Silently and swiftly, unchallenged by the French sentries,[182] Wolfe's flotilla dropped down the stream in the shade of the overhanging cliffs. The rowers scarcely stirred the waters with their oars; the soldiers sat motionless. Not a word was spoken save by the young general; he, as a midshipman on board his boat afterward related,[183] repeated, in a low voice to the officers by his side, "Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard;" and as he concluded the beautiful verses, said, "Now, gentlemen, I would rather be the author of that poem than take Quebec!" But while Wolfe thus, in the poet's words, gave vent to the intensity of his feelings, his eye was constantly bent upon the dark outline of the heights under which he hurried past. He recognized at length the appointed spot, and leaped ashore. Some of the leading boats, conveying the light company of the 78th Highlanders, had in the mean time been carried about 200 yards lower down by the strength of the tide. These Highlanders, under Captain Donald M'Donald, were the first to land. Immediately over their heads hung a woody precipice, without path or track upon its rocky face; at the summit a French sentinel marched to and fro, still unconscious of their presence. Without a moment's hesitation, M'Donald and his men dashed at the height. They scrambled up, holding on by rocks and branches of trees, guided only by the stars that shone over the top of the cliff; half the ascent was already won, when for the first time "Qui vive?" broke the silence of the night. "La France," answered the Highland captain, with ready self-possession, and the sentry shouldered his musket and pursued his round. In a few minutes, however, the rustling of the trees close at hand at length alarmed the French guard; they hastily turned out, fired one irregular volley down the precipice, and fled in panic. The captain, M. de Vergor, alone, though wounded, stood his ground. When summoned to surrender, he fired at one of the assailants, but was instantly overpowered; the Highlanders, incensed at his vain valor, tore from his breast a decoration which he bore, and sent him a prisoner to the rear. In the mean time, nearly 500 men landed and made their way up the height; those who had first reached the summit then took possession of the intrenched post at the top of that path which Wolfe had selected for the ascent of his army.
Wolfe, Monckton, and Murray landed with the first division; as fast as each boat was cleared, it put back for re-enforcements to the ships, which had now also floated down with the tide nearly opposite to the point of disembarkation. The battalions formed on the narrow beach at the foot of the winding path, and, as soon as completed, each ascended the cliff, when they again formed upon the plains above. There all was quiet; the Light Infantry, under Lieutenant-colonel Howe, brother of the gallant Lord Howe who fell at Ticonderoga, had driven away the enemy's pickets. The boats plied busily; company after company was quickly landed, and, as soon as the men touched the shore, they swarmed up the steep ascent with ready alacrity. When morning broke, the whole disposable force of Wolfe's army stood in firm array upon the table-land above the cove. Only one gun, however, could be carried up the hill, and even that was not got into position without incredible difficulty.
After a few minutes' anxious observation of the face of the country, Wolfe marched the army by files to the right in the direction of the city, leaving two companies of the 58th Regiment to guard the landing place; he then formed his line of battle upon the Plains of Abraham, and resolved there to cast the die for Canada. The 35th Regiment held the extreme right over the precipice, at the distance of three quarters of a mile from the ramparts, where, to adapt themselves to the shape of a slight elevation which rises from the plains, they were ranged in a semicircle on its slope. Next came the Grenadiers of Louisburg. The 28th prolonged the line to the 43d, which formed the center. The 58th, upon the left, occupied the brow of the ridge which overlooks the Valley of the St. Charles; the 78th Highlanders extended over the plain to the right, and the 47th completed the front to the place where the 43d were formed. Wolfe, with Monckton, commanded the right of the first line, Murray the left.
Townshend took charge of the second line. The 15th Regiment rested their right flank upon the precipice over the river; the two battalions of the 60th or Royal Americans held the plains to the left. Colonel Burton, with the 48th Regiment, in four columns of two companies each, formed the reserve in a third line, and Colonel Howe, with the Light Infantry, some in houses, others in the neighboring coppices, covered the flank and rear.
At about six o'clock some small parties of the enemy appeared upon the slopes under the ramparts of the city; at seven they mustered in greater force, and brought up two field-guns, which caused some annoyance. Shortly afterward they threw a body of Canadians and Indians into the brushwood on the face of the precipice over the river, into a field of corn in front of the 35th Regiment, and into a coppice opposite the British center: those skirmishers caused considerable mischief, but were speedily routed by Colonel Howe, with a detachment of the 47th. The whole line then received orders to lie upon their arms, while Light Infantry videttes covered their position at some distance in advance.
Meanwhile Montcalm had been completely deceived by the demonstrations of the fleet below the town. Through the whole of that anxious night boats were approaching the shore and again retiring, on various points of the line between the Montmorency and the St. Charles. The English ships of war had worked up as near as they could find depth of water, and their guns played incessantly upon the beach, as if to prepare the way for a debarkation. Day broke before Montcalm even suspected that another struggle awaited him on his eastern lines; then, however, a stray cannon shot, and the distant echo of musketry from above the town, caught his ear; while he yet doubled, a horseman reached him at full speed with tidings that the English had landed on the Plains of Abraham. The news spread like lightning through the Canadian camp. Aids-de-camp galloped to and fro in fiery haste: trumpets and drums aroused the sleeping soldiery. As fast as the battalions could be mustered, they were hurried across the Valley of the St. Charles, over the bridge, and along the front of the northern ramparts of Quebec to the battle ground. M. de Vaudreuil, with some Canadian militia, were left to guard the lines.
Under some mysterious and incomprehensible impulse, Montcalm at once determined to meet his dangerous enemy in the open field.
To account for this extraordinary resolution is impossible. Had the French general thrown himself into Quebec, he might have securely defied his assailants from behind its ramparts till winter drove them away. But a short time before he had recorded his deliberate conviction that he could not face the British army in a general engagement. He was well aware that all the efforts of his indefatigable enemy had been throughout exerted to bring on an action upon any terms; and yet at length, on an open plain, without even waiting for his artillery, unaided by any advantage of position, he threw the rude Canadian militia against the veterans of England. Once, and once only, in a successful and illustrious career, did this gallant Frenchman forget his wisdom and military skill; but that one tremendous error led him to defeat and death.
Even when the alarming news of Wolfe's landing reached Montcalm, he professed confidence—confidence which he could not have felt. When the position of the English army was pointed out to him, he said, "Yes, I see them where they ought not to be;" and he afterward added, "If we must fight, I will crush them." He, however, altogether failed to communicate to the Canadian troops the sanguine spirit which he himself professed.
At eight o'clock the heads of French columns began to appear ascending the hill from the St. Charles to the Plains of Abraham; the only piece of artillery which Wolfe had been able to bring into action then opened with some effect, and caused them slightly to alter their line of march. As they arrived, they formed in three separate masses upon a slope to the northwest of the city, where they were sheltered from the solitary but mischievous gun.