LOUISBURG  , a

town and port of entry of Cape Breton county, Nova Scotia, Canada, on the Sydney & Louisburg railway, 39 M. from Sydney . Pop . (1901) 1588 . Under the French regime, Louisburg was second only to Quebec . A fortress was erected at enormous expense, and the city was the centre of the cod-fisheries . The fortress was, however, captured in 1745 by the American colonists, under Sir William Pepperrell (1696-1759), assisted by the British fleet, and again in 1758 by a British land and sea force under General Jeffrey Amherst (1717-1797) and Admiral Boscawen . The jealousy of the British settlement of Halifax led to its almost utter destruction, and only a few case-mates now remain . Under English rule a fishing village grew up on the other side of the harbour, and has now become the winter shipping port of the Dominion Coal Company . The harbour is deep, spacious and open all the year round, though occasionally blocked by drift ice in the spring .