Although the capitulation of the city of Quebec was a milestone in the conquest of Canada by the English, it certainly did not signal the end of the war. The two armies went into their winter camps with anticipation, and perhaps a certain amount of dread, about what lay ahead in the coming year.
In their camp at Pointe-aux-Trembles, the Marquis de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, the General Duc de Levis and De Bougainville discussed embarking on a counterattack against the British at Quebec. Levis, now the ranking officer in the French camp, was not inclined toward a counterattack, so that plan was set aside.
In the British camp, virtually all the ranking officers left: Townshend lost no time returning to England to confront rumors that he had conspired against his superior, General Wolfe; Admirals Holmes and Saunders led their fleets downstream and away from the dangers of an ice-choked St. Lawrence in winter; and Monckton left for New York, under the pretense of taking dispatches to General Amherst. General Murray was the only one left in command of the newly won tract of land.
Taking an inventory of what the British possessed, going into the winter of 1759/60, we find General John Murray, approximately seven thousand troops, a city that was more a collection of ruins than of inhabitable buildings, dwindling rations and other supplies ~ and scurvy. By the time spring came to the Canadian countryside, Murray's forces would number only about 4,000.
The troops under Murray's control at this time included nine regiments of between four and six hundred men each, along with four to five hundred Royal Artillery troops, two to three hundred Rangers, and fifty sailors. The regiments present, at least portions thereof, included: 15th Amherst's, 28th Bragg's, 35th Otway's, 43rd Kennedy's, 47th Lascelle's, 48th Dunbar's, 58th Anstruther's, 60th Royal American, and the 78th Fraser's Highlanders.
General Murray set about rather quickly to gain control of the Canadians in the city and its environs by stern, but humane treatment. They were first disarmed and made to take the oath of allegiance to Great Britain so that they might not rise up against their conquerors; then they were extended compassion and courtesy. General Murray issued orders against the undeserved harming of the citizenry by any of his soldiers. One soldier was hanged for robbing a rsident of Quebec, and others were punished for slighter offenses. The new general's ruling style worked well to promote peaceful coexistence between the conquering army and the people. As the harvest season wore on, British soldiers could be seen helping the farmers get their crops in.
General Murray established two fortifications, or rather fortified outposts, to the west of Quebec: one at Sainte-Foy and the other at L'Ancienne-Lorette. Both were between four and five miles from the city, between it and Cap Rouge. Sainte-Foy was close to the St. Lawrence River, while L'Ancienne-Lorette was about a mile distant to the northwest.
During this period, as the winter progressed, the British troops were kept busy cutting and hauling wood for their fires. The French troops, meanwhile, were being kept busy with training and with making raids throughout the region. French grenadiers made a raid on the farmsteads near L'Ancienne-Lorette in February of 1760, driving off many head of cattle. But the British sent a squad of rangers to overtake them, which they succeeded in doing, and liberated the abducted cattle.
Across the river from Quebec City, near Pointe Levis, a body of French regulars, Canadian militia and their Indian allies established a base. Their commander, Colonel Gerard Saint-Martin sent General Murray a message, stating that he had a number of expert hairdressers ready to wait upon his officers. The 'hairdresssers' were, of course, his Indian allies desiring scalps. Murray replied by sending a detachment of men under Major Dalling across the river, which by then was frozen solid. The British troops engaged the French around the church at pointe Levis and in the forest behind it. The British routed the French from their position and killed quite a number of them before the Frenchmen fled. Dalling then established a post at the church, using the priest's house, which was beside it, as a fortified structure. But the French troops returned a couple days later and cut down a number of trees to build a fortification for their own use, from which they struck at the British troops holding the priest's house. The engagement that followed was heard in the camp at Quebec City, and Murray sent additional troops across the frozen waterway. Murray followed along with a detachment of the Highlanders, but before he arrived at the scene, the French troops had already fled.
Through the early spring, rumors arrived at the British camp regarding an imminent attack by the French, but they were just that: rumors. By the end of April, though, the rumors proved to be true. As soon as the pack ice melted and flowed down and out of the St. Lawrence River, the General Duc de Levis led an army of nearly 8,500 French troops from their camp at Montreal to take back the city of Quebec. The army was comprised of eight battalions of regular army, three thousand Canadians and about four hundred Indians. As the force moved across Canada, the garrisons of outposts including those at Jacques-Cartier and Point-aux-Trembles joined the army. In fact, governor Vaudreuil had sent out an order for all able Canadian men to fall in line with the advancing army on pain of death.
Levis' artillery and stores were loaded on board two frigates, two sloops and a number of smaller vessels and the army itself embarked on numerous bateaux. On 20 April, the French force set off, heading down the St. Lawrence. They arrived and disembarked about thirteen miles from Quebec at St. Augustin on 25 April. By the following evening, Levis was crossing the Cap Rouge River.
The French Army headed toward the British outpost at L'Ancienne-Lorette. The outpost's defenders immediately abandoned it and fled to the one at Sainte-Foy. Levis followed the fleeing British soldiers, despite a driving storm that caused the night to seem darker than usual. As morning broke, and the mist cleared a bit, a ridge could be seen ahead. It was occupied by a church and a number of houses, being the village of Sainte-Foy on the western edge of the plateau, the opposite end of which was occupied by the city of Quebec.
As the French army advanced toward the village on the morning of 27 April, cannon fire rang out from the vicinity of the church and houses. The British troops who held the outposts at L'Ancienne-Lorette and Sainte-Foy had commandeered the buildings from their Canadian owners. The barrage of heavy shot initially forced the French back.
Levis, not having any reconnaissance to inform him of the enemy's strength in numbers, hesitated to storm the ridge, instead choosing to wait until that night before advancing again. It was a mistake on Levis' part, because had he pressed on against the defenders of the ridge at Sainte-Foy, with his vastly superior numbers, would surely have taken the British holding the spot, and might have been successful at moving against Quebec before Murray would have a chance to properly defend it. Instead, while Levis hesitated, the British as Quebec found out about the invading French army on their doorstep in time to respond.
The way that the British did find out about the oncoming French army was by accident – literally. One of the bateaux ferrying the French soldiers down the St. Lawrence overturned and its passengers were apparently all drowned with the exception of a single man who clung to and climbed onto a piece of the pack ice floating in the river. As it neared the Lower Town of Quebec, around three o'clock on the morning of the 27th, Captain Macartney heard the cries of the exhausted fellow, and sent a boat and crew to rescue the man. He was carried to the quarters in which General Murray was sleeping, who being aroused, listened to the Frenchman's story. The French soldier embellished his story a bit, claiming that Levis was commanding an army numbering twelve thousand.
By daybreak on the 27th, Murray had mustered his British soldiers and they were marching toward the outposts at Sainte-Foy, Cap Rouge, Sillery and L'Anse-au-Foulon. Of course, the French soldier, having drifted on the St. Lawrence River rather than participating in march overland, was unaware of exactly where Levis was at the moment. Murray intended to meet Levis wherever he was, and force him to turn back to Montreal.
General Murray mobilized half of the garrison at Quebec; this amounted to approximately thirty-five hundred. They took with them ten pieces of cannon.
Upon reaching the ridge at Sainte-Foy, Murray found that the French army was partly hidden in the woods below the ridge. Murray got his guns established and spent a few hours firing into the woods. The French did not emerge from the woods to engage the British in battle, and so Murray made the decision to return to Quebec during the afternoon. Before leaving Sainte-Foy, the British exploded munitions that they had stored in the church; they had no easy means of removing the munitions to Quebec; blowing them up would at least keep the French from gaining them.
