Project Description:

The Fortress of Louisbourg Summer Program 2012

 Project Description

The Louisbourg Public Archaeology Program provides a unique opportunity for archaeology enthusiasts to join supervised digs at the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada. The 2012 season will focus on field study at the De la Valliere property which was occupied by French, British and New Englanders between 1720 and 1758. The program will consist of two 5-day field sessions in early-mid August. During each session, a crew of 10-12 participants will excavate a portion of the De la Valliere property, learn about archaeological field and lab techniques, and attend presentations addressing current historical research at the Fortress. Although the crew will spend much of their time with trowels in hand, there will be ample opportunity for experiencing the sites and sounds of Fortress Louisbourg and exploring the rugged Cape Breton coastline.†

Originally, Louisbourg was a large French settlement founded in 1713, fortified in the 1730s, besieged twice by New Englanders and the British, and finally demolished and abandoned by the British in the 1760s. Relatively untouched since the fall of the Fortress, the remnants of the colonial settlement have survived the centuries in a remarkable state of preservation.

Extensive archaeological excavations and historical research in the mid-twentieth century guided partial reconstruction of the fortified town and defensive walls. Approximately 25 percent of the Fortress has been brought to life and stands as the largest reconstruction project in North America. Three decades of archaeological and archival research has produced a staggering amount of information about eighteenth century colonial life at Louisbourg, but there’s much more to discover! The Louisbourg Public Archaeology Program is a great opportunity to unearth the past.

† Note that the program can be personalized for individuals who would prefer to participate in field and lab activities other than excavation. Please contact us for more information.

Cost includes program fees (training, equipment, morning presentations, supervision), on-site meals Monday-Friday, and daily transportation between the Fortress site and the Visitor's Centre.

Recommended Reading:

1. Roskams, Steve. 2001. Excavation. Cambridge University Press.

2. Renfrew, Colin and Paul Bahn. 2004. Archaeology. Thames and Hudson Ltd.

3. Fry, Bruce W. 1984. An Appearance of Strength. Research Publications, Parks Canada.

4. Moore, Christopher. 2000.Louisbourg Portraits. McLelland & Stewart.

5. Krause et al.1995. Aspects of Louisbourg. University College of Cape Breton Press.

6. McLellan, J.S. 1918. Louisbourg: From Its Foundation to its Fall. MacMillan and Co., Ltd.

7. Johnson, A.J.B. 2008. Endgame 1758. University of Nebraska Press.

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Project Itinerary:

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History of Louisbourg (1713-1758):                       

