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diff --git a/8728.txt b/8728.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4218223 --- /dev/null +++ b/8728.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3233 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Winning of Canada: A Chronicle of Wolf, by +William Wood + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Winning of Canada: A Chronicle of Wolf + Volume 11 (of 32) + +Author: William Wood + +Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8728] +Last Updated: August 24, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WINNING OF CANADA *** + + + + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan. + + + + + + + + + +CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +THE WINNING OF CANADA + +A Chronicle of Wolfe + +By William Wood + +Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton + +In thirty-two volumes + +Volume 11 + +TORONTO, 1915 + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + +Any life of Wolfe can be artificially simplified by treating his purely +military work as something complete in itself and not as a part of a +greater whole. But, since such treatment gives a totally false idea +of his achievement, this little sketch, drawn straight from original +sources, tries to show him as he really was, a co-worker with the +British fleet in a war based entirely on naval strategy and inseparably +connected with international affairs of world-wide significance. +The only simplification attempted here is that of arrangement and +expression. + +W.W. + +Quebec, April 1914. + + + + +LIST OF CONTENTS + + I. THE BOY + II. THE YOUNG SOLDIER + III. THE SEVEN YEARS' PEACE + IV. THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR + V. LOUISBOURG + VI. QUEBEC + VII. THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM + VIII. EPILOGUE--THE LAST STAND + + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + + + + +CHAPTER I -- THE BOY, 1727-1741 + +Wolfe was a soldier born. Many of his ancestors had stood ready to fight +for king and country at a moment's notice. His father fought under the +great Duke of Marlborough in the war against France at the beginning of +the eighteenth century. His grandfather, his great-grandfather, his +only uncle, and his only brother were soldiers too. Nor has the martial +spirit deserted the descendants of the Wolfes in the generation now +alive. They are soldiers still. The present head of the family, who +represented it at the celebration of the tercentenary of the founding +of Quebec, fought in Egypt for Queen Victoria; and the member of it +who represented Wolfe on that occasion, in the pageant of the Quebec +campaign, is an officer in the Canadian army under George V. + +The Wolfes are of an old and honourable line. Many hundreds of years ago +their forefathers lived in England and later on in Wales. Later still, +in the fifteenth century, before America was discovered, they were +living in Ireland. Wolfe's father, however, was born in England; and, +as there is no evidence that any of his ancestors in Ireland had married +other than English Protestants, and as Wolfe's mother was also English, +we may say that the victor of Quebec was a pure-bred Englishman. Among +his Anglo-Irish kinsmen were the Goldsmiths and the Seymours. Oliver +Goldsmith himself was always very proud of being a cousin of the man who +took Quebec. + +Wolfe's mother, to whom he owed a great deal of his genius; was a +descendant of two good families in Yorkshire. She was eighteen years +younger than his father, and was very tall and handsome. Wolfe thought +there was no one like her. When he was a colonel, and had been through +the wars and at court, he still believed she was 'a match for all the +beauties.' He was not lucky enough to take after her in looks, except +in her one weak feature, a cutaway chin. His body, indeed, seems to have +been made up of the bad points of both parents: he had his rheumatism +from his father. But his spirit was made up of all their good points; +and no braver ever lived in any healthy body than in his own sickly, +lanky six foot three. + +Wolfe's parents went to live at Westerham in Kent shortly after they +were married; and there, on January 2, 1727, in the vicarage--where +Mrs Wolfe was staying while her husband was away on duty with his +regiment--the victor of Quebec was born. Two other houses in the little +country town of Westerham are full of memories of Wolfe. One of these +was his father's, a house more than two hundred years old when he was +born. It was built in the reign of Henry VII, and the loyal subject +who built it had the king's coat of arms carved over the big stone +fireplace. Here Wolfe and his younger brother Edward used to sit in the +winter evenings with their mother, while their veteran father told them +the story of his long campaigns. So, curiously enough, it appears that +Wolfe, the soldier who won Canada for England in 1759, sat under the +arms of the king in whose service the sailor Cabot hoisted the flag of +England over Canadian soil in 1497. This house has been called Quebec +House ever since the victory in 1759. The other house is Squerryes +Court, belonging then and now to the Warde family, the Wolfes' closest +friends. Wolfe and George Warde were chums from the first day they met. +Both wished to go into the Army; and both, of course, 'played soldiers,' +like other virile boys. Warde lived to be an old man and actually did +become a famous cavalry leader. Perhaps when he charged a real enemy, +sword in hand, at the head of thundering squadrons, it may have flashed +through his mind how he and Wolfe had waved their whips and cheered like +mad when they galloped their ponies down the common with nothing but +their barking dogs behind them. + +Wolfe's parents presently moved to Greenwich, where he was sent to +school at Swinden's. Here he worked quietly enough till just before he +entered on his 'teens. Then the long-pent rage of England suddenly burst +in war with Spain. The people went wild when the British fleet took +Porto Bello, a Spanish port in Central America. The news was cried +through the streets all night. The noise of battle seemed to be sounding +all round Swinden's school, where most of the boys belonged to naval and +military families. Ships were fitting out in English harbours. Soldiers +were marching into every English camp. Crowds were singing and cheering. +First one boy's father and then another's was under orders for the +front. Among them was Wolfe's father, who was made adjutant-general +to the forces assembling in the Isle of Wight. What were history and +geography and mathematics now, when a whole nation was afoot to fight! +And who would not fight the Spaniards when they cut off British sailors' +ears? That was an old tale by this time; but the flames of anger threw +it into lurid relief once more. + +Wolfe was determined to go and fight. Nothing could stop him. There +was no commission for him as an officer. Never mind! He would go as a +volunteer and win his commission in the field. So, one hot day in July +1740, the lanky, red-haired boy of thirteen-and-a-half took his seat +on the Portsmouth coach beside his father, the veteran soldier of +fifty-five. His mother was a woman of much too fine a spirit to grudge +anything for the service of her country; but she could not help being +exceptionally anxious about the dangers of disease for a sickly boy in +a far-off land of pestilence and fever. She had written to him the very +day he left. But he, full of the stir and excitement of a big camp, had +carried the letter in his pocket for two or three days before answering +it. Then he wrote her the first of many letters from different seats of +war, the last one of all being written just before he won the victory +that made him famous round the world. + + Newport, Isle of Wight, August 6th, 1740. + + I received my dearest Mamma's letter on Monday last, + but could not answer it then, by reason I was at camp + to see the regiments off to go on board, and was too + late for the post; but am very sorry, dear Mamma, that + you doubt my love, which I'm sure is as sincere as + ever any son's was to his mother. + + Papa and I are just going on board, but I believe + shall not sail this fortnight; in which time, if I + can get ashore at Portsmouth or any other town, I will + certainly write to you, and, when we are gone, by + every ship we meet, because I know it is my duty. + Besides, if it is not, I would do it out of love, with + pleasure. + + I am sorry to hear that your head is so bad, which I + fear is caused by your being so melancholy; but pray, + dear Mamma, if you love me, don't give yourself up to + fears for us. I hope, if it please God, we shall soon + see one another, which will be the happiest day that + ever I shall see. I will, as sure as I live, if it is + possible for me, let you know everything that has + happened, by every ship; therefore pray, dearest Mamma, + don't doubt about it. I am in a very good state of + health, and am likely to continue so. Pray my love to + my brother. Pray my service to Mr Streton and his + family, to Mr and Mrs Weston, and to George Warde when + you see him; and pray believe me to be, my dearest + Mamma, your most dutiful, loving and affectionate son, + + J. Wolfe. + + To Mrs. Wolfe, at her house in Greenwich, Kent. + +Wolfe's 'very good state of health' was not 'likely to continue so,' +either in camp or on board ship. A long peace had made the country +indifferent to the welfare of the Army and Navy. Now men were suddenly +being massed together in camps and fleets as if on Purpose to breed +disease. Sanitation on a large scale, never having been practised in +peace, could not be improvised in this hurried, though disastrously +slow, preparation for a war. The ship in which Wolfe was to sail had +been lying idle for years; and her pestilential bilge-water soon began +to make the sailors and soldiers sicken and die. Most fortunately, Wolfe +was among the first to take ill; and so he was sent home in time to save +him from the fevers of Spanish America. + +Wolfe was happy to see his mother again, to have his pony to ride and +his dogs to play with. But, though he tried his best to stick to his +lessons, his heart was wild for the war. He and George Warde used to +go every day during the Christmas holidays behind the pigeon-house at +Squerryes Court and practise with their swords and pistols. One day they +stopped when they heard the post-horn blowing at the gate; and both of +them became very much excited when George's father came out himself with +a big official envelope marked 'On His Majesty's Service' and addressed +to 'James Wolfe, Esquire.' Inside was a commission as second lieutenant +in the Marines, signed by George II and dated at St James's Palace, +November 3, 1741. Eighteen years later, when the fame of the conquest +of Canada was the talk of the kingdom, the Wardes had a stone monument +built to mark the spot where Wolfe was standing when the squire handed +him his first commission. And there it is to-day; and on it are the +verses ending, + + This spot so sacred will forever claim + A proud alliance with its hero's name. + +Wolfe was at last an officer. But the Marines were not the corps for +him. Their service companies were five thousand miles away, while war +with France was breaking out much nearer home. So what was his delight +at receiving another commission, on March 25, 1742, as an ensign in the +12th Regiment of Foot! He was now fifteen, an officer, a soldier born +and bred, eager to serve his country, and just appointed to a regiment +ordered to the front! Within a month an army such as no one had +seen since the days of Marlborough had been assembled at Blackheath. +Infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineers, they were all there when +King George II, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of Cumberland came +down to review them. Little did anybody think that the tall, eager +ensign carrying the colours of the 12th past His Majesty was the man who +was to play the foremost part in winning Canada for the British crown. + + + + +CHAPTER II -- THE YOUNG SOLDIER, 1741-1748 + +Wolfe's short life may be divided into four periods, all easy to +remember, because all are connected with the same number-seven. He was +fourteen years a boy at home, with one attempt to be a soldier. This +period lasted from 1727 to 1741. Then he was seven years a young officer +in time of war, from 1741 to 1748. Then he served seven years more in +time of peace, from 1748 to 1755. Lastly, he died in the middle, at the +very climax, of the world-famous Seven Years' War, in 1759. + +After the royal review at Blackheath in the spring of 1742 the army +marched down to Deptford and embarked for Flanders. Wolfe was now off to +the very places he had heard his father tell about again and again. The +surly Flemings were still the same as when his father knew them. They +hated their British allies almost as much as they hated their enemies. +The long column of redcoats marched through a scowling mob of citizens, +who meanly grudged a night's lodging to the very men coming there to +fight for them. We may be sure that Wolfe thought little enough of such +mean people as he stepped out with the colours flying above his head. +The army halted at Ghent, an ancient city, famous for its trade and +wealth, and defended by walls which had once resisted Marlborough. + +At first there was a good deal to do and see; and George Warde was there +too, as an officer in a cavalry regiment. But Warde had to march away; +and Wolfe was left without any companion of his own age, to pass his +spare time the best way he could. Like another famous soldier, Frederick +the Great, who first won his fame in this very war, he was fond of +music and took lessons on the flute. He also did his best to improve +his French; and when Warde came back the two friends used to go to the +French theatre. Wolfe put his French to other use as well, and read all +the military books he could find time for. He always kept his kit ready +to pack; so that he could have marched anywhere within two hours of +receiving the order. And, though only a mere boy-officer, he began to +learn the duties of an adjutant, so that he might be fit for promotion +whenever the chance should come. + +Months wore on and Wolfe was still at Ghent. He had made friends during +his stay, and he tells his mother in September: 'This place is full of +officers, and we never want company. I go to the play once or twice a +week, and talk a little with the ladies, who are very civil and speak +French.' Before Christmas it had been decided at home--where the +war-worn father now was, after a horrible campaign at Cartagena--that +Edward, the younger son, was also to be allowed to join the Army. Wolfe +was delighted. 'My brother is much to be commended for the pains he +takes to improve himself. I hope to see him soon in Flanders, when, in +all probability, before next year is over, we may know something of our +trade.' And so they did! + +The two brothers marched for the Rhine early in 1743, both in the +same regiment. James was now sixteen, Edward fifteen. The march was a +terrible one for such delicate boys. The roads were ankle-deep in +mud; the weather was vile; both food and water were very bad. Even the +dauntless Wolfe had to confess to his mother that he was 'very much +fatigued and out of order. I never come into quarters without aching +hips and knees.' Edward, still more delicate, was sent off on a foraging +party to find something for the regiment to eat. He wrote home to his +father from Bonn on April 7: 'We can get nothing upon our march but eggs +and bacon and sour bread. I have no bedding, nor can get it anywhere. We +had a sad march last Monday in the morning. I was obliged to walk up +to my knees in snow, though my brother and I have a horse between us. +I have often lain upon straw, and should oftener, had I not known some +French, which I find very useful; though I was obliged the other day to +speak _Latin_ for a good dinner. We send for everything we want to the +priest.' + +That summer, when the king arrived with his son the Duke of Cumberland, +the British and Hanoverian army was reduced to 37,000 half-fed men. +Worse still, the old general, Lord Stair, had led it into a very bad +place. These 37,000 men were cooped up on the narrow side of the valley +of the river Main, while a much larger French army was on the better +side, holding bridges by which to cut them off and attack them while +they were all clumped together. Stair tried to slip away in the night. +But the French, hearing of this attempt, sent 12,000 men across the +river to hold the place the British general was leaving, and 30,000 +more, under the Duc de Gramont, to block the road at the place towards +which he was evidently marching. At daylight the British and Hanoverians +found themselves cut off, both front and rear, while a third French +force was waiting to pounce on whichever end showed weakness first. +The King of England, who was also Elector of Hanover, would be a great +prize, and the French were eager to capture him. This was how the armies +faced each other on the morning of June 27, 1743, at Dettingen, the last +battlefield on which any king of England has fought in person, and the +first for Wolfe. + +The two young brothers were now about to see a big battle, like those +of which their father used to tell them. Strangely enough, Amherst, +the future commander-in-chief in America, under whom Wolfe served +at Louisbourg, and the two men who succeeded Wolfe in command at +Quebec--Monckton and Townshend--were also there. It is an awful moment +for a young soldier, the one before his first great fight. And here were +nearly a hundred thousand men, all in full view of each other, and all +waiting for the word to begin. It was a beautiful day, and the sun +shone down on a splendidly martial sight. There stood the British and +Hanoverians, with wooded hills on their right, the river and the French +on their left, the French in their rear, and the French very strongly +posted on the rising ground straight in their front. The redcoats were +in dense columns, their bayonets flashing and their colours waving +defiance. Side by side with their own red cavalry were the black German +cuirassiers, the blue German lancers, and the gaily dressed green and +scarlet Hungarian hussars. The long white lines of the three French +armies, varied with royal blue, encircled them on three sides. On the +fourth were the leafy green hills. + +Wolfe was acting as adjutant and helping the major. His regiment had +neither colonel nor lieutenant-colonel with it that day; so he had +plenty to do, riding up and down to see that all ranks understood the +order that they were not to fire till they were close to the French +and were given the word for a volley. He cast a glance at his brother, +standing straight and proudly with the regimental colours that he +himself had carried past the king at Blackheath the year before. He was +not anxious about 'Ned'; he knew how all the Wolfes could fight. He was +not anxious about himself; he was only too eager for the fray. A first +battle tries every man, and few have not dry lips, tense nerves, and +beating hearts at its approach. But the great anxiety of an officer +going into action for the first time with untried men is for them and +not for himself. The agony of wondering whether they will do well or not +is worse, a thousand times, than what he fears for his own safety. + +Presently the French gunners, in the centre of their position across the +Main, lit their matches and, at a given signal, fired a salvo into the +British rear. Most of the baggage wagons were there; and, as the shot +and shell began to knock them over, the drivers were seized with a +panic. Cutting the traces, these men galloped off up the hills and into +the woods as hard as they could go. Now battery after battery began to +thunder, and the fire grew hot all round. The king had been in the rear, +as he did not wish to change the command on the eve of the battle. But, +seeing the panic, he galloped through the whole of his army to show that +he was going to fight beside his men. As he passed, and the men saw what +he intended to do, they cheered and cheered, and took heart so boldly +that it was hard work to keep them from rushing up the heights of +Dettingen, where Gramont's 30,000 Frenchmen were waiting to shoot them +down. + +Across the river Marshal Noailles, the French commander-in-chief, saw +the sudden stir in the British ranks, heard the roaring hurrahs, and +supposed that his enemies were going to be fairly caught against Gramont +in front. In this event he could finish their defeat himself by an +overwhelming attack in flank. Both his own and Gramont's artillery now +redoubled their fire, till the British could hardly stand it. But then, +to the rage and despair of Noailles, Gramont's men, thinking the day was +theirs, suddenly left their strong position and charged down on to the +same level as the British, who were only too pleased to meet them there. +The king, seeing what a happy turn things were taking, galloped along +the front of his army, waving his sword and calling out, 'Now, boys! Now +for the honour of England!' His horse, maddened by the din, plunged and +reared, and would have run away with him, straight in among the French, +if a young officer called Trapaud had not seized the reins. The king +then dismounted and put himself at the head of