French & Indian War
     Part 6 ~ 1759

   aka ~ Seven Years War

     1754 - 1763

     The year 1759 has been referred to, variously, as the Year Of French Disaster and The Great Year. The string of English victories that occurred in 1758 seemed to foretell the doom of French domination in North America. With the capture of Louisbourg, Fort Frontenac and Fort Duquesne, the prospects for the English looked promising.

    During the new year, a three-pronged campaign, devised by William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham, would be played out by the British: General Jeffrey Amherst would again attempt to capture Fort Ticonderoga and then Crown Point; General John Prideaux and Sir William Johnson would try to take Fort Niagara; and General James Wolfe would attempt the capture of Quebec.

    The success of any of the campaigns depended, in large part, on the cooperation of the Indians in the region. The Indian tribes that made up the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy had begun to lean toward the English side in 1758. Sir William Johnson worked tirelessly at cultivating a peace treaty between the English and the Indians, and his efforts were beginning to bear fruit. Beginning in October 1758 conferences had been held between representatives from the province of Pennsylvania and the Indian tribes of the Mohocks, Oneidoes, Onondagoes, Senecas, Tuscaroras, Nanticokes/Conys, Kandt, Tuteloes, Chugnuts, Chehohockes, Munsies/Minisinks, and the Wapings/Pumptons. The conferences were held at Easton, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia along the Pennsylvania, New Jersey border. The conferences, lasting from the 8th through the 25th of October resulted in renewed assurances of alliance between the Indians and the English.

    The Seneca were the Iroquois tribe who, in the past, were most inclined to support the French. On 12 October, in the series of conferences held at Easton, The Seneca Chief, Tagashta, with the giving of wampum belts, stated to the English:

"I now ƒpeak at the requeƒt of Teedyuƒcung and our Nephews, the Delawares, living at Wioming and on the Waters of the River Suƒquehannah... We now remove the Hatchet out of your Heads that was ƒtruck into them by our Couzins, the Delawares; it was a french Hatchet that they unfortunately made uƒe of, by the Inƒtigation of the French; we take it out of your Heads and bury it under ground, where it ƒhall aways reƒt and never be taken up again; Our Couzins, the Delawares, have aƒsured us they will never think of War againƒt their Brethren, the Engliƒh any more, but employ their thoughts about Peace, and Cultivating Friendƒhip with them, and never Suffer Enmity againƒt them to enter into their Minds again."
 
"Our Nephews, the Minniƒink Indians, and three other different Tribes of that Nation, have at laƒt liƒt'ned to us and taken our Advice, & laid down the Hatchet they had taken up againƒt their Brethren, the Engliƒh, They told us they had received it from the French, but had already laid it down and would return it to them again."
 
"We let you know that we have not only brought about this Union with our Nephews on the Waters of the River Suƒquehannah, but alƒo have ƒent Meƒsages to our Nephews, the Delawares and Miniƒinks, and to thoƒe likewiƒe of our own Nations, who are on the Ohio under the influence of the French; We have told all theƒe that they muƒt lay down the French Hatchet, and be reconciled to their Brethren, the Engliƒh, and never more employ it againƒt them, and we hope they will take our Advice; We, the Mohocks, Senecas and Onondagas, deliver this String of Wampum to remove the Hatchet out of your Heads that has been ƒtruck into them by the Ohio Indians, in order to lay the Foundation for Peace."

    Major General Jeffrey Amherst's objective was to attempt to recapture Fort Carillon (known to the British as, Fort Ticonderoga), and then take Fort Saint Frederic (known to the British as, Crown Point). The campaign would prove to be much easier than anyone imagined: the French commander of Fort Carillon / Ticonderoga having received orders not to engage the British in any major battle, and to retreat, if attacked, to Ile-aux-Noix (an island on the Richelieu River near Lake Champlain in Quebec).

    By the Spring of 1759, Amherst had assembled an army of approximately 11,000 men. Seven battalions of them were regular British army troops, nine battalions were provincials from the Colonies, and the balance of nine companies were comprised of rangers under Major Robert Rogers and a train of artillery. The French troops garrisoning Fort Carillon / Ticonderoga were estimated to number between 2,300 and 2,900. They were commanded by Brigadier General Francois, Chevalier de Bourlamaque.

    A party of 350 of Roger's Rangers were sent out in March to scout the French positions and report of their numbers. They engaged a small party of French soldiers holding a bridge below Fort Carillon / Ticonderoga, but the French gave up the bridge without much of a fight. Upon the Rangers' return, and with their recognizance, Amherst moved his troops to Fort Edward, arriving there on 06 June. He immediately set about strengthening those defences by building a series of blockhouses.

    On a Saturday, the 21st of July, General Amherst commenced the transport of his army of 6,000 men to the upper end of Lake George.

    Below the fort, on the river connecting Lake George and Lake Champlain was the partially destroyed bridge where Roger's Rangers had engaged the French. Amherst's army arrived at the site, repaired the bridge and at sunrise on the following morning, 22 July, hauled their cannon over.

    Being about a half-mile away from the fort, Amherst could view French troops positioned outside of the fort. The British could make out the movements of the French, and they seemed to be moving back to the safety of the fort.

    Spurring his troops onward, Amherst arrived at the site where he had espied the French troops, finding it to be the spot where Abercrombie's men had been slaughtered the previous year. But when they arrived, the British found the encampment completely deserted except for an apparent message to them. The French had dug a grave on the site and erected a wooden cross above it.

    Amherst set about establishing lines around the fort in order to begin a siege of it. Over the next twenty-four hours the British constructed batteries on which to place their cannon. And by daybreak of the next morning, 23 July, the British cannon opened fire. A number of the shots ignited fires inside the fort. The French returned the fire, but caused no damage to the British army.

    The French realized they could not last out a siege, so they abandoned the fort. Some 2,500 of the French troops left by boat for Fort Saint Frederic, leaving approximately 400 men behind as a rear guard.

    Amherst kept up his bombardment through the 24th. The French troops who had stayed at the fort to cover the main army's withdrawal kept up a response to the British siege activities. During the siege the British suffered sixteen men killed and fifty-one wounded.

    It was not until two days later, on 26 July, that General Amherst learned of Bourlamaque's withdrawal from Fort Carillon / Ticonderoga. Three deserters arrived at the British camp, informing Amherst that the rear guard had finally left. They also informed the British that the French had left a lighted fuse to blow up the powder magazine in the fort. Amherst offered a reward for someone to enter the fort and cut the fuse, but he got no takers.

    Around 11:00 pm that night, the burning fuse finally reached the powder magazine, causing the ammunition stored there to ignite. The magazine blew up, and as a result destroyed the fort.

    Before the British could begin their advance up the lake to take Fort Saint Frederic at Crown Point, the French blew it up also on 31 July. On 01 August, Amherst arrived at the site of the fort at Crown Point and he set about rebuilding it.

    General Amherst, in the manner of most English regular army officers, did not feel that the campaign to try to retake Fort Oswego and then Fort Niagara should be headed by a provincial officer. Therefore, he placed Brigadier General John Prideaux in the position of commander in charge of the expedition, with Sir William Johnson as his second-in-command. Prideaux's commission was to assemble a force of five thousand and ascend the Mohawk River. A garrison was to be left at Fort Stanwix, built by General John Stanwix during the previous year at the Great Carrying Place. Prideaux was then to proceed to Lake Oneida, on both ends of which he was to build fortifications. The force was then to descend the Onandaga River to Oswego; a sizeable garrison would be left there under the command of Colonel Frederick Haldimand. The remainder of the force would proceed southwestward to Fort Niagara, which was situated on the southern end of Lake Ontario, at the confluence of the Niagara River from Lake Erie.

