f the savages.

The expected assault of Louisbourg did not take place until 1758 and
Boishebert, who had retired to Canada, was ordered to repair thither.
The Marquis de Montcalm wrote from Montreal to the French minister,
April 10th, "Monsieur Boishebert, captain of troops of the colony,
leaves in the course of a few days, if the navigation of the St.
Lawrence is open, to proceed to the River St. John and thence to
Louisbourg with a party of 600 men, including Canadians, Acadians and
savages of Acadia."

The governor and other officials at Quebec seem to have placed every
confidence in the courage and capacity of Boishebert, who, it may be
here mentioned received this year the Cross of St. Louis in
recognition of his services in Acadia. "It is certain," writes the
Marquis de Vaudreuil, "that if, when the former siege of Louisbourg
took place, the governor there had agreed to the proposal to send
Marin thither with a force of Canadians and Indians the place would
not have fallen, and if Boishebert were now to collect 200 Acadians
and 200 St. John river Indians and the Micmacs he would be able to
form a camp of 600 or 700 men, and Drucour could frequently place the
besiegers between two fires."

The expectations of Montcalm and de Vaudreuil as to the usefulness of
Boishebert's detachment in the defence of Louisbourg were doomed to
disappointment, for Boishebert did not arrive at Louisbourg until near
the end of the siege and with forces not one-third of the number that
Drucour had been led to expect. Two depots of provisions had been
placed in the woods for the use of the detachment, but the fact that
Boishebert had only about 120 Acadians and a few Indians in addition
to a handful of regulars, entirely frustrated Drucour's design of
harrassing the attacking English by a strong demonstration in their
rear. About twenty of Boishebert's Indians were engaged in a skirmish
with the English and two of their chiefs having fallen the rest were
so discouraged that they returned to their villages. Boishebert
himself had a few unimportant skirmishes with outlying parties of the
English, and then came the news of the surrender of Louisbourg. He
immediately sent away the sick of his detachment, set fire to a
thousand cords of wood and a quantity of coal to prevent its falling
into the hands of the enemy, and on the 29th July set out on his
return to the St. John river. The English made a lively but fruitless
pursuit.

Boishebe