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The Battle of the Plains of Abraham (13 September ), also known as the Battle of . The British laid siege to Quebec, and on 18 September, the French.
Table of contents

His plan required that a small party of men should land by night on the north shore, climb the Promontory of Quebec , seize a small road, and overpower the garrison that protected it, allowing the bulk of his army 5, men to ascend the cliff by the small road and then deploy for battle on the plateau. Even if the first landing party succeeded in their mission and the army was able to follow, such a deployment would still leave his forces inside the French line of defense with no immediate retreat but the river.

It is possible that Wolfe's decision to change the landing site was owing less to a desire for secrecy and more to his general disdain for his brigadiers a feeling that was reciprocated ; it is also possible that he was still suffering the effects of his illness and the opiates he used as painkillers. Bougainville, tasked with the defence of the large area between Cap Diamant and Cap Rouge , was upstream with his troops at Cap Rouge on the night of 12 September, and missed seeing numerous British ships moving downstream.

On the night of 12 September and morning of 13 September, however, the camp may have contained as few as 40 men, as others were off harvesting. Sentries did detect boats moving along the river that morning, but they were expecting a French supply convoy to pass that night—a plan that had been changed without Vergor being notified.

The boats, however, had drifted slightly off course: instead of landing at the base of the road, many soldiers found themselves at the base of a slope. A group of 24 volunteers led by Colonel William Howe with fixed bayonets were sent to clear the picket along the road, and climbed the slope, a manoeuvre that allowed them to come up behind Vergor's camp and capture it quickly. Wolfe followed an hour later when he could use an easy access road to climb to the plain.

Thus, by the time the sun rose over the Plains of Abraham, Wolfe's army had a solid foothold at the top of the cliffs of the promontory of Quebec. The plateau was undefended save for Vergor's camp, as Vaudreuil had ordered one of the French regiments to relocate to the east of the city not long before the landing. Had the immediate defenders been more numerous, the British might have been unable to deploy or even been pushed back.

An officer who would normally have patrolled the cliffs regularly through the night was unable to on the night of the 12th because one of his horses had been stolen and his two others were lame. Montcalm was taken aback to learn of the British deployment, and his response has been regarded as precipitate. Had he waited, the British would have been entirely cut off—they had nowhere to go but back down the Foulon, and would have been under fire the entire way. If we give him time to establish himself, we shall never be able to attack him with the troops we have.

In total, Montcalm had 13, regular troops, Troupes de la Marine , and militia available in Quebec City and along the Beauport shore, as well as cavalry , artillery including the guns of Quebec , native warriors including many Odawa under Charles de Langlade [42] , and Acadian volunteers , but most of these troops did not participate in the action. Many of the militia were inexperienced; the Acadian, Canadian, and indigenous irregulars were more used to guerilla warfare.

By contrast, the British 7, troops were almost all regulars. On the morning of 13 September, Wolfe's army formed a line first with their backs to the river, then spread out across the Plains with its right anchored by the bluff along the St. Lawrence and its left by a bluff and thick wood above the St. Charles River.

While the regular French forces were approaching from Beauport and Quebec, the Canadian militia and native sharpshooters engaged the British left flank, sheltering in the trees and scrub; the militia held these positions throughout the battle and fell back on this line during the general retreat, eventually holding the bridge over the St. Of the British troops, approximately 3, formed into a shallow horseshoe formation that stretched across the width of the Plains, the main firing line being roughly one kilometre long.

Two battalions were deployed, facing north, to cover the left flank and a further two formed a reserve. In order to cover the entire plain, Wolfe was forced to array his soldiers two ranks deep, rather than the more conventional three ranks. On the left wing, regiments under Townshend exchanged fire with the militia in the scrub and captured a small collection of houses and gristmill to anchor the line. The defenders pushed the British from one house, but were repelled and, in retreat, lit several houses on fire to keep them out of enemy hands. Smoke from these fires wound up masking the British left, and may have confused Montcalm as to the width of the lines.

As French troops arrived from Beauport, Montcalm, one of few mounted men on the field, decided that a swift assault was the only way to dislodge the British from their position. Accordingly, he deployed the forces immediately available in and near Quebec City and prepared an immediate attack, without waiting for further reinforcements from the Beauport shore.

He arrayed his approximately 3, soldiers into place, his best regulars three deep, others six deep and his poorest regiment in column. As a European-trained military leader, Montcalm's instinct was for large, set-piece battles in which regiments and soldiers moved in precise order. Such actions required a disciplined soldiery, painstakingly drilled for as long as 18 months on the parade ground, trained to march in time, change formation at a word, and retain cohesion in the face of bayonet charges and musket volleys.

As the French approached, the British lines held their fire.

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The French held their fire and both armies waited for two or three minutes. The French finally fired two disorganized volleys. Wolfe had ordered his soldiers to charge their muskets with two balls each in preparation for the engagement. After the first volley, the British lines marched forward a few paces towards the shocked French force and fired a second general volley that shattered the attackers and sent them into retreat.

