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Info-Research Solutions
Researching the
Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada
Recherche sur la Forteresse-de-Louisbourg Lieu historique national du Canada
OFFICERS OF ISLE ROYALE (1744) -
ACCOMMODATIONS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARIES
BY
A. J. B. JOHNSTON
1978
Report H E 12
Fortress of Louisbourg
PREFACE
This report was undertaken initially to determine where the officers in the Isle Royale garrison were living in 1744. As research into the officers' accommodations progressed I acquired more and more biographical information on the officers themselves. information which I thought might some day prove helpful to interpretive staff in the park. Hence, I decided to add a second chapter to the report which provides brief summaries of the lives and military careers of each of the officers in the garrison in 1744.
There are two comments which need to be made at the outset. First, the available evidence on the accommodation of many of the officers, particularly the junior officers, is often far from conclusive. As a result the report contains a good deal of speculation on where they might have been residing in 1744. I hope that the interpretive staff at the Fortress of Louisbourg find such speculation useful but I caution them to remember that it is no more than speculation and not based on "hard" evidence. Second, although the report does not provide an analysis of family ties among the officers, the existence of extensive connections should be apparent to all. Louis du Pont du Chambon, for instance, had four sons and three nephews serving as officers in the garrison of which he was lieutenant de roi. Similar situations existed for a number of other officers. To cite just one more example, capitaine Gabriel Rousseau de Villejouin's relations in 1744 included younger brother, Michel Rousseau d'Orfontaine, step-father, Charles-Joseph Dailleboust, and brothers-in-law, Michel de Gannes de Falaise, Robert Duhaget and François le Coutre de Bourville, all officers. Although we are unlikely to learn what influence such family connections had on promotions, assignments, discipline and the day-to-day operation of the fortress, their impact may well have been considerable.