French-Canadian Fortress Returns to Life
In February 1760, Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder wrote to his senior general in America, Jeffrey Amherst, that one of hardest-won possessions most recently taken from France—the great fortress of Louisbourg on the rocky coast of what the French called Ile Royale and the British called Cape Breton Island—should "be most effectually and most entirely demolished." Within the year, Pitt's orders were carried out, and the walls, bastions, and gun emplacements that made Louisbourg one of the most formidable fortifications in the Western Hemisphere were leveled. In time, the town that once had been enclosed by those walls and sheltered thousands of inhabitants was abandoned, and for two centuries what had been a key strategic post in the great colonial rivalry between Great Britain and France lay forgotten and buried.
Founded in the aftermath of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713 to guard France's lucrative fisheries and the seaward approaches to its Canadian possessions, Louisbourg was built as a New World monument to the fortress-making ideas and defensive mindset of the great French military engineer S
bastien Le Prestre, marquis de Vauban. The outward strength of the fortress, completed in the early 1740s, belied a simple truth: Its defense was completely dependent on naval power. Twice in the span of 13 years, largely unopposed naval forces would land troops in 1745, an expedition led by colonial Massachusetts; in 1758, a British force led by General Amherst—and twice the fortress would be taken during six-week sieges. Few events more starkly illustrate the consequences of France's inadequate naval power.The leveling of Louisbourg at the end of the French and Indian War, meant to prevent its return to France, fortuitously allowed for the layout and foundations of the city to remain protected. In the early 1960s the Canadian government undertook one of the world's most extensive
and costly reconstruction efforts and over the course of 20 years rebuilt a quarter of the fortress and a fifth of the city. Today, it is one of the great reproductions of colonial-era architecture and life in the Western Hemisphere. (The story of Louisbourg's rebuilding deserves its own history as an addition to the story of its sieges.)Period-costumed interpreters re-create the world of French-Canadian culture of the 1740s, making it a north-of-the-border counterpart to Williamsburg. On entering, visitors are greeted by uniformed members of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine, or French-Canadian marines (Canada was administered by the French Naval Ministry), and invited to tour the reconstructed town complete with shops, homes, and the spectacular King's Bastion, the heart of the fortress. Because of its harbor's cold, sheltered waters, Louisbourg also is one of the best places to dive on 18th-century shipwrecks. Several French men-of-war—including the C
lebre and Prudent—sunk during the 1758 siege are the most notable of the five ships scuttled during that operation and of the more than 25 ships sunk around Louisbourg during its colonial heyday.The Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada is open from mid-May to the end of October; July through September is the best time to visit. It is about an hour's drive from the closest large town, Sydney, and five hours from Halifax. As a final destination it is more than worth the journey to far-flung Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island and should be a part of any history-minded visit to the picturesque and beautiful Canadian Maritimes. For more information, visit Parks Canada's Louisbourg Web site: http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/louisbourg/index_e.asp