When the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) established British control of mainland Nova Scotia and confirmed British title to Newfoundland, the French moved to Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island). The colony of Ile Royale included the islands of Ile Royale and Ile Saint Jean (Prince Edward Island). Ile Royale, particularly Louisbourg, was intended to replace Placentia, Newfoundland, as the headquarters for the fishery and serve as a haven for trading ships. By 1718 Ile Royale had become a thriving French colony, producing and exporting 150,000 quintals of dried codfish. (One quintal equals approximately 50 kilograms). Migrants and residents, fishing from Louisbourg and other ports in eastern Ile Royale, practised an inshore boat fishery. Throughout the 1720s and 1730s production of cod ranged between 120,000 and 160,000 quintals annually. Ile Royale cod production in the first half of the 18th century accounted for one-third of all the cod caught by the French in North American waters.
             Louisbourg became a major entrepot. Much of Ile Royale’s fish was marketed in Europe and the Caribbean. By the 1740s Ile Royale was selling up to 40,000 quintals of cod per year in the West Indies, particularly in Saint Domingue. The colony also became a market for Caribbean products. Shiploads of sugar, molasses and rum were brought to Ile Royale and immediately re-exported, primarily to the British American colonies. So extensive was the trade in rum and molasses that, by the 1750s, the value of Ile Royale sugar products rivalled the value of the colony’s codfish production. Louisbourg started out as a simple base for the cod fishery but as the town prospered Louisbourg developed into one of the most important ports in New France. By the 1730's more than 150 ships were sailing into Louisbourg, making it one of the busiest seaports in North America. By the 1740's Louisbourg’s full- time population ranged from 2500 to 3000.
             Besides its economic and commercial importance, Louisbourg was the capital and administrative centre of Ile Royale. By 1734 the town was basically completed. Fishing properties, most with landing stages, drying platforms, and a few buildings surrounded the harbour. As in small French towns of the day, people of different status lived side by side. In Louisbourg regional backgrounds were unusually diverse. Most of the women had been born in the New World; the majority of the men were from western France, but all French provinces and other European countries were represented among them.
             At the same time, Louisbourg became the main French military stronghold in the Atlantic region. Begun in 1717, Louisbourg's massive fortifications, were based on the geometric style of Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), the chief engineer of Louis XIV. As a fortress, Louisbourg resembled a European fortified town: it was enclosed by walls and had batteries and outer works. In North American terms, this fortified town ranked among the most heavily defended on the continent. Although intended to resist attack from the sea, Louisbourg was twice attacked from the rear where its defences were vulnerable. The town surrendered to a combined force of 4,000 New Englanders and British in 1745. Louisbourg’s citizens were deported to France and the town was occupied by an enemy army. Four years later, after the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) gave Ile Royale back to France, the French returned to Louisbourg.
              Nine years later, Louisbourg again surrendered to a combined British force of 30,000 men in 1758. In both sieges Louisbourg put up a spirited defence against superior forces during a six-week period. Louisbourg held out as long as Vauban had calculated that his fortresses could withstand a massive assault. Ultimately, whoever controlled the seas and supply lines would gain victory in siege warfare. Once more, the French soldiers and settlers were sent back to France. With Louisbourg eliminated as a strategic force and navel base, the British moved on to conquer Quebec (1759) and Montreal (1760). The Treaty of Paris in 1763 established that New France had become part of British America.
            The fall of New France spelled the end of Louisbourg as a fortified town. The once formidable bastion of New France faded quickly from the world scene. The British systematically demolished its fortifications in 1760 and withdrew the last of their garrisons in 1768. For the next century, Louisbourg was little more than an isolated fishing village, remarkable for its “heaps of stones” - the ruins of what had once been historic 18^th-century Louisbourg. In 1961 the federal government began the project for the partial reconstruction of 18^th-century Louisbourg in order to provide work for unemployed coal miners and to stimulate the Cape Breton economy. The Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site has over 60 reconstructed buildings together with massive fortification walls in Canada’s most ambitious attempt at preserving its history. There are buildings furnished to period presented by costumed interpreters as well as exhibits, guided tours, period restaurants, a bakery and gift shops.

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The 18th Century Community:

Society -- Louisbourg was a community where European traditions blended with North American opportunities. The society was stratified, dominated by colonial officials, officers, and successful merchants, categories that were not mutually exclusive. On a descending social scale, merchants, innkeepers, and artisans served the garrison, port and fishery. The heavy commercial orientation of Louisbourg, combined with the absence of any higher clergy and the relatively small number of lesser nobility, fostered a society in which the wealthiest and most prestigious members of the community were able to move easily into the town's highest social circles. Merchants, financiers and senior civil servants socialized with the governors and military officers, and they often married into their families.

Though the situation in Louisbourg was more open than that in France, with much greater room for upward social mobility based on wealth, such things as birth, background and grace remained of paramount importance. The elite of colonial society shared the same desire for status and the ability to display proper rank that characterized their counterparts in France. These desires manifested themselves in the costumes they wore, how they furnished their houses, where they sat in church and how they carried themselves in public. Below the Louisbourg elite on the social scale were the less prosperous or less well-born merchants, junior civil servants and wealthy fishing proprietors. Beneath them were the small shop-owners, artisans, inn and tavern keepers. On the bottom rung of the social ladder stood the fishermen, soldiers, servants and slaves.

The people -- Louisbourg society consisted of men, women and children, with males largely outnumbering females. Among the fishing population, they were typically from either the Norman/Breton coastline along the Gulf of St-Malo or the Basque region of southwest France. Looking at census data on heads of households, eighty percent of the men were from France. A clear majority of the brides, on the other hand, were colonial-born (Newfoundland, the St. Lawrence Valley, Acadia, or Ile Royale). In addition to the French population, the Louisbourg community included a few hundred Germans, hundreds of Irish Catholics from Newfoundland and New England, people of Spanish, English and Scottish origins, and 266 slaves. Ninety percent of the slaves were of African descent and there were also 23 Panis slaves, a term derived from the Caddoan tribes of the Great Plains.