his troops, where he +remained fighting, sword in hand, till the battle was over. + +Wolfe and his major rode along the line of their regiment for the last +time. There was not a minute to lose. Down came the Royal Musketeers +of France, full gallop, smash through the Scots Fusiliers and into the +line in rear, where most of them were unhorsed and killed. Next, both +sides advanced their cavalry, but without advantage to either. Then, +with a clear front once more, the main bodies of the French and British +infantry rushed together for a fight to a finish. Nearly all of Wolfe's +regiment were new to war and too excited to hold their fire. When they +were within range, and had halted for a moment to steady the ranks, they +brought their muskets down to the 'present.' The French fell flat on +their faces and the bullets whistled harmlessly over them. Then they +sprang to their feet and poured in a steady volley while the British +were reloading. But the second British volley went home. When the two +enemies closed on each other with the bayonet, like the meeting of two +stormy seas, the British fought with such fury that the French ranks +were broken. Soon the long white waves rolled back and the long red +waves rolled forward. Dettingen was reached and the desperate fight was +won. + +Both the boy-officers wrote home, Edward to his mother; James to his +father. Here is a part of Edward's letter: + + My brother and self escaped in the engagement and, + thank God, are as well as ever we were in our lives, + after not only being cannonaded two hours and + three-quarters, and fighting with small arms [muskets + and bayonets] two hours and one-quarter, but lay the + two following nights upon our arms; whilst it rained + for about twenty hours in the same time, yet are ready + and as capable to do the same again. The Duke of + Cumberland behaved charmingly. Our regiment has got + a great deal of honour, for we were in the middle of + the first line, and in the greatest danger. My brother + has wrote to my father and I believe has given him a + small account of the battle, so I hope you will excuse + it me. + +A manly and soldier-like letter for a boy of fifteen! Wolfe's own is +much longer and full of touches that show how cool and observant he was, +even in his first battle and at the age of only sixteen. Here is some of +it: + + The Gens d'Armes, or Mousquetaires Gris, attacked the + first line, composed of nine regiments of English + foot, and four or five of Austrians, and some + Hanoverians. But before they got to the second line, + out of two hundred there were not forty living. These + unhappy men were of the first families in France. + Nothing, I believe, could be more rash than their + undertaking. The third and last attack was made by + the foot on both sides. We advanced towards one another; + our men in high spirits, and very impatient for + fighting, being elated with beating the French Horse, + part of which advanced towards us; while the rest + attacked our Horse, but were soon driven back by the + great fire we gave them. The major and I (for we had + neither colonel nor lieutenant-colonel), before they + came near, were employed in begging and ordering the + men not to fire at too great a distance, but to keep + it till the enemy should come near us; but to little + purpose. The whole fired when they thought they could + reach them, which had like to have ruined us. However, + we soon rallied again, and attacked them with great + fury, which gained us a complete victory, and forced + the enemy to retire in great haste. We got the sad + news of the death of as good and brave a man as any + amongst us, General Clayton. His death gave us all + sorrow, so great was the opinion we had of him. He + had, 'tis said, orders for pursuing the enemy, and if + we had followed them, they would not have repassed + the Main with half their number. Their loss is computed + to be between six and seven thousand men, and ours + three thousand. His Majesty was in the midst of the + fight; and the duke behaved as bravely as a man could + do. I had several times the honour of speaking with + him just as the battle began and was often afraid of + his being dashed to pieces by the cannon-balls. He + gave his orders with a great deal of calmness and + seemed quite unconcerned. The soldiers were in high + delight to have him so near them. I sometimes thought + I had lost poor Ned when I saw arms, legs, and heads + beat off close by him. A horse I rid of the colonel's, + at the first attack, was shot in one of his hinder + legs and threw me; so I was obliged to do the duty of + an adjutant all that and the next day on foot, in a + pair of heavy boots. Three days after the battle I + got the horse again, and he is almost well. + +Shortly after Dettingen Wolfe was appointed adjutant and promoted to +a lieutenancy. In the next year he was made a captain in the 4th Foot +while his brother became a lieutenant in the 12th. After this they had +very few chances of meeting; and Edward, who had caught a deadly chill, +died alone in Flanders, not yet seventeen years old. Wolfe wrote home to +his mother: + + Poor Ned wanted nothing but the satisfaction of seeing + his dearest friends to leave the world with the greatest + tranquillity. It gives me many uneasy hours when I + reflect on the possibility there was of my being with + him before he died. God knows it was not apprehending + the danger the poor fellow was in; and even that would + not have hindered it had I received the physician's + first letter. I know you won't be able to read this + without shedding tears, as I do writing it. Though it + is the custom of the army to sell the deceased's + effects, I could not suffer it. We none of us want, + and I thought the best way would be to bestow them on + the deserving whom he had an esteem for in his lifetime. + To his servant--the most honest and faithful man I + ever knew--I gave all his clothes. I gave his horse + to his friend Parry. I know he loved Parry; and for + that reason the horse will be taken care of. His other + horse I keep myself. I have his watch, sash, gorget, + books, and maps, which I shall preserve to his memory. + He was an honest and good lad, had lived very well, + and always discharged his duty with the cheerfulness + becoming a good officer. He lived and died as a son + of you two should. There was no part of his life that + makes him dearer to me than what you so often + mentioned--_he pined after me_. + +It was this pining to follow Wolfe to the wars that cost poor Ned his +life. But did not Wolfe himself pine to follow his father? + +The next year, 1745, the Young Pretender, 'Bonnie Prince Charlie,' +raised the Highland clans on behalf of his father, won several battles, +and invaded England, in the hope of putting the Hanoverian Georges off +the throne of Great Britain and regaining it for the exiled Stuarts. The +Duke of Cumberland was sent to crush him; and with the duke went Wolfe. +Prince Charlie's army retreated and was at last brought to bay on +Culloden Moor, six miles from Inverness. The Highlanders were not in +good spirits after their long retreat before the duke's army, which +enjoyed an immense advantage in having a fleet following it along the +coast with plenty of provisions, while the prince's wretched army was +half starved. We may be sure the lesson was not lost on Wolfe. Nobody +understood better than he that the fleet is the first thing to consider +in every British war. And nobody saw a better example of this than he +did afterwards in Canada. + +At daybreak on April 16, 1746, the Highlanders found the duke's army +marching towards Inverness, and drew up in order to prevent it. Both +armies halted, each hoping the other would make the mistake of charging. +At last, about one o'clock, the Highlanders in the centre and right +could be held back no longer. So eager were they to get at the redcoats +that most of them threw down their muskets without even firing them, and +then rushed on furiously, sword in hand. ''Twas for a time,' said Wolfe, +'a dispute between the swords and bayonets, but the latter was found by +far the most destructable [sic] weapon.' No quarter was given or taken +on either side during an hour of desperate fighting hand to hand. By +that time the steady ranks of the redcoats, aided by the cavalry, had +killed five times as many as they had lost by the wild slashing of the +claymores. The Highlanders turned and fled. The Stuart cause was lost +for ever. + +Again another year of fighting: this time in Holland, where the British, +Dutch, and Austrians under the Duke of Cumberland met the French at the +village of Laffeldt, on June 21, 1747. Wolfe was now a brigade-major, +which gave him the same sort of position in a brigade of three +battalions as an adjutant has in a single one; that is, he was a smart +junior officer picked out to help the brigadier in command by seeing +that orders were obeyed. The fight was furious. As fast as the British +infantry drove back one French brigade another came forward and drove +the British back. The village was taken and lost, lost and taken, over +and over again. Wolfe, though wounded, kept up the fight. At last a new +French brigade charged in and swept the British out altogether. Then the +duke ordered the Dutch and Austrians to advance: But the Dutch cavalry, +right in the centre, were seized with a sudden panic and galloped back, +knocking over their own men on the way, and making a gap that certainly +looked fatal. But the right man was ready to fill it. This was Sir John +Ligonier, afterwards commander-in-chief of the British Army at the time +of Wolfe's campaigns in Canada. He led the few British and Austrian +cavalry, among them the famous Scots Greys, straight into the gap and +on against the dense masses of the French beyond. These gallant horsemen +were doomed; and of course they knew it when they dashed themselves to +death against such overwhelming odds. But they gained the few precious +moments that were needed. The gap closed up behind them; and the army +was saved, though they were lost. + +During the day Wolfe was several times in great danger. He was thanked +by the duke in person for the splendid way in which he had done his +duty. The royal favour, however, did not make him forget the gallant +conduct of his faithful servant, Roland: 'He came to me at the hazard +of his life with offers of his service, took off my cloak and brought a +fresh horse; and would have continued close by me had I not ordered him +to retire. I believe he was slightly wounded just at that time. Many +a time has he pitched my tent and made the bed ready to receive me, +half-dead with fatigue.' Nor did Wolfe forget his dumb friends: 'I have +sold my poor little gray mare. I lamed her by accident, and thought it +better to dismiss her the service immediately. I grieved at parting +with so faithful a servant, and have the comfort to know she is in good +hands, will be very well fed, and taken care of in her latter days.' + +After recovering from a slight wound received at Laffeldt Wolfe was +allowed to return to England, where he remained for the winter. On the +morrow of New Year's Day, 1748, he celebrated his coming of age at his +father's town house in Old Burlington Street, London. In the spring, +however, he was ordered to rejoin the army, and was stationed with the +troops who were guarding the Dutch frontier. The war came to an end in +the same year, and Wolfe went home. Though then only twenty-one, he was +already an experienced soldier, a rising officer, and a marked man. + + + + +CHAPTER III -- THE SEVEN YEARS' PEACE, 1748-1755 + +Wolfe was made welcome in England wherever he went. In spite of his +youth his name was well known to the chief men in the Army, and he was +already a hero among the friends of his family. By nature he was fond of +the society of ladies, and of course he fell in love. He had had a few +flirtations before, like most other soldiers; but this time the case +was serious. The difference was the same as between a sham fight and +a battle. His choice fell on Elizabeth Lawson, a maid of honour to the +Princess of Wales. The oftener he saw her the more he fell in love with +her. But the course of true love did not, as we shall presently see, run +any more smoothly for him than it has for many another famous man. + +In 1749, when Wolfe was only twenty-two, he was promoted major of the +20th Regiment of Foot. He joined it in Scotland, where he was to serve +for the next few years. At first he was not very happy in Glasgow. He +did not like the people, as they were very different from the friends +with whom he had grown up. Yet his loneliness only added to his zeal +for study. He had left school when still very young, and he now found +himself ignorant of much that he wished to know. As a man of the world +he had found plenty of gaps in his general knowledge. Writing to his +friend Captain Rickson, he says: 'When a man leaves his studies +at fifteen, he will never be justly called a man of letters. I am +endeavouring to repair the damages of my education, and have a person +to teach me Latin and mathematics.' From his experience in his own +profession, also, he had learned a good deal. In a letter to his father +he points out what excellent chances soldiers have to see the vivid +side of many things: 'That variety incident to a military life gives our +profession some advantages over those of a more even nature. We have all +our passions and affections aroused and exercised, many of which must +have wanted their proper employment had not suitable occasions obliged +us to exert them. Few men know their own courage till danger proves +them, or how far the love of honour or dread of shame are superior to +the love of life. This is a knowledge to be best acquired in an army; +our actions are there in presence of the world, to be fully censured or +approved.' + +Great commanders are always keen to learn everything really worth while. +It is only the little men who find it a bore. Of course, there are +plenty of little men in a regiment, as there are everywhere else in the +world; and some of the officers were afraid Wolfe would insist on their +doing as he did. But he never preached. He only set the example, and +those who had the sense could follow it. One of his captains wrote home: +'Our acting colonel here is a paragon. He neither drinks, curses, nor +gambles. So we make him our pattern.' After a year with him the officers +found him a 'jolly good fellow' as well as a pattern; and when he became +their lieutenant-colonel at twenty-three they gave him a dinner that +showed he was a prime favourite among them. He was certainly quite +as popular with the men. Indeed, he soon became known by a name which +speaks for itself--'the soldier's' friend.' + +By and by Wolfe's regiment marched into the Highlands, where he had +fought against Prince Charlie in the '45. But he kept in touch with what +was going on in the world outside. He wrote to Rickson at Halifax, to +find out for him all he could about the French and British colonies in +America. In the same letter, written in 1751, he said he should like to +see some Highland soldiers raised for the king's army and sent out there +to fight. Eight years later he was to have a Highland regiment among +his own army at Quebec. Other themes filled the letters to his mother. +Perhaps he was thinking of Miss Lawson when he wrote: 'I have a certain +turn of mind that favours matrimony prodigiously. I love children. Two +or three manly sons are a present to the world, and the father +that offers them sees with satisfaction that he is to live in his +successors.' He was thinking more gravely of a still higher thing when +he wrote on his twenty-fifth birthday, January 2, 1752, to reassure his +mother about the strength of his religion. + +Later on in the year, having secured leave of absence, he wrote to his +mother in the best of spirits. He asked her to look after all the +little things he wished to have done. 'Mr Pattison sends a pointer to +Blackheath; if you will order him to be tied up in your stable, it will +oblige me much. If you hear of a servant who can dress a wig it will be +a favour done me to engage him. I have another favour to beg of you and +you'll think it an odd one: 'tis to order some currant jelly to be made +in a crock for my use. It is the custom in Scotland to eat it in the +morning with bread.' Then he proposed to have a shooting-lodge in the +Highlands, long before any other Englishman seems to have thought of +what is now so common. 'You know what a whimsical sort of person I +am. Nothing pleases me now but hunting, shooting, and fishing. I have +distant notions of taking a very little house, remote upon the edge of +the forest, merely for sport.' + +In July he left the Highlands, which were then, in some ways, as wild as +Labrador is now. About this time there was a map made by a Frenchman in +Paris which gave all the chief places in the Lowlands quite rightly, +but left the north of Scotland blank, with the words 'Unknown land here, +inhabited by the "Iglandaires"!' When his leave began Wolfe went first +to Dublin--'dear, dirty Dublin,' as it used to be called--where his +uncle, Major Walter Wolfe, was living. He wrote to his father: 'The +streets are crowded with people of a large size and well limbed, and +the women very handsome. They have clearer skins, and fairer complexions +than the women in England or Scotland, and are exceeding straight and +well made'; which shows that he had the proper soldier's eye for every +pretty girl. Then he went to London and visited his parents in their new +house at the corner of Greenwich Park, which stands to-day very much the +same as it was then. But, wishing to travel, he succeeded, after a great +deal of trouble, in getting leave to go to Paris. Lord Bury was a friend +of his, and Lord Bury's father, the Earl of Albemarle, was the British +ambassador there. So he had a good chance of seeing the best of +everything. Perhaps it would be almost as true to say that he had as +good a chance of seeing the worst of everything. For there were a great +many corrupt and corrupting men and women at the French court. There was +also much misery in France, and both the corruption and the misery were +soon to trouble New France, as Canada was then called, even more than +they troubled Old France at home. + +Wolfe wished to travel about freely, to see the French armies at work, +and then to go on to Prussia to see how Frederick the Great managed his +perfectly disciplined army. This would have been an excellent thing +to do. But it was then a very new thing for an officer to ask leave to +study foreign armies. Moreover, the chief men in the British Army +did not like the idea of letting such a good colonel go away from his +regiment for a year, even though he was going with the object of making +himself a still better officer. Perhaps, too, his friends were just a +little afraid that he might join the Prussians or the Austrians; for +it was not, in those days, a very strange thing to join the army of +a friendly foreign country. Whatever the reason, the long leave was +refused and he went no farther than Paris. + +Louis XV was then at the height of his apparent greatness; and France +was a great country, as it is still. But king and government were both +corrupt. Wolfe saw this well enough and remembered it when the next +war broke out. There was a brilliant society in 'the capital of +civilization,' as the people of Paris proudly called their city; and +there was a great deal to see. Nor was all of it bad. He wrote home two +days after his arrival. + + The packet [ferry] did not sail that night, but we + embarked at half-an-hour after six in the morning and + got into Calais at ten. I never suffered so much in + so short a time at sea. The people [in Paris] seem to + be very sprightly. The buildings are very magnificent, + far surpassing any we have in London. Mr Selwin has + recommended a French master to me, and in a few days + I begin to ride in the Academy, but must dance and + fence in my own lodgings. Lord Albemarle [the British + ambassador] is come from Fontainebleau. I have very + good reason to be pleased with the reception I met + with. The best amusement for strangers in Paris is + the Opera, and the next is the playhouse. The theatre + is a school to acquire the French language, for which + reason I frequent it more than the other. + +In Paris he met young Philip Stanhope, the boy to whom the Earl of +Chesterfield wrote his celebrated letters; 'but,' says Wolfe, 'I fancy +he is infinitely inferior to his father.' Keeping fit, as we call it +nowadays, seems to have been Wolfe's first object. He took the same care +of himself as the Japanese officers did in the Russo-Japanese War; +and for the same reason, that he might be the better able to serve his +country well the next time she needed him. Writing to his mother he +says: + + I am up every morning at or before seven and fully + employed till twelve. Then I dress and visit, and dine + at two. At five most people go to the public + entertainments, which keep you till nine; and at eleven + I am always in bed. This way of living is directly + opposite to the practice of the place. But no + constitution could go through all. Four or five days + in the week I am up six hours before any other fine + gentleman in Paris. I ride, fence, dance, and have a + master to teach me French. I succeed much better in + fencing and riding than in the art of dancing, for + they suit my genius better; and I improve a little in + French. I have no great acquaintance with the French + women, nor am likely to have. It is almost impossible + to introduce one's self among them without losing a + great deal of money, which you know I can't afford; + besides, these entertainments begin at the time I go + to bed, and I have not health enough to sit up all + night and work all day. The people here use umbrellas + to defend them from the sun, and something of the same + kind to secure them from the rain and snow. I wonder + a practice so useful is not introduced into England. + +While in Paris Wolfe was asked if he would care to be military tutor to +the Duke of Richmond, or, if not, whether he knew of any good officer +whom he could recommend. On this he named Guy Carleton, who became the +young duke's tutor. Three men afterwards well known in Canada were thus +brought together long before any of them became celebrated. The Duke +of Richmond went into Wolfe's regiment. The next duke became a +governor-general of Canada, as Guy Carleton had been before him. And +Wolfe--well, he was Wolfe! + +One day he was presented to King Louis, from whom, seven years later; he +was to wrest Quebec. 