Forgotten American Soldiers

It is American Memorial Weekend but long forgotton are the remains of the soldiers of their first great victory. Over 800 bodies remain buried on a lonley windy point in Louisbourg.

The French surrendered to the British king. But it was the end of luck for the men of New England. The farmer boys and fishermen who won the day were then required to hold the fortress until the British regulars arrived. They did not arrive until the following Spring of 1746. Through the winter as many as 17 men died per day, a total of 800 Yankees dead and over 1,000 ill from cold and disease. Too tired and weak even to dig graves, New Englanders dropped the corpses of comrades beneath the floorboards of abandoned French homes.

Gary LeDrew