    In April, as Sir William Johnson was assembling his contingent of Indians to participate in the attack on Fort Niagara, the Seneca pledged their support of the expedition. The Oneida, likewise, expressed their support when the Oneida chief, Conochquieson assured Johnson that not only the Oneida, but all the Six Nations, were ready to join the English "to revenge both Your Blood and ours upon the French."

    During the month of June with their army assembled, General Prideaux and Sir William Johnson left Albany, leading their force of about 3,300 westward up the Mohawk River and then via portage up the Wood creek, Lake Oneida and the Onondaga River to Fort Oswego. The total number of their troops dwindled enroute as they assigned roughly 1,300 men to garrison forts and supply posts. At the fort at Oswego the British and Indians regrouped.

    A force of two thousand regular army troops and one hundred Indian warriors left Oswego in early July 1759. The command of the fortification and garrison at Oswego was given to Colonel Frederick Haldimand.

    Haldimand proceeded to reconstruct the fortification that Montcalm's army had destroyed some three years earlier. In the absence of any existing structures, Haldimand had used barrels containing pork and flour to create a barricade against an attack. Shortly after the removal of Prideaux's army, this weak 'fortification' at Oswego would be attacked by a French and Canadian force of between one thousand and thirteen hundred supported by an Indian force of nearly one hundred and fifty braves under the command of Captain Saint-Luc de La Corne.

    Haldimand's men were busy cutting timber for the fort's construction when they were surprised by the La Corne's troops. The British soldiers, being scattered through the wooded area cutting down trees, quickly regrouped behind the makeshift barricade. A skirmish followed, lasting about two hours before dying down. Many of the Canadians, untried in battle, fled back to their boats and had to be rallied, supplying an unforeseen blessing to the British troops. As darkness was coming on, La Corne brought a ceasefire to his troops. The skirmishing was resumed the following morning, but the French gave up the fight when the English began using three cannon against them. The English sustained only a couple injuries, but the French lost thirty men killed or wounded, including La Corne, who had been shot in the thigh. The French retreated to the safety of Forts Presentation and de Levis.

    Fort Niagara was held by the French battalion of Bearn under Captain Pierre Pouchot.* His garrison was comprised of roughly five hundred and fifteen French troops along with a number of Ottawa Indians. The fort was triangular shaped with one side bounded by the Niagara River and another side bounded by Lake Ontario. The third and only side bounded by land was well defended by batteries and bastions.

    * Note: Pierre Pouchot is often referred to, especially by American historians, as Francois Pouchot. That name does not appear in any contemporary documents.

    General Prideaux's British army arrived about four miles from Fort Niagara on 04 July, and by the 7th they were within sight of the Fort. Two days later, General Prideaux called for the French fort's commandant, Captain Pouchot to surrender. The summons to surrender was delivered to the French commander by Lieutenant Walter Rutherford. Pouchot, with a garrison of six hundred men and a well stocked munitions storehouse, answered with a refusal.

    The French garrison was supported by the garrison of Fort Little Niagara. Little Niagara was located upstream on the Niagara River, about a mile and a half above the Niagara Cataract. That fort was under the command of Joncaire-Chabert. He was a half-breed French/Indian who, along with his brother, Joncaire-Clauzonne, had been instrumental in preventing the Five Nations of the Iroquois from allying with the English; he was a major thorn in William Johnson's side. But he was also aware that Johnson had persuaded nearly nine hundred Iroquois warriors to fight the French. So, with the prospect of his defences becoming untenable, Joncaire-Chabert made the decision to burn his own fort and take his troops to Fort Niagara and assist in its defence.

    The refusal of Pouchot to surrender to the British was basically a feint because the French commandant had been directed by Montcalm in April: "If Niagara is beƒieged it will be taken. We muƒt look forward to the ƒiege, but it is not neceƒsary to ƒacrifice too large a garriƒon."

    As the British moved closer to prepare for the assault on the fortress, Pouchot sent couriers to the nearby forts of Detroit, Venango, Presque Isle and Le Boeuf requesting reinforcements.

    The bombardment of Fort Niagara was begun on 19 July. The returning fire from the French revealed that the trenches were too close, and so they had to be redone. Then the two armies settled into a standard siege operation and defence.

    During the cannonade, on 21 July, a shell from a coehorn burst prematurely, resulting in the death of General John Prideaux. As the shell left the mouth of the cannon, it burst, and a piece of shrapnel struck Prideaux on the head, killing his instantly.

    Sir William Johnson assumed command upon the death of General Prideaux. He carried on the bombardment and within two or three weeks the fort was being reduced to rubble. During the siege, more than one hundred of the fort's defenders were killed. Johnson's continual bombardment finally breached the rampart of the fort.

    One of Johnson's first acts had been to establish an ambuscade in the nearby woods to prevent any possibility of reinforcements getting to the fort. At a place known as La Belle Famille, a relief force of French soldiers from the Ohio country were indeed ambushed on 24 July.

    Two French officers in charge of the garrisons at Detroit and Presque Isle, D'Aubry and De Ligneris respectively, sent couriers to inform Pouchot that they would be bringing him reinforcements. The couriers had given up their information at a meeting at which some of Johnson's Indian allies had been present; therefore he was aware that D'Aubry and De Ligneris were bringing about 600 French soldiers from the two western garrisons along with nearly 1,000 Iroquois warriors.

    Johnson hid his British troops primarily behind a makeshift rampart of felled trees along the road from the Niagara Cataract to the Fort. When the French and their Indian allies approached the spot, the Indians refused to advance, perceiving the Iroquois warriors who were with the British. D'Aubry and De Ligneris continued with their advance. As they engaged Johnson's troops, they initially caused the British to take flight. But Johnson's men turned and fired on the advancing French troops. At D'Aubry and De Ligneris' rear another body of British troops appeared, hemming the French in and virtually decimating their ranks. The fray lasted about a half hour. An estimate gives the number at only fifty for the size of the troops left standing.

    One source noted that when Pouchot heard the firing of the ambush, he made his way to the bastion nearest the river, from which he could see watch the action. At a mile and a half distance from the fort, Pouchot could see movement, but could not discern the actual participants, so he did not know that his reinforcements were being annihilated.

    The British cannon had become silent during the ambuscade at La Belle Famille, inducing Pouchot to imagine that Johnson had directed his entire force away from the siege. He called for volunteers to go into the enemy trenches for the purpose of destroying them before their makers could return and continue the bombardment. But in another instant the trenches and batteries were once more filled with British troops and the bombardment was resumed.

    An Onandoga warrior made his way through the British lines and informed Pouchot that D'Aubry and De Ligneris' troops had been cut down. He also informed the French commander that sixteen of the officers, four cadets and a surgeon had been taken prisoner. Of the officers, De Ligneris was severely wounded. Therefore, on 25 July 1759, with no prospect of receiving reinforcements, Captain Pierre Pouchot surrendered his garrison at Fort Niagara to the British.

    The surrender of Fort Niagara had a ripple effect on the French garrisons in the region. The forts at Machault, Presque Isle and Le Boeuf were burned, and the troops garrisoning them retreated to Detroit.

    The final portion of the year's campaign plan was the capture of Quebec, under the command of Louis Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm, by General James Wolfe. For this campaign, Prime Minister Pitt promoted James Wolfe to the rank of Major General.

