THE HEIGHTS OF ABRAHAM.
Elation1 of the French ? Despondency of Wolfe ? The Parishes laid waste ? Operations above Quebec ? Illness of Wolfe ? A New Plan of Attack ? Faint Hope of Success ? Wolfe's Last Despatch3 ? Confidence of Vaudreuil ? Last Letters of Montcalm ? French Vigilance ? British Squadron at Cap-Rouge ? Last Orders of Wolfe ? Embarkation4 ? Descent of the St. Lawrence ? The Heights scaled ? The British Line ? Last Night of Montcalm ? The Alarm ? March of French Troops ? The Battle ? The Rout6 ? The Pursuit ? Fall of Wolfe and of Montcalm.
Wolfe was deeply moved by the disaster at the heights of Montmorenci, and in a General Order on the next day he rebuked7 the grenadiers for their precipitation. "Such impetuous, irregular, and unsoldierlike proceedings8 destroy all order, make it impossible for the commanders to form any disposition9 for an attack, and put it out of the general's power to execute his plans. The grenadiers could not suppose that they could beat the French alone."
The French were elated by their success. "Everybody," says the commissary Berniers, "thought that the campaign was as good as ended, gloriously for us." They had been sufficiently10 confident even before their victory; and 260
V2 the bearer of a flag of truce11 told the English officers that he had never imagined they were such fools as to attack Quebec with so small a force. Wolfe, on the other hand, had every reason to despond. At the outset, before he had seen Quebec and learned the nature of the ground, he had meant to begin the campaign by taking post on the Plains of Abraham, and thence laying siege to the town; but he soon discovered that the Plains of Abraham were hardly more within his reach than was Quebec itself. Such hope as was left him lay in the composition of Montcalm's army. He respected the French commander, and thought his disciplined soldiers not unworthy of the British steel; but he held his militia13 in high scorn, and could he but face them in the open field, he never doubted the result. But Montcalm also distrusted them, and persisted in refusing the coveted14 battle.
Wolfe, therefore, was forced to the conviction that his chances were of the smallest. It is said that, despairing of any decisive stroke, he conceived the idea of fortifying15 Isle-aux-Coudres, and leaving a part of his troops there when he sailed for home, against another attempt in the spring. The more to weaken the enemy and prepare his future conquest, he began at the same time a course of action which for his credit one would gladly wipe from the record; for, though far from inhuman16, he threw himself with extraordinary intensity17 into whatever work he had in hand, and, to accomplish it, spared others scarcely more than 261
V2 he spared himself. About the middle of August he issued a third proclamation to the Canadians, declaring that as they had refused his offers of protection and "had made such ungrateful returns in practising the most unchristian barbarities against his troops on all occasions, he could no longer refrain in justice to himself and his army from chastising18 them as they deserved." The barbarities in question consisted in the frequent scalping and mutilating of sentinels and men on outpost duty, perpetrated no less by Canadians than by Indians. Wolfe's object was twofold: first, to cause the militia to desert, and, secondly19, to exhaust the colony. Rangers20, light infantry21, and Highlanders were sent to waste the settlements far and wide. Wherever resistance was offered, farmhouses25 and villages were laid in ashes, though churches were generally spared. St. Paul, far below Quebec, was sacked and burned, and the settlements of the opposite shore were partially26 destroyed. The parishes of L'Ange Gardien, Chateau27 Richer, and St. Joachim were wasted with fire and sword. Night after night the garrison28 of Quebec could see the light of burning houses as far down as the mountain of Cape29 Tourmente. Near St. Joachim there was a severe skirmish, followed by atrocious cruelties. Captain Alexander Montgomery, of the forty-third regiment30, who commanded the detachment, and who has been most unjustly confounded with the revolutionary general, Richard Montgomery, ordered the prisoners to be shot in cold blood, to the indignation 262
V2 of his own officers. [754] Robineau de Portneuf, curé of St. Joachim, placed himself at the head of thirty parishioners and took possession of a large stone house in the adjacent parish of Chateau Richer, where for a time he held the English at bay. At length he and his followers31 were drawn32 out into an ambush33, where they were surrounded and killed; and, being disguised as Indians, the rangers scalped them all. [755]
[754] Fraser Journal. Fraser was an officer under Montgomery, of whom he speaks with anger and disgust.
[755] Knox, II. 32. Most of the contemporary journals mention the incident.
Most of the French writers of the time mention these barbarities without much comment, while Vaudreuil loudly denounces them. Yet he himself was answerable for atrocities34 incomparably worse, and on a far larger scale. He had turned loose his savages36, red and white, along a frontier of six hundred miles, to waste, burn, and murder at will. "Women and children," such were the orders of Wolfe, "are to be treated with humanity; if any violence is offered to a woman, the offender37 shall be punished with death." These orders were generally obeyed. The English, with the single exception of Montgomery, killed none but armed men in the act of resistance or attack; Vaudreuil's war-parties spared neither age nor sex.
Montcalm let the parishes burn, and still lay fast intrenched in his lines of Beauport. He would not imperil all Canada to save a few hundred farmhouses; and Wolfe was as far as ever from the battle that he coveted. Hitherto, his attacks had been 263
V2 made chiefly below the town; but, these having failed, he now changed his plan and renewed on a larger scale the movements begun above it in July. With every fair wind, ships and transports passed the batteries of Quebec, favored by a hot fire from Point Levi, and generally succeeded, with more or less damage, in gaining the upper river. A fleet of flatboats was also sent thither38, and twelve hundred troops marched overland to embark5 in them, under Brigadier Murray. Admiral Holmes took command of the little fleet now gathered above the town, and operations in that quarter were systematically39 resumed.
To oppose them, Bougainville was sent from the camp at Beauport with fifteen hundred men. His was a most arduous40 and exhausting duty. He must watch the shores for fifteen or twenty miles, divide his force into detachments, and subject himself and his followers to the strain of incessant41 vigilance and incessant marching. Murray made a descent at Pointe-aux-Trembles, and was repulsed43 with loss. He tried a second time at another place, was met before landing by a body of ambushed44 Canadians, and was again driven back, his foremost boats full of dead and wounded. A third time he succeeded, landed at Deschambault, and burned a large building filled with stores and all the spare baggage of the French regular officers. The blow was so alarming that Montcalm hastened from Beauport to take command in person; but when he arrived the English were gone.
264
V2 Vaudreuil now saw his mistake in sending the French frigates45 up the river out of harm's way, and withdrawing their crews to serve the batteries of Quebec. Had these ships been there, they might have overpowered those of the English in detail as they passed the town. An attempt was made to retrieve46 the blunder. The sailors were sent to man the frigates anew and attack the squadron of Holmes. It was too late. Holmes was already too strong for them, and they were recalled. Yet the difficulties of the English still seemed insurmountable. Dysentery and fever broke out in their camps, the number of their effective men was greatly reduced, and the advancing season told them that their work must be done quickly, or not done at all.
