The Portland daily press., 1895-06-15


Canso
Ihe event to be commemorated is the
one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of
6he capture of Louisburg, in 1854, from
the French by the Colonial troops, aided
by the naval fleet of England, under the
command of Sir Peter Warren. A hand
some but plain monument is to be erected
ON the site of one of the ruined French
fedoubts. The monument consists Of a
tall granite shaft upon a pedestal, the
shaft being surmounted by q large cannon
ball. genuine relic found on the spot
$50 years ago. The height of the monu-
ment is about twenty-six feet and the
plot Of ground it is to occupy was gener
ously presented to Mt Rowland Pell, for
the Colonial Wars Society, last Fall,
when Mr.. Pell visited the place to make
suitable arrangements. The land was
owned by Patrick Kennedy, fisherman,
whose grandfather was a soldier in the
English Army When this patriotic scion
of military ancestors learned that the
great victory of $50 year ago was to be
honored by fine monument, he offered
| to give outright the land required for the
monume MT, and, as the site was one of
the finest in the vicinity, Mr.. Pell, as
| Chairman of the committee, gratefully
accepted it on behalf of the society
| The monument is now being erected at
| Louisburg, and on June IL, when the
| delegation from the various State Chap
ters Of the Colonial Wars Society, and
| the invited guests from other historical
organizations assemble in that little town
which of late years has been almost for
gotten, everything will be in readiness
for the unwilling exercises, The Cana
dians are taking a deep interest in this
coming celebration. Delegations will be
present from Halifax, Montreal, Quebec
Sydney, the famous coal town of Cape
Breton, and other Canadian towns.
The capture of Louisburg was entirely
a Colonial undertaking. accompanied,
not by the trained soldiers of England,
but by the young men of New England,
most Of whom, in their enthusiasm, left
their farms and their shops, to shoulder
musket in an expedition regarded by
insane. Many of these same men, thirty
years later, were enlisted in the Conti-
mental Army against the British regulars,
and it is a noteworthy fact that Col
Richard Gridley, the Engineer of Artil-
lery, who laid out many of the fortifica-
tions built in conducting the siege of
Louisburg, directed the works at Bunker
Hill previous to that memorable battle.
Louisburg, in 1745, was declared impreg-
nable, not only by the French who held
1t, but this was the accepted opinion
among the English officers as well. The
French had expended an amount equiva-
lent to about s6,0000 0Co in it's fortiflca-
tions and it was known as the Gibraltar
of America.
Cape Breton in 1745, was about the only
outlying Canadian possession held by the
French, as, by the treaty of Utrecht, in
1713 all of Nova Scotia had been ceded to
England. The Island of Cape Breton
was deemed by the French of the utmost
value as fishing and military station,
commanding, as it did, the entrance
to the ST. Lawrence River, while in time
of war it could be used as constant
menace to British shipping and the New
England fishermen The harbor of Louis
burg was one of the best on the coast,
and the town itself was a prosperous COM
munity of about 5000 inhabitants To
day, it has barely tenth of that num-
ber. Its oldtime glory has departed, but
the ruins of its mighty fortresses and re-
doubts can be seen practically in the
same condition as when left after their
final destruction over a century ago.
Relics of the early French days are fire.
quently found and the vicinity offers
rich field to the curiosity seeker, for there
are wide patches of ground which have
not been disturbed since the French va
Gated the place. In fact, through the
energies of the Colonial Wars Society, a
number of old cannon balls several an
cient French cannon and other evidences
of warlike days, have been unearthed,
while the half burned hulk of a French
man -ofwar was raised from the harbor.