Major-General James Wolfe.
It was decided that the army under General Wolfe, less than nine thousand men, and the fleet under Admiral Saunders, should attack Quebec; that the Commander-in-Chief, Amherst, should advance against Montreal by way of Lake Champlain, and that Brigadier Prideaux and Sir William Johnson should lead a considerable force against Niagara. The English fleet arrived before Quebec on the 20th June, and no time was lost in commencing operations against the fortress. Wolfe was well supported by such able soldiers as Monckton, Murray, and Carleton, the latter of whom became famous in later Canadian history as Lord Dorchester. Brigadier Townsend, however capable, was irritable and egotistic. The soldiers admired Wolfe for his soldierly qualities, and loved him for his thoughtfulness for everyone above or below him. Admiral Saunders was well aided by Holmes and Durell, and gave a loyal and ready response to the plans of Wolfe. The regiments had seen service at Louisbourg, and were fully animated by the courage and spirit of their general. The siege lasted for eleven weeks, and was then only ended by an act of boldness on the part of Wolfe, which took the French entirely by surprise.
Siege of Quebec, 1759.
The principal events between the 26th June and the 12th September, when the last act in this great international drama was played, can be described in a few pages. One of the most important incidents was the occupation by the English of the heights of Lévis, whence the fortress was bombarded with an effectiveness that surprised the French, who, under the advice of Vaudreuil, and in opposition to that of Montcalm, had not taken adequate measures for the protection of so valuable a position. So destructive was the bombardment that, when the English took possession of Quebec, they found all the churches and buildings of importance in ruins, and the Ursuline Convent alone was saved from complete destruction.
The English sustained a severe repulse near the Montmorency end of the French lines. They had made an attack on an outwork at that point, and the grenadiers had been carried away by excitement and dashed up the slope of the heights, where from twelve to fourteen thousand French soldiers were strongly intrenched. A furious storm of bullets assailed the reckless and brave grenadiers, who could not even gain a firm footing on the slippery slope, while the rain came down in torrents, and their blood reddened the rivulets of water. This was, however, the only serious disaster that the English suffered throughout the siege. The fire ships of the French had been ill-managed, and failed to do any damage as they were sent down against the fleet. Montcalm, sure of his impregnable position, refused to be drawn from his intrenchments and to offer battle to Wolfe. He knew that delay was everything to him, for the autumn was drawing near. In a few weeks storm and frost would drive the Englishmen from the river. Wherever Montcalm looked, his position seemed unassailable. The high cliffs that stretched for miles above Quebec offered a guaranty of security in that direction, and to prevent any doubt, Bougainville, a capable officer—in later years famous as a navigator—was on the alert with a force of upwards of two thousand soldiers. He had double work to do, to guard these apparently impregnable cliffs, and to assure the arrival of provisions from the country by river and land. It was the expected arrival of a convoy of provisions that proved an important factor in the successful accomplishment of a plan that Wolfe had devised for the capture of the city.
While the siege was in progress, the news from the west and from Lake Champlain was discouraging for the French. Niagara had been surrendered by Pouchot to Sir William Johnson, who had taken command on the death of Prideaux—killed at the beginning of operations—and a large force that was brought up by Ligneris from the Ohio valley to succour the post had been severely defeated. Crown Point and Ticonderoga had been abandoned by Bourlamaque, and there was for a time some expectation of the advance of Amherst to the St. Lawrence; Montcalm was obliged to weaken his army by sending his ablest general, Lévis, with a force of fifteen hundred men, to look after the defences of Montreal, but the sluggish English general wasted his time on the banks of Lake Champlain.