As for religion, the population was overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, yet there were more than a few Protestants, especially during the 1730s and 1740s when the Swiss Karrer Regiment was in garrison. The mercenary Karrer Regiment composed of 150 men, served at Louisbourg from 1722 to 1745. For language, there were many in the fishery who spoke Basque, and perhaps others who used Breton. Among the soldiers -- again during the 1730s and 1740s -- there were a lot of German and Swiss-German speakers. In the 1750s Spanish was probably the most common "second" language in the garrison. All in all, French stronghold that it was, the seaport community of 18th century Louisbourg was home to a wide range of minority populations. Some differed from the majority in terms of ethnicity, others in religion, and still others in terms of language.

The Garrison:

Like all fortified towns in the 18th century, Louisbourg required a large garrison to secure its gates and guardhouses and to patrol the streets and walls. During the 1740s soldiers comprised about one-quarter of the town's total population; in the 1750s the figure may have been as high as one-half. The sizeable military presence undoubtedly left its mark on the civilian inhabitants.

Virtually wherever one went in the town one would have either seen or heard activities which told you that you were in a fortified place, whether it was sentries posted in front of various King's buildings, or detachments of soldiers moving through the streets or the almost hourly use of drums. The many garrison routines, together with the impressive fortifications surrounding the town, must have given a feeling of order and security to all who lived here.

Town Planning and Architecture:

When the first settlers arrived at Louisbourg (then known as Havre à l'Anglois) in 1713, they were allowed to establish themselves wherever they wanted along the shore. Using local wood and other materials, the first houses and buildings were built piquet style (that is, with upright timbers closely spaced), as it was a quick and simple construction technique with which the inhabitants had been familiar in Placentia.

Once Louisbourg was selected to become the administrative centre for Ile Royale, however, the town was no longer left to develop as its inhabitants chose. Rather, a carefully laid out town plan (with 45 blocks) was drawn up for the settlement. To carry out the plan it became necessary to relocate many of the early settlers who had built homes along the quay. Not many suffered in the move because most received larger lots to compensate them for the cost and inconvenience of relocation. In a few cases, exceptions were made allowing people to maintain properties outside of the regular grid system.

The buildings of 18th century Louisbourg fell into two main categories: those constructed at royal expense and those built by private individuals. As a general rule, the structures erected with royal funds were more substantial and more expensive than private dwellings. Rubblestone walls, slate roofs, ornamental fleurs-de-lis and cutstone quoins and surrounds were all indicators of a King's building. Private residences and storehouses were less imposing structures. Shelter from the elements was their prime concern, though for those who could afford it, status, privacy and security were also considerations.

The Monetary System:

In the 18th century, France's monetary system was based on the livre. The livre was a theoretical value since there was no single coin called by that name or worth that much. In comparison with contemporary English currency, the livre was the equivalent of a shilling. The livre was divided into sols and deniers, as follows: 20 sols in one livre, 12 deniers in one sol, therefore 240 deniers in one livre.

There were coins for various values of sols and deniers. And, of course, there were many coins for values in excess of one livre, such as the écu and louis d'or.

Unlike the colonists in Canada, where card and paper money were often used, the inhabitants of Louisbourg generally paid for goods and services with specie (coins) or barter. In addition to French coins, Spanish and Portueguese coins also had a wide circulation at Louisbourg.

Cost of goods - Here are some items, taken from a 1737 import list: fisherman's boots (one pair) 15 livres; wood blanket 12 livres; butter (1 lb.) 10 sols; wine (1 bottle, Bordeaux) 1 livre; horse (1) 300 livres; chicken (1) 1 livre; musket (1) 25 livres; armchair (1, well-finished) 80 livres.
Note that 5 livres represented approximately two days wages for a fisherman. And, during the period 1713-1758, the expenditure on Louisbourg's fortifications was slightly over four million livres.

Salaries and wages - Here are a few sample annual incomes: Commandant 9000 livres; Company Captains 1080 livres; Surgeon 600 livres; Executioner 350 livres; Fisherman (out to sea) 290-300 livres; Shoreworkers 160-360 livres; Servants 30-60 livres; Soldiers (Military pay) 18 livres.

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2012 Project Description

2012 Project Itinerary

Project-Specific Site History

History of Louisbourg

The 18th Century Community

Scenes from 2005 & 2006: