James Wolfe, the Hero of Quebec
[1727-1759]
[Illustration: James Wolfe.]
We have just seen how the English and the French struggled to get
control of the Ohio Valley. But the fighting in the Last French War was
not confined to this region. Many of the battles were fought to secure
control of two waterways. One of these was the route to Canada,
including Lakes George and Champlain, and the other was the St. Lawrence
River. Indeed, the crowning feature of the Last French War was the
heroic effort made by a young English general to capture Quebec.
This young general was James Wolfe. He was born in the southeastern part
of England in 1727. From his father, who was an officer in the English
army, he inherited a love for the soldier's life. But in all the trials
and dangers to which he was exposed in his short and stormy career, he
continued to be a devoted son, his love for his mother being especially
tender and sincere. With her he kept up a regular correspondence, in
which he freely expressed his inmost thoughts and feelings.
When only sixteen years of age he was sent to Flanders as an adjutant in
a regiment of the English army. Here, by faithful and thorough work, he
won promotion and soon, through bravery and skill, received an
appointment as brigadier-general. At the age of thirty-two he was sent
to America to assist in an expedition to Louisburg, and played a large
part in the capture of that stronghold.
He presented an awkward figure. At that time he was tall and slender,
with long limbs, narrow shoulders, and red hair tied in a queue behind.
His face was plain, with receding chin and forehead, and up-turned nose.
But his keen, bright eyes, full of energy and fearlessness, gave him an
attractive countenance and revealed a heroic nature.
His health was never robust. As a child he was delicate, and as a youth
he had frequent attacks of illness. But his resolute will and his high
ideals enabled him to do what others of a different mould would never
have attempted. He was governed, too, by an overmastering sense of duty,
which was his most striking trait.
Although at times extremely impatient, his tenderness and frankness of
nature easily won enduring friendships. His soldiers loved him so dearly
that they were willing to follow him through any dangers to victory or
death.
After the capture of Louisburg, Wolfe was so worn by the demands upon
his strength that he returned to England and went to Bath for treatment.
At this time he met Miss Katherine Lowther, to whom he soon became
engaged.
[Illustration: Quebec and Surroundings.]
But he was not long to remain inactive, for his country needed him. The
great William Pitt, who had now become the head of affairs in England,
saw in this fearless young general a fitting leader for a dangerous and
difficult enterprise. This was an expedition against Quebec, the
strongest and most important position held by the French in America.
The French army at Quebec, commanded by General Montcalm, numbered more
than 16,000 men, consisting of Frenchmen, Canadians, and Indians. But
some were boys of fifteen, and others old men of eighty. Here they
awaited Wolfe, whose army numbered 9,000.
By June 21, 1759, Wolfe's fleet lay at anchor in the north channel of
the island of Orleans, not far below Quebec. Then began a time of trial
and discouragement to the young commander, who vainly looked for a point
from which he might hope to make a successful attack.
In the meantime his soldiers were suffering from intense heat and
drenching rains. Much sickness was the natural result. Wolfe, anxious
with doubt, himself fell a victim to a burning fever. But he would not
give up. He said to his physician, "I know perfectly well you cannot
cure me. But pray make me up so that I can be without pain for a few
days, and able to do my duty. That is all I want." Although racked with
pain, he went from tent to tent among his men, trying to encourage them.
During several weeks there was fighting now and then in the neighborhood
of Quebec. On July 31st Wolfe's troops made a determined attack upon the
French on the heights just north of the Montmorency River. The English
advanced, in the face of a heavy, blinding rain, with great heroism, but
were forced to retire without having gained a foothold.
[Illustration: General Montcalm.]
Thus the summer wore on near to its close. In desperation, Wolfe decided
upon a bold move. He determined to sail up the river, land above Quebec,
scale the steep and rugged cliffs there, and compel the French to fight
a battle or surrender the city.
The most serious difficulty was to find a way to scale the cliffs. At
last one day came a glimmer of hope. For looking through a telescope
from the south side of the river, the resolute young commander
discovered a narrow path leading up the frowning heights not far from
the town. "Here," he quickly decided, "I will land my men."
Promptly, eagerly, he began to lay his plans. On the morning of
September 7th, in order to conceal from Montcalm their real purpose, the
British, in gay red uniforms, embarked and sailed up and down the St.
Lawrence, as if looking for a landing-place. On September 12th, the
fatal time set for decisive action, some of the English vessels, with a
large body of troops on board, hovered about the shore below Quebec, as
if to force a landing there. Montcalm was completely deceived. The ruse
had succeeded.
Meanwhile the main body of English troops, which was to make ready a
landing, was quietly anchored in the river above Quebec. Twenty-four
brave men volunteered as leaders to scale the cliffs. These men took
their places in the foremost boat.
At two o'clock in the morning Wolfe gave the order to advance. It was a
starlit night, but as there was no moon, it was dark enough to conceal
the movements of the English. For two hours the long procession of boats
filled with soldiers floated silently down the river. The brave young
Wolfe, calm and masterful, was in one of the foremost boats. Fully
expecting to be killed in the coming battle, he had, earlier in the
evening, given to an old school-friend the portrait of his betrothed,
Miss Lowther, which he had long worn about his neck. He said to his
friend, "Give this to Miss Lowther, if I am killed."
