this time they were invested with an army of twenty thousand men, and
plied incessantly from sixty-two battering cannon, twenty-one mortars,
and four howitzers, besides the small arms; nevertheless, the loss of
men within the fortress was very inconsiderable, the garrison being
mostly secured in the subterranean works which were impenetrable to
shells or shot. By the twenty-seventh day of June they had made a
practicable breach in one of the ravelins, and damaged the other
outworks to such a degree, that they determined this night to give a
general assault. Accordingly, between the hours of ten and eleven, they
advanced to the attack from all quarters on the land side. At the
same time a strong detachment, in armed boats, attempted to force the
harbour, and penetrate into the creek called St. Stephen's Cove, to
storm fort Charles, and second the attack upon fort Marlborough, on the
farther side of the creek, the most detached of all the outworks. The
enemy advanced with great intrepedity, and their commander, the duke
de Richelieu, is said to have led them up the works in person. Such an
assault could not but be attended with great slaughter; they were mowed
down as they approached, with grape shot and musketry; and several mines
were sprung with great effect, so that the glacis was almost covered
with the dying and the dead. Nevertheless, they persevered with uncommon
resolution; and though repulsed on every other side, at length made
a lodgement in the queen's redoubt, which had been greatly damaged by
their cannon. Whether their success in this quarter was owing to the
weakness of the place, or to the timidity of the defender, certain it
is, the enemy were in possession before it was known to the officers of
the garrison; for lieutenant-colonel Jeffries the second in command,
who had acquitted himself since the beginning of the siege with equal
courage, skill, and activity, in his visitation of this post, was
suddenly surrounded and taken by a file of French grenadiers, at a time
when he never dreamed they had made a lodgement. Major Cunningham, who
accompanied him, met with a severer fate, though he escaped captivity;
he was run through the arm with a bayonet, and the piece being
discharged at the same time, shattered the bones of his hand in such
a manner, that he was maimed for life. In this shocking condition he
retired behind a traverse, and was carried home to his quarters. Thus
the governor was deprived of his