Tag Archives: Montcalm

The Battles of Quebec

19 Monday Jul 2021

Posted by in American Civil War, France, Québec, The French and Indian War

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The Battle of Sainte-Foy by George B. Campion, watercolour.

I am writing this post for the second time. In his Anciens Canadiens (1863), Aubert de Gaspé describes the 1) Battle of the Plains of Abraham, fought on 13 September 1759. He also describes the 2) Battle of Saint-Foy, fought on 28 April 1760. At Sainte-Foy, the Chevalier de Lévis tried to recapture New France. 3) Moreover, on 31 December 1775, after the fall of New France and the Quebec Act of 1774, the American Continental Army attacked Quebec City. This battle is the only Battle of Quebec. Battles 1 & 2 took place in Quebec City, or nearby. At the Battle of Quebec, revolutionary forces were under the command of General Richard Montgomery, who was killed, and Benedict Arnold, who was wounded. “Daniel Morgan and more than 400 men were taken prisoner.” (See Battle of Quebec 1775, Wikipedia.)

We are at the very beginning of the American Revolutionary War. Future Americans looked upon George III’s Royal Proclamation of 1763 and Guy Carleton’s Quebec Act of 1774 as “intolerable acts.” Future Americans were defeated by a “motley” garrison (see Battle of Quebec, Wikipedia) under the command of Sir Guy Carleton. By virtue of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, future Americans could not settle west of the Thirteen Colonies. As well, because of the Quebec Act of 1774, Canada’s defeated French-speaking population, who lived in a very large Province of Quebec, were unlikely to join American revolutionary forces.

Hostilities : The French and Indian War

The French and Indian War (1754-1763), or hostilities between the French and their Amerindian allies, on the one side, and the British, on the other side, started in the Ohio Country. The first engagement was the Battle of Jumonville Glen (1752). A force of 35 Canadiens was under the command of Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, but Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville, a Canadien and a seigneur, was assassinated. The British General was George Washington who was accompanied by the Half King.

The French and Indian War (1754-1763), or hostilities between the French and their Amerindian allies, on the one side, and the British, on the other side, started in the Ohio Country. The first engagement was the Battle of Jumonville Glen (1752). A force of 35 Canadiens was under the command of Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, but Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville, a Canadien and a seigneur, was assassinated. The British General, a very young George Washington, was accompanied by the Half King or Tanacharison. A video, embedded below, suggests that Jumonville was killed by the Half King. (See Tanacharison & Battle of Jumonville Glen, Wikipedia.)

The Jumonville Affair: the Half King
Burning of the French ship Prudent and capture of Bienfaisant, during the siege
of Louisbourg in 1758, Richard Paton

Engagements other than hostilities in the Ohio country are listed below:

The Battle of Carillon/Battle of Ticonderoga was quite outstanding, from a military point of view. On the French side, Montcalm and Lévis had a force of 3,600 regulars, militia, & Indians. They were opposed, on the British side, by 6,000 regulars, 12,000 provincial troops, rangers, & Indians. The French built a barrier behind branches, foliage, and other obstacles, creating an impossible terrain, and fired at the advancing troops. The Battle of Beauport or Montmorency was fought on 31 July 1759, which bode quite well for the French. But, at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, British forces consisted of 4,400 regulars and colonial rangers opposing a garrison of 3,400 men (1,900 regulars and 1,500 colonial militia and natives). Quebec fell. The battle lasted twenty minutes, and both commanders, thirty-two-year-old James Wolfe, and Louis de Montcalm, aged 47, were fatally wounded. (See Battle of Carillon, Wikipedia.)

Battle of Carillon/Fort Ticonderoga

Cameron of Lochiel, a Highlander, fought at Louisbourg (1758), at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (1759) and at the Battle of Sainte-Foy (1760). As for Jules d’Haberville, he fought at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and at the Battle of Sainte-Foy. The former brothers will be reunited despite Jules’s inimical first reaction.