[Illustration: THE DEATH OF WOLFE.]
We can imagine the strain upon Wolfe's feelings during the two hours in
which the boats floated downstream. Perhaps it was to relieve this
strain that he repeated in a quiet voice Gray's "Elegy in a Country
Churchyard." He seemed to dwell with peculiar feeling upon the last line
in the following stanza:
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Await alike the inevitable hour,
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
On coming to the end of the poem, he said, "Gentlemen, I would rather
have written those lines than take Quebec."
When they had almost reached their landing-place they heard a sudden
call from a French sentry, "_Qui vive!_" "_France_," replied one of
Wolfe's officers, who spoke French. "_A quel regiment?_" "_De la
Reine_," was the reply, and thinking the boats were under the control of
Frenchmen carrying provisions to Montcalm, the sentry let them pass.
Later when challenged by another sentry, the same English officer said
in French: "Provision-boats. Don't make a noise--the English will hear
us."
At length they came to the spot since called Wolfe's Cove, and there
landed. The twenty-four volunteers clambered up the path in the darkness
and, reaching the top, surprised the small number of Frenchmen stationed
there, and quickly overpowered them. It was with much difficulty that
Wolfe's army succeeded, by seizing hold of trees and bushes, in getting
to the top with muskets, cannons, and supplies.
At daybreak, Wolfe chose as the field of battle the Plains of Abraham,
a high stretch of land extending along the river just above the town.
The brave Montcalm, in doubt and perplexity, had spent a sleepless night
pacing to and fro. When told of the landing of the English troops he
rode up from his camp to see what was going on. Amazed at the "silent
wall of red" presented by the English army drawn up in battle array, he
said, "This is a serious business."
Wolfe, anxious but calm, rode to and fro, inspiring his soldiers with
confidence. "Victory or death" was their watchword, for in case of
failure retreat was impossible.
By ten o'clock the French were in line of battle, ready for the onset.
With loud shouts, they rushed upon the English. But the latter, waiting
quietly until the enemy was only forty paces away, met them with a
withering fire that strewed the ground with dead and dying men. While
the French were wavering, the English fired another deadly volley, and
then with victorious shouts rushed headlong upon the confused ranks.
The fighting was stubborn and furious, and Wolfe was in the thickest of
the fray. While he was leading a charge, a bullet tore through his
wrist. Quickly wrapping his handkerchief about the wound, he dashed
forward until he was for the third time struck by a bullet, this time
receiving a mortal wound. Four of his men bore him in their arms to the
rear, and wished to send for a surgeon; but Wolfe said, "There's no
need; it's all over with me." A little later, hearing someone cry "They
run; see how they run!" he asked, "Who runs?" "The enemy, sir. Egad,
they give way everywhere!" Then said Wolfe in his last moments, "Now,
God be praised. I will die in peace."
Montcalm, too, died like a hero. Shot through the body, he was supported
on either side as he passed through the town; but when he heard cries of
distress and pity from his friends and followers, he said, "It's
nothing, it's nothing; don't be troubled for me, good friends." Being
told that he could not live many hours, he exclaimed, "Thank God, I
shall not live to see Quebec surrendered." A few days later Quebec came
into the hands of the English. Its fall meant the loss to France of all
her possessions in North America except two small islands for
fishing-stations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The treaty of peace at the end of the war, called the Last French
War,[8] was signed at Paris in 1763. By this treaty France ceded to
Spain all the territory between the Mississippi River and the Rocky
Mountains; also the town of New Orleans, controlling the navigation of
the Mississippi. To England she gave Canada and all the territory east
of the Mississippi. Thus by a single final blow did Wolfe so weaken the
hold of the French upon North America, as to compel them to give up
practically all they had there.
[8] This war has sometimes been called the Old French War, and
sometimes the French and Indian War.
REVIEW OUTLINE
THE CROWNING FEATURE OF THE LAST FRENCH WAR.
WOLFE'S LOVE FOR HIS MOTHER.
THE YOUNG SOLDIER.
WOLFE'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE.
HIS CHARACTER.
WOLFE SENT ON AN EXPEDITION AGAINST QUEBEC.
HIS TRIALS AND DIFFICULTIES.
HE DISCOVERS A STEEP PATHWAY.
HE DECEIVES MONTCALM.
HIS ARMY FLOATS DOWN THE RIVER.
THE ENGLISH REACH THE ROCKY HEIGHTS.
"VICTORY OR DEATH!"
THE CLASH OF BATTLE.
WOLFE AND MONTCALM RECEIVE MORTAL WOUNDS.
THE FRENCH SURRENDER QUEBEC.
END OF THE LAST FRENCH WAR.
TO THE PUPIL
1. How did Wolfe look, and what were his most striking personal
traits?
2. What were his trials and difficulties at Quebec?
3. Picture his army floating down the river on the way to the
battle-field; also the soldiers climbing the steep heights.
4. Describe the battle, going in imagination with Wolfe at the
head of his men.
5. Why was the capture of Quebec by the English so important?
6. Are you forming the habit of looking up on your map all the
places mentioned in the text? If you wish to become strong in
history, such a habit will be invaluable.
7. Remember that the Last French War began in 1756 and ended in
1763.