quebec . After an expedition against Louisbourg in 1757 led by Lord Loudon was turned back due to a strong French naval deployment , the British under the leadership of William Pitt resolved to try again with new commanders . Pitt assigned the task of capturing the fortress to Major General Jeffrey Amherst . Amherst 's brigadiers were Charles Lawrence , James Wolfe and Edward Whitmore , and command of naval operations was assigned to Admiral Edward Boscawen . The chief engineer was John Henry Bastide who had been present at the first siege of Louisbourg in 1745 and was chief engineer at Fort St Philip , Minorca , in 1756 when the British had surrendered the fort and island to the French after a long siege . As they had in 1757 , the French planned to defend Louisbourg by means of a large naval build - up . However , the British blockaded the French fleet sailing from Toulon when it arrived in Cartagena , and defeated a French relief force at the Battle of Cartagena . The French consequently abandoned their attempt to reinforce Louisbourg from the Mediterranean , and only 11 ships were available to oppose the British off Louisbourg . Most of the cannons and men were moved inside the fort and five ships ( Appolon , Fidèle , Chèvre , Biche , Diane ) were sunk to block the entrance to the harbour . On 9 July , Echo tried to slip out of the harbour under the cover of a dense fog , but was intercepted and seized by HMS Scarborough and HMS Junon . This left the French with only five half - empty ships in the harbour : Célèbre ( 64 ) , Entreprenant ( 74 ) , Capricieux ( 64 ) , Prudent ( 74 ) and Bienfaisant ( 64 ) . Order of Battle ( edit ) Siege Of Louisbourg Map 1758 Part of a series on the Military history of Nova Scotia Citadel Hill Events Battle of Port Royal 1690 Siege of Port Royal 1710 Battle of Jeddore Harbour 1722 Northeast Coast Campaign 1745 Battle of Grand Pré 1747 Dartmouth Massacre 1751 Bay of Fundy Campaign 1755 Fall of Louisbourg 1758 Headquarters established for Royal Navy 's North American Station 1758 Halifax Treaties 1760 - 61 Battle of Fort Cumberland 1776 Raid on Lunenburg 1782 Halifax Impressment Riot 1805 Establishment of New Ireland 1812 Capture of USS Chesapeake 1813 Battle at the Great Redan 1855 Siege of Lucknow 1857 CSS Tallahassee Escape 1861 Departing Halifax for Northwest Rebellion 1885 Departing Halifax for the Boer War 1899 Imprisonment of Leon Trotsky 1917 Jewish Legion formed 1917 Sinking of HMHS Llandovery Castle 1918 Battle of the St. Lawrence 1942 -- 44 Sinking of SS Point Pleasant Park 1945 Halifax VE - Day Riot 1945 Walter Callow Wheelchair Bus established 1947 Notable military regiments Mi'kmaq militias 1677 - 1779 Acadian militias 1689 - 1761 40th Regiment 1717 - 57 Troupes de la marine 1717 - 58 Gorham 's Rangers 1744 - 62 Danks ' Rangers 1756 - 62 84th Regiment of Foot 1775 - 84 Royal Fencible American 1775 - 83 Royal Nova Scotia Volunteers 1775 - 83 King 's Orange Rangers 1776 - 83 1st Field Artillery 1791 - present Royal Nova Scotia 1793 - 1802 Nova Scotia Fencibles 1803 - 16 The Halifax Rifles ( RCAC ) 1860 - present The Princess Louise Fusiliers 1867 - present 78th Highlanders 1869 - 71 Cape Breton Highlanders 1871 - present Nova Scotia Rifles 1914 - 19 No. 2 Construction Battalion 1916 - 19 West Nova Scotia 1916 - present The Nova Scotia Highlanders 1954 - present Other Nova Scotia Captivity Narratives Impressment in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia portal History of Canada portal Canadian Armed Forces portal British forces assembled at Halifax , Nova Scotia where army and navy units spent most of May training together as the massive invasion fleet came together . After a large gathering at the Great Pontack , on 29 May the Royal Navy fleet departed from Halifax for Louisbourg . The fleet consisted of 150 transport ships and 40 men - of - war . Housed in these ships were almost 14,000 soldiers , almost all of whom were regulars ( with the exception of four companies of American rangers ) . The force was divided into three divisions : Red , commanded by James Wolfe , Blue , commanded by Charles Lawrence and White commanded by Edward Whitmore . On 2 June the British force anchored in Gabarus Bay , 3 miles ( 4.8 km ) from Louisbourg . The French commander ( and governor of Île - Royale ( New France ) , the Chevalier de Drucour , had at his disposal some 3,500 regulars as well as approximately 3,500 marines and sailors from the French warships in the harbour . However , unlike the previous year , the French navy was unable to assemble in significant numbers , leaving the French squadron at Louisbourg outnumbered five to one by the British fleet . Drucour ordered trenches to be prepared and manned by some 2,000 French troops , along with other defences , such as an artillery battery , at Kennington Cove . The siege ( edit ) View of Louisbourg when the city was besieged in 1758 Weather conditions in the first week of June