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

1745.] AMATEUR GUNNERY. 109favoritepursuit in New England, there were men inPepperrell's army who knew how tohandle cannon;but their number was insufficient, and the generalsent a note toWarren, begging that he would lendhim a few experienced gunners toteach their tradeto the raw hands at the batteries. Three or fourwere sent,and they found apt pupils.Pepperrell placed the advanced battery in chargeof Captain Joseph^ Sherburn, telling him to enlistas many gunners as he could. On the next daySherburn reported that he had found six, one ofwhom seems to have been sent by Warren. Withthese and a number of raw men he repaired to hisperilous station, where "I found," he says, "a verypoor intrenchment. Our best shelter from the Frenchfire, which was very hot, was hogsheads filled withearth." He and his men made the West Gate theirchief mark; but before they could get a fair sightof it, they were forced to shoot down the fish-flakes,or stages for drying cod, that obstructed the view.Some of their party were soon killed, — CaptainPierce by a cannon-ball, Thomas Ash by a "bumb,"and others by musketry.In the night they improvedtheir defences, and mounted on them three moreguns, one of eighteen-pound calibre, and the othersof forty-two, — French pieces dragged from theGrand Battery, a mile and three quarters round theBarachois.1 He signs his name Jos. Sherburn ; but in a list of the oflacersof the New Hampshire Kegiment it appears in full as Joseph.