'They were all very gracious as far as courtesies, +bows, and smiles go, for the Bourbons seldom speak to anybody.' Then he +was presented to the clever Marquise de Pompadour, whom he found having +her hair done up in the way which is still known by her name to every +woman in the world. It was the regular custom of that time for great +ladies to receive their friends while the barbers were at work on their +hair. 'She is extremely handsome and, by her conversation with +the ambassador, I judge she must have a great deal of wit and +understanding.' But it was her court intrigues and her shameless waste +of money that helped to ruin France and Canada. + +In the midst of all these gaieties Wolfe never forgot the mother whom +he thought 'a match for all the beauties.' He sent her 'two black laced +hoods and a _vestale_ for the neck, such as the Queen of France wears.' +Nor did he forget the much humbler people who looked upon him as 'the +soldier's friend.' He tells his mother that his letters from Scotland +have just arrived, and that 'the women of the regiment take it into +their heads to write to me sometimes.' Here is one of their letters, +marked on the outside, 'The Petition of Anne White': + + Collonnell,--Being a True Noble-hearted Pittyful + gentleman and Officer your Worship will excuse these + few Lines concerning ye husband of ye undersigned, + Sergt. White, who not from his own fault is not behaving + as Hee should towards me and his family, although good + and faithfull till the middle of November last. + +We may be sure 'Sergt. White' had to behave 'as Hee should' when Wolfe +returned! + +In April, to his intense disgust, Wolfe was again in Glasgow. + + We are all sick, officers and soldiers. In two days + we lost the skin off our faces with the sun, and the + third were shivering in great coats. My cousin Goldsmith + has sent me the finest young pointer that ever was + seen; he eclipses Workie, and outdoes all. He sent me + a fishing-rod and wheel at the same time, of his own + workmanship. This, with a salmon-rod from my uncle + Wat, your flies, and my own guns, put me in a condition + to undertake the Highland sport. We have plays, we + have concerts, we have balls, with dinners and suppers + of the most execrable food upon earth, and wine that + approaches to poison. The men of Glasgow drink till + they are excessively drunk. The ladies are cold to + everything but a bagpipe--I wrong them--there is not + one that does not melt away at the sound of money.' + +By the end of this year, however, he had left Scotland for good. He did +not like the country as he saw it. But the times were greatly against +his doing so. Glasgow was not at all a pleasant place in those narrowly +provincial days for any one who had seen much of the world. The +Highlands were as bad. They were full of angry Jacobites, who could +never forgive the redcoats for defeating Prince Charlie. Yet Wolfe was +not against the Scots as a whole; and we must never forget that he was +the first to recommend the raising of those Highland regiments which +have fought so nobly in every British war since the mighty one in which +he fell. + +During the next year and part of the year following, 1754-55, Wolfe was +at Exeter, where the entertainments seem to have been more to his taste +than those at Glasgow. A lady who knew him well at this time wrote: +'He was generally ambitious to gain a tall, graceful woman to be his +partner, as well as a good dancer. He seemed emulous to display every +kind of virtue and gallantry that would render him amiable.' + +In 1755 the Seven Years' Peace was coming to an end in Europe. The +shadow of the Seven Years' War was already falling darkly across the +prospect in America. Though Wolfe did not leave for the front till 1757, +he was constantly receiving orders to be ready, first for one place and +then for another. So early as February 18, 1755, he wrote to his mother +what he then thought might be a farewell letter. It is full of the great +war; but personal affairs of the deeper kind were by no means forgotten. +'The success of our fleet in the beginning of the war is of the utmost +importance.' 'It will be sufficient comfort to you both to reflect that +the Power which has hitherto preserved me may, if it be His pleasure, +continue to do so. If not, it is but a few days more or less, and +those who perish in their duty and the service of their country die +honourably.' + +The end of this letter is in a lighter vein. But it is no less +characteristic: it is all about his dogs. 'You are to have Flurry +instead of Romp. The two puppies I must desire you to keep a little +longer. I can't part with either of them, but must find good and secure +quarters for them as well as for my friend Caesar, who has great merit +and much good humour. I have given Sancho to Lord Howe, so that I am +reduced to two spaniels and one pointer.' It is strange that in the +many books about dogs which mention the great men who have been fond +of them--and most great men are fond of dogs--not one says a word about +Wolfe. Yet 'my friend Caesar, who has great merit and much good humour,' +deserves to be remembered with his kind master just as much, in his way, +as that other Caesar, the friend of Edward VII, who followed his master +to the grave among the kings and princes of a mourning world. + + + + +CHAPTER IV -- THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR, 1756-1763 + +Wolfe's Quebec campaign marked the supreme crisis of the greatest war +the British Empire ever waged: the war, indeed, that made the Empire. To +get a good, clear view of anything so vast, so complex, and so glorious, +we must first look at the whole course of British history to see how it +was that France and England ever became such deadly rivals. It is quite +wrong to suppose that the French and British were always enemies, though +they have often been called 'historic' and 'hereditary' foes, as if they +never could make friends at all. As a matter of fact, they have had +many more centuries of peace than of war; and ever since the battle of +Waterloo, in 1815, they have been growing friendlier year by year. But +this happy state of affairs is chiefly because, as we now say, their +'vital interests no longer clash'; that is, they do not both desire the +same thing so keenly that they have to fight for it. + +Their vital interests do not clash now. But they did clash twice in the +course of their history. The first time was when both governments wished +to rule the same parts of the land of France. The second time was when +they both wished to rule the same parts of the oversea world. Each time +there was a long series of wars, which went on inevitably until one side +had completely driven its rival from the field. + +The first long series of wars took place chiefly in the fourteenth +century and is known to history as the Hundred Years' War. England +held, and was determined to hold, certain parts of France. France was +determined never to rest till she had won them for herself. Whatever +other things the two nations were supposed to be fighting about, this +was always the one cause of strife that never changed and never could +change till one side or other had definitely triumphed. France won. +There were glorious English victories at Cressy and Agincourt. Edward +III and Henry V were two of the greatest soldiers of any age. But, +though the English often won the battles, the French won the war. The +French had many more men, they fought near their own homes, and, most +important of all, the war was waged chiefly on land. The English had +fewer men, they fought far away from their homes, and their ships could +not help them much in the middle of the land, except by bringing over +soldiers and food to the nearest coast. The end of it all was that the +English armies were worn out; and the French armies, always able to +raise more and more fresh men, drove them, step by step, out of the land +completely. + +The second long series of wars took place chiefly in the eighteenth +century. These wars have never been given one general name; but they +should be called the Second Hundred Years' War, because that is what +they really were. They were very different from the wars that made +up the first Hundred Years' War, because this time the fight was for +oversea dominions, not for land in Europe. Of course navies had a good +deal to do with the first Hundred Years' War and armies with the second. +But the navies were even more important in the second than the armies +in the first. The Second Hundred Years' War, the one in which Wolfe did +such a mighty deed, began with the fall of the Stuart kings of England +in 1688 and went on till the battle of Waterloo in 1815. But the +beginning and end that meant most to the Empire were the naval battles +of La Hogue in 1692 and Trafalgar in 1805. Since Trafalgar the Empire +has been able to keep what it had won before, and to go on growing as +well, because all its different parts are joined together by the sea, +and because the British Navy has been, from that day to this, stronger +than any other navy in the world. + +How the French and British armies and navies fought on opposite sides, +either alone or with allies, all over the world, from time to time, +for these hundred and twenty-seven years; how all the eight wars with +different names formed one long Second Hundred Years' War; and how the +British Navy was the principal force that won the whole of this war, +made the Empire, and gave Canada safety then, as it gives her safety +now--all this is much too long a story to tell here. But the gist of it +may be told in a very few words, at least in so far as it concerns the +winning of Canada and the deeds of Wolfe. + +The name 'Greater Britain' is often used to describe all the parts of +the British Empire which lie outside of the old mother country. This +'Greater Britain' is now so vast and well established that we are apt to +forget those other empires beyond the seas which, each in its own day, +surpassed the British Empire of the same period. There was a Greater +Portugal, a Greater Spain, a Greater Holland, and a Greater France. +France and Holland still have large oversea possessions; and a whole +new-world continent still speaks the languages of Spain and Portugal. +But none of them has kept a growing empire oversea as their British +rival has. What made the difference? The two things that made all the +difference in the world were freedom and sea-power. We cannot stop to +discuss freedom, because that is more the affair of statesmen; but, at +the same time, we must not forget that the side on which Wolfe fought +was the side of freedom. The point for us to notice here is that all the +freedom and all the statesmen and all the soldiers put together could +never have made a Greater Britain, especially against all those other +rivals, unless Wolfe's side had also been the side of sea-power. + +Now, sea-power means more than fighting power at sea; it means trading +power as well. But a nation cannot trade across the sea against its +rivals if its own ships are captured and theirs are not. And long before +the Second Hundred Years' War with France the other sea-trading empires +had been gradually giving way, because in time of war their ships were +always in greater danger than those of the British were. After the +English Navy had defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588 the Spaniards +began, slowly but surely, to lose their chance of making a permanent +Greater Spain. After the great Dutch War, when Blake defeated Van Tromp +in 1653, there was no further chance of a permanent Greater Holland. +And, even before the Dutch War and the Armada, the Portuguese, who +had once ruled the Indian Ocean and who had conquered Brazil, +were themselves conquered by Spain and shut out from all chance of +establishing a Greater Portugal. + +So the one supreme point to be decided by the Second Hundred Years' +War lay between only two rivals, France and Britain. Was there to be a +Greater France or a Greater Britain across the seas? The answer depended +on the rival navies. Of course, it involved many other elements of +national and Imperial power on both sides. But no other elements of +power could have possibly prevailed against a hostile and triumphant +navy. + +Everything that went to make a Greater France or a Greater Britain had +to cross the sea--men, women, and children, horses and cattle, all the +various appliances a civilized people must take with them when they +settle in a new country. Every time there was war there were battles +at sea, and these battles were nearly always won by the British. Every +British victory at sea made it harder for French trade, because every +ship between France and Greater France ran more risk o being taken, +while every ship between Britain and Greater Britain stood a better +chance of getting safely through. This affected everything on both +competing sides in America. British business went on. French business +almost stopped dead. Even the trade with the Indians living a thousand +miles inland was changed in favour of the British and against the +French, as all the guns and knives and beads and everything else that +the white man offered to the Indian in exchange for his furs had to come +across the sea, which was just like an enemy's country to every French +ship, but just like her own to every British one. Thus the victors +at sea grew continually stronger in America, while the losers grew +correspondingly weaker. When peace came, the French only had time enough +to build new ships and start their trade again before the next war set +them back once more; while the British had nearly all their old ships, +all those they had taken from the French, and many new ones. + +But where did Wolfe come in? He came in at the most important time and +place of all, and he did the most important single deed of all. This +brings us to the consideration of how the whole of the Second Hundred +Years' War was won, not by the British Navy alone, much less by the Army +alone, but by the united service of both, fighting like the two arms of +one body, the Navy being the right arm and the Army the left. The heart +of this whole Second Hundred Years' War was the Seven Years' War; the +British part of the Seven Years' War was then called the 'Maritime War'; +and the heart of the 'Maritime War' was the winning of Canada, in which +the decisive blow was dealt by Wolfe. + +We shall see presently how Navy and Army worked together as a united +service in 'joint expeditions' by sea and land, how Wolfe took part in +two other joint expeditions before he commanded the land force of the +one at Quebec, and how the mighty empire-making statesman, William Pitt, +won the day for Britain and for Greater Britain, with Lord Anson at the +head of the Navy to help him, and Saunders in command at the front. +It was thus that the age-long vexed question of a Greater France or +a Greater Britain in America was finally decided by the sword. The +conquering sword was that of the British Empire as a whole. But the hand +that wielded it was Pitt; the hilt was Anson, the blade was Saunders, +and the point was Wolfe. + + + + +CHAPTER V -- LOUISBOURG, 1758 + +In 1755 Wolfe was already writing what he thought were farewell letters +before going off to the war. And that very year the war, though not +formally declared till the next, actually did break out in America, +where a British army under Braddock, with Washington as his +aide-de-camp, was beaten in Ohio by the French and Indians. Next year +the French, owing to the failure of Admiral Byng and the British +fleet to assist the garrison, were able to capture Minorca in the +Mediterranean; while their new general in Canada, Montcalm, Wolfe's +great opponent, took Oswego. The triumph of the French fleet at Minorca +made the British people furious. Byng was court-martialled, found guilty +of failure to do his utmost to save Minorca, and condemned to death. In +spite of Pitt's efforts to save him, the sentence was carried out and +he was shot on the quarter-deck of his own flagship. Two other admirals, +Hawke and Saunders, both of whom were soon to see service with Wolfe, +were then sent out as a 'cargo of courage' to retrieve the British +position at sea. By this time preparations were being hurried forward on +every hand. Fleets were fitting out. Armies were mustering. And, best of +all, Pitt was just beginning to make his influence felt. + +In 1757, the third year of war, things still went badly for the British +at the front. In America Montcalm took Fort William Henry, and a British +fleet and army failed to accomplish anything against Louisbourg. In +Europe another British fleet and army were fitted out to go on another +joint expedition, this time against Rochefort, a great seaport in the +west of France. The senior staff officer, next to the three generals in +command, was Wolfe, now thirty years of age. The admiral in charge of +the fleet was Hawke, as famous a fighter as Wolfe himself. A little +later, when both these great men were known throughout the whole +United Service, as well as among the millions in Britain and in Greater +Britain, their names were coupled in countless punning toasts, and +patriots from Canada to Calcutta would stand up to drink a health to +'the eye of a Hawke and the heart of a Wolfe.' But Wolfe was not a +general yet; and the three pottering old men who were generals at +Rochefort could not make up their minds to do anything but talk. These +generals had been ordered to take Rochefort by complete surprise. But +after spending five days in front of it, so that every Frenchman could +see what they had come for, they decided to countermand the attack and +sail home. + +Wolfe was a very angry and disgusted man. Yet, though this joint +expedition was a disgraceful failure, he had learned some useful +lessons, which he was presently to turn to good account. He saw, at +least, what such expeditions should not attempt; and that a general +should act boldly, though wisely, with the fleet. More than this, he had +himself made a plan which his generals were too timid to carry out; and +this plan was so good that Pitt, now in supreme control for the next +four years, made a note of it and marked him down for promotion and +command. + +Both came sooner than any one could have expected. Pitt was sick of +fleets and armies that did nothing but hold councils of war and then +come back to say that the enemy could not be safely attacked. He made up +his mind to send out real fighters with the next joint expedition. So +in 1758 he appointed Wolfe as the junior of the three brigadier-generals +under Amherst, who was to join Admiral Boscawen--nicknamed 'Old +Dreadnought'--in a great expedition meant to take Louisbourg for good +and all. + +Louisbourg was the greatest fortress in America. It was in the +extreme east of Canada, on the island of Cape Breton, near the best +fishing-grounds, and on the flank of the ship channel into the St +Lawrence. A fortress there, in which French fleets could shelter safely, +was like a shield for New France and a sword against New England. In +1745, just before the outbreak of the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, an +army of New Englanders under Sir William Pepperrell, with the assistance +of Commodore Warren's fleet, had taken this fortress. But at the peace +of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, when Wolfe had just come of age, it was +given back to France. + +Ten years later, when Wolfe went out to join the second army that was +sent against it, the situation was extremely critical. Both French and +British strained every nerve, the one to hold, the other to take, the +greatest fortress in America. A French fleet sailed from Brest in +the spring and arrived safely. But it was not nearly strong enough to +attempt a sea-fight off Louisbourg, and three smaller fleets that were +meant to join it were all smashed up off the coast of France by the +British, who thus knew, before beginning the siege, that Louisbourg +could hardly expect any help from outside. Hawke was one of the British +smashers this year. The next year he smashed up a much greater force in +Quiberon Bay, and so made 'the eye of a Hawke and the heart of a Wolfe' +work together again, though they were thousands of miles apart and one +directed a fleet while the other inspired an army. + +The fortress of Louisbourg was built beside a fine harbour with an +entrance still further defended by a fortified island. It was garrisoned +by about four thousand four hundred soldiers. Some of these were hired +Germans, who cared nothing for the French; and the French-Canadian and +Indian irregulars were not of much use at a regular siege. The British +admiral Boscawen had a large fleet, and General Amherst an army twelve +thousand strong. Taking everything into account, by land and sea, the +British united service at the siege was quite three times as strong +as the French united service. But the French ships, manned by three +thousand sailors, were in a good harbour, and they and the soldiers were +defended by thick walls with many guns. Besides, the whole defence was +conducted by Drucour, as gallant a leader as ever drew sword. + +Boscawen was chosen by Pitt for the same reason as Wolfe had been, +because he was a fighter. He earned his nickname of 'Old Dreadnought' +from the answer he made one night in the English Channel when the +officer of the watch called him to say that two big French ships were +bearing down on his single British one. 