On the other side, the distress47 of the French grew greater every day. Their army was on short rations2. The operations of the English above the town filled the camp of Beauport with dismay, for troops and Canadians alike dreaded48 the cutting off of their supplies. These were all drawn from the districts of Three Rivers and Montreal; and, at best, they were in great danger, since when brought down in boats at night they were apt to be intercepted49, while the difficulty of bringing them by land was extreme, through the scarcity50 of cattle and horses. Discipline was relaxed, disorder51 and pillage52 were rife53, and the Canadians deserted54 so fast, that towards the end of August two hundred of them, it is said, would sometimes go off in one night. Early in the month the disheartening 265
V2 news came of the loss of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, the retreat of Bourlamaque, the fall of Niagara, and the expected advance of Amherst on Montreal. It was then that Lévis was despatched to the scene of danger; and Quebec was deplorably weakened by his absence. About this time the Lower Town was again set on fire by the English batteries, and a hundred and sixty-seven houses were burned in a night. In the front of the Upper Town nearly every building was a ruin. At the General Hospital, which was remote enough to be safe from the bombardment, every barn, shed, and garret, and even the chapel55 itself, were crowded with sick and wounded, with women and children from the town, and the nuns56 of the Ursulines and the H?tel-Dieu, driven thither for refuge. Bishop57 Pontbriand, though suffering from a mortal disease, came almost daily to visit and console them from his lodging58 in the house of the curé at Charlesbourg.
Towards the end of August the sky brightened again. It became known that Amherst was not moving on Montreal, and Bourlamaque wrote that his position at Isle-aux-Noix was impregnable. On the twenty-seventh a deserter from Wolfe's army brought the welcome assurance that the invaders60 despaired of success, and would soon sail for home; while there were movements in the English camps and fleet that seemed to confirm what he said. Vaudreuil breathed more freely, and renewed hope and confidence visited the army of Beauport.
266
V2 Meanwhile a deep cloud fell on the English. Since the siege began, Wolfe had passed with ceaseless energy from camp to camp, animating61 the troops, observing everything, and directing everything; but now the pale face and tall lean form were seen no more, and the rumor62 spread that the General was dangerously ill. He had in fact been seized by an access of the disease that had tortured him for some time past; and fever had followed. His quarters were at a French farmhouse24 in the camp at Montmorenci; and here, as he lay in an upper chamber63, helpless in bed, his singular and most unmilitary features haggard with disease and drawn with pain, no man could less have looked the hero. But as the needle, though quivering, points always to the pole, so, through torment65 and languor66 and the heats of fever, the mind of Wolfe dwelt on the capture of Quebec. His illness, which began before the twentieth of August, had so far subsided67 on the twenty-fifth that Knox wrote in his Diary of that day: "His Excellency General Wolfe is on the recovery, to the inconceivable joy of the whole army." On the twenty-ninth he was able to write or dictate68 a letter to the three brigadiers, Monckton, Townshend, and Murray: "That the public service may not suffer by the General's indisposition, he begs the brigadiers will meet and consult together for the public utility and advantage, and consider of the best method to attack the enemy." The letter then proposes three plans, all bold to audacity69. The first was to send a part of the 267
V2 army to ford70 the Montmorenci eight or nine miles above its mouth, march through the forest, and fall on the rear of the French at Beauport, while the rest landed and attacked them in front. The second was to cross the ford at the mouth of the Montmorenci and march along the strand71, under the French intrenchments, till a place could be found where the troops might climb the heights. The third was to make a general attack from boats at the Beauport flats. Wolfe had before entertained two other plans, one of which was to scale the heights at St. Michel, about a league above Quebec; but this he had abandoned on learning that the French were there in force to receive him. The other was to storm the Lower Town; but this also he had abandoned, because the Upper Town, which commanded it, would still remain inaccessible72.
The brigadiers met in consultation73, rejected the three plans proposed in the letter, and advised that an attempt should be made to gain a footing on the north shore above the town, place the army between Montcalm and his base of supply, and so force him to fight or surrender. The scheme was similar to that of the heights of St. Michel. It seemed desperate, but so did all the rest; and if by chance it should succeed, the gain was far greater than could follow any success below the town. Wolfe embraced it at once.
Not that he saw much hope in it. He knew that every chance was against him. Disappointment in the past and gloom in the future, the pain and 268
V2 exhaustion74 of disease, toils75, and anxieties "too great," in the words of Burke, "to be supported by a delicate constitution, and a body unequal to the vigorous and enterprising soul that it lodged76," threw him at times into deep dejection. By those intimate with him he was heard to say that he would not go back defeated, "to be exposed to the censure77 and reproach of an ignorant populace." In other moods he felt that he ought not to sacrifice what was left of his diminished army in vain conflict with hopeless obstacles. But his final resolve once taken, he would not swerve78 from it. His fear was that he might not be able to lead his troops in person. "I know perfectly79 well you cannot cure me," he said to his physician; "but pray make me up so that I may be without pain for a few days, and able to do my duty: that is all I want."
In a despatch which Wolfe had written to Pitt, Admiral Saunders conceived that he had ascribed to the fleet more than its just share in the disaster at Montmorenci; and he sent him a letter on the subject. Major Barré kept it from the invalid80 till the fever had abated81. Wolfe then wrote a long answer, which reveals his mixed dejection and resolve. He affirms the justice of what Saunders had said, but adds: "I shall leave out that part of my letter to Mr. Pitt which you object to. I am sensible of my own errors in the course of the campaign, see clearly wherein I have been deficient82, and think a little more or less blame to a man that must necessarily be ruined, of little or no 269
V2 consequence. I take the blame of that unlucky day entirely83 upon my own shoulders, and I expect to suffer for it." Then, speaking of the new project of an attack above Quebec, he says despondingly: "My ill state of health prevents me from executing my own plan; it is of too desperate a nature to order others to execute." He proceeds, however, to give directions for it. "It will be necessary to run as many small craft as possible above the town, with provisions for six weeks, for about five thousand, which is all I intend to take. My letters, I hope, will be ready to-morrow, and I hope I shall have strength to lead these men to wherever we can find the enemy."
On the next day, the last of August, he was able for the first time to leave the house. It was on this same day that he wrote his last letter to his mother: "My writing to you will convince you that no personal evils worse than defeats and disappointments have fallen upon me. The enemy puts nothing to risk, and I can't in conscience put the whole army to risk. My antagonist84 has wisely shut himself up in inaccessible intrenchments, so that I can't get at him without spilling a torrent85 of blood, and that perhaps to little purpose. The Marquis de Montcalm is at the head of a great number of bad soldiers, and I am at the head of a small number of good ones, that wish for nothing so much as to fight him; but the wary86 old fellow avoids an action, doubtful of the behavior of his army. People must be of the profession to understand the disadvantages and difficulties we labor87 270
On the second of September a vessel89 was sent to England with his last despatch to Pitt. It begins thus: "The obstacles we have met with in the operations of the campaign are much greater than we had reason to expect or could foresee; not so much from the number of the enemy (though superior to us) as from the natural strength of the country, which the Marquis of Montcalm seems wisely to depend upon. When I learned that succors90 of all kinds had been thrown into Quebec; that five battalions91 of regular troops, completed from the best inhabitants of the country, some of the troops of the colony, and every Canadian that was able to bear arms, besides several nations of savages, had taken the field in a very advantageous93 situation,—I could not flatter myself that I should be able to reduce the place. I sought, however, an occasion to attack their army, knowing well that with these troops I was able to fight, and hoping that a victory might disperse94 them." Then, after recounting the events of the campaign with admirable clearness, he continues: "I found myself so ill, and am still so weak, that I begged the general officers to consult together for the general utility. They are all of opinion that, as more ships and provisions are now got above the town, they should try, by conveying up a corps95 of four or five thousand men (which is nearly the whole strength of the army after the Points of Levi and Orleans are left in a proper state of defence), to draw the enemy 271
V2 from their present situation and bring them to an action. I have acquiesced96 in the proposal, and we are preparing to put it into execution." The letter ends thus: "By the list of disabled officers, many of whom are of rank, you may perceive that the army is much weakened. By the nature of the river, the most formidable part of this armament is deprived of the power of acting97; yet we have almost the whole force of Canada to oppose. In this situation there is such a choice of difficulties that I own myself at a loss how to determine. The affairs of Great Britain, I know, require the most vigorous measures; but the courage of a handful of brave troops should be exerted only when there is some hope of a favorable event; however, you may be assured that the small part of the campaign which remains98 shall be employed, as far as I am able, for the honor of His Majesty99 and the interest of the nation, in which I am sure of being well seconded by the Admiral and by the generals; happy if our efforts here can contribute to the success of His Majesty's arms in any other parts of America."
