French fortress at Louisbourg, NS

[mararmeisto]

Okay, let me prelude this story with the acknowledgment that I didn't drive my Delica to see this, but it was a trip and I thought I would share just the same.

So, I'm in Halifax, again, for more naval training, and I figured I'd rent a car and go for a drive. I was thinking of PEI so I could see Confederation Bridge, but then I thought "I've already been to PEI, why not somewhere else?" Then I thought, "Cape Breton," which is very much like the Sunshine Coast of BC (rugged, heavily treed, twisting road, etc) and I started to look around for something to see while there. As the fates would have it, a advertisement for the 250th anniversary summer event commemorating the second siege of the fort came on the television, and the rest is history, as it were. And yes, that's terrible pun...

After a five-hour drive, this is what I learned: a bit of a Canadian history lesson and some pictures:

Louisbourg (named after the King of France, of course) was founded in 1713 after the French relocated from Placentia, Newfoundland. In order to protect their interests so far away from the other French colonies at Montreal and Quebec, it was decided that a sizable fortress would be built instead of the usual-sized outpost such as the one they'd left at Placentia. After nearly 30 years of construction, France and England were once again at war in Europe (1744) which meant the colonies were at war, and by the next summer the fortress was under siege.

A few years before the outbreak of war, it seems the French had attacked an English colony down south at Canso, NS, brought some of the captives back to the fort, locked up soldiers and let the officers roam about (as per the rules of war of the day - actually officers still get better treatment than the ranks, but that's for another thread). While all those English officers were roaming about the fortress, they noticed the defensive flaw in the design of the fortress. All of the defenses protected the harbor, but none of the guns trained upon a massive stretch of the walls which looked landward. The French had thought the marshy swamp would be defense enough and so had focused only on the main gate approaches and the seaward side. This was their undoing.

The English (mostly regiments from the New England colonies) lay siege to the fortress in 1745, capturing it in about 6 weeks. All the surviving French are put into ships and sent back to France. The English occupy the fortress for about 4 years until a treaty between England and France dictates the return of the fort to the French. Interestingly enough, during that first winter the English occupy the fortress, nearly 10 times as many die from starvation and the cold (it's a very exposed bit of land) as did while fighting the French: less than 100 died during the battle; more than 900 die that first winter!

The French get the fortress back in 1749, and a lot of the original inhabitants get back on the boat and return. As weird as it might sound, it was actually a better place to live than in France: more than six weeks distant from any help from the mother country; too far removed from the other French colonies in the New World to get help from them either; everything has to be imported (very little arable land in the area); it is exposed directly to the fury that can be the north Atlantic Ocean; and the natives (the Mi'kmaq) tolerate them at best. And yet, things in France (with 19 million people) are worse: over-crowding, disease (because of the over-crowding), land tenancy which is starving the poor and a king who doesn't really care about his people.

Less than 10 years later (1758), the English are trying to rid the New World of the French, or at least take over their land for their own crown. Louisbourg was to be the beginning of the end: James Wolfe, who had been involved in the first siege, decided this would be the place to start on his way to Quebec and Montreal, but this time he came with 30000 troops instead of only 4500! The French had made no improvements to the defenses of the fortress, and so it fell to siege in nearly the same manner as before: the English came around from the south to the Royal Battery and bombarded the Island Battery, while another group came across the swampy marsh and attacked from the landward side. Once again, all French who survive are put into the ship and sent back to France. The road to The Plains of Abraham was begun.

This time, the English make sure the French would not regain the fortress - they blow it up, destroying it completely (1760). By 1763 the French were wholly defeated in the New World, and at the Treaty of Paris they ceded all of New France to England (except for Miquelon and St. Pierre which they recovered - and still retain to this day actually). The English never settled the site (Halifax was more important and thriving), but Loyalists returned to the Sydney-area during the Revolutionary War and started that town in the much better protected/sheltered harbor.

So if everything was blown up, why is there a wall and streets and buildings? Prime Minister Diefenbaker decided in 1961 that it was time to do something with the site which had been deteriorating for the previous 200 years. The mines had shut down in the Sydney area and there were a lot of men out of work, so it was a New Deal-like project to stimulate growth in the area, the men having something to do and learning new skills should the mines not re-open. In total, about one-fifth of the site was reconstructed, some of which is still ongoing. Re-enactors are on site during the summer months, living out life in 18th-century fashion for the visitors.

How well is the re-creation? Since no other township had ever again been built on the site of the ruins, the archeological data was all there for the most part completely undisturbed and the recreation is almost exact. The French were meticulous in their record-keeping: complete plans of the defensive arrangements were maintained back in France (these were drawn upon); records of imports/exports to/from the fortress were archived; lists of settlers were found; and the accounts of the English and New Englanders who attacked the fortress were drawn upon. It is, quite simply, the largest historical recreation in Canada. This summer, there is going to be a nighttime re-enactment of the siege, a first for North America. Check this website for details: Louisbourg 2008.

[delica 304]

Less than 10 years later (1758), the English are trying to rid the New World of the French, or at least take over their land for their own crown.

...Some Quebecers think that the English are still working at it!

I've wanted to go to Louisbourg for years now, maybe next time I'm on course in Halifax

[mararmeisto]

I once heard that "ignorance is the seed of misunderstanding"... or something like that. Although I don't know much about Diefenbaker and his time as Prime Minister, and although I don't like him for canceling the Avro Arrow project (or being involved in its cancelation), I think it is impressive he had the vision to commission this project/park to protect and to have rebuilt some of the original site. It's a wonderful place, and what it stands for is quite impressive, both for its remembrance of French persistence to remain in the New World and for showing us in the present the road from whence we came.

There are always losers and winners in history, and in order to gain a clear understanding, sometimes it is best to hear both sides of the tale - even if it is the 'losing' side's tale. The re-enactments which take place each year during the summer focus almost solely on the French side of the story, with minor forays into the English tale. This summer's depiction of a night during the siege was told to me to be a departure from the usual script.

While New France fell, in a way it gained a stability that it had long been seeking for the previous 200 years. After the Treaty of Paris, the tensions which remained dealt more with the little things in life (language, schooling, rule of law), instead of with life itself (the constant threat of war between the colonies).

And now I'm all historied-out! Anyone else been to other cool places in this country of ours? With their Delica?

[konadog]

Hey thanks mararmeisto. Interesting post.

[jrman]

Very nice. Another of the many places I intend to visit. Thanks for filling in some detail.

[psilosin]

Nice post. I just got back from a 2 week trip to Nova Scotia myself. Really liked that province. Lots of history and a great place to drive (can go for hours and see only a handful of other cars in some areas like the Eastern Shore). I wasn't able to get far enough up the Cape Bretton area to hit up Louisbourg but did get to the Citidel Fortress in Halifax and Fort Anne down in Annapolis Royal.

What I found interesting about Nova Scotia is how important it was in the history of Canada and the United States with settlements like Annapolis Royal dating back to the early 1600's yet the population never really increased...not too many people living there. As a matter of fact I think there might be more pubs than people.