Pepperell Captures Fortress Louisbourg: New England Beats France
A merchant from Maine had never commanded a military siege in his life. But William Pepperrell led 4,000 New England colonists — fishermen, farmers, shopkeepers — across the Atlantic and somehow took Louisbourg, France's supposedly impregnable fortress on Cape Breton Island, in 49 days. The French had spent 25 years and millions of livres building it. Pepperrell's men dragged cannons through swamps by hand. Britain was so stunned they made him the first American-born baronet. Then Britain handed Louisbourg back to France three years later in the peace treaty. The colonists never forgot that.
June 16, 1745
281 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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