Some days later, he wrote to the Earl of Holdernesse: "The Marquis of Montcalm has a numerous body of armed men (I cannot call it an army), and the strongest country perhaps in the world. Our fleet blocks up the river above and below the town, but can give no manner of aid in an attack upon the Canadian army. We are now here [off Cap-Rouge] with about thirty-six hundred men, waiting to attack them when and wherever they 272
V2 can best be got at. I am so far recovered as to do business; but my constitution is entirely ruined, without the consolation100 of doing any considerable service to the state, and without any prospect101 of it." He had just learned, through the letter brought from Amherst by Ensign Hutchins, that he could expect no help from that quarter.
Perhaps he was as near despair as his undaunted nature was capable of being. In his present state of body and mind he was a hero without the light and cheer of heroism102. He flattered himself with no illusions, but saw the worst and faced it all. He seems to have been entirely without excitement. The languor of disease, the desperation of the chances, and the greatness of the stake may have wrought103 to tranquillize him. His energy was doubly tasked: to bear up his own sinking frame, and to achieve an almost hopeless feat64 of arms.
Audacious as it was, his plan cannot be called rash if we may accept the statement of two well-informed writers on the French side. They say that on the tenth of September the English naval105 commanders held a council on board the flagship, in which it was resolved that the lateness of the season required the fleet to leave Quebec without delay. They say further that Wolfe then went to the Admiral, told him that he had found a place where the heights could be scaled, that he would send up a hundred and fifty picked men to feel the way, and that if they gained a lodgment at the top, the other troops should follow; if, on the other hand, the French were there in force to 273
V2 oppose them, he would not sacrifice the army in a hopeless attempt, but embark them for home, consoled by the thought that all had been done that man could do. On this, concludes the story, the Admiral and his officers consented to wait the result. [756]
[756] This statement is made by the Chevalier Johnstone, and, with some variation, by the author of the valuable Journal tenu à l'Armée que commandoit feu M. le Marquis de Montcalm. Bigot says that, after the battle, he was told by British officers that Wolfe meant to risk only an advance party of two hundred men, and to reimbark if they were repulsed.
As Wolfe had informed Pitt, his army was greatly weakened. Since the end of June his loss in killed and wounded was more than eight hundred and fifty, including two colonels, two majors, nineteen captains, and thirty-four subalterns; and to these were to be added a greater number disabled by disease.
The squadron of Admiral Holmes above Quebec had now increased to twenty-two vessels106, great and small. One of the last that went up was a diminutive107 schooner108, armed with a few swivels, and jocosely109 named the "Terror of France." She sailed by the town in broad daylight, the French, incensed110 at her impudence111, blazing at her from all their batteries; but she passed unharmed, anchored by the Admiral's ship, and saluted112 him triumphantly113 with her swivels.
Wolfe's first move towards executing his plan was the critical one of evacuating114 the camp at Montmorenci. This was accomplished115 on the third of September. Montcalm sent a strong force to fall on the rear of the retiring English. Monckton 274
V2 saw the movement from Point Levi, embarked116 two battalions in the boats of the fleet, and made a feint of landing at Beauport. Montcalm recalled his troops to repulse42 the threatened attack; and the English withdrew from Montmorenci unmolested, some to the Point of Orleans, others to Point Levi. On the night of the fourth a fleet of flatboats passed above the town with the baggage and stores. On the fifth, Murray, with four battalions, marched up to the River Etechemin, and forded it under a hot fire from the French batteries at Sillery. Monckton and Townshend followed with three more battalions, and the united force, of about thirty-six hundred men, was embarked on board the ships of Holmes, where Wolfe joined them on the same evening.
These movements of the English filled the French commanders with mingled117 perplexity, anxiety, and hope. A deserter told them that Admiral Saunders was impatient to be gone. Vaudreuil grew confident. "The breaking up of the camp at Montmorenci," he says, "and the abandonment of the intrenchments there, the reimbarkation on board the vessels above Quebec of the troops who had encamped on the south bank, the movements of these vessels, the removal of the heaviest pieces of artillery118 from the batteries of Point Levi,—these and the lateness of the season all combined to announce the speedy departure of the fleet, several vessels of which had even sailed down the river already. The prisoners and the deserters who daily came in told us that this was the common 275
V2 report in their army." [757] He wrote to Bourlamaque on the first of September: "Everything proves that the grand design of the English has failed."
[757] Vaudreuil au Ministre, 5 Oct. 1759.
Yet he was ceaselessly watchful119. So was Montcalm; and he, too, on the night of the second, snatched a moment to write to Bourlamaque from his headquarters in the stone house, by the river of Beauport: "The night is dark; it rains; our troops are in their tents, with clothes on, ready for an alarm; I in my boots; my horses saddled. In fact, this is my usual way. I wish you were here; for I cannot be everywhere, though I multiply myself, and have not taken off my clothes since the twenty-third of June." On the eleventh of September he wrote his last letter to Bourlamaque, and probably the last that his pen ever traced. "I am overwhelmed with work, and should often lose temper, like you, if I did not remember that I am paid by Europe for not losing it. Nothing new since my last. I give the enemy another month, or something less, to stay here." The more sanguine120 Vaudreuil would hardly give them a week.
Meanwhile, no precaution was spared. The force under Bougainville above Quebec was raised to three thousand men. [758] He was ordered to watch the shore as far as Jacques-Cartier, and follow with his main body every movement of Holmes's 276
V2 squadron. There was little fear for the heights near the town; they were thought inaccessible. [759] Even Montcalm believed them safe, and had expressed himself to that effect some time before. "We need not suppose," he wrote to Vaudreuil, "that the enemy have wings;" and again, speaking of the very place where Wolfe afterwards landed, "I swear to you that a hundred men posted there would stop their whole army." [760] He was right. A hundred watchful and determined121 men could have held the position long enough for reinforcements to come up.
[758] Journal du Siége (Bibliothêque de Hartwell). Journal tenu à l'Armée, etc. Vaudreuil au Ministre, 5 Oct. 1759.
