In 1744 the French and English beat the drums of war, and Antoine de La Boularderie finds himself in the middle of a conflict that rages across Cape Breton Island and Acadia. In the second part of this episode, we will listen to Antoine’s eyewitness account of the days leading up to the first siege of Louisbourg. We will also visit Little Bras d’Or, a once thriving French settlement in the heart of Cape Breton and the home of the Boularderie Family. 

TRANSCRIPT

1. The first glimmer of daylight broke over the Atlantic Ocean at 5 o’clock in the morning on Sunday May 24 1744. Silhouetted against dawn’s ambient glow was a long line of boats – 14 shallops, 2 privateers and 1 sloop – bobbing up and down on a gentle swell.

2. It had only been 21 days since news had reached Louisbourg that King Louis XV had declared War on the British, but, determined to strike the first blow, the French Governor at Louisbourg ordered 140 French soldiers to the shores of Nova Scotia where they would raid the English fishing community of Canso. Aboard this ramshackle jumble of boats, these soldiers now waited to disembark at their destination. 

3. When they arrived, the larger French ships opened fire on the small battery that guarded the entrance to the harbour, catching the townsfolk and the small English garrison completely off guard. Aboard one of the French boats, Antoine de La Boularderie watched closely as the situation developed. Although retired from the military, he had been asked by the Governor to accompany the expedition since the commanding officer had never been to war before.

4. Not long after the bombardment began, a French cannonball sailed through the walls of the rotten blockhouse and the English garrison promptly surrendered. While the French set fire to the settlement, and columns of thick, black smoke billowed across the harbour, the French packed up the prisoners-of-war, sent their families off to Boston and returned triumphantly to Louisbourg. Little did La Boularderie know that this was one of the last successes he would ever enjoy…

5. This is The Lost World of Cape Breton Island. It’s the aim of this project to reconstruct the lives of people long gone, walk roads that no longer exist, and retell long forgotten stories from Cape Breton’s past through the eyes of those who saw it for themselves. These primary sources tell the stories of a long lost landscape – each one a thread in the tapestries of Cape Breton’s vivid and engrossing history.

6. After the raid on Canso, Antoine de La Boularderie returned home to Little Bras d’Or. By 1744, he had been in Île Royale (the name given to Cape Breton by the French), for nearly 5 years. Like his father before him, he was now commandant of both Little Bras d’Or and Ingonish, a bustling cod-fishing hub on the northern coast of the island. His wife, Éléonore de Beaugny had at some point joined him in Little Bras d’Or, and if genealogical records are correct, they now had 5 children – Antoine, François, Marie-Bernardine, Jean-Charles and Louis, with more soon to come. His family’s financial problems, all linked to their attempts at improving their land in Cape Breton, finally seemed to be under control. The Boularderies were now settled and thriving, and though it raged abroad, this new war must have felt far removed from their daily lives.

7. During this period of relative prosperity, French engineer and cartographer Pierre-Jérôme Boucher came to Little Bras d’Or to survey the community and surrounding areas. The map he created of the community is nothing short of a masterpiece, but it’s more than just a work of art – aside from the important information it provided the government in Louisbourg and France, today it provides a kind of character sketch of the community; a portrait of a settlement now lost to time. Thanks to the extreme detail of Boucher’s work and the high resolution scans taken by the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, we can figuratively bring this long lost settlement back to life. You can find this map on the BnF’s website gallica.bnf.fr by searching for “Boularderie”.

8. For those of our listeners who are unfamiliar with the geography, Boularderie Island sits in the entrance to the Bras d’Or Lakes, creating two passages on either side that connect the Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean – the Big Bras d’Or Channel to the west and the Little Bras d’Or to the east. The settlement was perched on the coast at the mouth of Little Bras d’Or Channel, in the vicinity of today’s Point Aconi and Alder Point. 

9. The majority of fishermen lived on the north shore of the channel in small dwellings, built on a gentle slope that overlooked the channel. Some of the homes had their own gardens, no doubt so that the fishermen could supplement their harsh diet with fresh vegetables. Down by the shore, fishing stages built for processing cod known as chafauds lined the water’s edge. 

10. The Boularderie homestead was located on the south side of the channel. Antoine once wrote that he had “a very beautiful house, barn, stable, dairy, dovecote, oven, windmill, water mill for grinding the wheat, twenty-five cows, six oxen, six mares, fifty sheep, and a stallion.” Combining his words with Boucher’s map allows us to picture the house and outlying structures of the property. The house itself sat on a bluff overlooking the Channel. The view must have been magnificent, like overlooking a narrow but powerful river. Although very little is known about its amenities or what it looked like, Antoine wrote that after arriving at Little Bras d’Or, he lived a life of “opulence” with almost everything he ever needed, leading us to believe that it was very comfortable even for Europeans. 