Once back at the city of Quebec, the British officers held a council and made the decision to march out again the following morning and engage the French. General Murray explained their decisison in a letter to Minister Pitt:
Early the following morning, 28 April, the British army once again marched through the St. louis Gate and out of the city of Quebec, headed for the Sainte-Foy region. This time, twenty cannon and two howitzers were taken along by the soldiers. There were no horses left in the camp; all of them having either starved or been sacrificed for food. As a result there were eight or ten soldiers harnessed to each of the artillery carriages in order to pull them across the still-frozen ground. Certain of the other soldiers carried tools with which they intended to dig into the ground as well as they might to establish batteries.
The British infantry advanced across the ground upon which General Wolfe's troops had been formed into ranks. There they commenced digging into the half-frozen ground to anchor the field-pieces. The British soldiers had just begun to dig in when General Murray caught sight of Levis' army emerging from the woods near the village of Sillery. The artillery began a barrage. Momentarily, Levis ordered his left flank, led by Colonel Dalquier, to fall back into the woods to avoid the cannon projectiles.
Murray saw the French movement, and the order was given for the men to halt their work and instead, to fix the bayonets onto the muzzles of their muskets. His next order was for his soldiers to advance on the French before they could be formed into ranks. The order could not have been more of a mistake. Murray gave up the one advantage he could have exploited as the French came forward: the stability of the ground on the ridge for the benefit of the cannon. By advancing his men forward, down the slope and across the low lying ground, the artillerymen found that the ground below the slope was soft and muddy. The cannon could not be moved easily across the muddy ground without horses, nor could they be fired on the French line without striking the backs of the advancing British infantry. Nevertheless the order was given, and the British charged toward the French line.
The first object of the advancing British troops was a house and windmill which had been occupied by five companies of French grenadiers. The British infantry assaulted the house and windmill, and the French grenadiers conceded the post. This minor victory encouraged the British troops, and they surged forward. But their advance was checked by the return of the French left flank. Having backed into the woods when the artillery barrage began, Dalquier and his troops now emerged and smashed into the advancing British troops.
The battle that morning between the British right and the French left was primarily a hand-to-hand struggle, the striking of bayonets and swords taking precedence over musket fire, the sharp blades inflicting deadly blows on the bodies of the combatants. It lasted over an hour; at least twice as long as the meeting of Wolfe and Montcalm the previous September.
On the British left, the woods in which the French were established, made an arc into which the British line poured. The French, firing from the relative safety of the woods, mowed down scores of the British soldiers.
General Murray realized he was about to be outflanked by the superior numbers of Levis' army. He ordered a retreat, and a completely disordered retreat it was. The artillery, mired down in the mud, became objects that had to be clambered over ~ and ultimately left on the field for the French to claim after the battle. Many of the wounded soldiers were left on the field. Later, the Indians, who had participated in the battle with the French army, moved across the field scalping and otherwise disfiguring the bodies of the wounded British soldiers who had been left behind.
The General Duc de Levis ordered a regiment to attempt to outflank the retreating British troops, but they failed do so. Murray's troops were able to make their way back to the city, and the safety behind her walls before noon.
The entire battle had lasted about to hours. The British army lost 1,088 killed and wounded. Though less than the British, the French lost 833 men in the battle.
The French troops began digging trenches and setting up a camp to begin a siege to retake the city of Quebec. General Murray set his men to strengthening the weak parts of the defensive walls of the city in anticipation of a siege by the French. Murray also began firing on the French with the nearly one hundred and fifty cannon that were still in the possession of the British.
Even with entrenchments for his troops, Levis was not really prepared to engage in a siege of the city. Apparently, he believed that he would defeat the British easily and quickly, and therefore without a long campaign, the city, and by default the region, would once more be under French control. That assumption can be made because of the evidence provided by Levis himself: he had brought only a few pieces of cannon from Montreal. Surely he had not counted on taking any of the British cannon; he, like Murray, would have had no idea that the British cannon would become bogged down in the mud. Likewise, only the minimal amount of supplies had been brought along by the French army. All of the evidence pointed to an over-confident French commander.
After the defeat of Montcalm the previous autumn, the General Duc de Levis had sent Francois-Marc- Antoine Le Mercier, the chief of artillery, as a messenger to the court at Versailles to request siege guns and the munitions required to flush the British out of the city. He hoped that such relief would reach Quebec soon. The supplies did not come. Initially, Le Mercier was not believed, and was imprisoned. He accomplished his mission later, and the French Ministry sent five ships laden with supplies, escorted by one warship. The tiny fleet was grabbed by British patrols when they attempted to enter the St. Lawrence River.
General Murray was also anxiously watching the river for relief ships from England. The British ship, the Lowestoft was seen coming around the Ile d'Orleons on 09 May. With the Lowestoft came the news that more British ships were making their way up the St. Lawrence River and would arrive in a few days.
The French troops established batteries on which their cannon could be mounted, and by the 11th of May began a bombardment of the city. The British had 132 guns mounted along the walls of the city which answered the French. The artillery duel was active through the 12th, but as their ammunition dwindled, so did the fire from the French cannon. On the 13th, Levis gave orders for the guns to fire not more than twenty rounds per day. By 15 May, the French cannon were virtually silent due to the lack of ammunition.
A week after the Lowestoft arrived at Quebec, during the evening of 15 May, the British ships, the Vanguard and the Diana appeared below the city. And when the next morning dawned, the Diana and the Lowestoft sailed past the city to attack the six French vessels which had transported Levis' army from Montreal. The French Captain Jean Vauquelin put up a good fight. Taking up a position off Pointe-aux-Trembles, Vauquelin, in his ship, the Atalante attempted to block the St. Lawrence. The Lowestoft engaged with the Atalante, and before he ran out of ammunition, Vauquelin sank the Atalante. Eventually, Vauquelin was taken prisoner. The other French vessels gave up without resistance. The cannon of one of the ships were thrown overboard, and she escaped upriver. The other four vessels were driven ashore and burned so that the British could not claim them. As Levis watched the destruction of his ships, he saw the destruction of his siege plans. Through the night of 16 May 1760, the French army slipped off the Plains of Abraham and headed back toward Montreal. The withdrawal was sudden; Levis' troops left thirty-four cannon and six mortar along with their tents, baggage, intrenching tools and even muskets in their wake. Even the sick and wounded French soldiers were left to fend for themselves as the French army headed back to Montreal. The withdrawal of the French army guaranteed that the city of Quebec would remain in British hands to the end of the war.
Along the way, General Levis directed a detachment of three hundred men to be deployed to the fortification at Pointe-aux-Trembles, two hundred to Fort Jacques-Cartier, and twelve hundred to Deschambault. The garrison at Pointe-aux-Trenbles was placed under the command of M. de la Rochebeaucourt. The garrison at Fort Jacques-Cartier was placed under the command of Lieutenant Louis Legardeur de Repentigny. And the garrison at Deschambaut was placed under the command of Captain Jean-Daniel Dumas, adjutant of the militia.
General Murray marched out of the city with a contingent of five battalions of grenadiers and light infantry at dawn on the 17th, intending to attack Levis' rear. The British were too late. As Murray led his men across the marshy ground at Ancienne-Lorette, the French army was finishing the crossing of the Cap-Rouge River. The British turned back to their quarters at Quebec City.
The focus now was aimed at the city of Montreal. Montreal was located 167 miles upstream, from the city of Quebec. Pitt developed a plan that called for a three-pronged assault on the city of Montreal. General Lord Amherst would move northward from Oswego with a complement of 10,000 British troops. General James Murray would move southwestward from Quebec with 2,500 troops. The third prong would consist of Colonel William Haviland bringing 3,400 troops from Crown Point, by traveling northward via the Richelieu River.