    Two fleets of the British Royal Navy left Spithead, on the south coast of England with additional troops and supplies for the armies in the Colonies. The first to leave consisted of six ships of the line, nine frigates and sixty transport vessels. Under the command of Admiral Sir Charles Holmes, this fleet left England on 14 February, headed for New York and a rendezvous with General Amherst. The second fleet left on the 17th and was headed by Admiral Charles Saunders. This fleet consisted of forty-nine ships and approximately 140 smaller transport crafts. General Wolfe, who had returned to England the previous November to wait out the winter, was returning to the Colonies with Saunders; they were headed for Louisbourg, where Wolfe's army would be waiting for them.

    Admiral Saunders' fleet consisted of the following ships of the line:
The Neptune, carried 90 guns, was commanded by Captain Broderick Hartwell, and served as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Charles Saunders.
The Princess Amelia, carried 80 guns, was commanded by Captain John Bray, and served as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Philip Durell.
The Dublin, carried 74 guns, was commanded by Captain William Goostrey, and served as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Charles Holmes.
The Royal William, carried 100 guns, and was commanded by Captain Hugh Pigot.
The Terrible, carried 74 guns, and was commanded by Captain Richard Collins.
The Shrewsbury, carried 74 guns, and was commanded by Captain Hugh Palliser.
The Northumberland, carried 70 guns, and was commanded by Captain Alexander Lord Colville.
The Vanguard, carried 70 guns, and was commanded by Captain Robert Swanton.
The Devonshire, carried 74 guns, and was commanded by Captain William Gordon.
The Orford, carried 70 guns, and was commanded by Captain Richard Spry.
The Somerset, carried 64 guns, and was commanded by Captain Edward Hughes.
The Alcide, carried 64 guns, and was commanded by Captain James Douglas.
The Bedford, carried 64 guns, and was commanded by Captain Thorpe Fowke.
The Captain, carried 64 guns, and was commanded by Captain John Amherst.
The Trident, carried 64 guns, and was commanded by Captain Julian Legge.
The Stirling Castle, carried 70 guns, and was commanded by Captain Michael Everitt.
The Prince Frederick, carried 64 guns, and was commanded by Captain Robert Bouth.
The Medway, carried 60 guns, and was commanded by Captain Charles Proby.
The Pembroke, carried 60 guns, and was commanded by Captain John Wheelock.
The Prince Of Orange, carried 60 guns, and was commanded by Captain Samuel Wallis.
The Centurion, carried 60 guns, and was commanded by Captain William Mantell.
The Sutherland, carried 50 guns, and was commanded by Captain John Rous.

    There were thirteen frigates:
The Diana, carried 32 guns, and was commanded by Captain Alexander Schomberg.
The Richmond, carried 32 guns, and was commanded by Captain Thomas Hankerson.
The Trent, carried 28 guns, and was commanded by Captain John Lindsay.
The Lizard, carried 28 guns, and was commanded by Captain James Drake.
The Echo, carried 28 guns, and was commanded by Captain John Laforey.
The Lowestoffe, carried 28 guns, and was commanded by Captain Joseph Deane.
The Seahorse, carried 24 guns, and was commanded by Captain James Smith.
The Scarborough, carried 22 guns, and was commanded by Captain John Stott.
The Eurus, carried 20 guns, and was commanded by Captain John Elphinstone.
The Nightingale, carried 24 guns, and was commanded by Captain James Campbell.
The Hind, carried 24 guns, and was commanded by Captain Robert Bond.
The Squirrel, carried 20 guns, and was commanded by Captain George Hamilton.
The Fowey, carried 24 guns, and was commanded by Captain George Anthony Tonyn.

    There were four sloops of war:
The Scorpion, carried 14 guns, and was commanded by Commander John Cleland.
The Porcupine, carried 16 guns, and was commanded by Commander John Jervis.
The Hunter, carried 10 guns, and was commanded by Commander William Adams.
The Zephyr, carried 10 guns, and was commanded by Commander William Greenwood.

    There were three bomb ketches:
The Baltimore, carried 8 guns, and was commanded by Commander Robert Carpenter.
The Pelican, carried 8 guns, and was commanded by Commander Edward Mountford.
The Racehores, carried 8 guns, and was commanded by Commander Francis Richards.

    The fleet included three fireships:
The Vesuvius, carried 16 guns, and was commanded by Commander James Chads.
The Cormorant, carried 16 guns, and was commanded by Commander Patrick Mouat.
The Strombolo, carried 16 guns, and was commanded by Lieutenant Richard Smith.

    Four additional ships included the Boscawen, which carried 16 guns under the command of Commander Charles Douglas, the Halifax carrying 12 guns, the Rodney carrying 4 guns under the command of Lieutenant Philip Tufton Perceval, and the Crown, a storeship carrying 18 guns under the command of Commander Joseph Mead.

    At the beginning of May, the French command was at Montreal, and it was there that Lieutenant General Louis Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm met with his chief officers to plan the course of action to be taken in Canada over the coming weeks and months. Bourlamaque would take three battalions to Fort Carillon (or Ticonderoga as the British knew it). La Corne was directed to Lake Ontario to halt any advance the British might make into that Lake from the St. Lawrence River. News had arrived from France that a large fleet of British warships had left England, intending to take Quebec, so Montcalm headed to the defence of that city, arriving there on 22 May. The governor-general of New France, Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, Marquis de Vaudreuil, who was critical of Montcalm's leadership, likewise left for Quebec, arriving two days after Montcalm. During 29 and 30 May, Major General Francois Gaston, General Duc de Levis arrived with five battalions of Royal Army troops.

    On 25 May, Vice Admiral Philip Durell's fleet arrived in the vicinity of Quebec. Two days later, the French troops on the Ile-aux-Coudres were evacuated by Vaudreuil. The next day, the 28th of May, Durell's troops were landed on the Ile-aux-Coudres. There they waited on the main body of troops under General James Wolfe.

    Montcalm sent Joseph Boucher de Niverville with forty Canadians and ninety-five Abnaki warriors on 31 May to the Ile-aux-Coudres to gain information on the British troops. They returned to the French camp on 07 June with three prisoners they had captured on the mission.

    General James Wolfe assembled his army at Louisbourg. Although he expected about 12,000 men, the actual number that made it to Louisbourg was a couple thousand less. 8,500 to 9,000 men under General Wolfe began to leave Louisbourg on 01 June, headed for Quebec. The last transport ship left Louisbourg on 06 June.

    The French army encamped at Quebec included five battalions of the French Army along with Colonial Troops, companies of militia from Canada, and nearly 1,000 Indian warriors. These land forces included the Regiment de Guyenne, the Regiment de Bearn, the Regiment de La Sarre, the Regiment Royal-Roussillon, and the Regiment de Languedoc. The number of Colonial Troops, trained and maintained as a standing army in the French-Canadian provinces and known as the Compagnies Franches de la Marine, is not known; it has been estimated as between 800 and 1,100. The colonial militia who supported the French Army at the Siege of Quebec included 5,600 men from the Quebec District Militia, 4,200 from the Montreal District Militia, and 1,100 from the Trois-Rivieres District Militia. The Indian tribes represented at Quebec who allied with the French were the Abnaki, Fox/Renard, Huron, Malecite, Micmac, Ottawa, and the Poutouetami.

