Naval War College Review Volume 67 Article 17 Number 2 Spring

2014 The aC pture of , 1758 John B. Hattendorf

Hugh Boscawen

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Recommended Citation Hattendorf, John B. and Boscawen, Hugh (2014) "The aC pture of Louisbourg, 1758," Naval War College Review: Vol. 67 : No. 2 , Article 17. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol67/iss2/17

This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Naval War College Review by an authorized editor of U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Hattendorf and Boscawen: The Capture of Louisbourg, 1758 BOOK REVIEWS 139

In addition, his use of nonstandard nota- credentials might have led an author tions can render specific citations a little in the wrong direction, resulting in an fuzzy. This is a minor issue, however, anachronistic and hagiographic tale full as Anderson’s synthesis is superb, his of modern military jargon. However, in analysis is sharp, and his writing style is Hugh Boscawen’s hands they have led engaging. All in all, this is a very useful to a model of careful historical scholar- contribution to the body of work, one ship informed by professional military that helps foster a better understanding understanding, experience at sea as a of the dynamics shaping today’s Arab yachtsman, and access to family papers. Spring and beyond. Given America’s Starting out from the key conceptual track record in the region, anything that point that campaigns and command- helps broaden our understanding of the ers should be seen in the context of the Middle East can only be a good thing. aims, ways, and means of their own day, Boscawen has carefully and judiciously THOMAS E. SEAL, COLONEL, U.S. MARINE CORPS, RETIRED examined the subject. Over many years, Stafford, Virginia he made a thorough study of both the published English- and the published French-language scholarship. Going much farther and deeper, he examined

in detail the extensive public and private Boscawen, Hugh. The Capture of Louisbourg, records in four French and eight British 1758. Campaigns and Commanders. Norman: archival depositories, as well as other Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 2011. 504pp. $39.95 primary-source materials in , The British amphibious operation to the United States, and private hands. capture the French fortress at Louis- Colonel Boscawen opens his study with bourg in Canada during the Seven Years’ an overview of the strategic situation War was the largest joint operation un- that the competing powers of Britain dertaken by British forces in that period. and faced in the period imme- This major event in naval history has diately leading up to 1758, and of the not been overlooked by historians, but contrasting organization of those gov- no one until Colonel Hugh Boscawen, ernments and their leaders. Boscawen British Army (Ret.), has been able so goes on to examine the background to effectively to combine the skills of an ex- the construction of the French fortifica- perienced army officer with those of an tion at Louisbourg, ranging from the insightful modern historian in analyzing reorganization of the defense of New this campaign and its commanders. France following the Peace of Utrecht A direct descendant of the British naval in 1713 to the perception on both commander at the capture of Louis- sides that Louisbourg had become an bourg, Admiral the Honorable Edward important trading point, the key bastion Boscawen, Colonel Hugh Boscawen in the defense of the Saint Lawrence brings his own experience of thirty years River and , as well as the French of active military service in the Cold- fisheries on the Grand Banks. When stream Guards to bear on the subject, war broke out again between the two with his knowledge of modern-day countries in 1755, neither was imme- campaign planning and execution. Such diately prepared to react decisively.

Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2014 1 140 NAVAL WAR COLLEGENaval REVIEW War College Review, Vol. 67 [2014], No. 2, Art. 17

Colonel Boscawen traces the initial plan- Once ashore, Brigadier was ning for the Louisbourg campaign up to able to gauge the range of the fortress’s August and September 1757, when the guns and to locate the initial position Select Committee of the Privy Council that Amherst would use for the first in London began to look at priorities parallel in the siege that ensued. Turning for the next campaigning season. By to the French side, Boscawen follows the December a campaign plan had emerged French as they defended their position. and operational planning had begun; He then traces the action in two parts— meanwhile, the French were taking their the siege, between 1 and 15 July, and own action to strengthen their position the bombardment, from 16 to 27 July. in Canada. The British assault force As Colonel Boscawen points out, Brit- began to gather at Halifax in April, while ish success at Louisbourg marked the snow was still on the ground. By 2 May beginning of the end of New France, Admiral Boscawen had arrived, immedi- and it also began a series of British joint ately selecting key land and sea officers amphibious operations during the re- to form a joint staff to plan the landing. mainder of the war. It also showed early Such a staff was a remarkable innova- signs of the coming changes in military tion, for which the need had already affairs, marked by increasingly orga- been made clear in earlier eighteenth- nized industrial and agricultural support century British experience. Among sev- for larger armed forces. Boscawen’s eral initiatives this group took were joint study is a model of historical analysis, operational training and a system of op- judiciously dealing with both sides of erational control for the landing boats. this joint operation in military and In eighteen days in May 1758 at Halifax, naval dimensions. It is a major contribu- fourteen British regiments, artillery, tion to understanding an eighteenth- rangers, and the fleet were transformed century amphibious operation. into a cohesive expeditionary force. JOHN B. HATTENDORF Colonel Boscawen provides a detailed Naval War College description of the initial assault land- ing, under the command of the newly arrived Major General Jeffery Amherst.

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