Thus Canada, at the critical period, when the English were preparing to strike a great blow at her, was cut off from all assistance from the mother country, and left to her own resources.
As before, Halifax was the spot where the troops from the colonies were to meet the fleet from England, and the troops who came out under their convoy, and here, on the 28th of May, the whole expedition was collected.

The colonies had again been partially stripped of their defenders, and five hundred provincial rangers accompanied the regulars.

James Walsham's corps was left for service on the frontier, while the regiments, to which they belonged, sailed with the force destined for the siege of Louisbourg.
This fortress stood, at the mouth of a land-locked bay, on the stormy coast of Cape Breton.

Since the peace of Aix la Chapelle, vast sums had been spent in repairing and strengthening it, and it was, by far, the strongest fortress in English or French America.

The circuit of its fortifications was more than a mile and a half, and the town contained about four thousand inhabitants.