    In May, the French garrison received a shipment of supplies and a small reinforcement of troops from France. Jacques Kanon and Jean Vauquelin commanded the fleet which consisted of eight frigates:
The Chezine carried 22 guns and was commanded by Captain Nicolas-Pierre Duclos-Guyot.
The Machault carried 30 guns and was commanded by Captain Jacques Kanon.
The Marechal de Senneterre carried 28 guns and was commanded by Captain Joseph Goret de Grandriviere.
The Amiable Nanon carried 24 guns and was commanded by Captain Martin de Mimbielle.
The Atalante carried 32 guns and was commanded by Captain Jean de Vauquelin.
The Pomone carried 30 guns and was commanded by Captain Sauvage.
The Pie carried 18 guns and was commanded by Captain Duvilliers.
The Marie carried (?) guns and was commanded by Captain Cornillaud.

    There were fourteen merchant ships loaded with gunpowder and other supplies.
The Angelique carried 20 guns and was commanded by Captain Jean de Grammont.
The Bienfaisant carried 22 guns and was commanded by Captain Francois-Louis Poulin de Courval.
The Saint-Augustin was commanded by Captain Reboul.
The Elisabeth carried 10 guns and was commanded by Captain Brecheau.
The Toison d'Or carried 12 guns and was commanded by Captain Joseph Marchand.
The Venus carried 8 guns and was commanded by Captain Jean Carbonelle.
The Quatre-Freres carried 20 guns and was commanded by Captain Francois Girard.
The Ameriquain carried 18 guns and was commanded by Captain Francois de Louches.
The Swinton carried 8 guns and was commanded by Captain Michel Guyon.
The Amitie carried 6 guns and was commanded by Captain Michel Francois Voyer.
The Soliel Royal carried 22 guns and was commanded by Captain Joseph Duffy-Charest.
The Duc de Fronsac carried 24 guns and was commanded by Captain Jacques Villeurs.
The Colibri was commanded by Captain Jean Hiriard. A fourteenth vessel was a British ship captured prior to the Quebec campaign.

    The bulk of this French fleet was sent upstream to Sainte-Anne-de-Batiscan, about sixty miles from Quebec on 05 June. Only the Atalante and the Pomone were kept in the vicinity of Quebec.

    Admiral Saunders' fleet sailed up the St. Lawrence River and arrived at the end of the month. Despite the dangers of the river in the vicinity of the Traverse, a section of the river between Cap Tourmente and the Ile-d'Orleans, the ships of war made it safely through. The troops were disembarked at the village of Saint Laurent on the Ile d'Orleans (an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence just downstream from the city of Quebec) on 27 June.

    The Marquis de Vaudreuil made an attempt to disrupt the landing of the British ships. He had seven of the ships from Kanon's fleet transformed into fireships to float down the river. A fireship was basically a watercraft carrying explosives and combustibles, which were set to explode into a fireball while they were in the midst of the enemy ships, thereby causing damage to those enemy ships. The Angelique, Ameriquain, Ambassadeur, Jaloux, and the Quatre-Freres along with two of the fire rafts were transformed into fireships and Captain Delouche was given command of them. At 10:00pm on the evening of 28 June, Delouche maneuvered his "fleet" downstream toward the British ships lying off the shore of Ile d"Orleans. Within an hour the fireships were nearing the British vessels, and Delouche set fire to his own ship, triggering the others to do likewise. But the decision was a bit premature. The fire ships exploded and burst into flames before actually reaching the British ships. Initially the British soldiers on shore were sent into panic, but they were rallied and formed into lines to make a defensive stance. When it was discovered that there was no actual attack, but rather a squad of fireships, sailors were sent out in longboats with grappling-irons to try to redirect the French vessels away from the British ships. The fireships were successfully drawn away by the British sailors in the longboats.

    Wolfe promptly set about preparing to bombard the city of Quebec. He sent Brigadier General Robert Monckton to occupy Pointe Levis, located opposite Quebec at the narrowest section of the St. Lawrence. The small French garrison at Pointe Levis surrendered to Monckton's rangers and light infantry on the 29th. The site was important to the British campaign as it would enable the bombardment of Quebec, while providing cover for a number of Admiral Saunders' ships in the 'basin', a natural cove of the St. Lawrence below Quebec. By 01 July, Monckton's cannon were brought ashore and set in place. While Monckton established his own batteries at Pointe Levis on which to place his cannon, Colonel Guy Carleton had been directed to occupy the western end of the Ile d'Orleans and also establish batteries.

    As soon as they were established, three companies of the British Royal Artillery began to shell the city of Quebec from Pointe Levis, and the French entrenchment lines to its east, from the batteries established by Carleton on the Ile d'Orleans.

    Wolfe next sent Brigadier General George Townshend to the north shore on 09 July. Montcalm had positioned approximately sixteen thousand French troops to the northeast of the city of Quebec. They were encamped along the shore of Beauport in a nine mile stretch between the St. Charles River and the Montmorency Cataract. These French troops at Beauport included the Regiment de Guyenne, the Regiment de La Sarre, the Regiment Royal-Roussillon, and the Regiment de Languedoc under the command of Major General Francois de Gaston, the General Duc de Levis, Colonel Louis-Antoine de Bougainville and Lieutenant Colonel de Sennezergue. On the morning of 09 July, at between six and seven o'clock, as rain was falling, Saunder's frigates began to shell the French lines, and they were compelled to fall back from the shore. Five battalions of British grenadiers, light infantry and rangers under Townshend and Colonel James Murray disembarked from their boats and headed on shore. Townshend proceeded to establish his camp to the east side of the Montmorency River where it emptied into the St. Lawrence River. While the camp was being set up by the main body of troops, rangers were sent farther inland to look for some place where the Montmorency could be forded. There was such a ford, and so a detachment of 1,100 Canadians under Lieutenant Louis Legardeur de Repentigny were directed to hold the spot. Before reaching that spot, though, the British rangers were set upon by a party of perhaps 400 Iroqois led by Captain Charles Michel de Langlade. At the start of the skirmish, word had been sent to Vaudreuil for reinforcements, but the lines of communication and response were not kind to the French, and it was over two hours before Vaudreuil arrived. The Indians, impatient and not willing to wait for Vaudreuil to respond, began to fire on the British rangers. The rangers were initially pushed back, but they stood their ground and drove the Indians off. When the Indians were finally forced to retreat, they left thirty-nine British soldiers, and quite a number of their own party, dead. The lack of a strong French answer to their advances resulted in General Wolfe succeeding in establishing a somewhat permanent base of operations on the north side of the St. Lawrence and to the east of the Montmorency Cataract.

    Citizens residing in the portion of the city of Quebec, known as the Lower Town, finding themselves now under fire from the British batteries on Pointe Levis, emplored governor Vaudreuil to force the removal of the batteries. Adjutant General Jean-Daniel Dumas was chosen to lead a surprise raid on the British at Pointe-Levis. On the night of 12 / 13 July, Dumas, with Francois-Prosper Douglas as his second-in-command, led roughly 1,500 troops across the St. Lawrence and on to the shore of Pointe-Levis. For whatever reason, now lost to history, a portion of the Frenchmen believing themselves to surrounded by British, fired upon their own numbers, sending the entire force into a panic. Dumas and Douglas eventually succeeded in getting their men under control, but the prospects of a surprise raid were ruined.

    On 18 July, a number of the British ships sailed upstream past Quebec to a point between L'Anse au Foulon and Place Royale. The ships docked at L'Anse des Mares, where the last French fireship was being prepared, and they destroyed it.