By 28 May, General Duc de Levis arrived at the fortification, and relative safety, of Jacques-Cartier. By this time, though, his force had become smaller through desertions. Levis wrote an entry in his journal, dated 21 May, that nearly all of the Canadians had deserted the army. They were primarily farmers, and majority of them had left the army in order to get their crops planted, but the rest of them probably left because they were disillusioned about the prospect of France winning the war. The string of British victories wounded the spirits of the French, and especially of the (French) Canadians whose home and farmsteads had been laid waste by the warfare. Then, to add insult to injury, in June, Levis received a letter from the Court at Versailles notifying the military that the treasury would not honor the drafts made during the previous year. Those drafts had been made not only for supplies, but for the pay intended for the soldiers: for the officers and the troops alike. On 29 May, Levis and his army arrived at Montreal. As the French army encamped at Montreal, there wasn't much optimism in the camp.
Over the 7th and 8th of June, Levis sent an officer by the name of Sieur de Langy with a party of Indians to reconnoiter the British movements around Crown Point. When they were at Pointe-aux-Fers, the French party met up with a company of British soldiers. After a brief skirmish, the French party returned to Montreal.
At this same time, on the shores of Lake Champlain, a detachment of two hundred and fifty men led by Major Robert Rogers ventured toward a small fort at Ile Saint-Therese. Near that fort, where they disembarked at Saint-Jean, Rogers' rangers were attacked by a force of three hundred and fifty French troops. Despite being subdued in the fight that ensued, and despite being forced to retreat to nearby Ile LaMotte, Rogers persevered. On the 15th he pushed on and assaulted the fort on Ile Saint-Therese, about five miles from Saint-Jean. The French outpost fell to the British, who also burned a number of the neighboring houses.
As the spring turned to summer, the British army under General Murray at Quebec numbered approximately twenty-five hundred. By 15 July, nearly all of the British troops at Quebec were embarked on thirty-five vessels to start moving upriver toward Montreal. The fleet that Murray assembled consisted of twelve gunboats (including the schooner Gaspe, carrying eight guns), barges, bateaux and other small craft. These vessels would be escorted by three larger frigates: the Diana, carrying thirty-two guns, under the command of Captain Joseph Deane; the Penzance, carrying forty guns, under the command of Captain William Gough; and the Porcupine, carrying sixteen guns, under the command of John Macartney.
Murray's force would, in a couple days, be joined in a couple days by a force of thirteen hundred soldiers, the 22nd and 40th Foot Regiments, from Louisbourg under the command of Lord Rollo. The British monarch had commanded the fortification at Louisbourg to be dismantled, and the garrison to take part in the advance on Montreal.
As Murray's troops moved up the St. Lawrence, they encountered pockets of French soldiers, with whom they skirmished, but of little account. They also disarmed many of the inhabitants along the way to prevent them from going to the aid of the French army.
General Murray, employing a bit of propaganda, sent couriers through the parishes along the way announcing to the inhabitants that the men were to remain in their homes and not take up arms with the French army at Montreal. The warning was given that, if searched, any homestead at which the men were absent would be deemed aiding the French army, and such homestead would be set on fire. This was not an idle threat, as a few homeowners discovered when their homes were actually set on fire due to the menfolk being absent. By the end of August, with the word having spread faster than the fire that burned a few homesteads, nearly half of Bourlamaque's force, consisting of Canadian militia, deserted him and appeared at the British encampment on Ile Saint-Therese to sign oaths of neutrality and give up their weapons.
Upon learning of Murray's propaganda, Governor Vaudreuil sent out his own proclamation to the Canadian parishes. In a letter to the French Minister of Marine, Nicolas Rene Berryer, Vaudreuil wrote: "I have been compelled to decree the pain of death to the Canadians who are ƒo daƒtardly as to deƒert or give up their arms to the enemy, and to order that the houƒes of thoƒe who do not join our army ƒhall be burned.". It is not recorded whether Vaudreuil's threat resulted in any homesteads being burned, but it has been surmised by certain historians that more Canadians would have responded to the British proclamation as they realized that the British were soon to become their governing entity.
A British soldier was taken prisoner near Trois-Rivieres, and being interrogated by General Levis, he disclosed that Murray and Rollo commanded a force of about 3,500 troops, and that about four hundred additional troops had arrived at Quebec just a few days previously.
Murray approached Trois-Rivieres on 04 August, where the French forces under Adjutant Jean-Daniel Dumas had established entrenchments to guard the village. Murray hurriedly drew his floating batteries up in front of the flotilla. A brief bombardment by the floating batteries forced the French forces to leave the defences.
On the 7th, General Levis visited the region around the village of Sorel and directed the construction of defences on the Ile Saint-Helene and along the north shore of the St. Lawrence near Saint-Marie.
Lake Saint-Pierre is an open body of water on the Saint Lawrence River midway between Sorel and Trois-Rivieres. On 11 August, Murray's ships arrived at Lake Saint-Pierre. Seeing those ships entering the lake, Brigadier Bourlamaque made the decision to withdraw his 2,500 troops; the defensive works had not yet been completed.
Bourlamaque pulled his troops back to Sorel and dug in, in defensive trenches, to wait for the British flotilla. Dumas, with his 1,500 men, arrived and dug in on the north shore near the village of Berthier.
On the 14th, General Levis arrived at Dumas' camp and discussed the situation with the Adjutant. While he was at the encampment at Berthier, on the 17th, Levis received word that Amherst's fleet had engaged the remainder of the French ships on Lake Ontario, and that the French fleet there existed no more. Sensing that Amherst's imminent arrival negated the ability for the French army to deal individually with each arm of the three-fold British campaign, Levis' instructions were for Dumas to not engage the British, but instead to move on to Montreal as Murray advanced in that direction.
Expecting an engagement, the British were probably surprised when it was discovered that Bourlamaque and Dumas had fallen back toward Montreal without a fight. The British army moved to Ile Saint-Therese, just down-river from Montreal, and there established a camp as Bourlamaque and Dumas joined the other French armies occupying Montreal.
By 01 September, the vanguard of murray's fleet landed at Varennes, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, directly to the east of Ile Saint-Therese, about fifteen miles from Montreal. On the 3rd, Murray moved his troops across the water to establish a camp on Ile Saint-Therese.
General Murray settled in to await the arrival of Haviland and Amherst.
Colonel Haviland's advance from Crown Point would basically follow the route taken the previous year by Amherst. More than simply delivering a body of troops to Montreal, Haviland's advance was intended to occupy the attention of the French at Ile-aux-Noix, on the Chambly River, thereby diverting attention away from Amherst's advancing army.
The French garrison at Ile-aux-Noix consisted of only four hundred and fifty men in mid-June. Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville requested reinforcements from the army at Montreal. In response, Levis sent the Second Battalion of the Berry Infanterie along with a couple hundred militiamen. By the end of June, Bougainville would have 1,700 soldiers at Ile-aux-Noix. About twelve miles down-river, at Saint-Jean, there were between twelve and thirteen hundred men, including the La Reine Infanterie and the Royal Roussillon Infanterie, under the command of M. de Roquemaure.
Haviland's force of 3,400 consisted of two battalions of regular army, provincial troops and some Indians. They embarked on transport vessels on 11 August. On 14 August, Haviland landed and disembarked in a swamp at Ile-aux-Noix. By the 23rd, the British had constructed batteries in the swampy land, installed cannon, and began firing on the French fortification.
Additional cannon were towed across land through the surrounding woods and, with the help of Rogers' Rangers, placed in position to fire on a small French naval squadron defending the mouth of the Riviere du Sud. These cannon, commanded by Major Darby, began to fire upon the four or five vessels. One of them, the closest to where the British guns were positioned, cut her cables and attempted to escape from the brisk cannon fire. As her captain and most of the crew were instantly killed, the ship was driven ashore by the wind allowing the British to get possession of her. The other ships, in the meantime, were able to get their sails furled in time to escape from the mouth of the Riviere du Sud, in a mad dash to make it to Saint Jean. They all soon became stranded in the river at a bend, and a number of the rangers swam out to them, and boarding one and overpowering its crew, the other ships' crews quickly surrendered. The British then moved a number of their own vessels to the mouth of the Riviere du Sud. Bougainville's line of communication with Roquemaure was effectively destroyed.
