Montcalm, taken thus unawares, led out his troops and fought bravely; but he was defeated by Wolfe, who, as well as Montcalm, was mortally wounded in the fray. The French commander breathed his last a few hours later, saying: "Thank God, I shall not live to see Quebec surrender!"
His equally brave young enemy, dying on the battlefield, heard his men cry: "They run! they run!" Breathlessly he inquired, "Who run?" but when he heard that it was the French, he fell back, saying: "Now God be praised! I can die in peace."
This memorable battle, fought in 1759, is commemorated by a monument on the Plains of Abraham, on which the names of both generals are carved. There is also a famous monument in West´min-ster Abbey, in honor of Wolfe, the conqueror of Quebec.
The fall of Quebec decided the fate of the French in America. They had already lost the Ohio valley, Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and soon after, Montreal surrendered too.
Although the last French and Indian War was now over in America, the war between France and England continued until 1763, when it was ended by the treaty of Păr´is. Because more land changed hands on this occasion than ever before, the treaty of Paris is known in history as the biggest land deal ever made. To Great Britain France gave up Canada and her claims to all the land east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans. For herself she kept only two small islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on which to dry fish. Spain, siding with France in this war, received from her ally all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi, and the city of New Orleans. To recover Havana, which had been taken by a British fleet, Spain gave up Florida, which had belonged to her ever since Ponce de Leon first visited it in 1512.
Wolfe's Monument in Westminster Abbey.
All these changes did not please everybody, and the Indians so disliked the English rule that, led by Pon´ti-ac, one of their chiefs, they began a war which bears his name (1763). In the course of this struggle seven forts were taken, and many settlers cruelly slain.