At the fall of Montreal; or, A soldier boy's final victory

by Edward Stratemeyer

“General Wolfe must wait for help from Amherst and Prideaux,” was the comment of more than one old soldier, but Wolfe was resolved not to wait too long, fearing Montcalm would also be re-enforced, and that his own supplies would run short.

To destroy the English ships, Montcalm sent out a number of fire-boats, filled to the gunwales and rails with pitch, tar, and explosives. These made a brilliant illumination, but failed to do much damage.

Advancing from the Island of Orleans, General Wolfe captured Point Levi, where the town of Levis now stands. This was directly opposite Quebec, and from this point he was able to bombard the city, only about a mile away. This new movement of the English caused great alarm in Quebec, and plans for an immediate attack on Wolfe were begun by the armed townspeople, some Indians, and a number of young men from the Seminary.

The attack was to be made on the 12th of July, but as the motley collection of French and Indians drew close to the English camp in the darkness there was a sudden alarm, some of the crowd fired on their own friends, and then followed a panic, and all rushed back to the canoes which had brought them over, and made haste to paddle back to Quebec.

For this attack Wolfe made the French pay dearly. His cannon were trained on the water front before Quebec and on parts of the city itself, and inside of twenty-four hours a Cathedral and eighteen houses were burnt or wrecked by shot and shell. Mad with terror, the inhabitants fled to the back country, and sent word to Montcalm imploring the general to save them.

But it was not Wolfe’s intention to waste his ammunition by merely battering down the buildings of Quebec. He wished to capture the stronghold, and as it seemed to offer no chance at the front he resolved to move down the river once again, make a landing below the Falls of Montmorenci, and try to find his way around to the enemy’s rear.

The Montmorenci River is a wild and turbulent stream, flowing at the bottom of a deep gorge and leaping into the St. Lawrence over a cataract two hundred and more feet in height. On each side of the gorge was a dense forest, so a camp was made along the stream without molestation from the French soldiers, who lay concealed in the woods on the opposite side of the cataract.

General Levis was in command of the French detachment on guard at the Montmorenci. He wished to dislodge Wolfe at once, but was overruled by Vaudreuil, the French governor-general. Nevertheless some French Indians crossed at a hidden ford and drove back some of the English troops, from which they took thirty-six scalps.

There now ensued a number of small skirmishes in which the honors were about evenly divided. Some of the English troops landed above Quebec and gained a foothold, and there was a constant cannonading from both sides which did but little damage. Montcalm refused to move, and Wolfe at last decided to make a bold attack, both by the ford of the Montmorenci and by the river shore, where the receding tide at times left a long stretch of mud flats.

This was on the last day of July, just one week after the fall of Fort Niagara. The day promised fair, but in the afternoon there was a heavy downpour of rain, which wet the ammunition of the soldiers and made marching in the mud next to impossible. The English troops fought desperately, but were beaten back by the French batteries, and soon saw that to climb the slippery slopes before them would be impossible.