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Micheline's Blog

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Tag Archives: the Battle of Quebec

The Battles of Quebec

19 Monday Jul 2021

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Battles of the French and Indian War, George Washington, Jules & Arché, Lévis, Montcalm, Quebec City, the Battle of Jumonville Glen, the Battle of Quebec, the Battle of Sainte-Foy 1760, the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, The Intolerable Acts, The Ohio Country

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:

  • Battle of Fort Oswego (10-14 August 1756) Montcalm vs James Mercer † John Littlehales French victory
  • Battle of Fort William Henry (3 and 9 August 1757) Louis de Montcalm vs John Monro French victory
  • Battle of Carillon or the Battle of Ticonderoga (6-8 July 1758) Montcalm & Lévis vs James Abercrombie George Howe † French victory
  • [The Siege of Louisbourg, a 1758 British victory in Acadie]
  • Battle of Beauport or Montmorency or the Battle of Beauport (31 July 1759) (Montcalm vs James Wolfe French victory
  • The Battle of the Plains of Abraham (13 September 1759) (Montcalm † vs James Wolfe † British victory
  • Battle of Sainte-Foy (18 April 1760) François Gaston de Lévis vs James Murray French victory (ceded to Britain)
    (See all battles in Wikipedia)

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

  • The Good Gentleman (9 July 2021)
  • The Order of Good Cheer (19 June 2021)
  • La Débâcle/The Debacle (13 June 2021)
  • Jules d’Haberville & Cameron of Lochiel (12 June 2021)
  • Les Anciens Canadiens/Cameron of Lochiel (9 June 2021)
  • Nouvelle-France’s Last and Lost Battle: The Battle of the Plains of Abraham (24 March 2012)
  • The Battle of Fort William Henry & Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans (26 March 2012)
  • Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, Marquis de Saint-Veran (25 March 2012)

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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The Battle of Quebec

08 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by michelinewalker in Folklore, Old French Songs

≈ Comments Off on The Battle of Quebec

Tags

le Combat de Québec, Les Charbonniers de l'enfer, Meredith Hall, the Battle of Quebec

Please listen to this song on YouTube.

Le Combat de la Danaé (The Battle of Quebec) (arr. S. Bergeron)
interprète: Meredith Hall
album: La Traverse miraculeuse / Le Combat de Québec [1]

La Nef [The Nave]: Sylvain Bergeron, Lisa Ornstein, David Greenberg, Patrick Graham, Amanda Keesmat, Pierre-Yves Martel, Seàn Dagher

Old French Songs (cont’d)

—ooo—

Come, all you old men all, let this delight you; (a)
Come, all you young men, let not affright you;
Nor let your courage fail when comes the trial.
Nor do not be afraid at the first denial.

C’est le 27 de mars, sans attendre plus tard / qu’est le départ
Bart, ce grand guerrier, / nous a tous commandé.
Nous sommes partis de la France, / confiants dans la Providence,
priant Dieu de nous secourir / dans le danger de périr.
Le premier jour partant / nous aperçûmes sous vent / un bâtiment
Trois autres au vent de nous / qui poussaient droit sur nous.
Nous leur avons fait reconnaître / que nous en serions les maîtres,
nous tenant tous les deux d’accord, / nous avons viré de bord.
La Danaé!

Brave Wolfe drew up his men in a line so pretty. (b)
On the Plains of Abraham,[1] before the city.
The French came marching down, arrayed to meet them.
In double numbers round, resolved to beat them.

L’Anglais tout d’un courroux [wrath]/ arrive au bord de nous
et tout d’un coup tire un coup de canon / sur notre pavillon;
C’est son petit mât de misaine [small mast] / qui est tombé à la traîne [dragging]
et son grand mât d’artimon [large mast] / qui est tombé sur le pont.
Bart, voyant cela / au milieu du combat / et du fracas
en rejoignant les mains / prit le Ciel à témoin.
Bart dit à son équipage: / « allons mes enfants courage,
faisons voir à ces Anglais / la valeur de nous, Français. »
La Danaé!

