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diff --git a/old/2005-08-cca1110.txt b/old/2005-08-cca1110.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b15831c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2005-08-cca1110.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3811 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Winning of Canada: A Chronicle of Wolf +by William Wood +#4 in our series by William Wood +#11 in our series Chronicles of Canada, Edited by George M. Wrong +and H. H. Langton + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Winning of Canada: A Chronicle of Wolf + +Author: William Wood + +Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8728] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 4, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WINNING OF CANADA *** + + + + +This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan. + + + + + +CHRONICLES OF CANADA +Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton +In thirty-two volumes + +Volume 11 + + +THE WINNING OF CANADA +A Chronicle of Wolfe + +By WILLIAM WOOD +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. + + + + +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 THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WINNING OF CANADA *** + +This file should be named cca1110.txt or cca1110.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, cca1111.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, cca1110a.txt + +This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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