'What are we to do, sir?' +asked the officer. 'Do?' shouted Boscawen, springing out of his berth, +'Do?--Why, damn 'em, fight 'em, of course!' And they did. Amherst was +the slow-and-sure kind of general; but he had the sense to know a good +man when he saw one, and to give Wolfe the chance of trying his own +quick-and-sure way instead. + +A portion of the British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Hardy had +been cruising off Louisbourg for some time before Boscawen's squadron +hove in sight on June 2. This squadron was followed by more than twice +its own number of ships carrying the army. All together, there were +a hundred and fifty-seven British vessels, besides Hardy's covering +squadron. Of course, the men could not be landed under the fire of the +fortress. But two miles south of it, and running westward from it for +many miles more, was Gabarus Bay with an open beach. For several days +the Atlantic waves dashed against the shore so furiously that no boat +could live through their breakers. But on the eighth the three brigades +of infantry made for three different points, [Footnote: White Point, +Flat Point, and Kennington Cove. See the accompanying Map of the siege.] +respectively two, three, and four miles from the fortress. The French +sent out half the garrison to shoot down the first boatloads that came +in on the rollers. To cover the landing, some of Boscawen's ships +moved in as close as they could and threw shells inshore: but without +dislodging the enemy. + +Each of the three brigades had its own flag--one red, another blue, and +the third white. Wolfe's brigade was the red, the one farthest west from +Louisbourg, and Wolfe's did the fighting. While the boats rose and fell +on the gigantic rollers and the enemy's cannon roared and the +waves broke in thunder on the beach, Wolfe was standing up in the +stern-sheets, scanning every inch of the ground to see if there was no +place where a few men could get a footing and keep it till the rest had +landed. He had first-rate soldiers with him: grenadiers, Highlanders, +and light infantry. + +The boats were now close in, and the French were firing cannon and +muskets into them right and left. One cannon-ball whizzed across Wolfe's +own boat and smashed his flagstaff to splinters. Just then three young +light infantry officers saw a high ledge of rocks, under shelter of +which a few men could form up. Wolfe, directing every movement with his +cane, like Gordon in China a century later, shouted to the others to +follow them; and then, amid the crash of artillery and the wild welter +of the surf, though many boats were smashed and others upset, though +some men were shot and others drowned, the landing was securely made. +'Who were the first ashore?' asked Wolfe, as the men were forming up +under the ledge. Two Highlanders were pointed out. 'Good fellows!' he +said, as he went up to them and handed each a guinea. + +While the ranks were forming on the beach, the French were firing into +them and men were dropping fast. But every gap was closed as soon as it +was made. Directly Wolfe saw he had enough men he sprang to the front; +whereupon they all charged after him, straight at the batteries on the +crest of the rising shore. Here there was some wild work for a minute or +two, with swords, bayonets, and muskets all hard at it. But the +French now saw, to their dismay, that thousands of other redcoats were +clambering ashore, nearer in to Louisbourg, and that these men would cut +them off if they waited a moment longer. So they turned and ran, hotly +pursued, till they were safe in under the guns of the fortress. A +deluge of shot and shell immediately belched forth against the pursuing +British, who wisely halted just out of range. + +After this exciting commencement Amherst's guns, shot, shell, powder, +stores, food, tents, and a thousand other things had all to be landed on +the surf-lashed, open beach. It was the sailors' stupendous task to haul +the whole of this cumbrous material up to the camp. The bluejackets, +however, were not the only ones to take part in the work, for the ships' +women also turned to, with the best of a gallant goodwill. In a few days +all the material was landed; and Amherst, having formed his camp, sat +down to conduct the siege. + +Louisbourg harbour faces east, runs in westward nearly a mile, and is +over two miles from north to south. The north and south points, however, +on either side of its entrance, are only a mile apart. On the south +point stood the fortress; on the north the lighthouse; and between were +several islands, rocks, and bars that narrowed the entrance for ships +to only three cables, or a little more than six hundred yards. Wolfe saw +that the north point, where the lighthouse stood, was undefended, and +might be seized and used as a British battery to smash up the French +batteries on Goat Island at the harbour mouth. Acting on this idea, he +marched with twelve hundred men across the stretch of country between +the British camp and the lighthouse. The fleet brought round his guns +and stores and all other necessaries by sea. A tremendous bombardment +then silenced every French gun on Goat Island. This left the French +nothing for their defence but the walls of Louisbourg itself. + +Both French and British soon realized that the fall of Louisbourg was +only a question of time. But time was everything to both. The British +were anxious to take Louisbourg and then sail up to Quebec and take it +by a sudden attack while Montcalm was engaged in fighting Abercromby's +army on Lake Champlain. The French, of course, were anxious to hold +out long enough to prevent this; and Drucour, their commandant at +Louisbourg, was just the man for their purpose. His wife, too, was as +brave as he. She used to go round the batteries cheering up the gunners, +and paying no more attention to the British shot and shell than if they +had been only fireworks. On June 18, just before Wolfe's lighthouse +batteries were ready to open fire, Madame Drucour set sail in the +venturesome _Echo_, a little French man-of-war that was making a dash +for it, in the hope of carrying the news to Quebec. But after a gallant +fight the _Echo_ had to haul down her colours to the _Juno_ and the +_Sutherland_. We shall hear more of the _Sutherland_ at the supreme +moment of Wolfe's career. + +Nothing French, not even a single man, could now get into or out of +Louisbourg. But Drucour still kept the flag up, and sent out parties at +night to harass his assailants. One of these surprised a British post, +killed Lord Dundonald who commanded it, and retired safely after being +almost cut off by British reinforcements. Though Wolfe had silenced the +island batteries and left the entrance open enough for Boscawen to sail +in, the admiral hesitated because he thought he might lose too many +ships by risking it. Then the French promptly sank some of their own +ships at the entrance to keep him out. But six hundred British sailors +rowed in at night and boarded and took the only two ships remaining +afloat. The others had been blown up a month before by British shells +fired by naval gunners from Amherst's batteries. Drucour was now in a +terrible, plight. Not a ship was left. He was completely cut off by land +and sea. Many of his garrison were dead, many more were lying sick or +wounded. His foreigners were ready for desertion. His French Canadians +had grown down-hearted. All the non-combatants wished him to surrender +at once. What else could he do but give in? On July 27 he hauled +down the fleurs-de-lis from the great fortress. But he had gained his +secondary object; for it was now much too late in the year for the same +British force to begin a new campaign against Quebec. + +Wolfe, like Nelson and Napoleon, was never content to 'let well enough +alone,' if anything better could possibly be done. When the news came of +Montcalm's great victory over Abercromby at Ticonderoga, he told Amherst +he was ready to march inland at once with reinforcements. And after +Louisbourg had surrendered and Boscawen had said it was too late to +start for Quebec, he again volunteered to do any further service that +Amherst required. The service he was sent on was the soldier's most +disgusting duty; but he did it thoroughly, though he would have +preferred anything else. He went with Hardy's squadron to destroy the +French settlements along the Gulf of St Lawrence, so as to cut off their +supplies from the French in Quebec before the next campaign. + +After Rochefort Wolfe had become a marked man. After Louisbourg he +became an Imperial hero. The only other the Army had yet produced in +this war was Lord Howe, who had been killed in a skirmish just before +Ticonderoga. Wolfe knew Howe well, admired him exceedingly, and called +him 'the noblest Englishman that has appeared in my time, and the +best soldier in the army.' He would have served under him gladly. But +Howe--young, ardent, gallant, yet profound--was dead; and the hopes +of discerning judges were centred on Wolfe. The war had not been going +well, and this victory at Louisbourg was the first that the British +people could really rejoice over with all their heart. + +The British colonies went wild with delight. Halifax had a state ball, +at which Wolfe danced to his heart's content; while his unofficial +partners thought themselves the luckiest girls in all America to be +asked by the hero of Louisbourg. Boston and Philadelphia had large +bonfires and many fireworks. The chief people of New York attended a +gala dinner. Every church had special thanksgivings. + +In England the excitement was just as great, and Wolfe's name and fame +flew from lip to lip all over the country. Parliament passed special +votes of thanks. Medals were struck to celebrate the event. The king +stood on his palace steps to receive the captured colours, which were +carried through London in triumph by the Guards and the Household +Brigade. And Pitt, the greatest--and, in a certain sense, the +only--British statesman who has ever managed people, parliament, +government, navy, and army, all together, in a world-wide Imperial +war--Pitt, the eagle-eyed and lion-hearted, at once marked Wolfe down +again for higher promotion and, this time, for the command of an army of +his own. And ever since the Empire Year of 1759 the world has known that +Pitt was right. + + + + +CHAPTER VI -- QUEBEC, 1759 + +In October 1758 Wolfe sailed from Halifax for England with Boscawen +and very nearly saw a naval battle off Land's End with the French fleet +returning to France from Quebec. The enemy, however, slipped away in +the dark. On November 1 he landed at Portsmouth. He had been made full +colonel of a new regiment, the 67th Foot (Hampshires), and before going +home to London he set off to see it at Salisbury. [Footnote: Ten years +later a Russian general saw this regiment at Minorca and was loud in +his praise of its all-round excellence, when Wolfe's successor in the +colonelcy, Sir James Campbell, at once said: 'The only merit due to me +is the strictness with which I have followed the system introduced +by the hero of Quebec.'] Wolfe's old regiment, the 20th (Lancashire +Fusiliers), was now in Germany, fighting under the command of Prince +Ferdinand of Brunswick, and was soon to win more laurels at Minden, the +first of the three great British victories of 1759--Minden, Quebec, and +Quiberon. + +Though far from well, Wolfe was as keen as ever about anything that +could possibly make him fit for command. He picked out the best officers +with a sure eye: generals and colonels, like Carleton; captains; like +Delaune, a man made for the campaigns in Canada, who, as we shall see +later, led the 'Forlorn Hope' up the Heights of Abraham. Wolfe had also +noted in a third member of the great Howe family a born leader of +light infantry for Quebec. Wolfe was very strong on light infantry, and +trained them to make sudden dashes with a very short but sharp surprise +attack followed by a quick retreat under cover. One day at Louisbourg +an officer said this reminded him of what Xenophon wrote about the +Carduchians who harassed the rear of the world-famous 'Ten Thousand.' +'I had it from Xenophon' was Wolfe's reply. Like all great commanders, +Wolfe knew what other great commanders had done and thought, no matter +to what age or nation they belonged: Greek, Roman, German, French, +British, or any other. Years before this he had recommended a young +officer to study the Prussian Army Regulations and Vauban's book on +Sieges. Nor did he forget to read the lives of men like Scanderbeg and +Ziska, who could teach him many unusual lessons. He kept his eyes +open everywhere, all his life long, on men and things and books. He +recommended his friend. Captain Rickson, who was then in Halifax, to +read Montesquieu's not yet famous book _The Spirit of Laws_, because it +would be useful for a government official in a new country. Writing home +to his mother from Louisbourg about this new country, that is, before +Canada had become British, before there was much more than a single +million of English-speaking people in the whole New World, and before +most people on either side of the Atlantic understood what a great +oversea empire meant at all, he said: 'This will sometime hence, be a +vast empire, the seat of power and learning. Nature has refused them +nothing, and there will grow a people out of our little spot, England, +that will fill this vast space, and divide this great portion of the +globe with the Spaniards, who are possessed of the other half of it.' + +On arriving in England Wolfe had reported his presence to the +commander-in-chief, Lord Ligonier, requesting leave of absence in order +that he might visit his relatives. This was granted, and the Wolfe +family met together once more and for the last time. + +Though he said little about it, Wolfe must have snatched some time for +Katherine Lowther, his second love, to whom he was now engaged. What +had happened between him and his first love, Miss Lawson, will probably +never be known. We know that his parents were opposed to his marrying +her. Perhaps, too, she may not have been as much in love as he was. But, +for whatever reason, they parted. Then he fell in love with beautiful +Katherine Lowther, a sister to the Earl of Lonsdale and afterwards +Duchess of Bolton. + +Meanwhile Pitt was planning for his Empire Year of 1759, the year of +Ferdinand at Minden, Wolfe at Quebec, and Hawke in Quiberon Bay. Before +Pitt had taken the war in hand nearly everything had gone against the +British. Though Clive had become the British hero of India in 1757, and +Wolfe of Louisbourg in 1758, there had hitherto been more defeats than +victories. Minorca had been lost in 1756; in America Braddock's army +had been destroyed in 1755; and Montcalm had won victories at Oswego in +1756, at Fort William Henry in 1757, and at Ticonderoga in 1758. More +than this, in 1759 the French were preparing fleets and armies to invade +England, Ireland, and Scotland; and the British people were thinking +rather of their own defence at home than of attacking the French abroad. + +Pitt, however, rightly thought that vigorous attacks from the sea were +the best means of defence at home. From London he looked out over the +whole world: at France and her allies in the centre, at French India +on his far left, and at French Canada on his far right; with the sea +dividing his enemies and uniting his friends, if only he could hold its +highways with the British Navy. + +To carry out his plans Pitt sent a small army and a great deal of money +to Frederick the Great, to help him in the middle of Europe against the +Russians, Austrians, and French. At the same time he let Anson station +fleets round the coast of France, so that no strong French force could +get at Britain or Greater Britain, or go to help Greater France, without +a fight at sea. Then, having cut off Canada from France and taken +her outpost at Louisbourg, he aimed a death-blow at her very heart by +sending Saunders, with a quarter of the whole British Navy, against +Quebec, the stronghold of New France, where the land attack was to be +made by a little army of 9,000 men under Wolfe. Even this was not the +whole of Pitt's plan for the conquest of Canada. A smaller army was to +be sent against the French on the Great Lakes, and a larger one, under +Amherst, along the line of Lake Champlain, towards Montreal. + +Pitt did a very bold thing when he took a young colonel and asked the +king to make him a general and allow him to choose his own brigadiers +and staff officers. It was a bold thing, because, whenever there is a +position of honour to be given, the older men do not like being passed +over and all the politicians who think of themselves first and their +country afterwards wish to put in their own favourites. Wolfe, of +course, had enemies. Dullards often think that men of genius are crazy, +and some one had told the king that Wolfe was mad. 'Mad, is he?' said +the king, remembering all the recent British defeats on land 'then I +hope he'll bite some of my other generals!' Wolfe was not able to give +any of his seniors his own and Lord Howe's kind of divine 'madness' +during that war. But he did give a touch of it to many of his juniors; +with the result that his Quebec army was better officered than any other +British land force of the time. + +The three brigadiers next in command to Wolfe--Monckton, Townshend, and +Murray--were not chosen simply because they were all sons of peers, but +because, like Howe and Boscawen, they were first-rate officers as well. +Barre and Carleton were the two chief men on the staff. Each became +celebrated in later days, Barre in parliament, and Carleton as both the +saviour of Canada from the American attack in 1775 and the first British +governor-general. Williamson, the best gunnery expert in the whole Army, +commanded the artillery. The only troublesome officer was Townshend, who +thought himself, and whose family and political friends thought him, +at least as good a general as Wolfe, if not a better one. But even +Townshend did his duty well. The army at Halifax was supposed to be +twelve thousand, but its real strength was only nine thousand. The +difference was mostly due to the ravages of scurvy and camp fever, both +of which, in their turn, were due to the bad food supplied by rascally +contractors. The action of the officers alone saved the situation from +becoming desperate. Indeed, if it had not been for what the officers did +for their men in the way of buying better food, at great cost, out of +their own not well-filled pockets, there might have been no army at all +to greet Wolfe on his arrival in America. + +The fleet was the greatest that had ever sailed across the seas. It +included one-quarter of the whole Royal Navy. There were 49 men-of-war +manned by 14,000 sailors and marines. There were also more than 200 +vessels--transports, store ships, provision ships, etc.