[760] Montcalm à Vaudreuil, 27 Juillet. Ibid., 29 Juillet, 1759.
The hundred men were there. Captain de Vergor, of the colony troops, commanded them, and reinforcements were within his call; for the battalion92 of Guienne had been ordered to encamp close at hand on the Plains of Abraham. [761] Vergor's post, called Anse du Foulon, was a mile and a half from Quebec. A little beyond it, by the brink123 of the cliffs, was another post, called Samos, held by seventy men with four cannon124; and, beyond this again, the heights of Sillery were guarded by a hundred and thirty men, also with cannon. [762] These were outposts of Bougainville, whose headquarters were at Cap-Rouge, six miles above Sillery, and whose troops were in continual movement along the intervening shore. Thus all was vigilance; for while the French were strong in the hope of speedy delivery, they felt that there was no safety 277
V2 till the tents of the invader59 had vanished from their shores and his ships from their river. "What we knew," says one of them, "of the character of M. Wolfe, that impetuous, bold, and intrepid125 warrior126, prepared us for a last attack before he left us."
[761] Foligny, Journal mémoratif. Journal tenu à l'Armée, etc.
[762] Vaudreuil au Ministre, 5 Oct. 1759.
Wolfe had been very ill on the evening of the fourth. The troops knew it, and their spirits sank; but, after a night of torment, he grew better, and was soon among them again, rekindling127 their ardor128, and imparting a cheer that he could not share. For himself he had no pity; but when he heard of the illness of two officers in one of the ships, he sent them a message of warm sympathy, advised them to return to Point Levi, and offered them his own barge129 and an escort. They thanked him, but replied that, come what might, they would see the enterprise to an end. Another officer remarked in his hearing that one of the invalids131 had a very delicate constitution. "Don't tell me of constitution," said Wolfe; "he has good spirit, and good spirit will carry a man through everything." [763] An immense moral force bore up his own frail132 body and forced it to its work.
[763] Knox, II. 61, 65.
Major Robert Stobo, who, five years before, had been given as a hostage to the French at the capture of Fort Necessity, arrived about this time in a vessel from Halifax. He had long been a prisoner at Quebec, not always in close custody133, and had used his opportunities to acquaint himself with the neighborhood. In the spring of this year he 278
V2 and an officer of rangers named Stevens had made their escape with extraordinary skill and daring; and he now returned to give his countrymen the benefit of his local knowledge. [764] His biographer says that it was he who directed Wolfe in the choice of a landing-place. [765] Be this as it may, Wolfe in person examined the river and the shores as far as Pointe-aux-Trembles; till at length, landing on the south side a little above Quebec, and looking across the water with a telescope, he descried135 a path that ran with a long slope up the face of the woody precipice136, and saw at the top a cluster of tents. They were those of Vergor's guard at the Anse du Foulon, now called Wolfe's Cove12. As he could see but ten or twelve of them, he thought that the guard could not be numerous, and might be overpowered. His hope would have been stronger if he had known that Vergor had once been tried for misconduct and cowardice137 in the surrender of Beauséjour, and saved from merited disgrace by the friendship of Bigot and the protection of Vaudreuil. [766]
[764] Letters in Boston Post Boy, No. 97, and Boston Evening Post, No. 1,258.
[766] See supra, Vol I. p. 253.
The morning of the seventh was fair and warm, and the vessels of Holmes, their crowded decks gay with scarlet139 uniforms, sailed up the river to Cap-Rouge. A lively scene awaited them; for here were the headquarters of Bougainville, and here lay his principal force, while the rest watched the banks above and below. The cove into which 279
V2 the little river runs was guarded by floating batteries; the surrounding shore was defended by breastworks; and a large body of regulars, militia, and mounted Canadians in blue uniforms moved to and fro, with restless activity, on the hills behind. When the vessels came to anchor, the horsemen dismounted and formed in line with the infantry; then, with loud shouts, the whole rushed down the heights to man their works at the shore. That true Briton, Captain Knox, looked on with a critical eye from the gangway of his ship, and wrote that night in his Diary that they had made a ridiculous noise. "How different!" he exclaims, "how nobly awful and expressive140 of true valor141 is the customary silence of the British troops!"
In the afternoon the ships opened fire, while the troops entered the boats and rowed up and down as if looking for a landing-place. It was but a feint of Wolfe to deceive Bougainville as to his real design. A heavy easterly rain set in on the next morning, and lasted two days without respite142. All operations were suspended, and the men suffered greatly in the crowded transports. Half of them were therefore landed on the south shore, where they made their quarters in the village of St. Nicolas, refreshed themselves, and dried their wet clothing, knapsacks, and blankets.
For several successive days the squadron of Holmes was allowed to drift up the river with the flood tide and down with the ebb143, thus passing and repassing incessantly144 between the neighborhood 280
V2 of Quebec on one hand, and a point high above Cap-Rouge on the other; while Bougainville, perplexed145, and always expecting an attack, followed the ships to and fro along the shore, by day and by night, till his men were exhausted146 with ceaseless forced marches. [767]
[767] Joannès, Major de Québec, Mémoire sur la Campagne de 1759.
At last the time for action came. On Wednesday, the twelfth, the troops at St. Nicolas were embarked again, and all were told to hold themselves in readiness. Wolfe, from the flagship "Sutherland," issued his last general orders. "The enemy's force is now divided, great scarcity of provisions in their camp, and universal discontent among the Canadians. Our troops below are in readiness to join us; all the light artillery and tools are embarked at the Point of Levi; and the troops will land where the French seem least to expect it. The first body that gets on shore is to march directly to the enemy and drive them from any little post they may occupy; the officers must be careful that the succeeding bodies do not by any mistake fire on those who go before them. The battalions must form on the upper ground with expedition, and be ready to charge whatever presents itself. When the artillery and troops are landed, a corps will be left to secure the landing-place, while the rest march on and endeavor to bring the Canadians and French to a battle. The officers and men will remember what their country expects from them, and what a determined body of soldiers inured147 to war is capable 281
V2 of doing against five weak French battalions mingled with a disorderly peasantry."
The spirit of the army answered to that of its chief. The troops loved and admired their general, trusted their officers, and were ready for any attempt. "Nay148, how could it be otherwise," quaintly149 asks honest Sergeant150 John Johnson, of the fifty-eighth regiment, "being at the heels of gentlemen whose whole thirst, equal with their general, was for glory? We had seen them tried, and always found them sterling151. We knew that they would stand by us to the last extremity152."
Wolfe had thirty-six hundred men and officers with him on board the vessels of Holmes; and he now sent orders to Colonel Burton at Point Levi to bring to his aid all who could be spared from that place and the Point of Orleans. They were to march along the south bank, after nightfall, and wait further orders at a designated spot convenient for embarkation. Their number was about twelve hundred, so that the entire forced destined153 for the enterprise was at the utmost forty-eight hundred. [768] With these, Wolfe meant to climb the heights of Abraham in the teeth of an enemy who, though much reduced, were still twice as numerous as their assailants. [769]
[768] See Note, end of chapter.