The Plains of Abraham and the Battle of Sainte-Foy

Aubert de Gaspé describes the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the Battle of Sainte-Foy. Gaspé’s numbers may not be accurate. Moreover, Aubert de Gaspé believes that the French won the Battle of Saint-Foy. So do other sources. In chapter XIV/XIII, Jules d’Haberville and Cameron of Lochiel are reunited and Aubert de Gaspé’s description of the defeated is very eloquent. The defeated are forever defeated.

Vae victis ! dit la sagesse des nations ; malheur aux vaincus ! non seulement à cause des désastres, conséquences naturelles d’une défaite, mais aussi parce que les vaincus ont toujours tort.

Les Anciens Canadiens (XIV: p. 314)

[Vae victis! says the wisdom of the nations. Woe to the conquered!—not only because of the ruin which follows defeat, but because the vanquished are always in the wrong.] 

Cameron of Lochiel (XIII: 198-199)

At the Battle of Sainte-Foy, fought on 18 April 1760. The French had 5,000 regulars and militia and The British forces consisted of 3,800 men. On the British side, a total of 1,259 men were killed and 829, wounded. Three-quarters of British casualties were Fraser Highlanders. The French lost 146 men and 640 were wounded. Aubert de Gaspé views the Battle of Sainte-Foy as a French victory, but it did not tip the balance at the Treaty of Versailles 1763. France had abandoned its North American colony.

Aubert de Gaspé devotes one chapter to Les Plaines d’Abraham, it is Chapter XIV in the original French text and Chapter XIII (p. 198) in Cameron of Lochiel, Sir Charles G. D. Roberts’s translation. The Plains of Abraham therefore follows the Chapter entitled L’Incendie de la côte du sud which reveals Arché’s struggle as a soldier who is ordered to harm his Canadiens friends. However, continuity is not broken.

– Tu as vaincu, Montgomery ; mes malédictions retombent maintenant sur ma tête ; tu diras que j’ai déserté à l’ennemi ; tu publieras que je suis un traître que tu soupçonnais depuis longtemps. Tu as vaincu, car toutes les apparences sont contre moi. Ta joie sera bien grande, car j’ai tout perdu, même l’honneur.
Et, comme Job, il s’écria :
– Périsse le jour qui m’a vu naître !

Les Anciens Canadiens (XII: p. 280)

[“You have conquered, Montgomery; my curses recoil upon my own head. You will proclaim that I have deserted to the enemy, that I am a traitor as you long suspected. You will rejoice indeed, for I have lost all, even honor.” And like Job, he cursed the day that he was born.]

Cameron of Lochiel (XI: 218-219)

As a soldier, Arché is rehabilitated in the Battle of Quebec.

De Locheill s’était vengé noblement des soupçons injurieux à sa loyauté, que son ennemi Montgomery avait essayé d’inspirer aux officiers supérieurs de l’armée britannique. Ses connaissances étendues, le temps qu’il consacrait à l’étude de sa nouvelle profession, son aptitude à tous les exercices militaires, sa vigilance aux postes qui lui étaient confiés, sa sobriété, lui valurent d’abord l’estime générale ; et son bouillant courage, tempéré néanmoins par la prudence dans l’attaque des lignes françaises à Montmorency, et sur le champ de bataille du 13 septembre 1759, fut remarqué par le général Murray, qui le combla publiquement de louanges.

Les Anciens Canadiens (XIV: pp. 321-322)

[Lochiel had cleared himself nobly of the suspicions which his foe, Montgomery, had sought to fix upon203 him. His wide knowledge, his zeal in the study of his profession, his skill in all military exercises, his sobriety, his vigilance when in guard of a post, all these had put him high in esteem. His dashing courage tempered with prudence in the attack on the French lines at Montmorency and on the field of the first Battle of the Plains had been noticed by General Murray, who commended him publicly.]

