2. Nothing further was done toward the capture of this important post for four years, when it was invested by General Prideaux (pre-do). In spite of desperate attempts made to relieve the garrison, it was at last compelled to surrender (1759). New York was thus extended to Niagara River, and the West was secured to the English.
[Footnote: Prideaux was accidentally killed during the siege, but his successor, Johnson, satisfactorily carried out his plans.]
5. QUEBEC (1759).—The same summer in which Niagara, Crown Point, and Ticonderoga were occupied by the English, General Wolfe anchored with a large fleet and eight thousand land troops in front of Quebec. Opposed to him was the vigilant French general, Montcalm, with a command equal to his own. The English cannon easily destroyed the lower city next the river, but the citadel being on higher ground, was far out of their reach. The bank of the river, for miles a high craggy wall, bristled with cannon at every landing-place. For months Wolfe lingered before the city, vainly seeking some feasible point of attack. Carefully reconnoitering the precipitous bluff above the city, his sharp eyes at length discovered a narrow path winding among the rocks to the top, and he determined to lead his army up this ascent.
[Footnote: It was expected that the two armies engaged in the capture of these forts would join Wolfe in the attack on Quebec; but for various reasons they made no attempt to do so, and Wolfe was left to perform his task alone.]
[Illustration: QUEBEC IN EARLY TIMES]
[Footnote: General Wolfe was a great admirer of the poet Gray. As he went the rounds for final inspection on the beautiful starlight evening before the attack, he remarked to those in the boat with him. "'I would rather be the author of The Elegy in a Country Churchyard' than to have the glory of beating the French to morrow," and amid the rippling of the water and the dashing of the oars he repeated
"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Await alike the inevitable hour
The paths of glory lead but to the grave">[
To distract the enemy's attention, he took his men several miles up the river. Thence dropping down silently by night with the ebb-tide, they landed, clambered up the steep cliff, quickly dispersed the guard, and at day-break stood arrayed in order of battle on the Plains of Abraham.
[Footnote: Although Wolfe rose from a sick-bed to lead his troops, he was the first man to land. The shore was lined with French sentinels. A captain who understood French and had been assigned this duty, answered the challenge of the sentinel near the landing, and thus warded off the first danger of alarm.]
Montcalm, astonished at the audacity of the attempt, could scarcely believe it possible. When convinced of its truth he at once made an impetuous attack. Wolfe's veterans held their fire until the French were close at hand, then poured upon them rapid, steady volleys. The enemy soon wavered. Wolfe, placing himself at the head, now ordered a bayonet charge. Already twice wounded, he still pushed forward. A third ball struck him. He was carried to the rear. "They run! They run!" exclaimed the officer on whom he leaned. "Who run?" he faintly gasped. "The French," was the reply. "Now God be praised, I die happy," murmured the expiring hero. Montcalm, too, was fatally wounded as he was vainly trying to rally the fugitives. On being told by the surgeon that he could not live more than twelve hours, he answered, "So much the better. I shall not see the surrender of Quebec."