The drums did loudly beat, with colors flying (c)
The purple gore did stream and men lay dying
Then shot from off his horse fell that brave hero
We’ll long lament his loss that day in sorrow

Le feu de tous côtés / par trois vaisseaux armés / sans relâcher [relentlessly]
a mis hors de combat [taken out of combat] / ce valeureux soldat.
Ce fut su’l’gaillard d’arrière [at the back of the ship] / qu’il tomba par en arrière
et par un boulet [bullet] de canon, / il tomba mort sur le pont.
Grand Dieu quelle misère / de voir la Danaé / tout démantée, [dismantled]
ses voiles [sails] et ses haubans [ropes]/ ne battre plus au vent!
Hélas grand Dieu quelle misère / de voir devant à l’arrière
cent cinquante hommes étendus / et les autres n’en pouvant plus
La Danaé!

He raised up his head where the guns did rattle, (d)
And to his aide he said, “How goes the battle?”
“Quebec is all our own, they can’t prevent it”
He said without a groan, “I die contented.”

Vous autres Français, Flamands / qui voyez nos tourments / qui sont si grands,
apprenez la misère / que nous avons souffert
pour sauver l’honneur de la France; / vous Anglais pleins d’impudence,
à moins de nous laisser aller, / nous vous aurons prisonniers!
La Danaé!

—ooo—

A translation

Come, all you old men all, let this delight you; (a)
Come, all you young men, let not affright you;
Nor let your courage fail when comes the trial.
Nor do not be afraid at the first denial.

We left on 27th March, without further delay.
Bart, that great warrior, was in command.
We left France trusting Providence and praying to God
to rescue us, should our lives be endangered.
On the first day, we saw beneath the wind a bâtiment (a ship)
and three other ships, headed in our direction.
Both of us agreed, and we decided to turn around.
La Danaé!

Brave Wolfe drew up his men in a line so pretty. (b)
On the Plains of Abraham, before the city.
The French came marching down, arrayed to meet them.
In double numbers round, resolved to beat them.

The angry English sailed up to the side of our ship.
All of a sudden they shot at us.
Our ship’s mizzen mast fell dangling
and its larger mast tumbled down to the deck.
Bart seeing this, still fighting as everything was crashing down,
joined his hands, taking God as his witness
and told his crew: Let’s go boys,
let us show the English a Frenchman’s worth.
La Danaé!

The drums did loudly beat, with colors flying (c)
The purple gore did stream and men lay dying
Then shot from off his horse fell that brave hero
We’ll long lament his loss that day in sorrow.

Shots were fired everywhere and relentlessly,
taking out of combat this valiant soldier.
He fell backward at the back of the ship,
hit by a bullet. He fell dead on the deck.
It was awful to see the remains of our ship,
its sails and ropes [haubans] blowing in the wind,
and, at the back, a hundred and fifty men lying down.
The others were exhausted.
La Danaé!

He raised up his head where the guns did rattle, (d)
And to his aide, he said, “How goes the battle?”
“Quebec is all our own, they can’t prevent it”
He said without a groan, “I die contented.”

You, the French and the Flemish, who see our torment, that are so great,
Learn the hardship we have suffered
to save France’s honour. And you impudent Englishmen
unless you let us go, you will be prisoners.
La Danaé!

Comments

Nous vous aurons prisonniers means: we will have you as prisoners. The context would suggest that the French would be the prisoners of the English. This sentence is ambiguous.

In both French and English, we find rhymes. Some verses are shortened by singing rapidly. This is a difficult folksong. The length of the lines varies and it could be that French stanzas consist of eight lines. This would give us a total of four long (eight lines) stanzas in French ending with the word Danaé, and four short (4 lines) English

In this folksong, one can hear the braggart soldier. Such language may have stimulated sailors. On the one hand, it is as though we were hearing boys playing, but we are not hearing boys, but frightened sailors who may die. It’s not a game.

Ironically, if we listened to the English, we would hear them call the sailors of New France  “impudent.” We find fault with the enemy we kill.

RELATED ARTICLES

Nouvelle-France’s Last and Lost Battle: The Battle of the Plains of Abraham
The Battle of Fort William Henry & Cooper’s Last of the Mohicans

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

Sources

See The Battle of Quebec, History
Poet’s Collective Multi-Site Network
Borduas and Leduc

____________________
[1] The final defeat (13 September 1759). Both generals died.

Love to everyone ♥

eglise_de_st_hilaire-st_hilaire_church

Paul-Émile Borduas, Église de Saint-Hilaire, c. 1933,
huile sur contreplaqué.  Collection Renée Borduas.
Photo MBAM, Brian Merrett.
© Succession Paul-Émile Borduas / SODRAC (2013)

© Micheline Walker
8 August 2018
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