Description
Original Manuscript Document signed ‘David Wooster’ as Captain and President of the Court, being a record of “A Regimental Court Marshal in Sir Wm. Pepperrells Regiment Louisbourg, 7th September 1747’, confirming three Court verdicts on: Edward Small for “getting Drunk on his Guard; Edward Howard for “Disturbance on the Parade; John Sharp “for being absent from his Guard all Night”. 1 page 13 x 8 inches, horiizontal folds for filing, complete but faded. Docketed on verso. Louisbourg [Cape Breton, Canada], 7 September 1747. David Wooster (1710-1777), American general in the American War of Independence. He fell during the Battle of Ridgefield, Connecticut. Cities, schools, and public places are named after him. In 1745, Wooster was appointed to command a regiment in Connecticut formed by Colonel Burr. The regiment went against Louisbourg. Louisbourg is a seaport village on the eastern coast of the island of Cape Breton, which is an insular colony of British North America. Wooster reduced Louisbourg’s fortifications and forced them to surrender. After the capitulation, Wooster was ordered to take charge of the cartel. The cartel was sent to France to negotiate the exchange of prisoners from the war. Wooster was not permitted to land on French soil, so he conducted his negotiations aboard ship in neutral territory. After negotiating for prisoners, Wooster travelled to Great Britain. He became a favorite of King George, who presented Wooster with a captain’s baton in the regiment of Sir William Pepperell. This is an original military document dating from the occupation of Louisbourg by the British forces following the sucessful Siege of 1745. Sir William Pepperrell (1696-1759), a wealthy Maine merchant, led the New England volunteer militia during the siege. After the siege, Pepperrell’s forces became an American regiment in the regular British Army, being known as the 51st, or Pepperrell’s Regiment of Foot . The appalling conditions in Louisbourg after the siege, and the refusal by the authorities to let the American volunteers return home, led to many instances of indisciplne of which this document gives an example.