SIEGE JOURNAL ENTRY 3

Friday July 3 continued- The fife and drums sounded shortly after dinner, indicating that the soldiers would be on the move again. Clift and I followed to a large empty field where the British and French forces had gathered. The two armies loomed large on the field. While our fife and drums were impressive, the French were louder and well practiced. They marched about and eventually faced one another in great columns.

Have a look at the French as they march...

There was a great long and drawn out ceremony that involved drumming and marching that eventually got a bit tiresome, so I returned to the hospital.

About an hour later the parade and pageant erupted into a full scale battle! We could hear the shots fired, so I rushed back up to the parade area. The british forces drove the French back toward the fort, but there were a good number fallen on the field.

We operated on several fellows afterward.

Removing a musket ball from the arm. 

I apply pressure to the wound to slow the flow of blood.

At 5 that afternoon the first artillery bombardment began. The cannons were so powerful that was taken quite by surprise. I was seated on Ensign Bogg's chair, and could feel the vibration of their reports from the ground and up through the chair legs. Even from our great distance from the siege works.

Mr. Ross made the company a supper of beef and barley and another pot of chicken with vegetables. Both were quite good. Lucy particularly enjoyed the chicken, not caring much for beef. After supper, the men sat around the company's cookfire until the arrival of a father, son and friends, who brought instruments to play. A great crowd gathered that consisted of men and women from all different companys and groups.

Around 9 of the clock, the sun was well down when the artillery bombardment began again. I took Lucy and young Hamilton's cousin, Taylor, down to where we could see it. The great flashes of the cannons and explosions lit up the brick walls. We watched from a nearby trench.

One of the many colorful explosions during the night bombardment!