In view of the course of events on Ile-aux-Noix, Governor Vaudreuil directed Bougainville to remove the majority of his men from the island on the evening of 27 August. Only a force of fifty men and the wounded were to remain at the fort, and they were given orders to surrender the following day. Bougainville led his troops from Ile-aux-Noix as instructed, and they made their way through the forest that bordered the river to join the garrison at Saint-Jean.
On the following day, 28 August, Bougainville arrived in the vicinity of the fortification at Saint-Jean, only to find that Roquemaure had been obliged to remove his troops from the fort. British bateaux, serving as floating batteries, had positioned themselves within firing range of the fort, and had proceeded to bombard the French therein. Bougainville and Roquemaure met and made plans on how they should best deal with the advancing British force under Haviland. A company of French soldiers were sent to the garrisons of Fort Chambly and Sainte-Therese with instructions for the Sainte-Therese fortification to be burned, and the garrison transferred to Fort Chambly.
Many of the Canadians in Bougainville's and Roquemaure's armies began to desert at this time, reducing the number greatly.
During the night of 29 to 30 August, Colonel Haviland arrived at Saint-Jean, and as they pushed toward the town, Roquemaure set fire to the village. M. de Roquemaure and his troops remained at Saint-Jean as Bougainville led his troops toward LaPrairie, and from there on to Chambly, where they picked up the garrison, and moved on to join Francois-Charles Bourlamaque who was encamped along the St. Lawrence.
On 01 September, General Duc de Levis arrived at Saint-Jean and conferred with M. de Roquemaure, encouraging him to quit the area and retire to LaPrairie immediately. Colonel Haviland wasted no time at Saint-Jean, and as Levis was meeting with Roquemaure, the British army was already making its way toward Chambly.
On the 2nd of September, Levis met with the sachems of his Indian allies near LaPrairie, to request their continued assistance. In a quirk of fate, while the meeting was taking place, an Indian warrior arrived with news that the tribes in the region had made peace with the British. On hearing the news, the Indian leaders declared there was nothing further to discuss with the French, and they immediately departed.
Colonel Haviland and his troops took possession of Fort Chambly without a fight.
In May, the various segments of General Jeffrey Amherst's army began marching to Oswego. Through the summer, the army was assembled at the fort on the south shore of Lake Ontario. General Amherst moved his headquarters to Oswego on 09 July. Between 05 August and the 10th, the army had embarked on transport vessels beginning their journey down-river toward Montreal. The force under Amherst consisted of ten thousand, one hundred and forty-two soldiers, most of whom were regular army, but some of which were New York, New Jersey and Connecticut provincials. William Johnson, leading approximately seven hundred Indians, joined Amherst. They embarked on approximately eight hundred vessels, including bateaux and whale boats.
General Duc de Levis received news of the assembling of Amherst's army on 11 June. Anticipating an assault by the British from the direction of the Mohawk Valley, Levis had, in March, chosen Captain Pierre Pouchot to take a company of soldiers up the St. Lawrence River with the purpose of constructing a fortification at the river's first set of rapids near the village of La Galette. Close to the Indian mission of La Presentation on the low island of Ile Royale (variously, Galop Island) stood a fort, named Fort Levis. Pouchot proceeded to increase the size of the fortifications to accommodate his force of 316 men. In the end, the new Fort Levis would encompass nearly two-thirds of the island.
General Levis urged Captain Pouchot to simply attempt to stall the advance of Amherst. Knowing that the fort and its garrison of three hundred men would not be able to prevent the British from their advance on Montreal, Levis would be satisfied to have a bit more time to deal with the armies led by Haviland and Murray before having to deal directly with Amherst. In a letter to Bourlamaque, Levis wrote: "We shall be fortunate if the enemy amuse themselves with capturing it [Fort Levis]. My chief anxiety is lest Amherst should reach Montreal so soon that we may not have time to unite our forces to attack Haviland or Murray."
The flotilla of vessels transporting the British troops and their supplies across Lake Ontario were three days in traversing the lake. They entered the region known as the Thousand Islands and cautiously made their way between them, allowing the current to carry them northward.
On the morning of 17 August, as the vanguard of the squadron was approaching within a couple miles of Fort Levis, the last ship of the French fleet on the lakes, the brig, L'Outaoais (in English, the Ottawa) engaged the British ships. For three hours, the ships exchanged fire. The L'Outaoais was manned by one hundred French sailors and carried ten cannon. She put up a good fight, but eventually the commander of the L'Outaoais signalled the ship's surrender. Rather than destroy the French ship, it was simply taken over by a British crew and put into service in the British fleet.
In anticipation of an engagement with the British at Fort Levis, four hundred men under Captain Saint-Luc de La Corne were sent to supplement the fort's garrison.
Amherst drew near to Fort Levis, established gun batteries on the opposing shore and on the neighboring islands, and on 23 August, began a bombardment of the fort. The fort, being constructed only of wood which splintered as the bombs struck, was reduced to ruins during three days of British cannon fire. Twelve French soldiers died, and forty more were wounded, defending the fort. Captain Pierre Pouchot, who had been obliged to surrender Fort Niagara during the previous year, was once again unable to prevent another fortification from falling into the hands of the British army.
With the surrender of the fort, La Corne withdrew his troops and headed toward The Cedars, but enroute, his force simply fell apart. Having been composed primarily of Canadian militia from Ile Perrault and Montreal, they took off for their homes.
The Indians marching with the British army, upon the surrender of the French garrison, made known their intentions to sack the fort, and either take possession of, or kill and scalp, the French prisoners. Johnson argued for the Indians with the argument that such was their customary reward for helping the British army. Amherst refused to allow them to commit such an act of cruelty, and in a rage, about six hundred, or nearly three-quarters, of the Indians deserted from the campaign.
Despite the fact that the taking of Fort Levis lasted only three days, Amherst gave General Duc de Lavis a few extra days of respite when he decided to tarry a bit to rebuild the fortification. He christened the new British fortification: Fort William Augustus.
Beginning the descent of the St. Lawrence, through the rapids, was undertaken by Amherst on 31 August. The passage through the treacherous waters was difficult but relatively easy as the flotilla passed the villages of Galops, Rapide Plat, Long Saut, and Coteau du Lac. But when the British ships reached the region between The Cedars (Les Cedres), and the Cascades, the rapids wreaked havoc on the ships. Forty-six ships were wrecked beyond repair and eighteen sustained damage as they were tossed about in the cataracts. Worse than the damage to the ships was the fact that eighty-four men drowned in the passage.
On 02 September, General Levis received another piece of news that was disconcerting. La Corne reported to General Levis that Amherst had taken Fort Levis near La Galette, and was by now at Les Cedres. He was probably only a day's march away from Montreal. In light of that bit of news, Levis ordered Bougainville and Roquemaure to depart at once for Montreal.
Finally, on 05 September, the British fleet passed through the last of the rapids and reached the calm waters of Lake St. Louis. They made landfall at Ile Perrot and, after taking a short rest from the turmoil they had just gotten through, they set about repairing the boats. The next morning found the British again moving down the St. Lawrence River. Later that day they finally reached Amherst's intended destination of LaChine, nine miles from the city of Montreal. There were no French troops to oppose their landing. And so as soon as they landed, around 11:00am, Amherst directed his army to march overland the nine miles. That same day, they established an encampment about a mile to the west of the city's walls.
On 03 September, while the British were still biting their nails as they passed through the rapids above Montreal, General Duc de Levis called on all of the French forces in the region to converge at Montreal. According to some historians, less than three thousand regular French troops would come to be on hand over the next few days to defend the city. Others place the number of French troops at 2,200. Practically all, if not all, of the Canadian militia had deserted. The Indians confederated to the French army had likewise deserted their French allies.