[769] Including Bougainville's command. An escaped prisoner told Wolfe, a few days before, that Montcalm still had fourteen thousand men. Journal of an Expedition on the River St. Lawrence. This meant only those in the town and the camps of Beauport. "I don't believe their whole army amounts to that number," wrote Wolfe to Colonel Burton, on the tenth. He knew, however, that if Montcalm could bring all his troops together, the French would outnumber him more than two to one.
282
V2 Admiral Saunders lay with the main fleet in the Basin of Quebec. This excellent officer, whatever may have been his views as to the necessity of a speedy departure, aided Wolfe to the last with unfailing energy and zeal154. It was agreed between them that while the General made the real attack, the Admiral should engage Montcalm's attention by a pretended one. As night approached, the fleet ranged itself along the Beauport shore; the boats were lowered and filled with sailors, marines, and the few troops that had been left behind; while ship signalled to ship, cannon flashed and thundered, and shot ploughed the beach, as if to clear a way for assailants to land. In the gloom of the evening the effect was imposing155. Montcalm, who thought that the movements of the English above the town were only a feint, that their main force was still below it, and that their real attack would be made there, was completely deceived, and massed his troops in front of Beauport to repel156 the expected landing. But while in the fleet of Saunders all was uproar157 and ostentatious menace, the danger was ten miles away, where the squadron of Holmes lay tranquil104 and silent at its anchorage off Cap-Rouge.
It was less tranquil than it seemed. All on board knew that a blow would be struck that night, though only a few high officers knew where. Colonel Howe, of the light infantry, called for volunteers to lead the unknown and desperate venture, promising158, in the words of one of them, "that if any of us survived we might depend on 283
V2 being recommended to the General." [770] As many as were wanted—twenty-four in all—soon came forward. Thirty large bateaux and some boats belonging to the squadron lay moored159 alongside the vessels; and late in the evening the troops were ordered into them, the twenty-four volunteers taking their place in the foremost. They held in all about seventeen hundred men. The rest remained on board.
[770] Journal of the Particular Transactions during the Siege of Quebec. The writer, a soldier in the light infantry, says he was one of the first eight who came forward. See Notes and Queries160, XX. 370.
Bougainville could discern the movement, and misjudged it, thinking that he himself was to be attacked. The tide was still flowing; and, the better to deceive him, the vessels and boats were allowed to drift upward with it for a little distance, as if to land above Cap-Rouge.
The day had been fortunate for Wolfe. Two deserters came from the camp of Bougainville with intelligence that, at ebb tide on the next night, he was to send down a convoy161 of provisions to Montcalm. The necessities of the camp at Beauport, and the difficulties of transportation by land, had before compelled the French to resort to this perilous162 means of conveying supplies; and their boats, drifting in darkness under the shadows of the northern shore, had commonly passed in safety. Wolfe saw at once that, if his own boats went down in advance of the convoy, he could turn the intelligence of the deserters to good account.
284
V2 He was still on board the "Sutherland." Every preparation was made, and every order given; it only remained to wait the turning of the tide. Seated with him in the cabin was the commander of the sloop-of-war "Porcupine," his former school-fellow, John Jervis, afterwards Earl St. Vincent. Wolfe told him that he expected to die in the battle of the next day; and taking from his bosom163 a miniature of Miss Lowther, his betrothed164, he gave it to him with a request that he would return it to her if the presentiment165 should prove true. [771]
[771] Tucker, Life of Earl St. Vincent, I. 19. (London, 1844.)
Towards two o'clock the tide began to ebb, and a fresh wind blew down the river. Two lanterns were raised into the maintop shrouds166 of the "Sutherland." It was the appointed signal; the boats cast off and fell down with the current, those of the light infantry leading the way. The vessels with the rest of the troops had orders to follow a little later.
To look for a moment at the chances on which this bold adventure hung. First, the deserters told Wolfe that provision-boats were ordered to go down to Quebec that night; secondly, Bougainville countermanded167 them; thirdly, the sentries169 posted along the heights were told of the order, but not of the countermand168; [772] fourthly, Vergor at the Anse du Foulon had permitted most of his men, chiefly Canadians from Lorette, to go home for a time and work at their harvesting, on condition, it is said, that they should afterwards work 285
V2 in a neighboring field of his own; [773] fifthly, he kept careless watch, and went quietly to bed; sixthly, the battalion of Guienne, ordered to take post on the Plains of Abraham, had, for reasons unexplained, remained encamped by the St. Charles; [774] and lastly, when Bougainville saw Holmes's vessels drift down the stream, he did not tax his weary troops to follow them, thinking that they would return as usual with the flood tide. [775] But for these conspiring170 circumstances New France might have lived a little longer, and the fruitless heroism of Wolfe would have passed, with countless171 other heroisms, into oblivion.
[772] Journal tenu à l'Armée, etc.
[773] Mémoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760.
[774] Foligny, Journal mémoratif. Journal tenu à l'Armée, etc.
[775] Johnstone, Dialogue. Vaudreuil au Ministre, 5 Oct. 1759.
For full two hours the procession of boats, borne on the current, steered172 silently down the St. Lawrence. The stars were visible, but the night was moonless and sufficiently dark. The General was in one of the foremost boats, and near him was a young midshipman, John Robison, afterwards professor of natural philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. He used to tell in his later life how Wolfe, with a low voice, repeated Gray's Elegy173 in a Country Churchyard to the officers about him. Probably it was to relieve the intense strain of his thoughts. Among the rest was the verse which his own fate was soon to illustrate,—
"The paths of glory lead but to the grave."
"Gentlemen," he said, as his recital174 ended, "I would rather have written those lines than take 286
V2 Quebec." None were there to tell him that the hero is greater than the poet.
As they neared their destination, the tide bore them in towards the shore, and the mighty175 wall of rock and forest towered in darkness on their left. The dead stillness was suddenly broken by the sharp Qui vive! of a French sentry176, invisible in the thick gloom. France! answered a Highland23 officer of Fraser's regiment from one of the boats of the light infantry. He had served in Holland, and spoke177 French fluently.
à quel régiment?
De la Reine, replied the Highlander22. He knew that a part of that corps was with Bougainville. The sentry, expecting the convoy of provisions, was satisfied, and did not ask for the password.
Soon after, the foremost boats were passing the heights of Samos, when another sentry challenged them, and they could see him through the darkness running down to the edge of the water, within range of a pistol-shot. In answer to his questions, the same officer replied, in French: "Provision-boats. Don't make a noise; the English will hear us." [776] In fact, the sloop-of-war "Hunter" was anchored in the stream not far off. This time, again, the sentry let them pass. In a few moments they rounded the headland above the Anse du Foulon. There was no sentry there. The strong current swept the boats of the light infantry a 287
V2 little below the intended landing-place. [777] They disembarked on a narrow strand at the foot of heights as steep as a hill covered with trees can be. The twenty-four volunteers led the way, climbing with what silence they might, closely followed by a much larger body. When they reached the top they saw in the dim light a cluster of tents at a short distance, and immediately made a dash at them. Vergor leaped from bed and tried to run off, but was shot in the heel and captured. His men, taken by surprise, made little resistance. One or two were caught, the rest fled.
[776] See a note of Smollett, History of England, V. 56 (ed. 1805). Sergeant Johnson, Vaudreuil, Foligny, and the Journal of Particular Transactions give similar accounts.
[777] Saunders to Pitt, 20 Sept. Journal of Sergeant Johnson. Compare Knox, II. 67.
