Breathing heavily, Wolfe raised himself up.
“Who—run?” he murmured.
“The enemy, general; they are giving ground in every direction,” answered the officer who knelt beside him.
Instantly the face of General Wolfe took on a look of quiet satisfaction.
“Tell”—he murmured,—“tell Colonel Burton—march regiment—Webb’s—Charles River—cut off retreat!” He breathed heavily, and then with a long sigh continued: “Now, God be praised, I will die in peace!”
And but a short time later he expired.
The fall of Wolfe was disheartening to the English, but victory was already in their grasp, and on the French side General Montcalm had also been hit, as he was riding in the midst of the soldiers who were retreating toward the city. A shot passed through his body and he was supported through the St. Louis gate, now a place of intense excitement. Those who were in the city became panic-stricken, and many sought to get together their worldly possessions and fly for their lives.
There was one body of the French soldiery that had not as yet been defeated. These were the colonists, who had been held at and near the city. They now went forward and took possession of a hill and a cornfield, from which they were dislodged only after a heavy loss by the English.
In the meantime the French general further up the river did his best to gather together his scattered guards and attack the British from the rear. But by the time he came up General Wolfe’s army, now under the command of Townshend, for Monckton had also fallen with Wolfe, was safely intrenched. From Beauport also came the Governor-General, Vaudreuil, amazed and bewildered, and able to do little but look on helplessly. He was met by half of the demoralized French army, who insisted upon it that all was lost.
In the city the confusion was tinged with a sadness hardly to be described. Montcalm, the well-beloved, was dying, and his second in command, Brigadier Senezergues, was also mortally hurt. What was to be done? Another day would find the English strongly intrenched, for in the darkness they were already bringing up cannon and training them on the city walls.