--manned by about +7,000 merchant seamen. Thus there were at least twice as many sailors as +soldiers at the taking of Quebec. Saunders was a most capable admiral. +He had been flag-lieutenant during Anson's famous voyage round the +world; then Hawke's best fighting captain during the war in which +Wolfe was learning his work at Dettingen and Laffeldt; and then Hawke's +second-in-command of the 'cargo of courage' sent out after Byng's +disgrace at Minorca. After Quebec he crowned his fine career by being +one of the best first lords of the Admiralty that ever ruled the Navy. +Durell, his next in command, was slower than Amherst; and Amherst never +made a short cut in his life, even to certain success. Holmes, the third +admiral, was thoroughly efficient. Hood, a still better admiral than +any of those at Quebec, afterwards served under Holmes, and Nelson under +Hood; which links Trafalgar with Quebec. But a still closer link +with 'mighty Nelson' was Jervis, who took charge of Wolfe's personal +belongings at Quebec the night before the battle and many years +later became Nelson's commander-in-chief. Another Quebec captain who +afterwards became a great admiral was Hughes, famous for his fights in +India. But the man whose subsequent fame in the world at large eclipsed +that of any other in this fleet was Captain Cook, who made the first +good charts of Canadian waters some years before he became a great +explorer in the far Pacific. + +There was a busy scene at Portsmouth on February 17, when Saunders and +Wolfe sailed in the flagship H.M.S. Neptune, of 90 guns and a crew +of 750 men. She was one of the well-known old 'three-deckers,' those +'wooden walls of England' that kept the Empire safe while it was growing +up. The guard of red-coated marines presented arms, and the hundreds of +bluejackets were all in their places as the two commanders stepped on +board. The naval officers on the quarter-deck were very spick and span +in their black three-cornered hats, white wigs, long, bright blue, +gold-laced coats, white waistcoats and breeches and stockings, and +gold-buckled shoes. The idea of having naval uniforms of blue and white +and gold--the same colours that are worn to-day--came from the king's +seeing the pretty Duchess of Bedford in a blue-and-white riding-habit, +which so charmed him that he swore he would make the officers wear the +same colours for the uniforms just then being newly tried. This was when +the Duke of Bedford was first lord of the Admiralty, some years before +Pitt's great expedition against Quebec. + +The sailors were also in blue and white; but they were not so spick and +span as the officers. They were a very rough-and-ready-looking lot. They +wore small, soft, three-cornered black hats, bright blue jackets, +open enough to show their coarse white shirts, and coarse white duck +trousers. They had shoes without stockings on shore, and only bare feet +on board. They carried cutlasses and pistols, and wore their hair in +pigtails. They would be a surprising sight to modern eyes. But not so +much so as the women! Ships and regiments in those days always had a +certain number of women for washing and mending the clothes. There +was one woman to about every twenty men. They drew pay and were under +regular orders just like the soldiers and sailors. Sometimes they gave +a willing hand in action, helping the 'powder-monkeys'--boys who had to +pass the powder from the barrels to the gunners--or even taking part in +a siege, as at Louisbourg. + +The voyage to Halifax was long, rough, and cold, and Wolfe was sea-sick +as ever. Strangely enough, these ships coming out to the conquest of +Canada under St George's cross made land on St George's Day near the +place where Cabot had raised St George's cross over Canadian soil before +Columbus had set foot on the mainland of America. But though April 23 +might be a day of good omen, it was a very bleak one that year off Cape +Breton, where ice was packed for miles and miles along the coast. On the +30th the fleet entered Halifax. Slow old Durell was hurried off on May +5 with eight men-of-war and seven hundred soldiers under Carleton to try +to stop any French ships from getting up to Quebec. Carleton was to go +ashore at Isle-aux-Coudres, an island commanding the channel sixty +miles below Quebec, and mark out a passage for the fleet through the +'Traverse' at the lower end of the island of Orleans, thirty miles +higher up. + +On the 13th Saunders sailed for Louisbourg, where the whole expedition +was to meet and get ready. Here Wolfe spent the rest of Map, working +every day and all day. His army, with the exception of nine hundred +American rangers, consisted of seasoned British regulars, with all the +weaklings left behind; and it did his heart good to see them on parade. +There was the 15th, whose officers still wear a line of black braid +on their uniforms in mourning for his death. The 15th and five other +regiments--the 28th, 43rd, 47th, 48th, and 58th--were English. But the +35th had been forty years in Ireland, and was Irish to a man. The whole +seven regiments were dressed very much alike: three-cornered, stiff +black hats with black cockades, white wigs, long-tailed red coats turned +back with blue or white in front, where they were fastened only at the +neck, white breeches, and long white gaiters coming over the knee. A +very different corps was the 78th, or 'Fraser's,' Highlanders, one +of the regiments Wolfe first recommended and Pitt first raised. Only +fourteen years before the Quebec campaign these same Highlanders had +joined Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender, in the famous ''45.' +They were mostly Roman Catholics, which accounts for the way they +intermarried with the French Canadians after the conquest. They had +been fighting for the Stuarts against King George, and Wolfe, as we have +seen, had himself fought against them at Culloden. Yet here they were +now, under Wolfe, serving King George. They knew that the Stuart cause +was lost for ever; and all of them, chiefs and followers alike, loved +the noble profession of arms. The Highlanders then wore 'bonnets' like +a high tam-o'-shanter, with one white curly feather on the left side. +Their red coats were faced with yellow, and they wore the Fraser plaid +hung from the shoulders and caught up, loopwise, on both hips. Their +kilts were very short and not pleated. Badger sporrans, showing the head +in the middle, red-and-white-diced hose, and buckled brogues completed +their wild but martial dress, which was well set off by the dirks and +claymores that swung to the stride of the mountaineer. + +Each regiment had one company of grenadiers, picked out for their size, +strength, and steadiness, and one company of light infantry, picked out +for their quickness and good marksmanship. Sometimes all the grenadier +companies would be put together in a separate battalion. The same thing +was often done with the light infantry companies, which were then led by +Colonel Howe. Wolfe had also made up a small three-company battalion of +picked grenadiers from the five regiments that were being left behind at +Louisbourg to guard the Maritime Provinces. This little battalion became +famous at Quebec as the 'Louisbourg Grenadiers.' The grenadiers all wore +red and white, like the rest, except that their coats were buttoned up +the whole way, and instead of the three-cornered hats they wore high +ones like a bishop's mitre. The artillery wore blue-grey coats turned +back with red, yellow braid, and half-moon-shaped black hats, with the +points down towards their shoulders. + +The only remaining regiment is of much greater interest in connection +with a Canadian campaign. It was the 60th Foot, then called the Royal +Americans, afterwards the Sixtieth Rifles or 'Old Sixtieth,' and now +the King's Royal Rifle Corps. It was the first regiment of regulars ever +raised in Greater Britain, and the first to introduce the rifle-green +uniform now known all over the Empire, especially in Canada, where +all rifle regiments still follow 'the 60th's' lead so far as that is +possible. Many of its officers and men who returned from the conquest of +Canada to their homes in the British colonies were destined to move on +to Canada with their families as United Empire Loyalists. This was +their first war; and they did so well in it that Wolfe gave them +the rifleman's motto they still bear in token of their smartness and +dash--_Celer et Audax_. Unfortunately they did not then wear the famous +'rifle green' but the ordinary red. Unfortunately, too, the rifleman's +green has no connection with the 'green jackets of American backwoodsmen +in the middle of the eighteenth century.' The backwoodsmen were not +dressed in green as a rule, and they never formed any considerable part +of the regiment at any time. The first green uniform came in with the +new 5th battalion in 1797; and the old 2nd and 3rd battalions, which +fought under Wolfe, did not adopt it till 1815. It was not even of +British origin, but an imitation of a German hussar uniform which was +itself an imitation of one worn by the Hungarians, who have the senior +hussars of the world. But though Wolfe's Royal Americans did not wear +the rifle green, and though their coats and waistcoats were of common +red, their uniforms differed from those of all other regiments at Quebec +in several particulars. The most remarkable difference was the absence +of lace, an absence specially authorized only for this corps, and then +only in view of special service and many bush fights in America. The +double-breasted coats were made to button across, except at the top, +where the lapels turned back, like the cuffs and coat-tails. All these +'turnbacks' and the breeches were blue. The very long gaiters, the waist +and cross belts, the neckerchief and hat piping were white. Wearing this +distinctively plain uniform, and led by their buglers and drummers in +scarlet and gold, like state trumpeters, the Royal Americans could not, +even at a distance, be mistaken for any other regiment. + +On June 6 Saunders and Wolfe sailed for Quebec with a hundred and +forty-one ships. Wolfe's work in getting his army safely off being over, +he sat down alone in his cabin to make his will. His first thought was +for Katherine Lowther, his _fiancee_, who was to have her own miniature +portrait, which he carried with him, set in jewels and given back to +her. Warde, Howe, and Carleton were each remembered. He left all the +residue of his estate to 'my good mother,' his father having just died. +More than a third of the whole will was taken up with providing for his +servants. No wonder he was called 'the soldier's friend.' + +There was a thrilling scene at Louisbourg as regiment after regiment +marched down to the shore, with drums beating, bugles sounding, and +colours flying. Each night, after drinking the king's health, they had +drunk another toast--'British colours on every French fort, port, and +garrison in North America.' Now here they were, the pick of the Army +and Navy, off with Wolfe to raise those colours over Quebec, the most +important military point on the whole continent. On they sailed, all +together, till they reached the Saguenay, a hundred and twenty miles +below Quebec. Here, on the afternoon of June 20, the sun shone down on +a sight such as the New World had never seen before, and has never seen +again. The river narrows opposite the Saguenay and is full of shoals and +islands; so this was the last day the whole one hundred and forty-one +vessels sailed together, in their three divisions, under those three +ensigns--'The Red, White, and Blue'--which have made the British Navy +loved, feared, and famous round the seven seas. What a sight it was! +Thousands and thousands of soldiers and sailors crowded those scores +and scores of high-decked ships; while hundreds and hundreds of swelling +sails gleamed white against the sun, across the twenty miles of blue St +Lawrence. + +Wolfe, however, was not there to see it. He had gone forward the day +before. A dispatch-boat had come down from Durell to say that, in spite +of his advanced squadron, Bougainville, Montcalm's ablest brigadier, had +slipped through with twenty-three ships from France, bringing out a few +men and a good deal of ammunition, stores, and food. This gave Quebec +some sorely needed help. Besides, Montcalm had found out Pitt's plan; +and nobody knew where the only free French fleet was now. It had +wintered in the West Indies. But had it sailed for France or the St +Lawrence? At the first streak of dawn on the 23rd Durell's look-out off +Isle-aux-Coudres reported many ships coming up the river under a press +of sail. Could the French West Indian fleet have slipped in ahead of +Saunders, as Bougainville had slipped in ahead of Durell himself? There +was a tense moment on board of Durell's squadron and in Carleton's camp, +in the pale, grey light of early morning, as the bugles sounded, the +boatswains blew their whistles and roared their orders, and all hands +came tumbling up from below and ran to battle quarters with a rush +of swift bare feet. But the incoming vanship made the private British +signal, and both sides knew that all was well. + +For a whole week the great fleet of one hundred and forty-one ships +worked their way through the narrow channel between Isle-aux-Coudres and +the north shore, and then dared the dangers of the Traverse, below the +island of Orleans, where the French had never passed more than one ship +at a time, and that only with the greatest caution. The British went +through quite easily, without a single accident. In two days the great +Captain Cook had sounded and marked out the channel better than the +French had in a hundred and fifty years; and so thoroughly was his +work done that the British officers could handle their vessels in these +French waters better without than with the French pilots. Old Captain +Killick took the _Goodwill_ through himself, just next ahead of the +_Richmond_, on board of which was Wolfe. The captured French pilot in +the _Goodwill_ was sure she would be lost if she did not go slow and +take more care. But Killick laughed at him and said: 'Damn me, but I'll +convince you an Englishman can go where a Frenchman daren't show his +nose!' And he did. + +On June 26 Wolfe arrived at the west end of the island of Orleans, in +full view of Quebec. The twenty days' voyage from Louisbourg had ended +and the twelve weeks' siege had begun. At this point we must take the +map and never put it aside till the final battle is over. A whole book +could not possibly make Wolfe's work plain to any one without the map. +But with the map we can easily follow every move in this, the greatest +crisis in both Wolfe's career and Canada's history. + +What Wolfe saw and found out was enough to daunt any general. He had +a very good army, but it was small. He could count upon the help of +a mighty fleet, but even British fleets cannot climb hills or make +an enemy come down and fight. Montcalm, however, was weakened by many +things. The governor, Vaudreuil, was a vain, fussy, and spiteful fool, +with power enough to thwart Montcalm at every turn. The intendant, +Bigot, was the greatest knave ever seen in Canada, and the head of a +gang of official thieves who robbed the country and the wretched French +Canadians right and left. The French army, all together, numbered nearly +seventeen thousand, almost twice Wolfe's own; but the bulk of it was +militia, half starved and badly armed. Both Vaudreuil and Bigot could +and did interfere disastrously with the five different forces that +should have been made into one army under Montcalm alone--the French +regulars, the Canadian regulars, the Canadian militia, the French +sailors ashore, and the Indians. Montcalm had one great advantage over +Wolfe. He was not expected to fight or manoeuvre in the open field. His +duty was not to drive Wolfe away, or even to keep Amherst out of Canada. +All he had to do was to hold Quebec throughout the summer. The autumn +would force the British fleet to leave for ice-free waters. Then, if +Quebec could only be held, a change in the fortunes of war, or a treaty +of peace, might still keep Canada in French hands. Wolfe had either +to tempt Montcalm out of Quebec or get into it himself; and he soon +realized that he would have to do this with the help of Saunders alone; +for Amherst in the south was crawling forward towards Montreal so slowly +that no aid from him could be expected. + +Montcalm's position certainly looked secure for the summer. His left +flank was guarded by the Montmorency, a swift river that could be forded +only by a few men at a time in a narrow place, some miles up, where the +dense bush would give every chance to his Indians and Canadians. His +centre was guarded by entrenchments running from the Montmorency to +the St Charles, six miles of ground, rising higher and higher towards +Montmorency, all of it defended by the best troops and the bulk of the +army, and none of it having an inch of cover for an enemy in front. The +mouth of the St Charles was blocked by booms and batteries. Quebec is a +natural fortress; and above Quebec the high, steep cliffs stretched for +miles and miles. These cliffs could be climbed by a few men in several +places; but nowhere by a whole army, if any defenders were there in +force; and the British fleet could not land an army without being seen +soon enough to draw plenty of defenders to the same spot. Forty miles +above Quebec the St Lawrence channel narrows to only a quarter of a +mile, and the down current becomes very swift indeed. Above this channel +was the small French fleet, which could stop a much larger one trying to +get up, or could even block most of the fairway by sinking some of its +own ships. Besides all these defences of man and nature the French +had floating batteries along the north shore. They also held the Levis +Heights on the south shore, opposite Quebec, so that ships crowded with +helpless infantry could not, without terrible risk, run through the +intervening narrows, barely a thousand yards wide. + +A gale blowing down-stream was the first trouble for the British fleet. +Many of the transports broke loose and a good deal of damage was done +to small vessels and boats. Next night a greater danger threatened, +when the ebb-tide, running five miles an hour, brought down seven French +fireships, which suddenly burst into flame as they rounded the Point of +Levy. There was a display of devil's fireworks such as few men have ever +seen or could imagine. Sizzling, crackling, and roaring, the blinding +flames leaped into the jet-black sky, lighting up the camps of both +armies, where thousands of soldiers watched these engines of death sweep +down on the fleet. Each of the seven ships was full of mines, blowing +up and hurling shot and shell in all directions. The crowded mass of +British vessels seemed doomed to destruction. But the first spurt of +fire had hardly been noticed before the men in the guard boats began to +row to the rescue. Swinging the grappling-hooks round at arm's length, +as if they were heaving the lead, the bluejackets made the fireships +fast, the officers shouted, 'Give way!' and presently the whole infernal +flotilla was safely stranded. But it was a close thing and very hot +work, as one of the happy-go-lucky Jack tars said with more force than +grace, when he called out to the boat beside him: 'Hullo, mate! Did you +ever take hell in tow before?' + +Vaudreuil now made Montcalm, who was under his orders, withdraw the men +from the Levis Heights, and thus abandon the whole of the south shore in +front of Quebec. Wolfe, delighted, at once occupied the same place, with +half his army and most of his guns. Then he seized the far side of the +Montmorency and made his main camp there, without, however, removing his +hospitals and stores from his camp on the island of Orleans. So he now +had three camps, not divided, but joined together, by the St Lawrence, +where the fleet could move about between them in spite of anything the +French could do. He then marched up the Montmorency to the fords, to try +the French strength there, and to find out if he could cross the river, +march down the open ground behind Montcalm, and attack him from the +rear. But he was repulsed at the first attempt, and saw that he could do +no better at a second. Meanwhile his Levis batteries began a bombardment +which lasted two months and reduced Quebec to ruins. + +Yet he seemed as far off as ever from capturing the city. Battering +down the houses of Quebec brought him no nearer to his object, while +Montcalm's main body still stood securely in its entrenchments down +at Beauport. Wolfe now felt he must try something decisive, even if +desperate; and he planned an attack by land and water on the French +left. Both French and British were hard at work on July 31. In the +morning Wolfe sent one regiment marching up the Montmorency, as if to +try the fords again, and another, also in full view of the French, up +along the St Lawrence from the Levis batteries, as if it was to be taken +over by the ships to the north shore above Quebec. Meanwhile Monckton's +brigade was starting from the Point of Levy in row-boats, the +_Centurion_ was sailing down to the mouth of the Montmorency, two armed +transports were being purposely run ashore on the beach at the top of +the tide, and the _Pembroke_, _Trent_, _Lowestoff_, and _Racehorse_ +were taking up positions to cover the boats. The men-of-war and Wolfe's +batteries at Montmorency then opened fire on the point he wished to +attack; and both of them kept it up for eight hours, from ten till +six. All this time the Levis batteries were doing their utmost against +Quebec. But Montcalm was not to be deceived. He saw that Wolfe intended +to storm the entrenchments at the point at which the cannon were firing, +and he kept the best of his army ready to defend it. + +Wolfe and the Louisbourg Grenadiers were in the two armed transports +when they grounded at ten o'clock. To his disgust and to Captain Cook's +surprise both vessels stuck fast in the mud nearly half a mile from +shore. This made the grenadiers' muskets useless against the advanced +French redoubt, which stood at high-water mark, and which overmatched +the transports, because both of these had grounded in such a way that +they could not bring their guns to bear in reply. The stranded vessels +soon became a death-trap. Wolfe's cane was knocked out of his hand by a +cannon ball. Shells were bursting over the deck, smashing the masts to +pieces and sending splinters of wood and iron flying about among the +helpless grenadiers and gunners. There was nothing to do but order the +men back to the boats and wait. The tide was not low till four. The +weather was scorchingly hot. A thunderstorm was brewing. The redoubt +could not be taken. The transports were a failure. And every move had +to be made in full view of the watchful