"They run, they run!" The light returned to the dim eyes of the dying hero, and he asked, with emotion,
"Who runs?"
"The enemy, sir; they give way every where."
"What," feebly exclaimed Wolfe, "do they run already? Go to Colonel Preston and tell him to march Webb's regiment immediately to the bridge over the St. Charles, and cut off the fugitives' retreat. Now, God be praised, I die happy!" These were his last words, and in the midst of sorrowing companions, just at the moment of victory, he died. Montcalm, who was gallantly fighting in the front rank of the French left, received a mortal wound, and died the next morning about five o'clock, and was buried in an September 14. excavation made by the bursting of a shell within the precincts of the Ursuline Convent, where his remains still rest. *** When Lord Aylmar was Governor of Canada, he
* The Martello Towers are four strong structures erected at different distances in rear of the city, between the St. Lawrence and the St. Charles. Cannons are mounted upon their tops. They are very thick on the side toward the open country, but thin toward the city. The object of this manner of construction is, that, if taken by an enemy, they can easily be laid in ruins by the shot of the garrison.
** James Wolfe was born in Westerham, in Kent, January 2d, 1727. He entered the army very young, and soon distinguished himself by skill, judgment, and bravery. After his return from the expedition against Louisburgh, in 1758, he was appointed to the command of that section of the expedition against Canada that went up the St. Lawrence. His assault on Quebec was one of the boldest military achievements ever attempted, but, just at the moment of victory, he lost his life, at the early age of 32 years. His body was conveyed to England on board the Royal William, and buried at Greenwich on the 20th of November, 1759, where, in the family vault, the hero rests by the side of his father and mother. His father, Edward Wolfe, was a lieutenant general, and died in March of the same year, aged 74. The British government erected a monument to the memory of the young hero, in Westminster Abbey.
*** Lewis Joseph de St. Veran, Marquis de Montcalm, descended from a noble family of Candiac, in France. He was educated for a soldier, and distinguished himself at the battle of Piacenza in 1746. He rose by degrees to the rank of field marshal, and in 1756 was appointed Governor of Canada. He ably opposed the English under Abercrombie, but fell while gallantly fighting Wolfe at Quebec, on the 13th of September, 1759. His remains are within the grounds of the Ursuline Convent at Quebec. A few years ago a plain marble slab was placed to his memory, in the chapel of that nunnery, by Lord Aylmar, on whieh is the following inscription:
Honneur a
Montcalm
Le destin, en lui dérobant
La victoire,
L' a recompensé par Une mort glorieuse.
Monument where Wolfe fell.—Capitulation of Quebec.—Levi's Attempt to recapture it.—Ills Repulsion.—Capture of Montreal.
caused a small granite pillar, about ten feet high, to be erected upon the spot where Wolfe fell upon the Plains of Abraham, now just within the southern suburb of Quebec. It bears the brief inscription,