Here the danger seemed to lie.At midnight the British boats were still hovering off the shore.The French troops manned the entrenched lines and Montcalm was continually anxious.A heavy convoy of provisions was to come down to the Foulon that night, and orders had been given to the French posts on the north shore above Quebec to make no noise.The arrival of the convoy was vital, for the army was pressed for food.Montcalm was therefore anxious for its fate when at break of day he heard firing from the French cannon at Samos, above Quebec.Had the provisions then been taken by the English? Near his camp all now seemed quiet.He gave orders for the troops to rest, drank some cups of tea with his aide-de-camp Johnstone, a Scotch Jacobite, and at about half-past six rode towards Quebec to the camp of Vaudreuil to learn why the artillery was firing at Samos.Immediately in front of the Governor's house he learned the momentous news.The English were on the Plains of Abraham.Soon he had the evidence of his own eyes.On the distant heights across the valley he could see the redcoats.
No doubt Montcalm had often pondered this possibility and had decided in such a case to attack at once before the enemy could entrench and bring up cannon.A rapid decision was now followed by rapid action.He had a moment's conversation with Vaudreuil.
The French regiments on the right at Vaudreuil's camp, lying nearest to the city, were to march at once.To Johnstone he said, "The affair is serious," and then gave orders that all the French left, except a few men to guard the ravine at Montmorency, should follow quickly to the position between Quebec and the enemy, a mile away.Off to this point he himself galloped.Already, by orders of officers on the spot, regiments were gathering between the walls of the city and the British.The regiments on the French right at Beauport were soon on the move towards the battlefield, but two thousand of the best troops still lay inactive beyond Beauport.Johnstone declares that Vaudreuil countermanded the order of Montcalm for these troops to come to his support and ordered that not one of them should budge.There was haste everywhere.By half-past nine Montcalm had some four thousand men drawn up between the British and the walls of Quebec.He hoped that Bougainville, advancing from Cap Rouge, would be able to assail the British rear: "Surely Bougainville understands that I must attack."The crisis was, over in fifteen minutes.Montcalm attacked at once.His line was disorderly.His center was composed of regular troops, his wings of Canadians and Indians.These fired irregularly and lay down to reload, thus causing confusion.The French moved forward rapidly; the British were coming on more slowly.The French were only some forty yards away when there was an answering fire from the thin red line; for Wolfe had ordered his men to put two balls in their muskets and to hold their fire for one dread volley.Then the roar from Wolfe's center was like that of a burst of artillery; and, when the smoke cleared, the French battalions were seen breaking in disorder from the shock, the front line cut down by the terrible fire.A bayonet charge from the redcoats followed.Some five thousand trained British regulars bore down, working great slaughter on four thousand French, many of them colonials who had never before fought in the open.The rout of the French was complete.Some fled to safety behind the walls of Quebec, others down the Cote Ste.Genevieve and across the St.Charles River, where they stopped pursuit by cutting the bridge.Both Wolfe and Montcalm were mortally wounded after the issue of the day was really decided, and both survived to be certain, the one of victory, the other of defeat.Wolfe died on the field of battle.Montcalm was taken into a house in Quebec and died early the next morning.It is perhaps the only incident in history of a decisive battle of world import followed by the death of both leaders, each made immortal by the tragedy of their common fate.
At two o'clock in the afternoon of the day of defeat, Vaudreuil held a tumultuous council of war.It was decided to abandon Quebec, where Montcalm lay dying and to retreat up the St.
Lawrence to Montreal, to the defense of which Levis had been sent before the fight.That night the whole French army fled in panic, leaving their tents standing and abandoning quantities of stores.
Vaudreuil who had talked so bravely about death in the ruins of Canada, rather than surrender, gave orders to Ramezay, commanding in Quebec, to make terms and haul down his flag.On the third day after the battle, the surrender was arranged.On the fourth day the British marched into Quebec, where ever since their flag has floated.
Meanwhile, Amherst, the Commander-in-Chief of the British armies in America, was making a toilsome advance towards Montreal by way of Lake Champlain.He had occupied both Ticonderoga and Crown Point, which had been abandoned by the French.Across his path lay Bourlamaque at Isle aux Noix.Another British army, having captured Niagara, was advancing on Montreal down the St.Lawrence from Lake Ontario.Amherst, however, made little progress this year in his menace to Montreal and soon went into winter quarters, as did the other forces elsewhere.The British victory therefore was as yet incomplete.
The year 1759 proved dire for France.She was held fast by her treaty with Austria and at ruinous cost was ever sending more and more troops to help Austria against Prussia.The great plan of which Belle-Isle had written to Montcalm was the chief hope of her policy.England was to be invaded and London occupied.If this were done, all else would be right.It was not done.France could not parry Pitt's blows.In Africa, in the West Indies, in India, the British won successes which meant the ruin of French power in three continents.French admirals like Conflans and La Clue were no match for Boscawen, Hawke, and Rodney, all seamen of the first rank, and made the stronger because dominated by the fiery Pitt.
They kept the French squadrons shut up in their own ports.When, at last, on November 20, 1759, Conflans came out of Brest and fought Hawke at Quiberon Bay, the French fleet was nearly destroyed, and the dream of taking London ended in complete disaster.