    Then General Wolfe sent Colonel Carleton on a raid to discover what defences and supply posts the French might have upstream from the city. Carleton engaged some French troops on 21 July at Pointe-aux-Trembles, about twenty-two miles from Quebec. The British took 200 women and children as prisoners in the raid, but otherwise the raid was uneventful. The prisoners were released the following day. The raid revealed to Montcalm the lack of defences in that region.

    In light of the new movements of the British, Montcalm directed Bougainville, to move the three thousand troops under his command to the west of the city. This force consisted of 1,500 infantry, 200 cavalry and a unit of Canadian militia.

    The French, forced to abandon their original defences at Beauport, had reestablished their defenses in front of the cliff wall that was situated at the confluence of the St. Charles River and the St. Lawrence, between the city of Quebec and the Montmorency Cataract. On 31 July, the British made an attempt, but failed, to storm the new French battery. The French battery had two gun emplacements in front of the nearly vertical cliffs, and in front of them was a nearly half-mile wide mud flats. In the sweltering heat of the afternoon, a force of about 3,500 British troops (comprised of thirteen companies of grenadiers, and the balance of infantry from the Royal Americans, the Highlanders and some of Amherst's army) landed and attempted to cross the mud flats. Despite being supported by cannon fire from the ship, the Centurion, the French fired on the British from the cover of the river shallows, and made their landing very difficult. Although they failed to take the battery by force, the British troops made an effort to climb the rock cliff, perhaps intending to enter the city. A thunderstorm not only drenched their powder, but it made the ascent up the rocky cliff next to impossible. As the troops slid and slipped back down the rock face, the French picked them off, killing between 440 and 450. The French lost only 60 soldiers in the fight, which would become known variously as the Battle of Beauport or the Battle of Montmorenecy.

    The French command thought, although erroneously, that Wolfe would end his attempt to capture Quebec after the disaster at Beauport. But the British were not discouraged by the failed attempt.

    Wolfe next sent a force under Brigadier General James Murray to engage the French above Quebec. Under the cover of darkness Murray's troops were transported on twenty-two flat-bottom barges past the city and on upstream the thirty miles to Pointe-aux-Trembles . They attempted twice to make a landing there on 08 August, but with losses of forty dead and one hundred wounded, were repulsed by Bougainville's French troops, who sustained only five men wounded. Murray moved to the south shore of the St. Lawrence, landing on the 14th, but again under French fire with losses of twelve dead and twenty-three wounded.

    The continuing bombardment of Quebec from the batteries at Pointe Levis set the Lower Town on fire on 09 August. It was estimated that one hundred and sixty-seven houses burned within that single day. The upper town also suffered from the artillery fire; nearly every building facing the river was destroyed.

    The middle of August saw the British Army carry out a plan of destruction calculated to force the Canadians to desert their French affiliations. General Wolfe issued a proclamation (actually his third) to the Canadian citizens exhorting them to desert from the militia or suffer the consequences. This time, his words were backed up by action. A squadron of the light infantry, along with some of the Highlanders and rangers moved through the countryside. Any households that gave resistance were burned to the ground. On 13 August, the villages of Saint Nicolas and Saint Antoine were completely burned. On the next day, the village of Saint Paul was burned. Montcalm turned a blind eye in the direction of the suffering Canadians.

    Residents of the village of Saint Joachim fought back, but they were unsuccessful in preventing the British troops under Captain Alexander Montgomery from destroying the town. The cure of the village, Robineau de Portneuf led thirty of the village's inhabitants to the nearby parish of Chateau-Richer, where they sought safety in a large stone house; but they were eventually forced out and taken as prisoners. Then Montgomery ordered that all of the prisoners were to be shot and scalped, to the indignation of even his own officers. The village of Chateau-Richer was leveled by fire.

    By the end of August, the village of L'Ange-Gardien was destroyed and its inhabitants put to the sword.

    Continuing to move downstream, back toward Quebec, Colonel James Murray landed at Deschambault on 19 August. There Murray discovered stores and spare baggage destined for the French officers. His destruction of those supplies would be felt by Montcalm in light of the fact that future shipments of supplies would be difficult to get past the British ships at Trois-Rivieres. Bougainville headed toward Deschambault with two granadier companies, infantry, militia and cavalry. Their arrival forced the withdrawal of Murray and his British troops. Montcalm, himself, headed toward Deschambault as soon as he received word of the incident; but he arrived after the British had re-embarked on their ships.

    During this period, General Wolfe was suffering from poor health. In a letter he wrote in December 1758, Wolfe noted: "I am in a very bad condition, both with the gravel & Rheumatism…" His return to England to spend the winter of 1758-59, despite the fact that he got seasick on every voyage, was primarily due to his poor health. On 19 August, with the responsibility of the Quebec Campaign weighing heavily on his shoulders, the Brigadier Generals were notified that General Wolfe was too weak to leave his bed. For a week he tossed and turned from the effects of a fever. But he survived the bout and found the strength to dictate his orders and plans to his aide-de-camp who then relayed them to his generals.

    Murray's troops returned on 25 August to the British camp at the eastern side of the Montmorency River, providing General Wolfe with valuable information on the French strengths and weaknesses upstream.

    On 26 August, Governor Vaudreuil directed a force of over five hundred sailors to beef up Captain Kanon's troops. Vaudreuil's plan was for Kanon to attack the British ships which were anchored above the city of Quebec. Much to Vaudreuil's chagrin, two additional British frigates, the Hunter and the Lowestoffe, another armed vessel and two storeships sailed upstream past Quebec. Vaudreuil made the decision to not attack as planned. In the meantime, Rear Admiral Holmes took command of the squadron that was forming to the west (upstream) of Quebec. The Seahorse, two more armed vessels and two more storeships joined the squadron. By this time, twenty-two vessels were safely anchored above Quebec and ready to serve in an assault of the city from the west if such were ordered by Wolfe.

    On 26 August, General Wolfe dictated a letter to his brigadier generals in which he outlined three new plans which called for attacking Montcalm's forces at Beauport. The British generals held a council on the 29th to discuss Wolfe's new plans. In a letter or response they suggested to Wolfe that the strength of the French troops occupying the batteries between the St. Charles River and the Montmorency Cataracts had increased to such an extent that the British could not hope to ever take the city from that direction. The generals suggestion was that an assault on the city would have to be made from the western plateau by landing the troops at some point between Cap Rouge (nine miles southwest of the city of Quebec) and Pointe-aux-Trembles (twenty-two miles from the city). Their argument was that by making the assault from the west would, at the same time, disrupt Montcalm's lines of communication with Montreal, Sorel and Three Rivers, making it difficult for the French to obtain reinforcements and supplies. Admiral Saunders discussed the generals' suggestion with Wolfe on the 31st. Wolfe agreed with the generals that the attack should be made from the west.

    The exact route for the British troops to scale the rock wall of the plateau was not decided upon until the very last moment. Over the next few days, General Wolfe sent rangers to search for a route upstream from the city and up the rock cliff so that he could gain access to the top of the plateau and from there attack the city. Among others, the rangers found a route at L'Anse-au-Foulon, a cove about two miles upstream from the city (i.e. to the city's southwest). A narrow path wound its way up the cliff, and the point where the path reached the summit was found to be guarded only by a single squad of about one hundred militiamen under the command of Captain Louis Du Pont Duchambon de Vergor. (It was de Vergor who had surrendered Fort Beausejour to the British four years previously.) The final decision to utilize that path would not be made until the evening of 12 September ~ the night of the assault.