The main body of troops waited in their boats by the edge of the strand. The heights near by were cleft179 by a great ravine choked with forest trees; and in its depths ran a little brook180 called Ruisseau St.-Denis, which, swollen181 by the late rains, fell plashing in the stillness over a rock. Other than this no sound could reach the strained ear of Wolfe but the gurgle of the tide and the cautious climbing of his advance-parties as they mounted the steeps at some little distance from where he sat listening. At length from the top came a sound of musket-shots, followed by loud huzzas, and he knew that his men were masters of the position. The word was given; the troops leaped from the boats and scaled the heights, some here, some there, clutching at trees and bushes, their muskets182 slung183 at their backs. Tradition still points out the place, near the mouth of the 288
V2 ravine, where the foremost reached the top. Wolfe said to an officer near him: "You can try it, but I don't think you'll get up." He himself, however, found strength to drag himself up with the rest. The narrow slanting184 path on the face of the heights had been made impassable by trenches185 and abattis; but all obstructions186 were soon cleared away, and then the ascent187 was easy. In the gray of the morning the long file of red-coated soldiers moved quickly upward, and formed in order on the plateau above.
Before many of them had reached the top, cannon were heard close on the left. It was the battery at Samos firing on the boats in the rear and the vessels descending188 from Cap-Rouge. A party was sent to silence it; this was soon effected, and the more distant battery at Sillery was next attacked and taken. As fast as the boats were emptied they returned for the troops left on board the vessels and for those waiting on the southern shore under Colonel Burton.
The day broke in clouds and threatening rain. Wolfe's battalions were drawn up along the crest189 of the heights. No enemy was in sight, though a body of Canadians had sallied from the town and moved along the strand towards the landing-place, whence they were quickly driven back. He had achieved the most critical part of his enterprise; yet the success that he coveted placed him in imminent190 danger. On one side was the garrison of Quebec and the army of Beauport, and Bougainville was on the other. Wolfe's alternative was 289
V2 victory or ruin; for if he should be overwhelmed by a combined attack, retreat would be hopeless. His feelings no man can know; but it would be safe to say that hesitation191 or doubt had no part in them.
He went to reconnoitre the ground, and soon came to the Plains of Abraham, so called from Abraham Martin, a pilot known as Ma?tre Abraham, who had owned a piece of land here in the early times of the colony. The Plains were a tract192 of grass, tolerably level in most parts, patched here and there with cornfields, studded with clumps193 of bushes, and forming a part of the high plateau at the eastern end of which Quebec stood. On the south it was bounded by the declivities along the St. Lawrence; on the north, by those along the St. Charles, or rather along the meadows through which that lazy stream crawled like a writhing194 snake. At the place that Wolfe chose for his battle-field the plateau was less than a mile wide.
Thither the troops advanced, marched by files till they reached the ground, and then wheeled to form their line of battle, which stretched across the plateau and faced the city. It consisted of six battalions and the detached grenadiers from Louisbourg, all drawn up in ranks three deep. Its right wing was near the brink of the heights along the St. Lawrence; but the left could not reach those along the St. Charles. On this side a wide space was perforce left open, and there was danger of being outflanked. To prevent this, Brigadier Townshend was stationed here with two battalions, 290
V2 drawn up at right angles with the rest, and fronting the St. Charles. The battalion of Webb's regiment, under Colonel Burton, formed the reserve; the third battalion of Royal Americans was left to guard the landing; and Howe's light infantry occupied a wood far in the rear. Wolfe, with Monckton and Murray, commanded the front line, on which the heavy fighting was to fall, and which, when all the troops had arrived, numbered less than thirty-five hundred men. [778]
[778] See Note, end of chapter.
Quebec was not a mile distant, but they could not see it; for a ridge195 of broken ground intervened, called Buttes-à-Neveu, about six hundred paces off. The first division of troops had scarcely come up when, about six o'clock, this ridge was suddenly thronged196 with white uniforms. It was the battalion of Guienne, arrived at the eleventh hour from its camp by the St. Charles. Some time after there was hot firing in the rear. It came from a detachment of Bougainville's command attacking a house where some of the light infantry were posted. The assailants were repulsed, and the firing ceased. Light showers fell at intervals197, besprinkling the troops as they stood patiently waiting the event.
Montcalm had passed a troubled night. Through all the evening the cannon bellowed198 from the ships of Saunders, and the boats of the fleet hovered199 in the dusk off the Beauport shore, threatening every moment to land. Troops lined the intrenchments till day, while the General walked the field that 291
V2 adjoined his headquarters till one in the morning, accompanied by the Chevalier Johnstone and Colonel Poulariez. Johnstone says that he was in great agitation200, and took no rest all night. At daybreak he heard the sound of cannon above the town. It was the battery at Samos firing on the English ships. He had sent an officer to the quarters of Vaudreuil, which were much nearer Quebec, with orders to bring him word at once should anything unusual happen. But no word came, and about six o'clock he mounted and rode thither with Johnstone. As they advanced, the country behind the town opened more and more upon their sight; till at length, when opposite Vaudreuil's house, they saw across the St. Charles, some two miles away, the red ranks of British soldiers on the heights beyond.
"This is a serious business," Montcalm said; and sent off Johnstone at full gallop201 to bring up the troops from the centre and left of the camp. Those of the right were in motion already, doubtless by the Governor's order. Vaudreuil came out of the house. Montcalm stopped for a few words with him; then set spurs to his horse, and rode over the bridge of the St. Charles to the scene of danger. [779] He rode with a fixed202 look, uttering not a word. [780]
[779] Johnstone, Dialogue.
[780] Malartic à Bourlamaque,—Sept. 1759.
The army followed in such order as it might, crossed the bridge in hot haste, passed under the northern rampart of Quebec, entered at the Palace 292
V2 Gate, and pressed on in headlong march along the quaint134 narrow streets of the warlike town: troops of Indians in scalplocks and war-paint, a savage35 glitter in their deep-set eyes; bands of Canadians whose all was at stake,—faith, country, and home; the colony regulars; the battalions of Old France, a torrent of white uniforms and gleaming bayonets, La Sarre, Languedoc, Roussillon, Béarn,—victors of Oswego, William Henry, and Ticonderoga. So they swept on, poured out upon the plain, some by the gate of St. Louis, and some by that of St. John, and hurried, breathless, to where the banners of Guienne still fluttered on the ridge.
Montcalm was amazed at what he saw. He had expected a detachment, and he found an army. Full in sight before him stretched the lines of Wolfe: the close ranks of the English infantry, a silent wall of red, and the wild array of the Highlanders, with their waving tartans, and bagpipes203 screaming defiance204. Vaudreuil had not come; but not the less was felt the evil of a divided authority and the jealousy205 of the rival chiefs. Montcalm waited long for the forces he had ordered to join him from the left wing of the army. He waited in vain. It is said that the Governor had detained them, lest the English should attack the Beauport shore. Even if they did so, and succeeded, the French might defy them, could they but put Wolfe to rout on the Plains of Abraham. Neither did the garrison of Quebec come to the aid of Montcalm. He sent 293
V2 to Ramesay, its commander, for twenty-five field-pieces which were on the Palace battery. Ramesay would give him only three, saying that he wanted them for his own defence. There were orders and counter-orders; misunderstanding, haste, delay, perplexity.