As the morning of September 07 dawned, nearly seventeen thousand British troops surrounded the city of Montreal. Amherst's army was encamped to the west of the city, with Murray's troops occupying the eastern side. Across the St. Lawrence, on that river's south shore, Colonel Haviland's forces were encamped.
Cannon, that had been unloaded from Amherst's bateaux during the past couple of days, was being hauled from LaChine. The French commanders knew that when they arrived, there would be little defence possible as the town was not constructed to withstand a bombardment.
As the evening of 07 September came on, Governor Vaudreuil realized that, without any prospects of reinforcements arriving from France, he could not perpetuate a stand against the British. He called a council of war with his officers: Levis, Bougainville, Bourlamaque and Roquemaure. Before holding the council, Vaudreuil sent Colonel Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville as a liaison to General Jeffrey Amherst to request a suspension of arms, a cease-fire, for a period of one month. Amherst outright rejected the idea and instead gave Bougainville the message to take back to his leader that the French would have six hours to make a decision on whether or not they would surrender. There would be no more waiting. Vaudreuil held his council and it was unanimously agreed that capitulation was necessary to prevent any further bloodshed in what was clearly a hopeless situation. Vaudreuil had already written a document in which he outlined fifty-five articles of capitulation, which he laid before his officers. There was no dissention in the group. The next morning, around 10:00am, Bougainville returned to Amherst's camp to deliver the document for the British General's consideration.
Also at 10:00am that morning of the 8th, Murray's army began to arrive at the doorstep of the city of Montreal ~ Pointe-aux-Trembles ~ and began to assemble between there and Longue-Pointe. The French army lined the walls of the town. Undoubtedly, there would have been some tense moments as the opposing armies waited to find out what their superiors were planning.
Amherst refused to allow twenty-three of the articles, but granted the remaining articles, some with conditions. Amherst's answers to the first three articles infuriated the French Governor and his officers. The first article, which included the line: "…and the British Garrison shall not enter the place till after the French troops shall have evacuted it.", received Amherst's response: "The whole Garrison of Montreal must lay down their arms, and shall not serve during the present war…". Then, the next two articles dealing with the garrisons of the town of Montreal along with those at Jacques-Cartier and the Island of St. Helen being permitted to retire "with all the honours of war" were tersely answered with "All these troops are not to serve during the present war, and shall likewise lay down their arms…"
Major General Francois de Gaston, Duc de Levis immediately submitted a letter of protest to Governor Vaudreuil. The content of that letter follows:
Vaudreuil was not as verbose in his response:
The primary reason cited by General Amherst for his refusal to allow the French the dignity of 'all the honours of war' was because the French had agitated "the savages to perpetrate the most horrid and unheard of barbarities."
Utimately, on 08 September 1760, the French Governor of Canada, Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, Marquis de Vaudreuil, surrendered the entire province of Canada to the British General Jeffrey Amherst. General Levis sent the command for the French soldiers to stand down.
In a last act of bravado, General Levis ordered the burning of the French regimental colours. Amherst was appalled at the act. He was being deprived of being able to present the captured enemy flags and banners to his king. So Amherst threatened to search all of the personal baggage of the French officers before they would be permitted to depart. Levis objected to what amounted to a major insult. In the end, Amherst gave in and withdrew his threat to inspect the officers personal effects.
On September 09, a detachment of British soldiers entered the city of Montreal, took up a position on the Place d'Armes, and accepted, one by one, the arms of the soldiers of the French army.
Two days later, the French forces began boarding transport vessels to be taken back to France. On 14 September the Berry Infanterie, the Compagnies Franches de la Marine, and the Languedoc Infanterie embarked for their homeland. On 15 September the Guyenne Infanterie, the La Sarre Infanterie, and the Royal Roussillon Infanterie embarked. And finally, on 16 September the Bearn Infanterie and the La Reine Infanterie set sail for France.
As for the French officers, Levis and Bourlamaque left for Quebec on 17 September, while Vaudreuil followed on 20 September, and Bigot the following day. The transport vessels arrived at Quebec on 10 and 11 October, and from there they continued on down the St. Lawrence during the entire month of October. General Levis arrived in Paris on 06 December 1760.
The Articles of Capitulation Between their Excellencies Major General Amherst, Commander in Chief of his Britannic Majeƒty's troops and forces in North America, on the one part, and the Marquis de Vaudreuil, &c. Governor and Lieutenant-General for the King in Canada, on the other.
| Article I | Twenty-four hours after the ƒigning of the preƒent capitulation, the Britiƒh General ƒhall cauƒe the troops of his Britannic Majeƒty to take poƒƒeƒƒion of the Gates of the town of Montreal: and the Britiƒh garriƒon ƒhall not enter the place till after the French troops ƒhall have evacuated it. ---"The whole Garriƒon of Montreal muƒt lay down their arms, and ƒhall not ƒerve during the preƒent war. Immediately after the ƒigning of the preƒent capitulation, the King's troops ƒhall take poƒƒeƒƒion of the gates, and ƒhall poƒt the guards neceƒƒary to preƒerve good order in the town. |
| Article II | The troops and the Militia, who are in garriƒon in the town of Montreal ƒhall go out by the gate of [Quebec] with all the honors of war, ƒix pieces of cannon, and one mortar, which ƒhall be put on board the veƒƒel where the Marquis de Vaudreuil ƒhall embark, with ten rounds for each piece, and the ƒame ƒhall be granted to the garriƒon of Three Rivers, as to the honours of war. |
| Article III | The troops and Militia who are in garriƒon in the fort of Jacques Cartier, and in the iƒland of St. Helen and other forts, ƒhall be treated in the ƒame manner and ƒhall have the ƒame honors ; and theƒe troops ƒhall go to Montreal, or Three Rivers, or Quebec, be there embarked for the firƒt ƒea-port in France by the ƒhorteƒt way. The troops, who are in our poƒts, ƒituated on our frontiers, on the ƒide of Acadia, at Detroit, Michilimakinac, and other poƒts, ƒhall enjoy the ƒame honors, and be treated in the ƒame manner. ---"All theƒe troops are not to ƒerve during the preƒent war, and ƒhall likewiƒe lay down their arms. The reƒt is granted." |
| Article IV | The Militia, after evacuating the above towns, forts and poƒts, ƒhall return to their habitations, without being moleƒted on any pretence whatever, on account of their having carried arms. ---"Granted." |
| Article V | The troops, who keep the field, ƒhall raiƒe their camp, march, drums beating, with their arms, baggage and artillery, to join the garriƒon of Montreal, and ƒhall be treated, in every reƒpect, the ƒame. ---"Theƒe troops, as well as the others, muƒt lay down their arms." |
| Article VI | The ƒubjects of his Britannic Majeƒty, and of his moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty, ƒoldiers, Militia, or ƒeamen, who ƒhall have deƒerted or left the ƒervice of their ƒovereign, and carried arms in North America, ƒhall be, on both ƒides, pardoned for their crime ; they ƒhall be reƒpectively returned to their country; if not, each ƒhall remain where he is without being ƒought after or moleƒted. ---"Refuƒed." |
