Augustin de Drucour
Augustin de Drucour held Louisbourg for seven weeks in 1758 and lost Canada by losing it. He was a naval officer of long service, a chevalier of Saint-Louis, and was appointed governor of Ile Royale in 1754, which was not a distinguished posting until it became the most important one in the empire. Louisbourg guarded the mouth of the St Lawrence. Whoever held it controlled the approach to Quebec, and the French had already lost it once, in 1745, and been given it back at the peace - to the fury of the New Englanders who had taken it. He had about 3,500 regulars and marines, a squadron in the harbour, and fortifications that had been built on marshy ground by contractors who cheated on the mortar. Amherst and Boscawen landed some 14,000 men in June 1758, Wolfe took the shore batteries, and the siege became an artillery duel the garrison could not win. He sank ships across the harbour mouth to block it, which also trapped his own squadron, and the British burned or captured what remained. His wife Marie-Anne is recorded firing three cannon each day to encourage the defenders, and an exchange of civilities with Amherst - pineapples one way, champagne the other - went on while the walls came down. He surrendered on 26 July on terms he considered dishonourable and accepted anyway, because the alternative was a storm and the civilians in the town. The fortress was demolished stone by stone. Quebec fell the following year, and he died in France in 1762 with the war still on.
- Lived: 1703 CE – 1762 CE
- Nationality: French
- Roles: military, colonial_governor