made any landing impossible and the British were only able to mount a bombardment of the improvised shore defenses of Gabarus Bay from a frigate . However , conditions improved , and at daybreak on 8 June Amherst launched his assault using a flotilla of large boats , organized in seven divisions , each commanded by one of his brigadiers . French defenses were initially successful and after heavy losses , Wolfe ordered a retreat . However , at the last minute , a boatload of light infantry in Wolfe 's division ( i.e. , members of Rogers Rangers ) found a rocky inlet protected from French fire and secured a beachhead . Wolfe redirected the rest of his division to follow . Outflanked , the French retreated rapidly back to their fortress . Continuing heavy seas and the difficulty inherent to moving siege equipment over boggy terrain delayed the commencement of the formal siege . In the meantime , Wolfe was sent with 1,220 picked men around the harbour to seize Lighthouse Point , which dominated the harbour entrance . This he did on 12 June . After eleven days , on 19 June , the British artillery batteries were in position and the orders were given to open fire on the French . The British battery consisted of seventy cannons and mortars of all sizes . Within hours , the guns had destroyed walls and damaged several buildings . Louis - Joseph Beaussier de l ' Isle On 21 July a mortar round from a British gun on Lighthouse Point struck a 64 - gun French ship of the line , Le Célèbre , and set it ablaze . A stiff breeze fanned the fire , and shortly after Le Célèbre caught fire , two other French ships , L'Entreprenant and Le Capricieux , had also caught fire . L'Entreprenant sank later in the day , depriving the French of the largest ship in the Louisbourg fleet . The next major blow to French morale came on the evening of 23 July , at 10 : 00 . A British `` hot shot '' set the King 's Bastion on fire . The King 's Bastion was the fortress headquarters and the largest building in North America in 1758 . Its destruction eroded confidence and reduced morale in the French troops and their hopes to lift the British siege . Most historians regard the British actions of 25 July as the `` straw that broke the camel 's back '' . Using a thick fog as cover , Admiral Boscawen sent a cutting - out party to destroy the last two French ships in the harbour . The British raiders eliminated these two French ships of the line , capturing Bienfaisant and burning Prudent , thus clearing the way for the Royal Navy to enter the harbour . James Cook , who later became famous as an explorer , took part in this operation and recorded it in his ship 's log book . Capitulation ( edit ) Jean Vauquelin Part of a series on the History of Nova Scotia Bluenose Events Port Royal established 1605 Conquest of Acadia 1710 Halifax established 1749 Bay of Fundy Campaign 1755 Fall of Louisbourg 1758 Representative Government established 1758 Halifax Treaties 1760 - 61 First significant Scottish immigration 1773 Battle of Fort Cumberland 1776 Birchtown established 1783 Capture of USS Chesapeake 1813 Freedom of the Press 1835 First Acadian MLA elected 1837 Responsible Government established 1848 ‪ Chesapeake Affair 1861 Co Op Movement begins 1861 ‪ Anti-Confederation Party elected 1867 Saxby Gale 1869 Launch of William D. Lawrence 1873 First airplane in the British Commonwealth 1909 Halifax Explosion 1917 Nova Scotia ( Women 's ) Franchise Act 1918 Launch of Bluenose 1922 Coal Miners ' Memorial Day 1925 Pugwash Conferences established 1957 Springhill mining disaster 1958 NS Human Rights Commission established 1967 Acadian Federation of Nova Scotia established 1968 First ' Treaty Day ' 1986 Westray Mine explosion First Black MLA elected Mi'kmaq - Nova Scotia - Canada Tripartite Forum Viola Desmond Apology Other Military history of Nova Scotia Military history of the Acadians Military history of the Mi'kmaq people History of Halifax Black Nova Scotians Nova Scotia portal History of Canada portal On 26 July the French surrendered . Having fought a spirited defence , the French expected to be accorded the honours of war , as they had given to the surrendering British at the Battle of Minorca . However , Amherst refused , tales of the atrocities supposedly committed by France 's native allies at the surrender of Fort Oswego and Fort William Henry probably fresh in his mind . The defenders of Louisbourg were ordered to surrender all of their arms , equipment and flags . These actions outraged Drucour , but because the safety of the non-combatant inhabitants of Louisbourg depended upon him he reluctantly accepted the terms of surrender . The Cambis regiment refused to honour the terms of surrender , breaking its muskets and burning its regimental flags rather than hand them over to the British victors . Brigadier - General Whitmore was appointed the new Governor of Louisbourg , and remained there with four regiments . Aftermath ( edit ) Louisbourg had held out long enough to prevent an attack on Quebec in 1758 . However the fall of the fortress led to the loss of French territory across Atlantic Canada . From Louisbourg , British forces spent the remainder of the year routing French forces and occupying French settlements in what is today New Brunswick , Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland . The second wave of the Acadian expulsion began . The British engaged in the St. John River Campaign , the Cape Sable Campaign , the Petitcodiac River Campaign , the Ile Saint - Jean Campaign , and the removal of Acadians in the Gulf of St. Lawrence Campaign ( 1758 ) . The loss of Louisbourg deprived New France of naval protection , opening the Saint Lawrence to attack . Louisbourg was used in 1759 as the staging point for General Wolfe 's famous Siege of Quebec ending French rule in North America . Following the surrender of Quebec , British forces and engineers set about methodically destroying the fortress with explosives , ensuring that it could not return to French possession a second time in any eventual peace treaty . By 1760 , the entire fortress was reduced to mounds of rubble . In 1763 the Treaty of Paris saw France formally cede Canada , including Cape Breton Island , to the British . In 1768 the last of the British garrison departed along with most of the remaining civilian inhabitants . Royal Navy Fleet throughout the siege ( edit ) Ship Guns Admiral Captain HMS Namur 90 Edward Boscawen Matthew Buckle HMS Royal William 84 Sir Charles Hardy Thomas Evans HMS Princess Amelia 80 Admiral Philip Durell John Bray HMS Invincible 74 John Bentley HMS Dublin 74 George Rodney HMS Terrible 74 Richard Collins HMS Northumberland 70 Lord Colville HMS Vanguard 70 Robert Swanton HMS Orford 70 Richard Spry HMS Burford 70 James Gambier HMS Somerset 70 Edward Hughes HMS Lancaster 70 George Edgcumbe HMS Devonshire 66 William Gordon HMS Bedford 64 Thorpe Fowke HMS Captain 64 John Amherst HMS Prince Frederick 64 Robert Mann HMS Pembroke 60 John Simcoe HMS Kingston 60 William Parry HMS York 60 Hugh Pigot HMS Prince of Orange 60 John Fergusson HMS Defiance 60 Patrick Baird HMS Nottingham 60 Samuel Marshall HMS Centurion 54 William Mantell HMS Sutherland 50 John Rous Artifacts gallery ( edit ) English propaganda against Louisbourg and French Canada in 1755 Edward Boscawen Medal The fortress today , as seen from the harbour Cannon from Le Prudent , currently at the Battlefields Park , Quebec City French mortar used during the siege , displayed at the Canadian War Museum , Ottawa . Louisbourg Canons , Toronto Map of Louisbourg ( 1758 ) See also ( edit ) Wikimedia Commons has media related to Siege of Louisbourg ( 1758 ) . Great Britain in the Seven Years War France in the Seven Years War Military history of Nova Scotia Louisburgh , County Mayo References ( edit ) Primary sources Gordon 's Journal of the Siege The Daily Journals , Diaries , Letters , and Accounts of Louisbourg and Isle Royale ( 1713 - 1768 ) Journal of John Wolcott Memoirs of de Johnstone Chapter III of The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano , or Gustavus Vassa , the African at Wikisource includes a brief witness account of the battle Guerre du Canada . 1756 - 1760 . Montcalm et Lévis. ( in French ) Endnotes Jump up ^ New France was doomed , Chartrand p. 84 Jump up ^ Brumwell p. 158 ^ Jump up to : Chartrand p. 81 Jump up ^ Johnston , A.J.B. ( 2007 ) . Endgame 1758 : The Promise , the Glory and the Despair of Louisbourg 's Last Decade . Lincoln , Nebraska : University of Nebraska Press . Jump up ^ `` Guerre du Canada . 1756 - 1760 . Montcalm et Lévis '' . TOUT GALLICA . Retrieved 1 October 2017 ... Jump up ^ Hough p. 21 Jump up ^ Fowler , p. 171 Jump up ^ Parkman , p. 295 Jump up ^ Chartrand p. 92 Jump up ^ The Naval Chronicle Vol. 07 , p. 202 - 203 Bibliography ( edit ) Anderson , Fred . Crucible of War ( 2000 ) pp 250 -- 256 Brumwell , Stephen . Paths of Glory : The Life and Death of General James Wolfe . Hambledon Continuum , 2007 ISBN 9781847252081 Chartrand , Rene Louisbourg 1758 Hough , Richard . Captain James Cook : a biography . Hodder & Stoughton , 1995 Fowler , William M. Empires at War : The French and Indian War and the Struggle For North America . Vancouver : Douglas & McIntyre Ltd. , 2005 Hitsman , J. McKay and C.C.J. Bond . `` The Assault Landing at Louisbourg , 1758 , '' Canadian Historical Review ( 1954 ) 35 : 314 - 330 . A.J.B. Johnson , Endgame 1758 : The Promise , the Glory and the Despair of Louisbourg 's Last Decade , Sydney , NS : Capre Breton University Press , 2008 McLennan , J.S ( 2000 , originally 1918 ) . Louisbourg : From its Foundation to its Fall , 1713 - 1758 . Halifax : The Book Room Limited . Warner , Oliver . With Wolfe to Quebec . Toronto : William Collins Sons and Company Ltd. , 1972 ISBN 0002119420 The Naval Chronicle. 07 . Bunney & Gold . 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