    An evacuation of the British camp to the east of the Montmorency Cataract was commenced on 03 September. The troops were loaded on the ships and transport vessels of Admiral Holmes' fleet – some to be carried upstream beyond the city, others to be unloaded at the batteries of Ile d'Orleans and Pointe Levis. The stores and supplies along with the artillery were loaded onto the ships of Vice Admiral Saunder's fleet, and carried upstream.

    The three thousand French troops under Bougainville were keeping watch on the shoreline of the St. Lawrence from Cap Rouge west to Pointe-aux-Trembles, but the nine miles from the city of Quebec to Cap Rouge, the bulk of which was named the Plains of Abraham, was being neglected.

    Now the region known as the Plains of Abraham was not just a single flat, featureless field. Named for the earliest owner of a tract of land forming part of the heights, Abraham Martin, the site extended practically the length of the nine miles from the city to Cap Rouge. It was about three miles wide in certain places and a little more than a mile wide at spots. The south edge, defined by the St. Lawrence River, was bordered by the cliffs which measured 175 feet in height. The eastern end was occupied by the city of Quebec. The north edge, defined by the St. Charles River, was not as precipitous as the south; the river winding its way through meadows and fields planted with corn. There were some houses and other buildings scattered over the landscape, but no accumulations of buildings into villages except toward the western end.

    The French assumed that the height of the plateau in that region would make it practically unassailable by the British. But as the days passed, and the British movements sent conflicting signals to him, Montcalm decided to send a detachment of troops to guard that nine mile stretch of land. On 05 September, a battalion of French infantry was sent to occupy the Plains. Vaudreuil, acting against Montcalm's orders on the 7th of September, directed the battalion to return to the French camp on the north side of the St. Charles River.

    Over the next few days, the British troops moved upstream past the city of Quebec, directly under the nose of Montcalm, and established a camp along the south shore of the St. Lawrence across from the L'Anse-au-Foulon. General Sir James Murray led three battalions up the Etechemin River and through fire from the French manning batteries at the village of Sillery. His battalions included the 35th Otway's Regiment of Foot, the 48th Dunbar's Regiment of Foot, and the 3rd Battalion of the 60th Royal American Regiment of Foot. Brigadier General Robert Monckton arrived with four battalions: the 15th Amherst's Regiment of Foot, the 43rd Kennedy's Regiment of Foot, the 58th Anstruther's Regiment of Foot, and the 78th Fraser's Highlanders. And finally, Brigadier General George Townshend arrived with three battalions: the 28th Bragg's Regiment of Foot, the 47th Lascelle's Regiment of Foot, and the 2nd Battalion of the 60th Royal American Regiment of Foot. In addition, there were six companies of Provincial Rangers commanded by Major George Scott: Captains Jonathan Brewer, Benonie Dank, Joseph Gorham, Moses Hazen, James Rogers, and William Stark. By the 7th, the thirty-six hundred men comprising the ten battalions had gotten loaded onto twenty-two ships of Admiral Holmes' fleet upstream from the city without being discovered by the French holding the city. They were prepared to make the landing as soon as the weather permitted.

    During the 8th and 9th of September, the weather did not permit the British to land on the north shore of the St. Lawrence. In order to confuse the sentries on lookout for Bougainville, who it might be remembered, had been sent with a force of three thousand troops to the west of the city in mid-July, Holmes directed his ships to travel back and forth, following the movements of the tide, between the nine miles that separated Cap Rouge and Quebec.

    The naval commanders were getting nervous about the fact that it was getting late in the season and as the weather was getting colder, they would very soon need to head back down the St. Lawrence. They held a council on 10 September, and urged Wolfe to either initiate an assault on the city soon, or consider abandoning the plans for the winter. Wolfe's response was to begin the assault as soon as an opening presented itself.

    A subterfuge was carried out by the fleet commanded by Admiral Saunders beginning on 12 September. They traveled downstream from the city and began a bombardment of Montcalm's French troops still encamped at Beauport. The French assumed that this new activity by the British fleet was the prelude to the main British Army's invasion of the Beauport encampment. Montcalm still believed that the British would have to engage them there and so the canonade by Saunders' ships simply confirmed his assumptions. He mistakenly believed that the movements that had been detected west of the city were evidence of a feint by Wolfe to draw him away from Beauport, where the 'real' action would soon take place.

    On the night of 12-13 September, the invasion of Quebec began. Commencing at 2:00am, Wolfe moved his troops down the St. Lawrence in small boats. He had kept his plan to land at L'Anse-au-Foulon a secret from everyone, except for the part(s) they needed to know in order to carry out each individual component. Admiral Holmes and Captain James Chads were the only ones who were made aware of the landing destination because it was decided that Captain Chads would lead the boats downstream and make the actual landing. There would be two landings on the north shore to make an ascent of the plateau, the Plains of Abraham, surprising the French at dawn on the 13th.

    The first landing was to be made by Generals Monckton and Murray, leading 1,300 regular army soldiers along with 400 light infantry, to be commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Howe.

    The second landing would be made by General Townshend, leading 1,900 regular army troops.

    Under General Wolfe's direction, Colonel Burton, leading the 48th Foot Regiment, crossed over to the Lower Town from Pointe Levis, providing 1,200 additional troops to Wolfe. Captain Harding, with the 2nd Battalion of the 60th Foot, crossed over from Ile d'Orleans and moved upstream toward the Lower Town.

    As the morning of 13 September dawned, the first detachments of British troops landed on the north shore of the St. Lawrence in the vicinity of L'Anse des Mares. Wolfe had actually wanted the landing to be made at L'Anse au Foulon, but the boats had overshot that point. The troops were marched from L'Anse des Mares to L'Anse au Foulon, where they found the path to make the ascent of the plateau.

    As they moved across the St. Lawrence in their transport vessel, General Wolfe had his will written out, and asked Captain William DeLaune to witness it.

    Nearing their landing point, the foremost boat was carried close to the shore and a French sentry called out: "Qui vive?" Captain Donald McDonald, an officer with the 78th Fraser's Highlanders, who spoke fluent French, answered without delay: "France. Long live the King!" The sentry persisted with: "A quel regiment?", to which McDonald answered: "De la Reine." The ruse fooled the sentry, who assumed it referred to reinforcements from Bougainville's troops upstream, and he allowed them to pass without incident. A short time later, a second sentry ran down to the edge of the shore and called out to the men in the boats to identify themselves. McDonald again answered in French, telling the second sentry that they were "provision boats. Don't make a noise; the English will hear us." The sentry left them pass.

    Wolfe's directive was for Captain DeLaune to take twenty-four light infantry troops as the vanguard of the invasion. DeLaune and his troops would make their way, as quickly and quietly as possible, up the narrow path leading to the Plains of Abraham. There were only about fifty men in de Vergor's company guarding the path because he had allowed the other half to go back to their homes to get their crops in, being mostly provincial Canadian troops from homes nearby. DeLaune and his men could see tents a short distance away, and they rushed upon them. A few of the French troops, including de Vergor, tried to defend their camp. Most of the Frenchmen fled, and although de Vergor attempted to fire on the British, he and the remaining soldiers quickly surrendered to DeLaune. A signal was given to the rest of the British army at the foot of the plateau, and they started moving up the slope.

    Soon cannon shots were heard to the west. The French batteries at Sillery and Samos had discovered the British ships on the move, and were firing on them. Colonel Howe and his light infantry were dispatched to silence the French batteries, a task which they accomplished easily.

    The transport vessels were emptied of their passengers onto the beach at L'Anse au Foulon, and then they return upstream to the ships to get more troops. The process continued until the entire British force was transported.

