Preparations to Attack Quebec

A short and severe battle now ensued. Terrible were the volleys of the double-shotted muskets at close quarters. The French were thrown into confusion, when they were attacked by the bayonet so terrible in the hands of English soldiers. The general was urging on the bayonet charge, when a bullet slightly wounded him in the head. Another soon wounded him in the head. Another soon wounded him in the abdomen; and a third pierced his breast with deadly effect. "Support me," said the general to an officer near him; "Do not let my brave soldiers see me drop; the day is ours-keep it." He was borne to the rear in a dying condition, when the officer, on whose shoulder he was leaning, cried out, "They run!" they run!" "Who runs?" feebly inquired Wolfe. "The enemy, sir; they give way everywhere," said the officer. The general then gave an important order for a movement to cut off the fugitives, and feebly said: "Now, God be praised. I die happy!" he never spoke again, and soon afterward expired. Montcalm had also been mortally wounded, and died the next morning. His body was buried in the grounds of the Ursuline Convent at Quebec. In its chapel a small mural tablet commemorates him; and there I saw, a few years ago, the skull of that French commander, its base covered with a blue velvet and goldlaced military coat collar. Wolfe's remains were taken to England, and his grateful government erected a monument to his memory in Westminster Abbey. Almost seventy years afterward an English governor of Canada caused a noble granite obelisk to be reared in the city of Quebec, and dedicated "To the Memory of Wolfe and Montcalm."

General Townshend succeeded Wolfe in command of the army. With unparalleled selfishness and meanness, he tried to arrogate to himself the glory of the victory. He did not even mention Wolfe's name in his narrative of the battle. But others did, and public justice was quick to award honor where honor was due, and Townshend disappeared in a peerage. Five days after the battle, Quebec was surrendered to the English. The news reached England a month afterward-three days after Wolfe's desponding letter to Holderness, as we have observed. The joy of the people was intense; then grief because of the death of the hero was deep and heartfelt. "They despaired-they triumphed-they triumphed-they wept," wrote Horace Walpole, "for Wolfe had fallen in the hour of victory! Joy, grief, curiosity, astonishment were painted on every countenance; the more they inquired the higher their admiration rose." Exultation stirred every heart in the colonies. Illuminations, bonfires, cannon-peals and oratory everywhere expressed the general joy, and thanksgivings were uttered by every lip.

It was the 18th of September, 1759, when the city of Quebec, its fortifications, shipping, stores and people, passed into the control of the English, and General Murray with five thousand troops occupied it. The English fleet, with prisoners, sailed for Halifax. The campaign was ended, but Canada was not conquered.

De Levi succeeded Montcalm in command of the French forces. Early in the spring of 1760, Vaudreuil, governor of Canada, sent him to recover Quebec. Murray, boastful and rash, marched out to meet him; and at Sillery, three miles above the city, they met and fought one of the most sanguinary battles of the war. De Levi led nearly ten thousand men; Murray was at the head of over six thousand men. The English were defeated with the loss of a fine train of artillery and a thousand soldiers, and fled back to the walled town. The French besieged the city, and the condition of the English was perilous, when, early in May, a British squadron with provisions and reinforcements, sent by the sagacious and provident Pitt, ascended the St. Lawrence. Two of the ships that arrived first at Quebec destroyed the French shipping there. De Levi supposed them to be the vanguard of a large armament, and at the middle of May he raised the siege, abandoned most of his artillery and stores, and fled with the greatest celerity toward Montreal. Murray pursued, but could not overtake the fugitives. Montreal was now the last remaining stronghold of the French on the continent; Amherst might have had possession of it before De Levi besieged Quebec, but he spent the whole spring and summer in preparations for a regular invasion of Canada. Meanwhile Vaudreuil had collected all of his available forces at Montreal for the final struggle.