| Article VII | The magazines, artillery, firelocks, ƒabres, ammunition of war, and, in general, everything that belongs to his moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty, as well in the towns of' Montreal and Three Rivers, as in the forts and poƒts mentioned in the third Article, ƒhall be delivered up, according to exact inventories, to the Commiƒƒaries, who ƒhall be appointed to receive the ƒame in the name of his Britannic Majeƒty. Duplicates of the ƒaid inventories, in due form, ƒhall be given to the Marquis de Vaudreuil. --- "This is everything that can be aƒked on this article." |
| Article VIII | The officers, ƒoldiers, militia, ƒeamen, and even the Indians, detained on account of their wounds or ƒickneƒs, as well as in the hoƒpital as in private houƒes, ƒhall enjoy the privileges of the cartel, and be treated accordingly. --- "The ƒick and wounded ƒhall be treated the ƒame as our own people." |
| Article IX | The Britiƒh General ƒhall engage to ƒend back, to their own homes, the Indians and Moraigans, who make part of his armies, immediately after the ƒigning the preƒent Capitulation. And, in the mean time, the better to prevent all diƒorders on the part of thoƒe who may not be gone away, the ƒaid Generals ƒhall give ƒafeguards to ƒuch perƒons as ƒhall deƒire them, as well in the town as in the country.--- "The firƒt part refuƒed. There never have been any cruelties committed by the Indians of our army; and good order ƒhall be preƒerved." |
| Article X | His Britannic Majeƒty's General ƒhall be anƒwerable for all the diƒorders committed on the part of his troops, and ƒhall oblige them to pay the damages they may commit as well in the towns as in the country.--- "Anƒwered by the preceding Article." |
| Article XI | The Britiƒh General ƒhall not oblige the Marquis de Vaudreuil to leave the town of Montreal before ------------------------, and no perƒon ƒhall be quartered in his houƒe till he is gone. The Chevalier de Levis, Commander of the land forces and Colony troops, the Engineers, Officers of the Artillery, and Commiƒƒary of War, ƒhall alƒo remain at Montreal till the ƒaid day, and ƒhall keep their lodgings there. The ƒame ƒhall be obƒerved with regard to M. Bigot, Intendant, the Commiƒƒaries of Marines and Writers, whom the ƒaid M. Bigot ƒhall have occaƒion for, and no perƒon ƒhall be lodged at the Intendant's houƒe before he ƒhall take his departure.---"The Marquis de Vaudreuil, and all theƒe gentlemen, ƒhall be maƒters of their houƒes, and ƒhall embark when the King's ƒhips ƒhall be ready to ƒail for Europe; and all poƒƒible conveniences ƒhall be granted them." |
| Article XII | The moƒt convenient veƒƒel that can be found ƒhall be appointed to carry the Marquis de Vaudreuil, the Marchioneƒs de Vaudreuil, M. de Rigaud, the Governor of Montreal, and that General's ƒuite by the moƒt direct paƒƒage to the firƒt ƒea-port in France; and every neceƒƒary accommodation ƒhall be made for them. This veƒƒel ƒhall be properly victualed at the expenƒe of his Britannic Majeƒty; and the Marquis de Vaudreuil ƒhall take with him his papers, without their being examined; and his equipages, plate, baggage, and alƒo thoƒe of his retinue.--- "Granted, except the archives which ƒhall be neceƒƒary for the government of the country." |
| Article XIII | If before, or after, the embarkation of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, news of peace ƒhould arrive, and that by treaty, Canada ƒhould remain to his moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty, the Marquis de Vaudreuil ƒhall return to Quebec, or Montreal ; everything ƒhall return to its former ƒtate under the dominion of his moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty, and the preƒent capitulation ƒhall become null and of no effect.--- "Whatever the King may have done on this ƒubject ƒhall be obeyed." |
| Article XIV | Two ƒhips ƒhall be appointed to carry to France le Chevalier de Levis, the principal officers, and the ƒtaff of the land forces, the Engineers, officers of Artillery, and their domeƒtics. Theƒe veƒƒels ƒhall likewiƒe be victualled, and the neceƒƒary accommodations provided in them. The ƒaid officers ƒhall take with them their papers, without being examined, and alƒo their equippages and baggage. Such of ƒaid officers as ƒhall be married ƒhall have liberty to take with them their wives and children, who ƒhall alƒo be victualed.--- "Granted, except that the Marquis de Vaudreuil, and all the officers, of whatever rank they may be, ƒhall faithfully deliver to us all the charts and plans of the country." |
| Article XV | A veƒƒel ƒhall alƒo be appointed for the paƒƒage of M. Bigot, the Intendant, with his ƒuite; in which veƒƒel the proper accommodation ƒhall be made for him, and the perƒons he ƒhall take with him: he ƒhall likewiƒe embark with him his papers, which ƒhall not be examined; his equipages, plate, baggage, and thoƒe of his ƒuite; this veƒƒel ƒhall be victualled as before mentioned.--- "Granted, with the ƒame reƒerve as in the preceding article." |
| Article XVI | The Britiƒh General ƒhall alƒo order the neceƒƒary and moƒt convenient veƒƒels to carry to France, M. de Longueuil, Governor of Three Rivers, the ƒtaff of the Colony and the Commiƒƒaries of the Marine; they ƒhall embark therein their families, ƒervants, baggage and equipages during the paƒƒage, at the expenƒe of his Britannic Majeƒty.--- "Granted." |
| Article XVII | The officers and ƒoldiers, as well of the land forces as of the Colony, and alƒo the Marine officers and ƒeamen who are in the Colony, ƒhall be likewiƒe embarked for France, and ƒufficient and convenient veƒƒels ƒhall be appointed for them. The officers of the land and Marine troops who ƒhall be married, ƒhall take with them their families, and all of them ƒhall have liberty to embark their ƒervants and baggage. As to the ƒoldiers and ƒeamen, thoƒe who are married ƒhall take with them their wives and children, and all of them ƒhall have their haverƒacks and baggage; theƒe veƒƒels ƒhall be properly and ƒufficiently victualed at the expenƒe of his Britannic Majeƒty. ---"Granted" |
| Article XVIII | The officers, ƒoldiers and all the followers of the troops who ƒhall have their baggage in the fields, may ƒend for it before they depart, without any hindrance or moleƒtation. ---"Granted" |
| Article XIX | An hoƒpital ƒhip ƒhall be provided by the Britiƒh General for ƒuch of the wounded and ƒick officers, ƒoldiers and ƒeamen as ƒhall be in a condition to be carried to France, and ƒhall likewiƒe be victualed at the expenƒe of his Britannic Majeƒty. It ƒhall be the ƒame with regard to the other wounded and ƒick officers, ƒoldiers and ƒailors, as ƒoon as they ƒhall be recovered. They ƒhall have liberty to carry with them their wives, children, ƒervants and baggage, and the ƒaid ƒoldiers and ƒailors ƒhall not be ƒolicited nor forced to enter into the ƒervice of his Britannic Majeƒty. ---"Granted" |
| Article XX | A Commiƒƒary and one of the King's Writers ƒhall be left to take care of the hoƒpitals, and whatever may relate to the ƒervice of his moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty.---"Granted" |
| Article XXI | The Britiƒh General ƒhall alƒo provide ƒhips for carrying to France the Officers of the Supreme council, of juƒtice, police, admiralty, and all other officers having commiƒƒions from his moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty, for them, their families, ƒervants and equipages, as well as for the other officers; and they ƒhall likewiƒe be victualed at the expenƒe of his Britannic Majeƒty. They ƒhall, however, be at liberty to ƒtay in the Colony, if they think proper to ƒettle their affairs, or to withdraw to France whenever they think fit.---"Granted ; but if they have papers relating to the government of the country, they are to be delivered up to us." |
| Article XXII | If there are any military officers whoƒe affairs ƒhould require their preƒence in the Colony till the next year, they ƒhall have liberty to ƒtay in it, after having obtained the permiƒƒion of the:Marquis de Vaudreuil for that purpoƒe, and without being reputed priƒoners of war.---"All thoƒe whoƒe private affairs ƒhall require their ƒtay in the country, and who shall have the Marquis de Vaudreuil's leave for ƒo doing, ƒhall be allowed to remain till their affairs are ƒettled." |