Cameron of Lochiel (XIII: 202-204)

Conclusion

I will break here. The battles have been listed. The Battle of the Plains of Abraham (1759) and the Battle of Sainte-Foy 1760). I may separate the Battle of Quebec (1775) from the battles fought during the French and Indian War (1754-1763).

After the battles come sorrowful souls seeking redemption.

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

Wikipedia, The Canadian Encyclopedia, & Britannica
Les Anciens Canadiens (ebooksgratuits.com). FR
Cameron of Lochiel (Archive.org ), Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, translator. EN
Cameron of Lochiel is Gutenberg [EBook#53154], Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, translator. EN
Une Colonie féodale en Amérique: l’Acadie 1604 – 17 (Rameau, Google Books)


—ooo—

Love to everyone 💕

New France (Google)

© Micheline Walker
19 July 2021
updated 20 July 2021
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Just a word

14 Wednesday Jul 2021

Posted by in Québec, War

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Philippe Aubert de Gaspé’s Manoir à Saint-Jean-Port-Joli

Dear friends,

I have been sick for several days. It’s not Covid-19. I am fully vaccinated. But my memory plays tricks on me and I have terrible headaches.

I have written a post on the good gentleman. Aubert de Gaspé has reasons to look upon Amerindians as better that the white man. However, it is a main theme in his novel.

We also have battles. These have been somewhat rearranged. There was a second Battle of Sainte-Foy, faught on 28 April 1760. France won, but the motherland did not send reinforcement. Britain did.

Love to everyone 💕

Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, Marquis de Saint-Veran

25 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by in Canada, History, New France

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Sketch of the Death of Montcalm by Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, 1902

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Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté (1869 – 1937)

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham (13 September 1759), is a battle that takes its name, Abraham, from the fact that it was fought on a piece of land belonging to Abraham Martin (1589-1664), a fisherman and a river pilot (Wikipedia), nicknamed The Scot. The Battle of the Plains of Abraham killed both General Wolfe and General Montcalm and I suspect that, as he was nearing death, at the age of 47, General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm knew that the colony he had been sent to protect would be ceded to Britain.

In my last post, I wrote that, as he lay dying, Montcalm was not told that Major-General James P Wolfe had died. I was puzzled, but let us read the testimonial of the American historian Reverend Francis Parkman (16 September 1823 – 8 November 1893), the author of the seven-volume France and England in North America. The sixth volume is entitled Montcalm and Wolfe (1884).

Parkman is quoted in Wikipedia:

He (Montcalm) then asked how long he might survive, and was told that he had not many hours remaining. “So much the better,” he said; “I am happy that I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec.”

Officers from the garrison came to his bedside to ask his orders and instructions “I will give no more orders,” replied the defeated soldier; “I have much business that must be attended to, of greater moment than your ruined garrison and this wretched country. My time is very short; therefore, pray leave me.”

The officer withdrew, and none remained in the chamber but his confessor and the Bishop of Quebec. To the latter, he expressed his contempt for his own mutinous and half famished troops, and his admiration for the disciplined valour of his opponents. He died at midnight, and was buried at his own desire in a cavity of the earth formed by the bursting of a bombshell.

As indicated above, Montcalm used the word “wretched,” referring to the colony. He had been short-changed by Vaudreuil who was not a military tactician and opposed Montcalm’s use of European warfare on North-American soil. The two feuded from the moment Montcalm arrived in New France, in May 1756 .

Expertise should override uninformed opinion

Canadian-born Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnal, Marquis de Vaudreuil (22 November 1698 – 4 August 1778), Governor of New France, had been in the military, but his second-guessing Montcalm was not very judicious. Between Montcalm and Vaudreuil, Montcalm was the better soldier and, as a rule, one must defer to greater expertise.