Montcalm and his chief officers held a council of war. It is said that he and they alike were for immediate178 attack. His enemies declare that he was afraid lest Vaudreuil should arrive and take command; but the Governor was not a man to assume responsibility at such a crisis. Others say that his impetuosity overcame his better judgment207; and of this charge it is hard to acquit208 him. Bougainville was but a few miles distant, and some of his troops were much nearer; a messenger sent by way of Old Lorette could have reached him in an hour and a half at most, and a combined attack in front and rear might have been concerted with him. If, moreover, Montcalm could have come to an understanding with Vaudreuil, his own force might have been strengthened by two or three thousand additional men from the town and the camp of Beauport; but he felt that there was no time to lose, for he imagined that Wolfe would soon be reinforced, which was impossible, and he believed that the English were fortifying themselves, which was no less an error. He has been blamed not only for fighting too soon, but for fighting at all. In this he could not choose. Fight he must, for Wolfe was now in a position to cut off all his supplies. His men were full of ardor, and he resolved to 294
V2 attack before their ardor cooled. He spoke a few words to them in his keen, vehement209 way. "I remember very well how he looked," one of the Canadians, then a boy of eighteen, used to say in his old age; "he rode a black or dark bay horse along the front of our lines, brandishing210 his sword, as if to excite us to do our duty. He wore a coat with wide sleeves, which fell back as he raised his arm, and showed the white linen211 of the wristband." [781]
[781] Recollections of Joseph Trahan, in Revue Canadienne, IV. 856.
The English waited the result with a composure which, if not quite real, was at least well feigned212. The three field-pieces sent by Ramesay plied130 them with canister-shot, and fifteen hundred Canadians and Indians fusilladed them in front and flank. Over all the plain, from behind bushes and knolls213 and the edge of cornfields, puffs214 of smoke sprang incessantly from the guns of these hidden marksmen. Skirmishers were thrown out before the lines to hold them in check, and the soldiers were ordered to lie on the grass to avoid the shot. The firing was liveliest on the English left, where bands of sharpshooters got under the edge of the declivity215, among thickets216, and behind scattered217 houses, whence they killed and wounded a considerable number of Townshend's men. The light infantry were called up from the rear. The houses were taken and retaken, and one or more of them was burned.
Wolfe was everywhere. How cool he was, and why his followers loved him, is shown by an incident that happened in the course of the morning. 295
V2 One of his captains was shot through the lungs; and on recovering consciousness he saw the General standing206 at his side. Wolfe pressed his hand, told him not to despair, praised his services, promised him early promotion218, and sent an aide-de-camp to Monckton to beg that officer to keep the promise if he himself should fall. [782]
[782] Sir Denis Le Marchant, cited by Wright, 579. Le Marchant knew the captain in his old age. Monckton kept Wolfe's promise.
It was towards ten o'clock when, from the high ground on the right of the line, Wolfe saw that the crisis was near. The French on the ridge had formed themselves into three bodies, regulars in the centre, regulars and Canadians on right and left. Two field-pieces, which had been dragged up the heights at Anse du Foulon, fired on them with grape-shot, and the troops, rising from the ground, prepared to receive them. In a few moments more they were in motion. They came on rapidly, uttering loud shouts, and firing as soon as they were within range. Their ranks, ill ordered at the best, were further confused by a number of Canadians who had been mixed among the regulars, and who, after hastily firing, threw themselves on the ground to reload. [783] The British advanced a few rods; then halted and stood still. When the French were within forty paces the word of command rang out, and a crash of musketry answered all along the line. The volley was delivered with remarkable219 precision. In the 296
V2 battalions of the centre, which had suffered least from the enemy's bullets, the simultaneous explosion was afterwards said by French officers to have sounded like a cannon-shot. Another volley followed, and then a furious clattering220 fire that lasted but a minute or two. When the smoke rose, a miserable221 sight was revealed: the ground cumbered with dead and wounded, the advancing masses stopped short and turned into a frantic222 mob, shouting, cursing, gesticulating. The order was given to charge. Then over the field rose the British cheer, mixed with the fierce yell of the Highland slogan. Some of the corps pushed forward with the bayonet; some advanced firing. The clansmen drew their broadswords and dashed on, keen and swift as bloodhounds. At the English right, though the attacking column was broken to pieces, a fire was still kept up, chiefly, it seems, by sharpshooters from the bushes and cornfields, where they had lain for an hour or more. Here Wolfe himself led the charge, at the head of the Louisbourg grenadiers. A shot shattered his wrist. He wrapped his handkerchief about it and kept on. Another shot struck him, and he still advanced, when a third lodged in his breast. He staggered, and sat on the ground. Lieutenant223 Brown, of the grenadiers, one Henderson, a volunteer in the same company, and a private soldier, aided by an officer of artillery who ran to join them, carried him in their arms to the rear. He begged them to lay him down. They did so, and asked if he would have a surgeon. "There's no need," he 297
V2 answered; "it's all over with me." A moment after, one of them cried out: "They run; see how they run!" "Who run?" Wolfe demanded, like a man roused from sleep. "The enemy, sir. Egad, they give way everywhere!" "Go, one of you, to Colonel Burton," returned the dying man; "tell him to march Webb's regiment down to Charles River, to cut off their retreat from the bridge." Then, turning on his side, he murmured, "Now, God be praised, I will die in peace!" and in a few moments his gallant224 soul had fled.
[783] "Les Canadiens, qui étaient mêlés dans les bataillons, se pressèrent de tirer et, dès qu'ils l'eussent fait, de mettre ventre à terre pour charger, ce qui rompit tout225 l'ordre." Malartic à Bourlamaque, 25 Sept. 1759.
Montcalm, still on horseback, was borne with the tide of fugitives226 towards the town. As he approached the walls a shot passed through his body. He kept his seat; two soldiers supported him, one on each side, and led his horse through the St. Louis Gate. On the open space within, among the excited crowd, were several women, drawn, no doubt, by eagerness to know the result of the fight. One of them recognized him, saw the streaming blood, and shrieked227, "O mon Dieu! mon Dieu! le Marquis est tué!" "It's nothing, it's nothing," replied the death-stricken man; "don't be troubled for me, my good friends." ("Ce n'est rien, ce n'est rien; ne vous affligez pas pour moi, mes bonnes amies.")
Note.—There are several contemporary versions of the dying words of Wolfe. The report of Knox, given above, is by far the best attested228. Knox says that he took particular pains at the time to learn them accurately229 from those who were with Wolfe when they were uttered.
The anecdote230 of Montcalm is due to the late Hon. Malcolm Fraser, of Quebec. He often heard it in his youth from an old woman, who, when a girl, was one of the group who saw the wounded general led by, and to whom the words were addressed.