| Article XXIII | The contractor for the King's proviƒions ƒhall be at liberty to ƒtay in Canada till next year, in order to be enabled to anƒwer the debts he has incurred in the Colony, on account of what he has furniƒhed; but, if he ƒhould prefer to go to France this year, he ƒhall be obliged to leave, till next year, a perƒon to tranƒact his buƒineƒs. This private perƒon ƒhall preƒerve, and have liberty to carry off all his papers, without being inƒpected. His clerks ƒhall have leave to ƒtay in the Colony or go to France; and, in this laƒt caƒe, a paƒƒage and ƒubƒiƒtence ƒhall be allowed them on board the ƒhips of his Britannic Majeƒty, for them, their families and their baggage.---"Granted." |
| Article XXIV | The proviƒions and other kind of ƒtores, which ƒhall be found in the magazines of the Commiƒƒary, as well as in the towns of Montreal and of Three Rivers, as in the country, ƒhall be preƒerved to him, the ƒaid proviƒions belonging to him, and not to the King; and he ƒhall be at liberty to ƒell them to the French and Engliƒh.---"Everything that is actually in the magazines, deƒtined for the uƒe of the troops, is to be delivered to the Britiƒh Commiƒƒary, for the King's forces." |
| Article XXV | A paƒƒage to France ƒhall likewiƒe be granted, on board of his Britannic Majeƒty's ƒhips, as well as victuals to ƒuch officers of the India company as ƒhall be willing to go thither, and they ƒhall take with them their families, ƒervants and baggage. The chief agent of the ƒaid company, in caƒe he ƒhould chooƒe to go to France, ƒhall be allowed to leave ƒuch perƒon as he ƒhall think proper till next year, to ƒettle the affairs of the ƒaid company, and to recover ƒuch ƒums as are due to them. The chief agent ƒhall take poƒƒeƒƒion of all the papers belonging to the ƒaid company, and they ƒhall not be liable to inƒpection.---"Granted." |
| Article XXVI | This company ƒhall be maintained in the property of the ƒcarlet cloths and beavers they may have in the town of Montreal; which ƒhall not be touched under any pretence whatever, and the neceƒƒary licences ƒhall be given to the chief agent, to ƒend this year his beavers to France, on board his Britannic Majeƒty's ƒhips, paying the freight on the ƒame footing as the Britiƒh would pay it.---"Granted, with regard to what may belong to the company, or to private perƒons; but if his moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty has any ƒhare in it, that muƒt become the property of the King." |
| Article XXVII | The free exerciƒe of the Catholic, Apoƒtolic and Roman religion, ƒhall ƒubƒist entire, in ƒuch manner that all the ƒtates and the people of the towns and countries, places and diƒtant poƒts, ƒhall continue to aƒƒemble in the churches, and to frequent the ƒacraments as heretofore, without being moleƒted in any manner, directly or indirectly. Theƒe people ƒhall be obliged by the Engliƒh government to pay their prieƒts the tithes, and all the taxes they were uƒed to pay under the government of his moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty.---"Granted, as to the free exerciƒe of their religion; the obligation of paying the tithes to the prieƒts will depend on the King's pleaƒure." |
| Article XXVIII | The Chapter, Prieƒts, Curates and Miƒƒionaries, ƒhall continue with an entire liberty, their parochial duties and functions in the town and country pariƒhes.---"Granted." |
| Article XXIX | The Vicars-general named by the Chapter to adminiƒter the dioceƒe during the vacancy of the Epiƒcopal See, ƒhall have liberty to dwell in the town or country pariƒhes, as they ƒhall think proper. They ƒhall, at all times, be free to viƒit the different pariƒhes of the dioceƒe, with the ordinary ceremonies and exerciƒe all the juriƒdiction they exerciƒed under the French dominion. They ƒhall enjoy the ƒame rights in caƒe of the death of the future Biƒhop, of which mention will be made in the following article.---"Granted, except what regards the following article." |
| Article XXX | If by the treaty of peace, Canada ƒhould remain in the power of his Britannic Majeƒty, his moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty ƒhall continue to name the Biƒhop of the Colony who ƒhall be of the Roman communion, and under whoƒe authority the people ƒhall execute the Roman Religion.---"Refuƒed." |
| Article XXXI | The Biƒhop ƒhall, in caƒe of need, eƒtablish new pariƒhes, and provide for the rebuilding of his cathedral and his Epiƒcopal palace; and, in the mean time, he ƒhall have liberty to dwell in the towns or pariƒhes as he ƒhall judge proper. He ƒhall be at liberty to viƒit his dioceƒe with the ordinary ceremonies, and exerciƒe all the juriƒdiction which his predeceƒƒor exerciƒed under the French Dominion, ƒave that an oath of fidelity, or a promiƒe to do nothing contrary to his Britannic Majeƒty's ƒervice may be required of him.---"This article is compriƒed under the foregoing." |
| Article XXXII | The communities of Nuns ƒhall be preƒerved in their conƒtitutions and privileges; they ƒhall continue to obƒerve their rules; they ƒhall be exempted from lodging any military; and it ƒhall be forbid to moleƒt them in their religious exerciƒes, or to enter their convents: ƒafe-guards ƒhall even be given to them, if they deƒire them.---"Granted." |
| Article XXXIII | The preceding article ƒhall likewiƒe be executed, with regard to the communities of Jeƒuits and Recollects, and of the houƒe of the Prieƒts of St. Sulpice, at Montreal; theƒe laƒt and the Jeƒuits, ƒhall preƒerve their right to nominate to certain pariƒhes and miƒƒions, as heretofore.--- "Refuƒed till the King’s pleaƒure be known." |
| Article XXXIV | All the communities and prieƒts, ƒhall preƒerve their movables, the property and revenues of the Seignories, and other eƒtates which they poƒƒeƒs in the Colony of what nature ƒoever they may be; and the ƒame eƒtates ƒhall be preƒerved in their privileges, rights, honors and exemptions.---"Granted." |
| Article XXXV | If the Canons, Prieƒts, Miƒƒionaries, the Prieƒts of the Seminary of the foreign miƒƒions, and of St. Sulpice, as well as the Jeƒuits and the Recollects, chooƒe to go to France, a paƒƒage ƒhall be granted them in his Britannic Majeƒty's ƒhips; and they ƒhall have leave to ƒell, in whole, or in part, the eƒtates and movables they poƒƒeƒs in the Colonies, either to the French or to the Engliƒh, without the leaƒt impediment or obƒtacle from the Britiƒh government. They ƒhall be at liberty to take with them, or ƒend to France, the produce, of what nature ƒoever it may be, of the goods ƒold, paying the freight, as mentioned in the 26th Article. And ƒuch of the ƒaid Prieƒts, who chooƒe to go this year, ƒhall be victualed, during the paƒƒage at the expenƒe of his Britannic Majeƒty; and they ƒhall take with them their baggage.---"They ƒhall be maƒters to diƒpoƒe of their eƒtates, and to ƒend the produce thereof, as well as their perƒons, and all that belongs to them, to France." |
| Article XXXVI | If, by the treaty of peace, Canada remains to his Britannic Majeƒty, all the French, Canadians, Acadians, merchants, and other perƒons, who chooƒe to retire to France, ƒhall have leave to do ƒo from the Britiƒh General, who ƒhall procure them a paƒƒage; and, nevertheleƒs, if, from this time to that deciƒion, any French or Canadian merchants, or other perƒons, ƒhall deƒire to go to France, they ƒhall likewiƒe have leave from the Britiƒh General. Both the one and the other of them ƒhall take with them their families, ƒervants and baggage.---"Granted." |
| Article XXXVII | The Lords of Manors, the Military and Civil officers, the Canadians as well in the towns as in the country, the French, ƒettled, or trading in the whole extent of the Colony of Canada, and all other perƒons whatƒoever, ƒhall preƒerve the entire peaceable property and poƒƒeƒƒion of the goods, noble and ignoble, movable and immovable, merchandiƒes, furs, and other effects, even their ƒhips; they ƒhall not be touched, nor the leaƒt damage done to them, on any pretence whatever. They ƒhall have liberty to keep, let or ƒell them, as well to the French as to the Britiƒh; to take away the produce of them in bills of exchange, furs, ƒpecie or other returns, whenever they ƒhall judge proper to go to France, paying their freight, as in the 26th Article. They ƒhall alƒo have the furs which are in the poƒts above, and which belong to them, and may be on the way to Montreal; and, for this purpoƒe, they ƒhall have leave to ƒend, this year, or the next, canoes, fitted out, to fetch ƒuch of the ƒaid furs as ƒhall have remained in thoƒe poƒts.---"Granted, as in the 26th Article." |