The Battle of Fort Oswego

Although Montcalm was not familiar with the hit-and-run type of warfare Vaudreuil favoured, the siege and Battle of Fort Oswego, fought  between 10 – 14 August 1756, three months after Montcalm arrived in New France, was proof positive that there was merit to European warfare. As happens in wars, Colonel James Mercer, the British leader, lost his life at Fort Oswego. The battle was then fought under the command of James Littlehales. At Oswego, the French were well prepared, which was not the case at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

The Battle of Fort William Henry

The Siege of Fort William Henry (click on the above picture to enlarge it), conducted between 3 and 9 August 1757, seems an inglorious victory. The British forces, led by Lieutenant-Colonel George Monro (1700–1757) were defeated by Montcalm’s troops which included 1,800 Amerindians of different tribes and 6,200 “regulars” and militia. The British were outnumbered and lost, but suddenly disorderly and blood-thirsty Amerindians, who had fought under Montcalm’s command, started to kill British soldiers and civilians.

Monro and Montcalm were not able to subdue the Amerindians, so infamy is attached to this siege or battle of Fort William Henry. However, the Amerindians made the mistake of unearthing the corpses of individuals who had recently died of smallpox. They wanted trophies. As a result, they went back to their various encampments carrying the seeds of a disease that would be more costly than their rampage.

British General Jeffery Amherst would remember the massacre. This was not European warfare. Lieutenant-Colonel George Monro died suddenly a few months after the battle.

The Battle of Carillon

The Battle of Carillon, also known as the 1758 Battle of Ticonderoga, took place between 6 July and 8 July 1758. Once again, Montcalm, ably assisted by the Chevalier de Lévis, his second in command, was victorious under troops led by James Abercombie and George Howe. Fort Carillon was a French Fort built on the shores of Lake Champlain. How the French won that battle is difficult to explain. They were outnumbered because Vaudreuil had sent half of New France’s troops to Louisbourg, against the advice of Montcalm.

Rhodes Scholar and Pulitzer-prize laureate American historian Lawrence Henry Gipson (1880–1971) has faulted Abercombie for the disaster at Carillon.  Just how did the French win this battle? (click on the picture below to enlarge it)

The Victory of Montcalm’s Troops at Carillon by Alexander Ogden

The Battle of Beauport and the Battle of Montmorency

The Battle of Beauport or Battle of Montmorency was Montcalm’s last victory on North-American soil.  It was fought a short distance away from Quebec City by British troops under the command of Major-General James P. Wolfe. It was fought on 31 July 1759, six weeks before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, a final battle for Major-General Wolfe and General Montcalm, and two weeks after the British had succeeded in passing seven ships, including the HMS Sutherland and two frigates, the HMS Diana and HMS Squirrel to the west of Quebec-city.  My question is the expected: how could this have happened unnoticed?

Beauport, located near the Montmorency Falls, was a French redoubt. So, General Wolfe’s 6,000 regulars were outnumbered by Montcalm’s 10,000 regulars and militia. General Wolfe lost more than 211 men and 233 soldiers were wounded, however and, ironically, British ships having passed through the narrow strait between Lévis, to the south, and Québec-city, to the north, the British were in a very good position to attack the French. Six weeks later, Montcalm’s troops were defeated at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. 

Conclusion

Montcalm lost one of his five battles in North America. He was a good soldier. Yet, he lost not only this one battle, but his life, as did Wolfe. Wolfe was only 32 and he was also a good soldier. As is quoted above, Montcalm praised General Wolfe on his death-bed, which is not insignificant. On the contrary!

There would be another battle: the Battle of Sainte-Foy, sometimes called the Battle of Quebec, fought on 28 April 1760. It opposed the French under the Chevalier de Lévis, and the British under General James Murray. The French won that battle, but Lévis was not able to retake Quebec City. The British retrenched and waited for reinforcement. It had been a difficult winter and scurvy had taken British lives. Lévis also waited for reinforcement, but it came too late. In 1763 France  chose to keep Martinique and Guadeloupe.

In the end, it seems all was decided in the corridors of power. So let Montcalm’s final words be my final words: this “wretched country.”

100px-Montcalm_Signature_svg

© Micheline Walker
25 February 2012
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