Montcalm, whose entrenchments +at this point were on the top of a grassy hill nearly two hundred feet +above the muddy beach. But Wolfe still thought he might succeed with the +main attack at low tide, although he had not been able to prepare it at +high tide. His Montmorency batteries seemed to be pitching their shells +very thickly into the French, and his three brigades of infantry were +all ready to act together at the right time. Accordingly, for the +hottest hours of that scorching day, Monckton's men grilled in the boats +while Townshend's and Murray's waited in camp. At four the tide was low +and Wolfe ordered the landing to begin. + +The tidal flats ran out much farther than any one had supposed. The +heavily laden boats stuck on an outer ledge and had to be cleared, +shoved off, refilled with soldiers, and brought round to another place. +It was now nearly six o'clock; and both sides were eager for the +fray. Townshend's and Murray's brigades had forded the mouth of the +Montmorency and were marching along to support the attack, when, +suddenly and unexpectedly, the grenadiers spoiled it all! Wolfe had +ordered the Louisbourg Grenadiers and the ten other grenadier companies +of the army to form up and rush the redoubt. But, what with the cheering +of the sailors as they landed the rest of Monckton's men, and their own +eagerness to come to close quarters at once, the Louisbourg men suddenly +lost their heads and charged before everything was ready. The rest +followed them pell-mell; and in less than five minutes the redoubt was +swarming with excited grenadiers, while the French who had held it were +clambering up the grassy hill into the safer entrenchments. + +The redoubt was certainly no place to stay in. It had no shelter towards +its rear; and dozens of French cannon and thousands of French muskets +were firing into it from the heights. An immediate retirement was the +only proper course. But there was no holding the men now. They broke +into another mad charge, straight at the hill. As they reached it, amid +a storm of musket balls and grape-shot, the heavens joined in with a +terrific storm of their own. The rain burst in a perfect deluge; and the +hill became almost impossible to climb, even if there had been no enemy +pouring death-showers of fire from the top. When Wolfe saw what was +happening he immediately sent officers running after the grenadiers to +make them come back from the redoubt, and these officers now passed the +word to retire at once. This time the grenadiers, all that were left of +them, obeyed. Their two mad rushes had not lasted a quarter of an hour. +Yet nearly half of the thousand men they started with were lying dead or +wounded on that fatal ground. + +Wolfe now saw that he was hopelessly beaten and that there was not a +minute to lose in getting away. The boats could take only Monckton's +men; and the rising tide would soon cut off Townshend's and Murray's +from their camp beyond the mouth of the Montmorency. The two stranded +transports, from which he had hoped so much that morning, were set on +fire; and, under cover of their smoke and of the curtain of torrential +rain, Monckton's crestfallen men got into their boats once more. +Townshend's and Murray's brigades, enraged at not being brought into +action, turned to march back by the way they had come so eagerly only +an hour before. They moved off in perfect order; but, as they left the +battlefield, they waved their hats in defiance at the jeering Frenchmen, +challenging them to come down and fight it out with bayonets hand to +hand. + +Many gallant deeds were done that afternoon; but none more gallant +than those of Captain Ochterloney and Lieutenant Peyton, both grenadier +officers in the Royal Americans. Ochterloney had just been wounded in +a duel; but he said his country's honour came before his own, and, sick +and wounded as he was, he spent those panting hours in the boats without +a murmur and did all he could to form his men up under fire. In the +second charge he fell, shot through the lungs, with Peyton beside him, +shot through the leg. When Wolfe called the grenadiers back a rescue +party wanted to carry off both officers, to save them from the +scalping-knife. But Ochterloney said he would never leave the field +after such a defeat; and Peyton said he would never leave his captain. +Presently a Canadian regular came up with two Indians, grabbed +Ochterloney's watch, sword and money, and left the Indians to finish +him. One of these savages clubbed him with a musket, while the other +shot him in the chest and dashed in with a scalping-knife. In the +meantime, Peyton crawled on his hands and knees to a double-barrelled +musket and shot one Indian dead, but missed the other. This savage now +left Ochterloney, picked up a bayonet and rushed at Peyton, who drew his +dagger. A terrible life-and-death fight followed; but Peyton at last got +a good point well driven home, straight through the Indian's heart. A +whole scalping party now appeared. Ochterloney was apparently dead, and +Peyton was too exhausted to fight any more. But, at this very moment, +another British party came back for the rest of the wounded and carried +Peyton off to the boats. + +Then the Indians came back to scalp Ochterloney. By this time, however, +some French regulars had come down, and one of them, finding Ochterloney +still alive, drove off the Indians at the point of the bayonet, secured +help, and carried him up the hill. Montcalm had him carefully taken into +the General Hospital, where he was tenderly nursed by the nuns. Two days +after he had been rescued, a French officer came out for his clothes and +other effects. Wolfe then sent in twenty guineas for his rescuer, with +a promise that, in return for the kindness shown to Ochterloney, the +General Hospital would be specially protected if the British took +Quebec. Towards the end of August Ochterloney died; and both sides +ceased firing while a French captain came out to report his death and +return his effects. + +This was by no means the only time the two enemies treated each other +like friends. A party of French ladies were among the prisoners brought +in to Wolfe one day; and they certainly had no cause to complain of +him. He gave them a dinner, at which he charmed them all by telling them +about his visit to Paris. The next morning he sent them into Quebec with +his aide-de-camp under a flag of truce. Another time the French officers +sent him a kind of wine which was not to be had in the British camp, and +he sent them some not to be had in their own. + +But the stern work of war went on and on, though the weary month of +August did not seem to bring victory any closer than disastrous July. +Wolfe knew that September was to be the end of the campaign, the +now-or-never of his whole career. And, knowing this, he set to +work--head and heart and soul--on making the plan that brought him +victory, death, and everlasting fame. + + + + +CHAPTER VII -- THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM, September 13, 1759 + +On August 19 an aide-de-camp came out of the farmhouse at Montmorency +which served as the headquarters of the British army to say that Wolfe +was too ill to rise from his bed. The bad news spread like wildfire +through the camp and fleet, and soon became known among the French. +A week passed; but Wolfe was no better. Tossing about on his bed in a +fever, he thought bitterly of his double defeat, of the critical month +of September, of the grim strength of Quebec, formed by nature for a +stronghold, and then--worse still--of his own weak body, which made him +most helpless just when he should have been most fit for his duty. + +Feeling that he could no longer lead in person, he dictated a letter to +the brigadiers, sent them the secret instructions he had received from +Pitt and the king, and asked them to think over his three new plans for +attacking Montcalm at Beauport. They wrote back to say they thought the +defeats at the upper fords of the Montmorency and at the heights facing +the St Lawrence showed that the French could not be beaten by attacking +the Beauport lines again, no matter from what side the attack was made. +They then gave him a plan of their own, which was, to convey the army up +the St Lawrence and fight their way ashore somewhere between Cap Rouge, +nine miles above Quebec, and Pointe-aux-Trembles, twenty-two miles +above. They argued that, by making a landing there, the British could +cut off Montcalm's communications with Three Rivers and Montreal, from +which his army drew its supplies. Wolfe's letter was dictated from his +bed of sickness on the 26th. The brigadiers answered him on the 29th. +Saunders talked it all over with him on the 31st. Before this the fate +of Canada had been an affair of weeks. Now it was a matter of days; +for the morrow would dawn on the very last possible month of the +siege--September. + +After his talk with Saunders Wolfe wrote his last letter home to his +mother, telling her of his desperate plight: + + The enemy puts nothing to risk, and I can't in conscience + put the whole army to risk. My antagonist has wisely + shut himself up in inaccessible entrenchments, so that + I can't get at him without spilling a torrent 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 wary old fellow avoids an action, doubtful + of the behaviour of his army. People must be of the + profession to understand the disadvantages and + difficulties we labour under, arising from the uncommon + natural strength of the country. + +On September 2 he wrote his last letter to Pitt. He had asked the +doctors to 'patch him up,' saying that if they could make him fit for +duty for only the next few days they need not trouble about what might +happen to him afterwards. Their 'patching up' certainly cleared his +fevered brain, for this letter was a masterly account of the whole siege +and the plans just laid to bring it to an end. The style was so good, +indeed, that Charles Townshend said his brother George must have been +the real author, and that Wolfe, whom he dubbed 'a fiery-headed fellow, +only fit for fighting,' could not have done any more than sign his name. +But when George Townshend's own official letter about the battle in +which Wolfe fell was also published, and was found to be much less +effective than Wolfe's, Selwyn went up to Charles Townshend and said: +'Look here, Charles, if your brother wrote Wolfe's letter, who the devil +wrote your brother's?' + +Wolfe did not try to hide anything from Pitt. He told him plainly about +the two defeats and the terrible difficulties in the way of winning any +victory. The whole letter is too long for quotation, and odd scraps from +it give no idea of Wolfe's lucid style. But here are a few which tell +the gist of the story: + + I found myself so ill, and am still so weak, that I + begged the generals to consult together. They are all + of opinion, that, as more ships and provisions are + now got above the town, they should try, by conveying + up five thousand men, to draw the enemy from his + present position and bring him to an action. I have + acquiesced in their proposal, and we are preparing to + put it into execution. The admiral will readily join + in any measure for the public service. 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. You may be sure + that the small part of the campaign which remains + shall be employed, as far as I am able, for the honour + of His Majesty and the interest of the nation. I am + sure of being well seconded by the admirals and + generals; happy if our efforts here can contribute to + the success of His Majesty's arms in any other part + of America. + +On the 31st, the day he wrote to his mother and had his long talk +with Saunders, Wolfe began to send his guns and stores away from the +Montmorency camp. Carleton managed the removal very cleverly; and on +September 3 only the five thousand infantry who were to go up the St +Lawrence were left there. Wolfe tried to tempt Montcalm to attack him. +But Montcalm knew better; and half suspected that Wolfe himself might +make another attack on the Beauport lines. When everything was ready, +all the men at the Point of Levy who could be spared put off in boats +and rowed over towards Beauport, just as Monckton's men had done on the +disastrous last day of July. At the same time the main division of the +fleet, under Saunders, made as if to support these boats, while the +Levis batteries thundered against Quebec. Carleton gave the signal from +the beach at Montmorency when the tide was high; and the whole five +thousand infantry marched down the hill, got into their boats, and rowed +over to where the other boats were waiting. The French now prepared +to defend themselves at once. But as the two divisions of boats came +together, they both rowed off through the gaps between the men-of-war. +Wolfe's army had broken camp and got safely away, right under the noses +of the French, without the loss of a single man. + +A whole week, from September 3 to 10, was then taken up with trying to +see how the brigadiers' plan could be carried out. + +This plan was good, as far as it went. An army is even harder to supply +than a town would be if the town was taken up bodily and moved about the +country. An army makes no supplies itself, but uses up a great deal. +It must have food, clothing, arms, ammunition, stores of all kinds, and +everything else it needs to keep it fit for action. So it must always +keep what are called 'communications' with the places from which it gets +these supplies. Now, Wolfe's and Montcalm's armies were both supplied +along the St Lawrence, Wolfe's from below Quebec and Montcalm's +from above. But Wolfe had no trouble about the safety of his own +'communications,' since they were managed and protected by the fleet. +Even before he first saw Quebec, a convoy of supply ships had sailed +from the Maritime Provinces for his army under the charge of a +man-of-war. And so it went on all through the siege. Including +forty-nine men-of-war, no less than 277 British vessels sailed up to +Quebec during this campaign; and not one of them was lost on the way, +though the St Lawrence had then no lighthouses, buoys, or other aids to +navigation, as it has now, and though the British officers themselves +were compelled to take the ships through the worst places in these +foreign and little-known waters. The result was that there were abundant +supplies for the British army the whole time, thanks to the fleet. + +But Montcalm was in a very different plight. Since the previous autumn, +when Wolfe and Hardy had laid waste the coast of Gaspe, the supply of +sea-fish had almost failed. Now the whole country below Quebec had been +cut off by the fleet, while most of the country round Quebec was being +laid waste by the army. Wolfe's orders were that no man, woman, or child +was to be touched, nor any house or other buildings burnt, if his +own men were not attacked. But if the men of the country fired at his +soldiers they were to be shot down, and everything they had was to be +destroyed. Of course, women and children were strictly protected, under +all circumstances, and no just complaint was ever made against the +British for hurting a single one. But as the men persisted in firing, +the British fired back and destroyed the farms where the firing took +place, on the fair-play principle that it is right to destroy whatever +is used to destroy you. + +It thus happened that, except at a few little villages where the men +had not fired on the soldiers, the country all round Quebec was like a +desert, as far as supplies for the French were concerned. The only +way to obtain anything for their camp was by bringing it down the St +Lawrence from Montreal, Sorel, and Three Rivers. French vessels would +come down as far as they dared and then send the supplies on in barges, +which kept close in under the north shore above Quebec, where the French +outposts and batteries protected them from the British men-of-war that +were pushing higher and higher up the river. Some supplies were brought +in by land after they were put ashore above the highest British vessels. +But as a hundred tons came far more easily by water than one ton by +land, it is not hard to see that Montcalm's men could not hold out long +if the St Lawrence near Quebec was closed to supplies. + +Wolfe, Montcalm, the brigadiers, and every one else on both sides knew +this perfectly well. But, as it was now September, the fleet could not +go far up the much more difficult channel towards Montreal. If it did, +and took Wolfe's army with it, the few French men-of-war might dispute +the passage, and some sunken ships might block the way, at all events +for a time. Besides, the French were preparing to repulse any landing up +the river, between Cap Rouge, nine miles above Quebec, and Deschambault, +forty miles above; and with good prospect of success, because the +country favoured their irregulars. Moreover, if Wolfe should land many +miles up, Montcalm might still hold out far down in Quebec for the few +days remaining till October. If, on the other hand, the fleet went +up and left Wolfe's men behind, Montcalm would be safer than ever at +Beauport and Quebec; because, how could Wolfe reach him without a fleet +when he had failed to reach him with one? + +The life-and-death question for Wolfe was how to land close enough above +Quebec and soon enough in September to make Montcalm fight it out on +even terms and in the open field. + +The brigadiers' plan of landing high up seemed all right till they tried +to work it out. Then they found troubles in plenty. There were several +places for them to land between Cap Rouge, nine miles above Quebec, and +Pointe-aux-Trembles, thirteen miles higher still. Ever since July 18 +British vessels had been passing to and fro above Quebec; and in August, +Murray, under the guard of Holmes's squadron, had tried his brigade +against Pointe-aux-Trembles, where he was beaten back, and at +Deschambault, twenty miles farther up, where he took some prisoners +and burnt some supplies. To ward off further and perhaps more serious +attacks from this quarter, Montcalm had been keeping Bougainville on the +lookout, especially round Pointe-aux-Trembles, for several weeks before +the brigadiers arranged their plan. Bougainville now had 2,000 infantry, +all the mounted men--nearly 300--and all the best Indian and Canadian +scouts, along the thirteen miles of shore between Cap Rouge and +Pointe-aux-Trembles. His land and water batteries had also been made +much stronger. He and Montcalm were in close touch and could send +messages to each other and get an answer back within four hours. + +On the 7th Wolfe and the brigadiers had a good look at every spot round +Pointe-aux-Trembles. On the 8th and 9th the brigadiers were still there; +while five transports sailed past Quebec on the 8th to join Holmes, who +commanded the up-river squadron. Two of Wolfe's brigades were now on +board the transports with Holmes. But the whole three were needed; and +this need at once entailed another difficulty. A successful landing on +the north shore above Quebec could only be made under cover of the dark; +and Wolfe could not bring the third brigade, under cover of night, from +the island of Orleans and the Point of Levy, and land it with the other +two twenty miles up the river before daylight. The tidal stream runs +up barely five hours, while it runs down more than seven; and winds are +mostly down. Next, if, instead of sailing, the third brigade marched +twenty miles at night across very rough country on the south shore, it +would arrive later than ever. Then, only one brigade could be put ashore +in boats at one time in one place, and Bougainville could collect enough +men to hold it in check while he called in reinforcements at least as +fast on the French side as the British could on theirs. Another thing +was that the wooded country favoured the French defence and hindered the +British attack. Lastly, if Wolfe and Saunders collected the whole five +thousand soldiers and a still larger squadron and convoy up the river, +Montcalm would see the men and ships being moved from their positions in +front of his Beauport entrenchments, and would hurry to the threatened +shore between Cap Rouge and Pointe-aux-Trembles almost as soon as the +British, and certainly in time to reinforce Bougainville and repulse +Wolfe. + +The 9th was Wolfe's last Sunday. It was a cheerless, rainy day; and he +almost confessed himself beaten for good, as he sat writing his last +official letter to one of Pitt's friends, the Earl of Holderness. He +dated it, 'On board the _Sutherland_ at anchor off Cap Rouge, September +9, 1759.' He ended it with gloomy news: 'I am so far recovered as to be +able to do business, but my constitution is entirely ruined, without +the consolation of having done any considerable service to the state, or +without any prospect of it.' + +The very next day, however, he saw his chance. He stood at Etchemin, on +the south shore, two miles above Quebec, and looked long and earnestly +through his telescope at the Foulon road, a mile and a half away, +running up to the Plains of Abraham from the Anse au Foulon, which +has ever since been called Wolfe's Cove. Then he looked at the Plains +themselves, especially at a spot only one mile from Quebec, where +the flat and open ground formed a perfect field of battle for his +well-drilled regulars. He knew the Foulon road must be fairly good, +because it was the French line of communication between the Anse au +Foulon and the Beauport camp. The Cove and the nearest point of the camp +were only two miles and a quarter apart, as the crow flies. But between +them rose the tableland of the Plains, 300 feet above the river. Thus +they were screened from each other, and a surprise at the Cove might not +be found out too soon at the camp. + +Now, Wolfe knew that the French expected to be attacked either above Cap +Rouge (up towards Pointe-aux-Trembles) or below Quebec (down in their +Beauport entrenchments). He also knew that his own army thought the +attack would be made above Cap Rouge. Thus the French were still very +anxious about the six miles at Beauport, while both sides were keenly +watching each other all over the thirteen miles above Cap Rouge. Nobody +seemed to be thinking about the nine miles between Cap Rouge and Quebec, +and least of all about the part nearest Quebec. + +Yes, one man was thinking about it, and he never stopped thinking about +it till he died. That man was Montcalm. On the 5th, when Wolfe began +moving up-stream, Montcalm had sent a whole battalion to the Plains. But +on the 7th, when the British generals were all at Pointe-aux-Trembles, +Vaudreuil, always ready to spite Montcalm, ordered this battalion back +to camp, saying, 'The British haven't got wings; they can't fly up to +the Plains!' Wolfe, of course, saw that the battalion had been taken +away; and he soon found out why. Vaudreuil was a great talker and could +never keep a secret. Wolfe knew perfectly well that Vaudreuil and Bigot +were constantly spoiling whatever Montcalm was doing, so he counted on +this trouble in the French camp as he did on other facts and chances. + +He now gave up all idea of his old plans against Beauport, as well as +the new plan of the brigadiers, and decided on another plan of his own. +It was new in one way, because he had never seen a chance of carrying it +out before. But it was old in another way, because he had written to his +uncle from Louisbourg on May 19, and spoken of getting up the heights +four or five miles above Quebec if he could do so by surprise. Again, +even so early in the siege as July 18 he had been chafing at what he +called the 'coldness' of the fleet about pushing up beyond Quebec. +The entry in his private diary for that day is: 'The _Sutherland_ and +_Squirrell_, two transports, and two armed sloops passed the narrow +passage between Quebec and Levy _without losing a man_.' Next day, his +entry is more scathing still: 'Reconnoitred the country immediately +above Quebec and found that _if we had ventured the stroke that was +first intended we should infallibly have succeeded_.' This shows how +long he had kept the plan waiting for the chance. But it does not prove +that he had missed any earlier chances through the 'coldness' of +the fleet. For it is significant that he afterwards struck out +'_infallibly_' and substituted '_probably_'; while it must be remembered +that the _Sutherland_ and her consorts formed only a very small +flotilla, that they passed Quebec in the middle of a very dark night, +that the St Lawrence above the town was intricate and little known, that +the loss of several men-of-war might have been fatal, that the enemy's +attention had not become distracted in July to anything like the same +bewildering extent as it had in September, and that the intervening +course of events--however disappointing in itself--certainly helped to +make his plan suit the occasion far better late than soon. Moreover, +in a note to Saunders in August, he had spoken about a 'desperate' plan +which he could not trust his brigadiers to carry out, and which he was +then too sick to carry out himself. + +Now that he was 'patched up' enough for a few days, and that the chance +seemed to be within his grasp, he made up his mind to strike at once. He +knew that the little French post above the Anse au Foulon was commanded +by one of Bigot's blackguards; Vergor, whose Canadian militiamen were +as slack as their commander. He knew that the Samos battery, a little +farther from Quebec, had too small a garrison, with only five guns and +no means of firing them on the landward side; so that any of his men, +once up the heights, could rush it from the rear. He knew the French had +only a few weak posts the whole way down from Cap Rouge, and that these +posts often let convoys of provision boats pass quietly at night into +the Anse au Foulon. He knew that some of Montcalm's best regulars had +gone to Montreal with Levis, the excellent French second-in-command, +to strengthen the defence against Amherst's slow advance from Lake +Champlain. He knew that Montcalm still had a total of 10,000 men between +Montmorency and Quebec, as against his own attacking force of 5,000; yet +he also knew that the odds of two to one were reversed in his favour +so far as European regulars were concerned; for Montcalm could not +now bring 3,000 French regulars into immediate action at any one spot. +Finally, he knew that all the French were only half-fed, and that +those with Bougainville were getting worn out by having to march across +country, in a fruitless effort to keep pace with the ships of Holmes's +squadron and convoy, which floated up and down with the tide. + +Wolfe's plan was to keep the French alarmed more than ever at the +two extreme ends of their line--Beauport below Quebec and +Pointe-aux-Trembles above--and then to strike home at their undefended +centre, by a surprise landing at the Anse au Foulon. Once landed, well +before daylight, he could rush Vergor's post and the Samos battery, +march across the Plains, and form his line of battle a mile from Quebec +before Montcalm could come up in force from Beauport. Probably he could +also defeat him before Bougainville could march down from some point +well above Cap Rouge. + +There were chances to reckon with in this plan. But so there are in all +plans; and to say Wolfe took Quebec by mere luck is utter nonsense. He +was one of the deepest thinkers on war who ever lived, especially on +the British kind of war, by land and sea together; and he had had the +preparation of a lifetime to help him in using a fleet and army that +worked together like the two arms of one body. He simply made a plan +which took proper account of all the facts and all the chances. Fools +make lucky hits, now and then, by the merest chance. But no one except a +genius can make and carry out a plan like Wolfe's, which meant at least +a hundred hits running, all in the selfsame spot. + +No sooner had Wolfe made his admirable plan that Monday morning, +September 10, than he set all the principal officers to work out the +different parts of it. But he kept the whole a secret. Nobody except +himself knew more than one part, and how that one part was to be worked +in at the proper time and place. Even the fact that the Anse au Foulon +was to be the landing-place was kept secret till the last moment from +everybody except Admiral Holmes, who made all the arrangements, and +Captain Chads, the naval officer who was to lead the first boats down. +The great plot thickened fast. The siege that had been an affair of +weeks, and the brigadiers' plan that had been an affair of days, both +gave way to a plan in which every hour was made to tell. Wolfe's seventy +hours of consummate manoeuvres, by land and water, over a front of +thirty miles, were followed by a battle in which the fighting of only a +few minutes settled the fate of Canada for centuries. + +During the whole of those momentous three days--Monday, Tuesday, and +Wednesday, September 10, 11, and 12, 1759--Wolfe, Saunders, and Holmes +kept the French in constant alarm about the thirteen miles _above_ Cap +Rouge and the six miles _below_ Quebec; but gave no sign by which any +immediate danger could be suspected along the nine miles between Cap +Rouge and Quebec. + +Saunders stayed below Quebec. On the 12th he never gave the French +a minute's rest all day and night. He sent Cook and others close in +towards Beauport to lay buoys, as if to mark out a landing-place for +another attack like the one on July 31. It is a singular coincidence +that while Cook, the great British circumnavigator of the globe, +was trying to get Wolfe into Quebec, Bougainville, the great French +circumnavigator, was trying to keep him out. Towards evening Saunders +formed up his boats and filled them with marines, whose own red coats, +seen at a distance, made them look like soldiers. He moved his fleet in +at high tide and fired furiously at the entrenchments. All night long +his boatloads of men rowed up and down and kept the French on the alert. +This feint against Beauport was much helped by the men of Wolfe's third +brigade, who remained at the island of Orleans and the Point of Levy +till after dark, by a whole battalion of marines guarding the Levis +batteries, and by these batteries themselves, which, meanwhile, were +bombarding Quebec--again like the 31st of July. The bombardment was kept +up all night and became most intense just before dawn, when Wolfe was +landing two miles above. + +At the other end of the French line, above Cap Rouge, Holmes had kept +threatening Bougainville more and more towards Pointe-aux-Trembles, +twenty miles above the Foulon. Wolfe's soldiers had kept landing on the +south shore day after day; then drifting up with the tide on board the +transports past Pointe-aux-Trembles; then drifting down towards Cap +Rouge; and then coming back the next day to do the same thing over +again. This had been going on, more or less, even before Wolfe had made +his plan, and it proved very useful to him. He knew that Bougainville's +men were getting quite worn out by scrambling across country, day after +day, to keep up with Holmes's restless squadron and transports. He also +knew that men who threw themselves down, tired out, late at night could +not be collected from different places, all over their thirteen-mile +beat, and brought down in the morning, fit to fight on a battlefield +eight miles from the nearest of them and twenty-one from the farthest. + +Montcalm was greatly troubled. He saw redcoats with Saunders opposite +Beauport, redcoats at the island, redcoats at the Point of Levy, and +redcoats guarding the Levis batteries. He had no means of finding out at +once that the redcoats with Saunders and at the batteries were marines, +and that the redcoats who really did belong to Wolfe were under orders +to march off after dark that very night and join the other two brigades +which were coming down the river from the squadron above Cap Rouge. He +had no boats that could get through the perfect screen of the British +fleet. But all that the skill of mortal man could do against these odds +he did on that fatal eve of battle, as he had done for three years past, +with foes in front and false friends behind. He ordered the battalion +which he had sent to the Plains on the 5th, and which Vaudreuil had +brought back on the 7th, 'now to go and camp at the Foulon'; that is, at +the top of the road coming up from Wolfe's landing-place at the Anse au +Foulon. But Vaudreuil immediately gave a counter-order and said: 'We'll +see about that to-morrow.' Vaudreuil's 'to-morrow' never came. + +That afternoon of the 12th, while Montcalm and Vaudreuil were at +cross-purposes near the mouth of the St Charles, Wolfe was only four +miles away, on the other side of the Plains, in a boat on the St +Lawrence, where he was taking his last look at what he then called the +Foulon and what the world now calls Wolfe's Cove. His boat was just +turning to drift up in midstream, off Sillery Point, which is only half +a mile above the Foulon. He wanted to examine the Cove well through his +telescope at dead low tide, as he intended to land his army there at +the next low tide. Close beside him sat young Robison, who was not an +officer in either the Army or Navy, but who had come out to Canada as +tutor to an admiral's son, and who had been found so good at maps that +he was employed with Wolfe's engineers in making surveys and sketches of +the ground about Quebec. Shutting up his telescope, Wolfe sat silent a +while. Then, as afterwards recorded by Robison, he turned towards his +officers and repeated several stanzas of Gray's _Elegy_. 'Gentlemen,' he +said as he ended, 'I would sooner have written that poem than beat the +French to-morrow.' He did not know then that his own fame would far +surpass the poet's, and that he should win it in the very way described +in one of the lines he had just been quoting-- + + The paths of glory lead but to the grave. + +At half-past eight in the evening he was sitting in his cabin on board +Holmes's flagship, the _Sutherland_, above Cap Rouge, with 'Jacky +Jervis'--the future Earl St Vincent, but now the youngest captain in +the fleet, only twenty-four. Wolfe and Jervis had both been at the same +school at Greenwich, Swinden's, though at different times, and they were +great friends. Wolfe had made up a sealed parcel of his notebook, his +will, and the portrait of Katherine Lowther, and he now handed it over +to Jervis for safe keeping. + +But he had no chance of talking about old times at home, for just then a +letter from the three brigadiers was handed in. It asked him if he would +not give them 'distinct orders' about 'the place or places we are to +attack.' He wrote back to the senior, Monckton, telling him what he had +arranged for the first and second brigades, and then, separately, to +Townshend about the third, which was not with Holmes but on the south +shore. After dark the men from the island and the Point of Levy had +marched up to join this brigade at Etchemin, the very place where Wolfe +had made his plan on the 10th, as he stood and looked at the Foulon +opposite. + +His last general orders to his army had been read out some hours before; +but, of course, the Foulon was not mentioned. These orders show that he +well understood the great issues he was fighting for, and what men he +had to count upon. Here are only three sentences; but how much they +mean! 'The enemy's force is now divided. A vigorous blow struck by the +army at this juncture may determine the fate of Canada. The officers and +men will remember what their country expects of them.' The watchword +was 'Coventry,' which, being probably suggested by the saying, 'Sent +to Coventry,' that is, condemned to silence, was as apt a word for this +expectant night as 'Gibraltar,' the symbol of strength, was for the one +on which Quebec surrendered. + +Just before dark Holmes sent every vessel he could spare to make a show +of force opposite Pointe-aux-Trembles, in order to hold Bougainville +there overnight. But after dark the main body of Holmes's squadron and +all the boats and small transports came together opposite Cap Rouge. +Just before ten a single lantern appeared in the _Sutherland's_ main +topmast shrouds. On seeing this, Chads formed up the boats between the +ships and the south shore, the side away from the French. In three +hours every man was in his place. Not a sound was to be heard except the +murmur of the strong ebb-tide setting down towards Quebec and a gentle +south-west breeze blowing in the same direction. 'All ready, sir!' +and Wolfe took his own place in the first boat with his friend Captain +Delaune, the leader of the twenty-four men of the 'Forlorn Hope,' who +were to be the first to scale the cliff. Then a second lantern appeared +above the first; and the whole brigade of boats began to move off in +succession. They had about eight miles to go. But the current ran the +distance in two hours. As they advanced they could see the flashes from +the Levis batteries growing brighter and more frequent; for both the +land gunners there and the seamen gunners with Saunders farther down +were increasing their fire as the hour for Wolfe's landing drew near. + +A couple of miles above the Foulon the _Hunter_ was anchored in +midstream. As arranged, Chads left the south shore and steered straight +for her. To his surprise he saw her crew training their guns on him. But +they held their fire. Then Wolfe came alongside and found that she had +two French deserters on board who had mistaken his boats for the French +provision convoy that was expected to creep down the north shore that +very night and land at the Foulon. He had already planned to pass his +boats off as this convoy; for he knew that the farthest up of Holmes's +men-of-war had stopped it above Pointe-aux-Trembles. But he was glad +to know that the French posts below Cap Rouge had not yet heard of the +stoppage. + +From the _Hunter_ his boat led the way to Sillery Point, half a mile +above the Foulon. 'Halt! Who comes there!'--a French sentry's voice rang +out in the silence of the night. 'France!' answered young Fraser, who +had been taken into Wolfe's boat because he spoke French like a native. +'What's your regiment?' asked the sentry. 'The Queen's,' answered +Fraser, who knew that this was the one supplying the escort for the +provision boats the British had held up. 'But why don't you speak out?' +asked the sentry again. 'Hush!' said Fraser, 'the British will hear us +if you make a noise.' And there, sure enough, was the _Hunter_, drifting +down, as arranged, not far outside the column of boats. Then the sentry +let them all pass; and, in ten minutes more, exactly at four o'clock, +the leading boat grounded in the Anse au Foulon and Wolfe jumped ashore. + +He at once took the 'Forlorn Hope' and 200 light infantry to the side +of the Cove towards Quebec, saying as he went, 'I don't know if we shall +all get up, but we must make the attempt.' Then, while these men were +scrambling up, he went back to the middle of the Cove, where Howe had +already formed the remaining 500 light infantry. Captain Macdonald, a +very active climber, passed the 'Forlorn Hope' and was the first man to +reach the top and feel his way through the trees to the left, towards +Vergor's tents. Presently he almost ran into the sleepy French-Canadian +sentry, who heard only a voice speaking perfect French and telling him +it was all right--nothing but the reinforcements from the Beauport camp; +for Wolfe knew that Montcalm had been trying to get a French regular +officer to replace Vergor, who was as good a thief as Bigot and as bad a +soldier as Vaudreuil. While this little parley was going on the 'Forlorn +Hope' came up; when Macdonald promptly hit the sentry between the eyes +with the hilt of his claymore and knocked him flat. The light infantry +pressed on close behind. The dumbfounded French colonial troops coming +out of their tents found themselves face to face with a whole woodful of +fixed bayonets. They fired a few shots. The British charged with a loud +cheer. The Canadians scurried away through the trees. And Vergor ran for +dear life in his nightshirt. + +The ringing cheer with which Delaune charged home told Wolfe at the foot +of the road that the actual top was clear. Then Howe went up; and in +fifteen minutes all the light infantry had joined their comrades above. +Another battalion followed quickly, and Wolfe himself followed them. By +this time it was five o'clock and quite light. The boats that had landed +the first brigade had already rowed through the gaps between the small +transports which were landing the second brigade, and had reached the +south shore, a mile and a half away, where the third brigade was waiting +for them. + +Meanwhile the suddenly roused gunners of the Samos battery were firing +wildly at the British vessels. But the men-of-war fired back with better +aim, and Howe's light infantry, coming up at a run from behind, dashed +in among the astonished gunners with the bayonet, cleared them all +out, and spiked every gun. Howe left three companies there to hold the +battery against Bougainville later in the day, and returned with the +other seven to Wolfe. It was now six o'clock. The third brigade had +landed, the whole of the ground at the top was clear; and Wolfe set off +with 1,000 men to see what Montcalm was doing. + +Quebec stands on the eastern end of a sort of promontory, or narrow +tableland, between the St Lawrence and the valley of the St Charles. +This tableland is less than a mile wide and narrows still more as it +approaches Quebec. Its top is tilted over towards the St Charles and +Beauport, the cliffs being only 100 feet high there, instead of 300, +as they are beside the St Lawrence; so Wolfe, as he turned in towards +Quebec, after marching straight across the tableland, could look out +over the French camp. Everything seemed quiet; so he made his left +secure and sent for his main body to follow him at once. It was now +seven. In another hour his line of battle was formed, his reserves had +taken post in his rear, and a brigade of seamen from Saunders's fleet +were landing guns, stores, blankets, tents, entrenching tools, and +whatever else he would need for besieging the city after defeating +Montcalm. The 3,000 sailors on the beach were anything but pleased +with the tame work of waiting there while the soldiers were fighting up +above. One of their officers, in a letter home, said they could hardly +stand still, and were perpetually swearing because they were not allowed +to get into the heat of action. + +The whole of the complicated manoeuvres, in face of an active enemy, for +three days and three nights, by land and water, over a front of thirty +miles, had now been crowned by complete success. The army of 5,000 men +had been put ashore at the right time and in the right way; and it was +now ready to fight one of the great immortal battles of the world. + +'The thin red line.' The