A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

104 LOUISBOURG BESIEGED. [1745.them was scarce in New England. Old sails wereoften used instead, being stretched over poles, — perhapsafter the fashion of a Sioux teepee. When thesecould not be had, the men built huts of sods, withroofs of spruce-boughs overlapping like a thatch ;forat that early season, bark would not peel from thetrees. The landing of guns, munitions, and storeswas a formidable task, consuming many days anddestroying many boats, as happened again whenAmherst landed his cannon at this same place.Largeflat boats, brought from Boston, were used for thepurpose, and the loads were carried ashore on theheads of the men, wading through ice-cold surf tothe waist, after which, having no change of clothing,they slept on the ground through the chill and foggynights, reckless of future rheumatisms.^A worse task was before them. The cannon wereto be dragged over the marsh to Green Hill, a spurof the line of rough heights that half encircled thetown and harbor. Here the first battery was to ])eplanted ; and from this point other guns were to bedragged onward to more advanced stations, — a distancein allof more than two miles, thought by theFrench to be impassable. So, in fact, it seemed; for1 The author of The Importance and Advantage of Cape Bretonsays ": When the hardships they were exposed to come to be considered,the behaviour of these men will hardly gain credit. Theywent ashore wet, liad no [dry] clothes to cover them, were exposedin this condition to cold, foggy niglits, and yet cheerfully underwentthese difficulties for the sake of executing a project they hadvoluntarily undertaken."