Endgame 1758: The Promise, the Glory, and the Despair of Louisbourg's Last Decade

by A.J.B. Johnston

The story of what happened at the colonial fortified town of Louisbourg between 1749 and 1758 is one of the great dramas of the history of Canada, indeed North America. The French stronghold on Cape Breton Island, strategically situated near the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, was from soon after its founding a major possession in the quest for empire. The dramatic military and social history of this short-lived and significant fortress, seaport, and community, and the citizens who  made it their home, are woven together in A. J. B. Johnston’s gripping biography of the colony’s final decade, presented from both French and British perspectives.  
Endgame 1758 is a tale of two empires in collision on the shores of mid-eighteenth-century Atlantic Canada, where rival European visions of predominance clashed headlong with each other and with the region’s Aboriginal peoples. The magnitude of the struggle and of its uncertain outcome colored the lives of Louisbourg’s inhabitants and the nearly thirty thousand combatants arrayed against it. The entire history comes to life in a tale of what turned out to be  the first major British victory in the Seven Years’ War. How and why the French colony ended the way it did, not just in June and July 1758, but over the decade that preceded the siege, is a little-known and compelling story.

Genres: History

382 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 2007

About the author

John (or Jay) is a Canadian historian and novelist. His website is ajbjohnston.com and he is on Facebook at HistoryandFiction (A J B Johnston, Writer).

Years as an historian at the Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island gave John the background to bring the 18th century alive in his series of Thomas Pichon Novels: Thomas, A Secret Life (2012), The Maze (2014) and Crossings (2015). There will be one more novel to complete the tale.

Published by Nimbus in 2020 was "Kings of Friday Night: The Lincolns." It's the story of a legendary 1960s Nova Scotia rock 'n' roll band.
The author also worked with others to create a a 5-minute micro-doc that is a companion to the book. That video is on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZC7S....

In 2021, Acorn Press published "Ancient Land, New Land: Skmaqn—Port-la-Joye—Fort Amherst NHS," co-authored with Jesse Francis.

Jay's latest book is "Into the Wind: A Novel of Acadian Resilience." Published by Acorn Press, it offers a fresh, 21st-century look at the Acadian Deportation, exploring it through the eyes of 14-year old Marie and 10-year old Charles.

"Something True" is a coming-of-age story of Katharine McLennan. It's set in late 19th-century and early 20th-century Cape Breton and in France during the First World War.

In recognition of John's body of work on the history of the French in Atlantic Canada, the French Republic made him a chevalier of the Ordre des palmes académiques.

In 2017, John was Writer-in-Residence at the Center for the Writing Arts in Fairhope, Alabama.

Reviews

[Roger Burk · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the first half of the 18th century, French America had been reduced to Quebec, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton Island. Determined to hold on, the French at great expense built the modern Vauban-style stone fortified town of Louisbourg on CBI to protect their fisheries and their access to Quebec. But without a settled hinterland to support it, or a fleet that could drive off the British fleet and supply it, it was doomed. When the Seven Year's War rolled around, the British assembled their largest expedition ever in North America, landed over 10,000 troops, brought up cannon, made a practicable breach, and obtained the town's surrender. This book tells the story quite competently, but it offers little excitement to the reader, just the growing inevitability of defeat and the deepening atmosphere of gloom as the French watch the storm clouds gather. The defense itself is not disgraceful, but neither does it offer any notable or thrilling heroism, determination, effort, or ingenuity. The most interesting thing about it is perhaps that it is almost forgotten in America, although it was a major effort and widely celebrated victory in the Colonies at the time. It was overshaddowed by the completion of the conquest of French America the following year, when Wolfe (a brigade commander at Louisbourg) found death and immortality on the Plains of Abraham.

As a curious postscript, in the 1960s the Canadian government partially rebuilt Louisbourg to relieve unemployment and to provide a tourist attraction out in the middle of nowhere. I purchased the book at the gift shop there. The site is really quite well done, with much to see about colonial life in French Canada, and well worth a visit if you're in the area.

[Chris Durbin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written history of the end of Louisborg from a French perspective