phrase was invented long after Wolfe's day. But +Wolfe invented the fact. The six battalions which formed his front, +that thirteenth morning of September 1759, were drawn up in the first +two-deep line that ever stood on any field of battle in the world since +war began. And it was Wolfe alone who made this 'thin red line,' as +surely as it was Wolfe alone who made the plan that conquered Canada. + +Meanwhile Montcalm had not been idle; though he was perplexed to the +last, because one of the stupid rules in the French camp was that all +news was to be told first to Vaudreuil, who, as governor-general, could +pass it on or not, and interfere with the army as much as he liked. When +it was light enough to see Saunders's fleet, the island of Orleans, and +the Point of Levy, Montcalm at once noticed that Wolfe's men had gone. +He galloped down to the bridge of boats, where he found that Vaudreuil +had already heard of Wolfe's landing. At first the French thought the +firing round the Foulon was caused by an exchange of shots between the +Samos battery and some British men-of-war that were trying to stop the +French provision boats from getting in there. But Vergor's fugitives and +the French patrols near Quebec soon told the real story. And then, just +before seven, Montcalm himself caught sight of Wolfe's first redcoats +marching in along the Ste Foy road. Well might he exclaim, after all he +had done and Vaudreuil had undone: 'There they are, where they have no +right to be!' + +He at once sent orders, all along his six miles of entrenchments, to +bring up every French regular and all the rest except 2,000 militia. +But Vaudreuil again interfered; and Montcalm got only the French and +Canadian regulars, 2,500, and the same number of Canadian militia with +a few Indians. The French and British totals, actually present on the +field of battle, were, therefore, almost exactly equal, 5,000 each. +Vaudreuil also forgot to order out the field guns, the horses for which +the vile and corrupt Bigot had been using for himself. At nine Montcalm +had formed up his French and colonial regulars between Quebec and the +crest of rising ground across the Plains beyond which lay Wolfe. Riding +forward till he could see the redcoats, he noticed how thin their line +was on its left and in its centre, and that its right, near the St +Lawrence, had apparently not formed at all. But his eye deceived him +about the British right, as the men were lying down there, out of sight, +behind a swell of ground. He galloped back and asked if any one had +further news. Several officers declared they had heard that Wolfe was +entrenching, but that his right brigade had not yet had time to march on +to the field. There was no possible way of finding out anything else +at once. The chance seemed favourable. Montcalm knew he had to fight or +starve, as he was completely cut off by land and water, except for one +bad, swampy road in the valley of the St Charles; and he ordered his +line to advance. + +At half-past nine the French reached the crest and halted. The two +armies were now in full view of each other on the Plains and only a +quarter of a mile apart. The French line of battle had eight small +battalions, about 2,500 men, formed six deep. The colonial regulars, +in three battalions, were on the flanks. The five battalions of French +regulars were in the centre. Montcalm, wearing a green and gold uniform, +with the brilliant cross of St Louis over his cuirass, and mounted on a +splendid black charger, rode the whole length of his line, to see if all +were ready to attack. The French regulars--half-fed, sorely harassed, +interfered with by Vaudreuil--were still the victors of Ticonderoga, +against the British odds of four to one. Perhaps they might snatch one +last desperate victory from the fortunes of war? Certainly all would +follow wherever they were led by their beloved Montcalm, the greatest +Frenchman of the whole New World. He said a few stirring words to each +of his well-known regiments as he rode by; and when he laughingly asked +the best of all, the Royal Roussillon, if they were not tired enough to +take a little rest before the battle, they shouted back that they were +never too tired to fight--'Forward, forward!' And their steady blue +ranks, and those of the four white regiments beside them, with bayonets +fixed and colours flying, did indeed look fit and ready for the fray. + +Wolfe also had gone along his line of battle, the first of all two-deep +thin red lines, to make sure that every officer understood the order +that there was to be no firing until the French came close up, to within +only forty paces. As soon as he saw Montcalm's line on the crest he +had moved his own a hundred paces forward, according to previous +arrangement; so that the two enemies were now only a long musket-shot +apart. The Canadians and Indians were pressing round the British flanks, +under cover of the bushes, and firing hard. But they were easily held in +check by the light infantry on the left rear of the line and by the 35th +on the right rear. The few French and British skirmishers in the centre +now ran back to their own lines; and before ten the field was quite +clear between the two opposing fronts. + +Wolfe had been wounded twice when going along his line; first in the +wrist and then in the groin. Yet he stood up so straight and looked so +cool that when he came back to take post on the right the men there did +not know he had been hit at all. His spirit already soared in triumph +over the weakness of the flesh. Here he was, a sick and doubly wounded +man; but a soldier, a hero, and a conqueror, with the key to half a +continent almost within his eager grasp. + +At a signal from Montcalm in the centre the French line advanced about a +hundred yards in perfect formation. Then the Canadian regulars suddenly +began firing without orders, and threw themselves flat on the ground to +reload. By the time they had got up the French regulars had halted some +distance in front of them, fired a volley, and begun advancing again. +This was too much for the Canadians. Though they were regulars they were +not used to fighting in the open, not trained for it, and not armed for +it with bayonets. In a couple of minutes they had all slunk off to +the flanks and joined the Indians and militia, who were attacking the +British from under cover. + +This left the French regulars face to face with Wolfe's front: five +French battalions against the British six. These two fronts were now to +decide the fate of Canada between them. The French still came bravely +on; but their six-deep line was much shorter than the British two-deep +line, and they saw that both their flanks were about to be over-lapped +by fire and steel. They inclined outwards to save themselves from this +fatal overlap on both right and left. But that made just as fatal a gap +in their centre. Their whole line wavered, halted oftener to fire, and +fired more wildly at each halt. + +In the meantime Wolfe's front stood firm as a rock and silent as the +grave, one long, straight, living wall of red, with the double line +of deadly keen bayonets glittering above it. Nothing stirred along +its whole length, except the Union Jacks, waving defiance at the +fleurs-de-lis, and those patient men who fell before a fire to which +they could not yet reply. Bayonet after bayonet would suddenly flash out +of line and fall forward, as the stricken redcoat, standing there with +shouldered arms, quivered and sank to the ground. + +Captain York had brought up a single gun in time for the battle, the +sailors having dragged it up the cliff and run it the whole way across +the Plains. He had been handling it most gallantly during the French +advance, firing showers of grape-shot into their ranks from a position +right out in the open in front of Wolfe's line. But now that the French +were closing he had to retire. The sailors then picked up the drag-ropes +and romped in with this most effective six-pounder at full speed, as if +they were having the greatest fun of their lives. + +Wolfe was standing next to the Louisbourg Grenadiers, who, this time, +were determined not to begin before they were told. He was to give their +colonel the signal to fire the first volley; which then was itself to +be the signal for a volley from each of the other five battalions, +one after another, all down the line. Every musket was loaded with two +bullets, and the moment a battalion had fired it was to advance twenty +paces, loading as it went, and then fire a 'general,' that is, each man +for himself, as hard as he could, till the bugles sounded the charge. + +Wolfe now watched every step the French line made. Nearer and nearer it +came. A hundred paces!--seventy-five!--fifty!--forty!!--_Fire!!!_ Crash! +came the volley from the grenadiers. Five volleys more rang out in quick +succession, all so perfectly delivered that they sounded more like six +great guns than six battalions with hundreds of muskets in each. Under +cover of the smoke Wolfe's men advanced their twenty paces and halted +to fire the 'general.' The dense, six-deep lines of Frenchmen reeled, +staggered, and seemed to melt away under this awful deluge of lead. +In five minutes their right was shaken out of all formation. All that +remained of it turned and fled, a wild, mad mob of panic-stricken +fugitives. The centre followed at once. But the Royal Roussillon +stood fast a little longer; and when it also turned it had only three +unwounded officers left, and they were trying to rally it. + +Montcalm, who had led the centre and had been wounded in the advance, +galloped over to the Royal Roussillon as it was making this last stand. +But even he could not stem the rush that followed and that carried him +along with it. Over the crest and down to the valley of the St Charles +his army fled, the Canadians and Indians scurrying away through the +bushes as hard as they could run. While making one more effort to rally +enough men to cover the retreat he was struck again, this time by a +dozen grape-shot from York's gun. He reeled in the saddle. But two of +his grenadiers caught him and held him up while he rode into Quebec. As +he passed through St Louis Gate a terrified woman called out, 'Oh! look +at the marquis, he's killed, he's killed!' But Montcalm, by a supreme +effort, sat up straight for a moment and said: 'It is nothing at all, my +kind friend; you must not be so much alarmed!' and, saying this, passed +on to die, a hero to the very last. + +In the thick of the short, fierce fire-fight the bagpipes began to +skirl, the Highlanders dashed down their muskets, drew their claymores, +and gave a yell that might have been heard across the river. In a moment +every British bugle was sounding the 'Charge' and the whole red, living +wall was rushing forward with a roaring cheer. + +But it charged without Wolfe. He had been mortally wounded just after +giving the signal for those famous volleys. Two officers sprang to his +side. 'Hold me up!' he implored them, 'don't let my gallant fellows see +me fall!' With the help of a couple of men he was carried back to the +far side of a little knoll and seated on a grenadier's folded coat, +while the grenadier who had taken it off ran over to a spring to get +some water. Wolfe knew at once that he was dying. But he did not yet +know how the battle had gone. His head had sunk on his breast, and his +eyes were already glazing, when an officer on the knoll called out, +'They run! They run! 'Egad, they give way everywhere!' Rousing himself, +as if from sleep, Wolfe asked, 'Who run?'--'The French, sir!'--'Then I +die content!'--and, almost as he said it, he breathed his last. + +He was not buried on the field he won, nor even in the country that he +conquered. All that was mortal of him--his poor, sick, wounded body--was +borne back across the sea, and carried in mourning triumph through +his native land. And there, in the family vault at Greenwich, near the +school he had left for his first war, half his short life ago, he was +laid to rest on November 20--at the very time when his own great victory +before Quebec was being confirmed by Hawke's magnificently daring attack +on the French fleet amid all the dangers of that wild night in Quiberon +Bay. + +Canada has none of his mortality. But could she have anything more +sacred than the spot from which his soaring spirit took its flight into +immortal fame? And could this sacred spot be marked by any words more +winged than these: + + HERE DIED + WOLFE + VICTORIOUS + + + + +CHAPTER VIII -- EPILOGUE--THE LAST STAND + +Wolfe's victory on the Plains of Abraham proved decisive in the end; but +it was not the last of the great struggle for the Key of Canada. + +After Wolfe had died on the field of battle, and Monckton had been +disabled by his wounds, Townshend took command, received the surrender +of Quebec on the 18th, and waited till the French field army had retired +towards Montreal. Then he sailed home with Saunders, leaving Murray +to hold what Wolfe had won. Saunders left Lord Colville in charge of a +strong squadron, with orders to wait at Halifax till the spring. + +Both French and British spent a terrible winter. The French had better +shelter in Montreal than the British had among the ruins of Quebec; and, +being more accustomed to the rigours of the climate, they would have +suffered less from cold in any case. But their lot was, on the whole, +the harder of the two; for food was particularly bad and scarce in +Montreal, where even horseflesh was thought a luxury. Both armies were +ravaged by disease to a most alarming extent. Of the eight thousand men +with whom Murray began that deadly winter not one-half were able to bear +arms in the spring; and not one-half of those who did bear arms then +were really fit for duty. + +Montcalm's successor, Levis, now made a skilful, bold, and gallant +attempt to retake Quebec before navigation opened. Calling the whole +remaining strength of New France to his aid, he took his army down in +April, mostly by way of the St Lawrence. The weather was stormy. The +banks of the river were lined with rotting ice. The roads were almost +impassable. Yet, after a journey of less than ten days, the whole French +army appeared before Quebec. Murray was at once confronted by a dire +dilemma. The landward defences had never been strong; and he had not +been able to do more than patch them up. If he remained behind them +Levis would close in, batter them down, and probably carry them by +assault against a sickly garrison depressed by being kept within the +walls. If, on the other hand, he marched out, he would have to meet more +than double numbers at the least; for some men would have to be left to +cover a retreat; and he knew the French grand total was nearly thrice +his own. But he chose this bolder course; and at the chill dawn of April +28, he paraded his little attacking force of a bare three thousand men +on the freezing snow and mud of the Esplanade and then marched out. + +The two armies met at Ste Foy, a mile and a half beyond the walls; and a +desperate battle ensued. The French had twice as many men in action, but +only half of these were regulars; the others had no bayonets; and there +was no effective artillery to keep down the fire of Murray's commanding +guns. The terrific fight went on for hours, while victory inclined +neither to one side nor the other. It was a far more stubborn and much +bloodier contest than Wolfe's of the year before. At last a British +battalion was fairly caught in flank by overwhelming numbers and +driven across the front of Murray's guns, whose protecting fire it thus +completely masked at a most critical time. Murray thereupon ordered +up his last reserve. But even so he could no longer stand his ground. +Slowly and sullenly his exhausted men fell back before the French, who +put the very last ounce of their own failing strength into a charge that +took the guns. Then the beaten British staggered in behind their walls, +while the victorious French stood fast, worn out by the hardships of +their march and fought to a standstill in the battle. + +Levis rallied his army for one more effort and pressed the siege to the +uttermost of his power. Murray had lost a thousand men and could now +muster less than three thousand. Each side prepared to fight the other +to the death. But both knew that the result would depend on the fleets. +There had been no news from Europe since navigation closed; and hopes +ran high among the besiegers that perhaps some friendly men-of-war +might still be first; when of course Quebec would have to surrender +at discretion, and Canada would certainly be saved for France if the +half-expected peace would only follow soon. + +Day after day all eyes, both French and British, looked seaward from the +heights and walls; though fleets had never yet been known to come up +the St Lawrence so early in the season. At last, on May 9, the tops of +a man-of-war were sighted just beyond the Point of Levy. Either she or +Quebec, or both, might have false colours flying. So neither besiegers +nor besieged knew to which side she belonged. Nor did she know herself +whether Quebec was French or British. Slowly she rounded into the +harbour, her crew at quarters, her decks all cleared for action. She +saluted with twenty-one guns and swung out her captain's barge. Then, +for the first time, every one watching knew what she was; for the barge +was heading straight in towards the town, and redcoats and bluejackets +could see each other plainly. In a moment every British soldier who +could stand had climbed the nearest wall and was cheering her to the +echo; while the gunners showed their delight by loading and firing as +fast as possible and making all the noise they could. + +But one ship was not enough to turn the scale; and Levis redoubled his +efforts. On the night of the 15th French hopes suddenly flared up all +through the camp when the word flew round that three strange men-of-war +just reported down off Beauport were the vanguard of a great French +fleet. But daylight showed them to be British, and British bent on +immediate and vigorous attack. Two of these frigates made straight +for the French flotilla, which fled in wild confusion, covered by the +undaunted Vauquelin in the _Atalante_, which fought a gallant rearguard +action all the twenty miles to Pointe-aux-Trembles, where she was driven +ashore and forced to strike her colours, after another, and still more +desperate, resistance of over two hours. That night Levis raised the +siege in despair and retired on Montreal. Next morning Lord Colville +arrived with the main body of the fleet, having made the earliest ascent +of the St Lawrence ever known to naval history, before that time or +since. + +Then came the final scene of all this moving drama. Step by step +overpowering British forces closed in on the doomed and dwindling army +of New France. They closed in from east and west and south, each one of +their converging columns more than a match for all that was left of the +French. Whichever way he looked, Levis could see no loophole of escape. +There was nothing but certain defeat in front and on both flanks, and +starvation in the rear. So when the advancing British met, all together, +at the island of Montreal, he and his faithful regulars laid down their +arms without dishonour, in the fully justifiable belief that no further +use of them could possibly retrieve the great lost cause of France in +Canada. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Wolfe is one of the great heroes in countless books of modern British +history, by far the greatest hero in the many books about the fight +for Canada, and the single hero of four biographies. It was more than a +century after his triumphant death before the first of these appeared: +_The Life of Major-General James Wolfe_ by Robert Wright. A second Life +of Wolfe appeared a generation later, this time in the form of a small +volume by A. G. Bradley in the 'English Men of Action' series. The +third and fourth biographies were both published in 1909, the year +which marked the third jubilee of the Battle of the Plains. One of them, +Edward Salmon's _General Wolfe_, devotes more than the usual perfunctory +attention to the important influence of sea-power; but it is a sketch +rather than a complete biography, and it is by no means free from error. +The other is _The Life and Letters of James Wolfe_ by Beckles Willson. + +The histories written with the best knowledge of Wolfe's career in +Canada are: the contemporary _Journal of the Campaigns In North America_ +by Captain John Knox, Parkman's _Montcalm and Wolfe_, and _The Siege of +Quebec and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham_ by A. G. Doughty and G. +W. Parmelee. Knox's two very scarce quarto volumes have been edited +by A. G. Doughty for the Champlain Society for republication in 1914. +Parkman's work is always excellent. But he wrote before seeing some of +the evidence so admirably revealed in Dr Doughty's six volumes, and, +like the rest, he failed to understand the real value of the fleet. + + +END + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Winning of Canada: A Chronicle of +Wolf, by William Wood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WINNING OF CANADA *** + +***** This file should be named 8728.txt or 8728.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/7/2/8728/ + +Produced by Gardner Buchanan. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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