298Force of the English and French at the Battle of Quebec.—The tabular return given by Knox shows the number of officers and men in each corps engaged. According to this, the battalions as they stood on the Plains of Abraham before the battle varied231 in strength from 322 (Monckton's) to 683 (Webb's), making a total of 4,828, including officers. But another return, less specific, signed George Townshend, Brigadier, makes the entire number only 4,441. Townshend succeeded Wolfe in the command; and this return, which is preserved in the Public Record Office, was sent to London a few days after the battle. Some French writers present put the number lower, perhaps for the reason that Webb's regiment and the third battalion of Royal Americans took no part in the fight, the one being in the rear as a reserve, and the other also invisible, guarding the landing place. Wolfe's front line, which alone met and turned the French attack, was made up as follows, the figures including officers and men:—
Regiment Size
Making a total of 3,265
Thirty-fifth 519
Fifty-eighth 335
Seventy-eighth 662
Louisbourg Grenadiers 241
Twenty-eighth 421
Forty-seventh 360
Forty-third 327
Light Infantry 400
The French force engaged cannot be precisely232 given. Knox, on information received from "an intelligent Frenchman," states the number, corps by corps, the aggregate233 being 7,520. This, on examination, plainly appears exaggerated. Fraser puts it at 5,000; Townshend at 4,470, including militia. Bigot says, 3,500, which may perhaps be as many as actually advanced to the attack, since some of the militia held back. Including Bougainville's command, the militia and the artillerymen left in the Beauport camp, the sailors at the town batteries, and the garrison of Quebec, at least as many of the French were out of the battle as were in it; and the numbers engaged on each side seem to have been about equal.
For authorities of the foregoing chapter, see Appendix I.
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1
elation
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| n.兴高采烈，洋洋得意 | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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embarkation
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| n. 乘船, 搭机, 开船 | |
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embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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rebuked
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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12
cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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15
fortifying
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| 筑防御工事于( fortify的现在分词 )； 筑堡于； 增强； 强化（食品） | |
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inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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18
chastising
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| v.严惩（某人）（尤指责打）( chastise的现在分词 ) | |
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19
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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highlander
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| n.高地的人，苏格兰高地地区的人 | |
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23
highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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24
farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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25
farmhouses
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| n.农舍，农场的主要住房( farmhouse的名词复数 ) | |
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26
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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27
chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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28
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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29
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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30
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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31
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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32
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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33
ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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34
atrocities
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| n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪 | |
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35
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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36
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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37
offender
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| n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者 | |
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38
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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39
systematically
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| adv.有系统地 | |
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40
arduous
|
|
| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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41
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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42
repulse
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| n.击退，拒绝；vt.逐退，击退，拒绝 | |
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43
repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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44
ambushed
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| v.埋伏( ambush的过去式和过去分词 )；埋伏着 | |
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45
frigates
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| n.快速军舰( frigate的名词复数 ) | |
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46
retrieve
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| vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索 | |
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47
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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48
dreaded
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|
| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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49
intercepted
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|
| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
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50
scarcity
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|
| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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51
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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52
pillage
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|
| v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物 | |
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53
rife
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|
| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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54
deserted
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|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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55
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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56
nuns
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|
| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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57
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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58
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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59
invader
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| n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者 | |
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60
invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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61
animating
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| v.使有生气( animate的现在分词 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
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62
rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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63
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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64
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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65
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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66
languor
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| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
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67
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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68
dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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69
audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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70
Ford
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|
| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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71
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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72
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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73
consultation
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|
| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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74
exhaustion
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|
| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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75
toils
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| 网 | |
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76
lodged
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|
| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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77
censure
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|
| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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78
swerve
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|
| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
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79
perfectly
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|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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80
invalid
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|
| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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81
abated
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|
| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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82
deficient
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|
| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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83
entirely
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|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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84
antagonist
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|
| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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85
torrent
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|
| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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86
wary
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|
| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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87
labor
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|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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88
uncommon
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|
| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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89
vessel
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|
| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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90
succors
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|
| n.救助，帮助（尤指需要时）( succor的名词复数 )v.给予帮助( succor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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91
battalions
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|
| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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92
battalion
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|
| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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93
advantageous
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|
| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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94
disperse
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|
| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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95
corps
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|
| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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96
acquiesced
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|
| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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97
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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98
remains
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|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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99
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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100
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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101
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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102
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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103
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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104
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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105
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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106
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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107
diminutive
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| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
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108
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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109
jocosely
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| adv.说玩笑地，诙谐地 | |
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110
incensed
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| 盛怒的 | |
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111
impudence
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|
| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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112
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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113
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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114
evacuating
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| 撤离，疏散( evacuate的现在分词 )； 排空（胃肠），排泄（粪便）； （从危险的地方）撤出，搬出，撤空 | |
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115
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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116
embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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117
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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118
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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119
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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120
sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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121
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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122
impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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123
brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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124
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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125
intrepid
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| adj.无畏的，刚毅的 | |
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126
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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127
rekindling
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| v.使再燃( rekindle的现在分词 ) | |
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128
ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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129
barge
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| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
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130
plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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131
invalids
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|
| 病人，残疾者( invalid的名词复数 ) | |
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132
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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133
custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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134
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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135
descried
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| adj.被注意到的，被发现的，被看到的 | |
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136
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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137
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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138
memoirs
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|
| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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139
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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140
expressive
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|
| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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141
valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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142
respite
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| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
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143
ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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144
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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145
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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146
exhausted
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|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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147
inured
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| adj.坚强的，习惯的 | |
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148
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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149
quaintly
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| adv.古怪离奇地 | |
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150
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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151
sterling
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| adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑) | |
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152
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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153
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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154
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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155
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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156
repel
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| v.击退，抵制，拒绝，排斥 | |
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157
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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158
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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159
moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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160
queries
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| n.问题( query的名词复数 )；疑问；询问；问号v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的第三人称单数 )；询问 | |
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161
convoy
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| vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队 | |
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162
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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163
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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164
betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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165
presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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166
shrouds
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| n.裹尸布( shroud的名词复数 )；寿衣；遮蔽物；覆盖物v.隐瞒( shroud的第三人称单数 )；保密 | |
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167
countermanded
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| v.取消（命令），撤回( countermand的过去分词 ) | |
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168
countermand
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| v.撤回(命令)，取消(订货) | |
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169
sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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170
conspiring
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| 密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
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171
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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172
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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173
elegy
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| n.哀歌，挽歌 | |
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174
recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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175
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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176
sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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177
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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178
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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179
cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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180
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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181
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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182
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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183
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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184
slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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185
trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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186
obstructions
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| n.障碍物( obstruction的名词复数 )；阻碍物；阻碍；阻挠 | |
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187
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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188
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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189
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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190
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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191
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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192
tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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193
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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194
writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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195
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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196
thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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197
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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198
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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199
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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200
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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201
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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202
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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203
bagpipes
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| n.风笛；风笛( bagpipe的名词复数 ) | |
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204
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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205
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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206
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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207
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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208
acquit
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| vt.宣判无罪；(oneself)使(自己)表现出 | |
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209
vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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210
brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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211
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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212
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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213
knolls
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| n.小圆丘，小土墩( knoll的名词复数 ) | |
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214
puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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215
declivity
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| n.下坡，倾斜面 | |
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216
thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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217
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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218
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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219
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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220
clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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221
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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222
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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223
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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224
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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225
tout
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| v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱 | |
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226
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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227
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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228
attested
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| adj.经检验证明无病的，经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓 | |
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229
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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230
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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231
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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232
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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233
aggregate
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| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
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