11. Behind the house was a kind of courtyard, with small outlying sheds or storehouses, flanked by two large enclosed European-style gardens. Some of these structures likely correspond to the ones Antoine mentioned in his description of the property, like the oven and dovecote. A road ran from the southernmost point of this courtyard through the forest and to the wide open farmland that overlooked the ocean. On this road, one would have passed another garden, and then stables that sat on the edge of these open fields, likely where Antoine’s mares and stallion were kept. We could think of the Boularderie’s homestead as the 18th century version of other well-known Cape Breton estates, such as J.S. McLennan’s Petersfield Estate or Alexander Graham Bell’s Beinn Breagh. Although nothing remains of this old homestead, the government of Canada has erected a plaque commemorating the settlement and designating both Antoine and his father Louis-Simon as “National Historic Persons”.

12. In the same autobiographical letter mentioned in the first part of this episode, Antoine, who conveniently skimmed over his life during the 1720s and 30s, changes tack when arriving at the 1740s. As we begin to examine the contents of this letter more closely, notice the change in writing style as he recounts the events of May 1745:13. “It had been but six months since all my works were completed and I hoped to live a gentle life in my pleasant retreat when the King declared war on the English…The following year, while I was on my land, I learned that Louisbourg was blockaded by sea by an English fleet. I left my home in a small boat — it is fourteen leagues to Louisbourg — and passed through the middle of the enemy fleet, arriving safely within the fortress…”

13. “It had been but six months since all my works were completed and I hoped to live a gentle life in my pleasant retreat when the King declared war on the English…The following year, while I was on my land, I learned that Louisbourg was blockaded by sea by an English fleet. I left my home in a small boat — it is fourteen leagues to Louisbourg — and passed through the middle of the enemy fleet, arriving safely within the fortress…”

14. Imagine the scene as Antoine is escorted briskly from the harbour and up through the Citadel to the Governor’s Residence, his heavy cloak flaring behind him as if to enunciate the urgency of the situation. When Antoine arrives, he finds the Governor, Louis Du Pont Duchambon, and many others that serve on the colony’s Superior Council paralyzed with fear. It turns out that Louisbourg isn’t just blockaded by British ships; the fleet is carrying troops for an assault on the town. To make matters worse, part of Louisbourg’s garrison had also mutinied less than a year earlier, raising serious questions in the governor’s mind as to their loyalty. The situation is equally bad outside the walls of Louisbourg. The population of outports like the Lorembecs and La Baleine, now Little and Big Lorraine and Baleine, are panicking. Duchambon had expected the English to force their way through the mouth of the harbour, not attack the town from land. To top it all off, it seemed like the English were about to do something previously thought impossible – land troops on the coast below Louisbourg and cross the deep, water-logged bogs that separated the town and Gabarus Bay to attack Louisbourg from behind. Now, the Governor no longer knows what to do.

15. Antoine and Louisbourg’s port-captain, Pierre Morpain, beg the Governor to attack the English while they are landing at Gabarus. After much delay, the Governor orders Morpain to lead the attack, and La Boularderie to assist. Followed by 80 soldiers, they set off on foot to Gabarus Bay. 

16. Listen as Antoine de La Boularderie explains what happens next (we quote):

17. We had scarcely gone a cannon-shot from the town when we saw more than fifteen hundred of the enemy already ashore and forming ranks as they landed. I told Monsieur Morpain that it was useless to attack such a superior force, that our chance had been lost, and that it was now impossible to prevent the English from besieging Louisbourg. Had I been given the detachment four hours earlier, I could have stopped them and given them something to think about. “No matter,” said Morpain, “let us go on.”

18. We had scarcely gone half a league when, instead of taking cover in the woods, we were marching openly in file. The English ships, moored broadside, caught sight of us and greeted us with their artillery. Monsieur Morpain told the men: “Take fifteen paces’ interval to avoid the fire.” I replied that this was disorderly marching, and that if he would let me take charge, I could get him out of this peril. Seeing the enemy advance, my intention was to form the detachment into four communicating platoons, maintaining a continuous fire of twenty muskets – each platoon of twenty men firing and then falling back to reload. Thus I would have ensured an orderly retreat against such adversaries.

19. Only twelve French soldiers followed us. I said to him for the last time: “Halt the detachment and reform it. You know nothing of land service, just as I know nothing of naval warfare. There is still time – we are within musket range of the enemy. By the maneuver I propose, we shall make an honorable retreat and not fall into their trap.”

20. He made no reply but went on, and I followed until we found ourselves stopped in a hollow, surrounded by the enemy. They opened a violent fire. He lost his head and told me to hold out as long as I could while he went to gather the detachment to rescue me. Outraged, I said: “Morpain, you have done a foolish thing. To flee in disorder is dishonor. This place shall be our tomb.” He persisted in going and, with barbarity, cried out, “Every man for himself!”

21. I was left alone with my twelve brave soldiers. We fell back a few paces, firing point-blank from behind the trees. The enemy surrounded us, killed seven of my men, and wounded the other five, who were fortunate enough to reach the fortress. Seeing myself alone, without hope of help, I threw myself, sword in hand, into the midst of the enemy.”

22. As he lies bleeding on the ground from two gunshot wounds, Antoine de la Boularderie watches the ring of English soldiers slowly tighten around him. He is now a prisoner of war. [END]