Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 18

A Campaign of Amateurs: The Siege of Louisbourg, 1745

by Raymond F Baker

Abstract

On the morning of 11 May 1745, some 90 transport vessels under escort of a British naval squadron sailed into Gabarus (Gabarouse) Bay on Cape Breton Island. Aboard the transports were nine regiments of hastily raised citizen soldiers from the colonies of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. They had come to conquer the great French fortress of Louisbourg; in 47 days they were to do just that, and shatter the myth of invincibility that had begun to surround the fortress.

Submitted for publication, 1971, by Raymond F. Baker, National Historic Parks and Sites Branch, Parks Canada.