    The entire British army of nearly 4,800 men was able to land and make their way to the top of the plateau within the span of three hours.

    General Wolfe had his army drawn into formation as the sunlight of the day was just spreading across the Plains of Abraham. Then they waited. The reason for the clandestine movement of the troops onto the plateau was not so much to surprise the French and catch them offguard. Rather, the purpose of Wolfe's plan was to be able to meet the French Army on even terms, instead of being at a disadvantage before ever reaching the field of battle. And so, now that he had achieved what he set out to do ~ to have his troops in battle formation, ready to meet the enemy impartially, Wolfe waited.

    The six battalions were formed in ranks of two deep, about a yard apart. (It was necessary for Wolfe to order this formation rather than the usual, three-deep, in order to cover the wide expanse of land to be covered.) The right wing was close to the edge of the heights above the St. Lawrence. The left wing was positioned toward the St. Charles River. Two battalions under General Townshend were formed parallel to the St. Charles in anticipation of the French army from Beauport coming in that direction. Generals Wolfe, Monckton and Murray commanded the center, which was comprised of about 3,500 infantry troops. Burton's troops and Howe's light infantry were formed into reserve troops at the rear, and the 3rd Battalion of the 60th Royal American Regiment was left to guard the landing point. General Wolfe, at the head of the Louisburg Grenadiers, chose a slight rise where the right flank was positioned from which to direct his army's movements.

    As the British lines waited to advance toward Quebec (which was about one and one-quarter miles distant), the sound of gunfire could be heard coming from the rear. A small detachment of Bougainville's troops had come up from their encampment at Cap Rouge. The sounds being heard were Bougainville's troops engaging some light infantry that were posted in a house to the west. The French troops were repulsed. Bougainville's main force would not arrive on the field of battle until around noon, and then finding the British outnumbered his own force, turned his men around and returned to Pointe-aux-Trembles.

    It wasn't until between 6:00am and 6:30am, after the British had completed their assembling on the Plains of Abraham, that Louis Joseph, the Marquis de Montcalm came to the realization that he had been duped by General Wolfe. Montcalm had spent the night in restless anxiety, waiting for the British to begin landing on the Beauport shores. Admiral Saunders had kept up the canonade all through the night. The French soldiers in the trenches along the Beauport shore had, like their commanders, spent the night in readiness for an attack which never came. As dawn broke across the Canadian landscape, Montcalm could hear the roar of cannons coming the battery at Samos. Finally, at about 6:00am, Montcalm mounted his horse and headed toward the city. The French army entrenched at Beauport were ordered into lines and followed in Montcalm's wake.

    Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, who had set up his camp behind the village of Beauport, and closer to the St. Charles River, had already mobilized his troops when Montcalm rode up. The two French commanders had a short discussion, and then Montcalm spurred his horse across a bridge that spanned the St. Charles.

    The French army, entering the city of Quebec by way of the bridge across the St. Charles, had to move through the narrow streets of the Upper Town; there was no way around. They poured out onto the plain through the only two portals: the Gate of Saint-Louis and the Gate of Saint-Jean.

    Montcalm watched as his army poured through the gates and assembled on the plain. But he waited in vain for many of the troops from Beauport. Governor Vaudreuil had decided not to join Montcalm, but instead to remain to the east side of the St. Charles in case an attack did indeed come from the direction of the ships on the St. Lawrence. The French troops formed their lines between 8:00am and 9:00am; the British holding their fire as the Frenchmen assembled.

    Montcalm had little luck obtaining additional troops and artillery from the garrison of the city of Quebec. The commander of that force, Jean-Baptiste, Chevalier de Ramesay rebuffed Montcalm's request for twenty-five pieces of artillery, providing only three guns. One might rightly assume that Montcalm was beside himself with anger over the lack of assistance he was receiving from his subordinates.

    Montcalm called his officers to a council of war. The officers believed that if they waited very long Wolfe would obtain even more reinforcements, despite the fact that that was not a possibility. And, as the British lines had not advanced toward the city yet, it was suggested that perhaps the British were establishing fortifications. This was also not true, but of course the French officers did not know that; so it was resolved that the French lines should advance and engage the British. The makings of a traditional European-style battle were coming together.

    Companies of Canadians and Indians took hiding positions behind bushes and trees and in and around abandoned houses and barns along the edge of the plateau facing the St. Charles River, and immediately began showering musket fire into the British center and left flank. Orders were given for the British troops to lie down on the ground to avoid the fire which now harmlessly whizzed over their heads. General Townshend's battalions took the majority of the hits. The light infantry held in reserve at the rear were called forward, and they routed many of the Canadians and Indians from the surrounding buildings.

    By 10:00am, the French troops had been formed into lines with regular army infantry in the center and regulars mixed with Canadians on the right and left flanks. With a loud shout the French lines started forward. And when the British troops heard the shouting, they rose up from their prone position and readied themselves for the assault. By this time, Wolfe's artillery troops had maneuvered two field-pieces up the path, and placed them in service to fire on the oncoming French lines.

    The British troops advanced forward a short distance, then were halted and they stood firm, without firing a shot. When the French were only about forty paces away, the order was given to fire, and a flash of musket fire rippled through the lines. Within seconds, another volley rang out, and it exploded into an eruption of gunfire that lasted a couple minutes without letup.

    When the firing finally ended, and the smoke cleared, the scene of dead and wounded men littering the field was shocking. The Frenchmen who were still standing began to turn and flee. Montcalm, astride his black horse, was clearly seen to be entreating his men to regroup.

    On General Wolfe's order, the line of red coats fired one more volley and began to advance forward with bayonets fixed to the end of their muskets. The British soldiers were instructed to load two balls in their muskets at a time; the result was extra devastating. The Highlanders of the 78th Fraser's Regiment gave their trademark blood-curdling shout as they advanced forward with their swords drawn. [Note: Some researchers claim that they carried claymores, which were long (perhaps six feet in length) swords with long hilts requiring the use of both hands to wield them, but that might be a nostalgic idea because the claymore became unfashionable as a battle weapon by the end of the 1600s.]

    It was during this advance that General Wolfe was struck by three bullets. The first hit him in the right wrist. Soon after, a second bullet ripped into his stomach / groin. He remained standing, nonetheless and gave the order for the final volley and advance before a third bullet hit him in the chest, presumably collapsing his lungs. The General slumped to the ground, and was picked up by three men and carried to the rear. Wolfe refused a surgeon, claiming: "It is needless; it is all over with me." Before dying, General Wolfe was informed that the French were fleeing from all parts of the field. He gave one last order for Colonel Burton to march Webb's Regiment to the St. Charles River to cut off the fugitives from crossing the bridge. The body of James Wolfe would eventually be transported to England to be laid to rest in his family vault in the Greenwich parish church.

    The command of the British Army went to Brigadier General Robert Monckton, but he also having been shot, the command fell upon Brigadier General George Townshend.

    The Marquis de Montcalm was also mortally wounded at the very instant that Wolfe was being carried off the field. The British artillery commander, George Williamson, took credit for felling the French commander. He claimed that it was a load of grapeshot fired by Williamson's six-pounder that struck Montcalm. Whether or not that was the case, Montcalm had numerous injuries and was held upright in his saddle by two officers as they turned him around and headed through the St. Louis Gate to the house of a surgeon named Arnoux. The surgeon was, at that time, at Ile-aux-Noix, but his younger brother was on hand. He examined Montcalm's wounds and pronounced them mortal. The Marquis de Montcalm lingered until five o'clock the following morning. His body was buried in the floor of the Ursuline's Chapel opposite to the Arnoux house. A cannon shell had hit the chapel and dug a crater into the floor; it was into that hole that Montcalm was laid to rest.