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Wolfe, positioned with the 28th Foot and the Louisbourg Grenadiers, had moved to a rise to observe the battle; he had been struck in the wrist early in the fight, but had wrapped the injury and continued on. Volunteer James Henderson, with the Louisbourg Grenadiers, had been tasked with holding the hill, and reported afterwards that within moments of the command to fire, Wolfe was struck with two shots, one low in the stomach and the second, a mortal wound in the chest. Upon being told that the French had broken, he gave several orders, then turned on his side and said "Now, God be praised, I will die in peace", and died.

With Wolfe dead and several other key officers injured, British troops fell into a disorganised pursuit of the retreating French troops. The 78th Fraser Highlanders were ordered by Brigadier-General James Murray to pursue the French with their swords , but were met near the city by a heavy fire from a floating battery covering the bridge over the St. Charles River as well as militia that remained in the trees.

Battle of the Plains of Abraham | The Canadian Encyclopedia

The 78th took the highest number of casualties of all British units in the battle. An eyewitness with the 78th Highlanders Dr. Robert Macpherson wrote three days after the battle:. The Highlanders pursued them to the very Sally Port of the town. The Highlanders returned towards the main body.

When the highlanders were gathered together, they lay'd on a separate attack against a large body of Canadians on our flank that were posted in a small village and a Bush of woods. Here, after a wonderful escape all day, we suffered great loss both in Officers and men but at last drove them under the cover of their cannon which likeways did us considerable loss. Townshend took charge of the British forces and realised that Bougainville's column was approaching from the British rear, having taken some time to arrive from Cap Rouge. He quickly formed up two battalions from the confused troops on the field and turned them to meet the oncoming French, a day-saving manoeuvre; instead of attacking with a well rested and ready force, Bougainville retreated while the rest of Montcalm's army slipped back across the St.

During the retreat, Montcalm, still mounted, was struck by either canister shot from the British artillery or repeated musket fire, suffering injuries to the lower abdomen and thigh. He was able to make it back into the city, but his wounds were mortal and he died at the wee hours the next morning. In the wake of the battle, a state of confusion spread through the French troops.

Governor de Vaudreuil , who later wrote to his government and put the full blame for the French rout on the deceased Montcalm, [61] decided to abandon Quebec and the Beauport shore, ordering all of his forces to march west and eventually join up with Bougainville, leaving the garrison in Quebec under the command of Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay.

Meanwhile, the British, first under the command of Townshend and later with Murray in charge, settled in to besiege the city in conjunction with Saunders' fleet. Within days, on 18 September, de Ramezay, Townshend and Saunders signed the Articles of Capitulation of Quebec and the city was turned over to British control.

Edward Coats and his Journal of the Siege of Quebec

The British Navy was forced to leave the St. Lawrence shortly after the capture of Quebec, lest pack ice close the mouth of the river. James Murray, the British commander, had experienced a terrible winter, in which scurvy had reduced his garrison to only 4, This battle proved bloodier than that of the Plains of Abraham, with about casualties on the French side and 1, on the British side. The British were defeated in the battle, but were able to withdraw within the walls of Quebec, which was now under siege. A lack of artillery and ammunition, combined with British improvements to the fortifications, meant that the French were unable to take the city by storm.

Both sides awaited reinforcements from Europe. The first ships to arrive, in mid-May, were part of a British fleet which had defeated Levis' support ships. The French capitulated on 8 September , and the British took possession of Montreal. The Treaty of Paris was signed in to end the war and gave possession of parts of New France to Great Britain, including Canada and the eastern half of French Louisiana —lying between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains.

In , a number of activities were proposed to commemorate the th anniversary of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Leaders of separatist parties described the event as a slap in the face for Quebecers of French ancestry and as an insult for the francophone majority. Some sovereigntist groups threatened or made indirect threats by stating that if the event took place, there could be violence. The movement against re-enactment and these threats of violence led the National Battlefields Commission to cancel the event. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. On December 31, , during the American Revolutionary War , Patriot forces under Colonel Benedict Arnold and General Richard Montgomery attempted to capture the British-occupied city of Quebec and with it win support for the American cause in Tensions between the two groups They clashed with a larger force of American soldiers led by General Horatio Gates It included two crucial battles, fought eighteen days apart, and was a decisive victory for the Continental Army and a crucial turning point in the Revolutionary Years before Christopher Columbus stepped foot on what would come to be known as the Americas, the expansive territory was inhabited by Native Americans.

Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, as more explorers sought to colonize their land, Native Americans responded in various The Proclamation of was issued by the British at the end of the French and Indian War to appease Native Americans by checking the encroachment of European settlers on their lands.

It created a boundary, known as the proclamation line, separating the British colonies on the This Day In History. Battle of Quebec: September 13, On September 13, , the British under General James Wolfe achieved a dramatic victory when they scaled the cliffs over the city of Quebec to defeat French forces under Louis-Joseph de Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham an area named for the farmer who owned the land. Battle of the Little Bighorn. Battles of Lexington and Concord.