BOUGAINVILLE.
After a cut in Bonnechose’s Montcalm, 5th ed., 1882, p. 138.
Wolfe with a glass had discovered a ravine,[1174] up which it seemed possible for a forlorn hope to mount, and the number of tents at its top did not indicate that there was a numerous guard there to be overcome. Robert Stobo, who had been a prisoner in Quebec after the fall of Fort Necessity, had recently joined the camp, and his biographer says that his testimony confirmed Wolfe in the choice, or rather directed him to it.[1175] While the preparations were going on, the English ships perplexed Bougainville by threatening to land troops some distance up the river, near his headquarters; and by floating up and down with the tide, the English admiral kept the French on the constant march to be abreast of them.
The plan was now ripe. Wolfe was to drop down the river in boats with the turn of the tide, having with him his 3,600 men, and 1,200 were to join him by boat from Point Levi. As night came on, Admiral Saunders, who commanded the fleet in the basin below Quebec, made every disposition as if to attack the Beauport lines, and Montcalm thought the main force of the British was still before him.
As the ships opposite Bougainville began to swing downward with the tide, the French general took pity on his weary men, and failed to follow the moving vessels. This kept the main part of his troops well up the river. This French general had, as it happened, informed the shore guards and batteries towards the town that he should send down by water a convoy with provisions, that night, which was to creep along to Montcalm’s camp under the shadow of the precipice. Wolfe heard of this through some deserters, and he seized the opportunity to cast off his boats and get ahead of the convoy, in order that he might answer for it if hailed. He was hailed, and answered in the necessary deceitful French. This quieted the suspicion of the sentries as he rowed gently along in the gloom.
BRITISH SOLDIERS.
Reduced fac-simile of a cut in J. Luard’s Hist. of the Dress of the British Soldier, London, 1852, p. 95. This shows a heavy and light dragoon and two guardsmen of about the time of Wolfe’s attack, 1759. The cap of the guardsmen is of German origin, and was in general use by the English grenadiers of this period. The heavy dragoon is on the right. The one on the left is a light dragoon of the 15th regiment. The breeches are of leather; the coat is of scarlet.