| Article XXXVIII | All the people who have left Acadia, and who ƒhall be found in Canada, including the frontiers of Canada on the ƒide of Acadia, ƒhall have the ƒame treatment as the Canadians, and enjoy the ƒame privileges.---"It is for the King to diƒpoƒe of his ancient ƒubjects; in the meantime, they ƒhall enjoy the ƒame privileges as the Canadians." |
| Article XXXIX | None of the Canadians, Acadians or French, who are now in Canada and on the frontiers of the Colony on the ƒide of Acadia, Detroit, Michillimaquinac, and other places and poƒts of the countries above, nor the married and unmarried ƒoldiers remaining in Canada ƒhall be carried or tranƒported into the Britiƒh Colonies or to Great-Britain, and they ƒhall not be troubled for having carried arms.---"Granted, except with regard to the Acadians." |
| Article XL | The Savages or Indians, allies of his Moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty, ƒhall be maintained in the lands they inhabit; if they chooƒe to remain there, they ƒhall not be moleƒted, on any pretence whatƒoever, for having carried arms, and ƒerved his Moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty. They ƒhall have, as well as the French, freedom of religion, and ƒhall keep their Miƒƒionaries. The actual Vicars-general and the Biƒhop, when the Epiƒcopal See ƒhall be filled, ƒhall have leave to ƒend to them new Miƒƒionaries when they ƒhall judge it neceƒƒary.---"Granted, except this laƒt article, which has been already refuƒed." |
| Article XLI | The French, Canadians and Acadians, of what ƒtate and condition ƒoever, who ƒhall remain in the Colony, ƒhall not be forced to take arms againƒt his Moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty or his allies, directly or indirectly, on any occaƒion whatƒoever; the Britiƒh Government ƒhall only require of them an exact neutrality.---"They become ƒubjects of the King." |
| Article XLII | The French and Canadians ƒhall continue to be governed according to the cuƒtoms of Paris, and the laws and uƒages eƒtablished for this country; and ƒhall not be ƒubject to any other impoƒts than thoƒe which were eƒtabliƒhed under the French dominion.---"Anƒwered by the preceding articles, and particularly by the laƒt." |
| Article XLIII | The papers of the government ƒhall remain, without exception, in the power of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, and ƒhall go to France with him. Theƒe papers ƒhall not be examined on any pretence whatƒoever.---"Granted, with the reƒerve already made." |
| Article XLIV | The papers of the Intendant, of the officers of the Comptroller of the Marine, of the ancient and new Treaƒurers, of the King's Magazines, of the offices of the Revenues and Forges of St. Maurice, ƒhall remain in the power of M. Bigot. the Intendant, and ƒhall be embarked for France in the ƒame veƒƒel with him; theƒe papers ƒhall not be examined.---"The ƒame as to this article." |
| Article XLV | The regiƒters and other papers of the Supreme Council of Quebec, of the Prevote, and admiralty of the ƒaid city; thoƒe of the Royal Juriƒdictions of Three Rivers and of Montreal; thoƒe of the Seignorial Juriƒdictions of the Colony; the minutes of the acts of the Notaries of the towns and of the rural diƒtricts, and, in general, the acts, and other papers that may ƒerve to prove the eƒtates and fortunes of the citizens, ƒhall remain in the Colony, in the rolls of the juriƒdictions on which theƒe papers depend.---"Granted." |
| Article XLVI | The inhabitants and merchants ƒhall enjoy all the privileges of trade, under the ƒame favors and conditions granted to the ƒubjects of his Britannic Majeƒty, as well in the Upper countries, as in the interior.---"Granted." |
| Article XLVII | The Negroes and Panis of both ƒexes ƒhall remain in their quality of ƒlaves, in the poƒƒeƒƒion of the French and Canadians to whom they belong; they ƒhall be at liberty to keep them in their ƒervice in the Colony, or to ƒell them; and they ƒhall alƒo continue to bring them up in the Roman religion.---"Granted; except thoƒe who ƒhall have been made priƒoners." |
| Article XLVIII | The Marquis de Vaudreuil, the General and the Staff Officers of the land forces, the Governors and Staff Officers of the different places of the Colony, the Military and Civil Officers, and all other perƒons who ƒhall leave the Colony, or who are already abƒent, ƒhall have leave to name and appoint Attorneys to act for them, and in their name, in the adminiƒtration of their effects, movable, and immovable, until the peace; and if by the treaty between the two Crowns, Canada does not return under the French dominions, theƒe officers or other perƒons, or Attorneys for them ƒhall have leave to ƒell their manors, houƒes, and other eƒtates, their movables and effects, &c., to carry away or ƒend to France the produce thereof, either in bills of exchange, ƒpecie, furs, or other returns, as is mentioned in the 37th Article.---"Granted." |
| Article XLIX | The inhabitants and other perƒons who ƒhall have ƒuffered any damage in their goods, movable or immovable, which remained at Quebec, under the faith of the capitulation of that city, may make their repreƒentations to the Britiƒh Government, who ƒhall render them due juƒtice againƒt the perƒon whom the ƒame ƒhall concern.---"Granted." |
| Article L and laƒt |
The preƒent capitulation ƒhall be inviolably executed in all its articles, and bona fide on both ƒides, notwithƒtanding any infraction, and any other pretence, with regard to preceding capitulations, and without making uƒe of repriƒals.---"Granted." |
POSTSCRIPT
| Article LI | The Britiƒh Generals ƒhall engage, in caƒe any Indians remain after the ƒurrender of this town, to prevent their coming into the towns, and that they do not in any manner inƒult the ƒubjects of his Moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty.---"Care ƒhall be taken that the Indians do not inƒult any of the ƒubjects of his Moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty." |
| Article LII | The troops and other ƒubjects of his Moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty who are to go to France ƒhall be embarked, at lateƒt, fifteen days after the ƒigning of the preƒent capitulation.---"Anƒwered by the 11th article." |
| Article LIII | The troops and other ƒubjects of his Moƒt Chriƒtian Majeƒty who are to go to France, ƒhall remain lodged and encamped in the town of Montreal and other poƒts which they now occupy, until they ƒhall be embarked for their departure; paƒƒports, however, ƒhall be granted to thoƒe who ƒhall want then., for the different places of the Colony, to go and attend to their affairs.---"Granted." |
| Article LIV | All the officers and ƒoldiers of the troops in the ƒervice of France, who are priƒoners in New England, and who were taken in Canada, ƒhall be ƒent back as ƒoon as poƒƒible to France, where their ranƒom or exchange ƒhall be treated of, agreeable to the cartel; and, if any of theƒe officers have affairs in Canada, they ƒhall have leave to come there.---"Granted." |
| Article LV | As to the officers of the Militia, the Militia-men and the Canadians, who are priƒoners in New England, they ƒhall be ƒent back to their countries.---"Granted, except what regards the Canadians." | Done in the camp before Montreal, this 8th of September 1760. (Signed), JEFF. AMHERST. Certified to be true, according to the original ƒigned by the Marquis de Vaudreuil, and collated by M. Appy, Secretary of M. Amherst. True Copy. (Signed), VAUDREUIL. |
A week after the capitulation, on 15 September, Major Robert Rogers captured Fort Detroit and other Great Lakes posts. The French and Indian War, the American theatre of the Seven Years War, was finally over.