    The British officers called a halt to their pursuit of the fleeing Frenchmen around noon. Fifty-seven British soldiers lay dead on the field; six hundred and seven were wounded, though. In contrast, two hundred dead French soldiers and nearly twelve hundred wounded sprawled upon the field of battle.

    The rout of the French troops was not absolute because many of the Canadians on the right flank had not advanced along with the French regular infantry lines. Instead, they had ducked for cover behind bushes, and now delivered sniper fire at the British. The new sniper fire was answered by volleys from the 78th Fraser's Highlanders, and the Canadians were driven out of their hiding places. They fled toward the St. Charles River in an effort to retreat across the bridge, but the Highlanders charged at them with swords drawn. The Canadian marksmen held their ground and inflicted a high toll on the Highlanders. At length, though, the Canadians were driven back and continued their flight across the river and on to Vaudreuil's camp at Beauport.

    Governor Vaudreuil attempted to reorganize the demoralized French soldiers who were streaming from the city into the camp at Beauport. He sent a courier with a note to Montcalm, asking for his opinion on how he should proceed. Montcalm replied that it should be Vaudreuil's decision, but he saw three options: engage the British in battle again, retreat to Jacques-Cartier (about five miles west of Pointe-aux-Trembles), or capitulate the entire colony. Montcalm did not inform Vaudreuil, but he secretly sent a letter of surrender to British General Townshend.

    Vaudreuil called his chief officers to a council. The Governor believed that a counterattack should be made against the British at once. The French, despite the losses they had just sustained, were still more numerous than the British, and a reversal of fortunes might be possible. The other officers, though, disagreed; they urged removal of the entire French camp to the vicinity of Jacques-Cartier, where they could join again with Bougainville. The officers' arguments apparently were persuasive enough to convince Vaudreuil to change his plans.

    At 6:00pm as the evening of 13 September set in, Governor Vaudreuil sent another note to the Marquis de Montcalm. Vaudreuil informed the dying general of his decision to retreat to Jacques-Cartier. He also included a copy of the terms of capitulation that Montcalm had drawn up himself a couple weeks earlier. The terms were to be delivered to Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Roch de Ramezay, who was the commanding officer of the city of Quebec, who should then offer them to General Townshend.

    Governor Vaudreuil wrote a letter to the French Minister of Marine, Nicolas Rene Berryer on 21 October, from his camp at St. Augustin (4 leagues from Quebec); he deftly redirected the French failure at Quebec to Montcalm's zeal and great vivacity:

My Lord,
    I have the honor to report to you that on the night of the 12th @. 13th of this month, General Wolfe having completed the landing of his army at l'anƒe des meres, carried the heights in the rear of Quebec. The Marquis de Montcalm, who was the firƒt informed of the circumƒtance, ƒuppoƒed no doubt, that it was only a detachment. That General, carried away by his zeal and great vivacity, diƒpatched the pickets of the different regiments, a part of the battalions and Canadians, and advanced himƒelf without communicating his arrangements to me.
    Immediately on hearing of this movement, my Lord, I feared the action would be brought on before the junction of the corps under the command of M. de Bougainville, compoƒed of the elite of our troops; I ordered the advance of the remainder of our forces, with the exception of the poƒts of Beauport and ƒet out immediately to place myƒelf at the head of the army.
     The Marquis de montcalm unfortunately attacked before I had joined him; he perceived his defeat the ƒame moment, and ƒo great was the diƒorder among the troops that, forced to retire himƒelf, he was then mortally wounded.
     When I arrived, my Lord, on the field of battle, the flight was ƒo general, that I could not ƒtop a ƒoldier. I rallied about 1,000 Canadians, who by their bold front, arreƒted the enemy in his purƒuit.
     M. de Ramezai, who was in command at Quebec, ƒurrendered the place on the 18th of this month, on the conditions ƒet forth in the capitulation, copy whereof is hereunto annexed. I expected a more protracted reƒiƒtance, having adopted the ƒureƒt meaƒures to convey proviƒions and men into that town. M de Ramezai was adviƒed of the fact.
     I recalled Chev^r. de Levis, after the Marquis de Montcalm was wounded, and immediately upon his arrival, marched with the army confident of relieving Quebec.
     I hope, my Lord, that you will pleaƒe to expreƒs to the King the poignant regret I have felt at this occurrence in a moment so unexpected. I beg you to aƒsure his Majeƒty that I have adopted the beƒt meaƒures not only to preƒerve his provinces, but even to repair our loƒses, if circumƒtances permit.
     Chev^r de Levis reunites the qualities of the excellent General; I ƒhall agree with him on all points.
     I poƒtpone to another time, my Lord, entering into details reƒpecting our poƒition.
     I am, with the moƒt profound reƒpect, my Lord, your moƒt humble and moƒt obedient ƒervant.

    Through the night of 13 September, the French Army began a withdrawal from the environs of Quebec. Vaudreuil led his troops southwestward to Jacques-Cartier.

    The British established a camp on the Plains of Abraham, outside the city walls of Quebec, and the city's batteries, manned by 2,200 men under Ramezay, occasionally fired into that camp and also at the British ships below the city. Ramezay estimated that he had enough provisions and supplies to last about eight days.

    Major Ramezay did not contact the British until the 15th, when he sent Major Armand de Joannes to ask Townshend for terms. Prior to receiving the messenger, General Townshend had met with Admiral Saunders. Townshend was now aware that the British fleet felt the need to leave soon or risk being trapped in the frozen waters of the St. Lawrence River; and he was also aware that he must get his army either into the city before winter fell or else remove them from the place because the threat of the French Army returning from the west, and striking the British camp was a possibility. So, the terms that Townshend offered to the French commander of the city's troops were very generous, and persuasive. The terms provided that the garrison of the town would be permitted to "march out with their arms and baggage, drums beating, matches lighted, with two pieces of cannon, and twelve rounds for each piece."

    On the 17th of September, the General Duc de Levis arrived at Jacques-Cartier from Montreal and discussed the situation of Quebec with Governor Vaudreuil. Their decision was to march the French army back to Quebec and retake the city. Vaudreuil sent a courier to Quebec to inform Ramezay that he was returning, and that the city's forces should try to hold out until the French Army could arrive.

    The courier arrived too late. The British artillery had set up more cannon on the Plains of Abraham, and were threatening the shelling of the city from that direction in addition to the ships in the harbor. The residents of the city, and Ramezay's junior officers urged him to meet with the British and end the siege by capitulation. Accordingly, at 3:00pm on the 17th, as Vaudreuil and Levis were making their plans and instructing the courier to hurry to Quebec with his message, Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Roch de Ramezay hoisted a white flag, signalling the city's surrender.

    The Articles of Capitulation Demanded by Mr. de Ramsay, the King's Lieutenant, commanding the high and low Towns of Quebec, Chief of the military order of St. Lewis, to His Excellency the General of the troops of His Britannic Majesty.--- "The Capitulation demanded on the part of the enemy, and granted by their Excellencies Admiral Saunders and General Townshend, &c. &c. &c. is in manner and form hereafter expressed."

    On the following morning, 18 September 1759, the city of Quebec was surrendered to the British as Admiral Charles Saunders and Brigadier General George Townshend signed the articles of capitulation.