In the following spring, the French prepared to resist the serious
attack which they expected would be made by way of Lake Champlain and
Ontario. But a greater danger was threatening them, for, in the midst
of their preparations, the news arrived from France that a great fleet
was on its way, from England, to attack Quebec. The town was filled
with consternation and surprise, for the Canadians had believed that
the navigation of the Saint Lawrence was too difficult and dangerous
for any hostile fleet to attempt. Their spirits rose however when, a
few days later, a fleet of twenty-three ships, ladened with supplies
from France, sailed up the river.
A day or two later, the British fleet was at the mouth of the Saint
Lawrence, and the whole forces of the colony, except three battalions
posted at Ticonderoga, and a strong detachment placed so as to resist
any hostile movement from Lake Ontario, were mustered at Quebec. Here
were gathered five French battalions, the whole of the Canadian troops
and militia, and upwards of a thousand Indians, in all amounting to
more than sixteen thousand.
The position was an extremely strong one. The main force was encamped
on the high ground below Quebec, with their right resting on the Saint
Charles River, and the left on the Montmorenci, a distance of between
seven and eight miles. The front was covered by steep ground, which
rose nearly from the edge of the Saint Lawrence, and the right was
covered by the guns of the citadel of Quebec. A boom of logs, chained
together, was laid across the mouth of the Saint Charles, which was
further guarded by two hulks mounted with cannon. A bridge of boats,
crossing the river a mile higher up, connected the city with the camp.
All the gates of Quebec, except that of Saint Charles, which faced the
bridge, were closed and barricaded. A hundred and six cannon were
mounted on the walls, while a floating battery of twelve heavy pieces,
a number of gunboats, and eight fire ships formed the river defences.
The frigates, which had convoyed the merchant fleet, were taken higher
up the river, and a thousand of their seamen came down, from Quebec, to
man the batteries and gunboats.
Against this force of sixteen thousand men, posted behind defensive
works, on a position almost impregnable by nature, General Wolfe was
bringing less than nine thousand troops. The steep and lofty heights,
that lined the river, rendered the cannon of the ships useless to him,
and the exigencies of the fleet, in such narrow and difficult
navigation, prevented the sailors being landed to assist the troops.
A large portion of Montcalm's army, indeed, consisted of Canadians, who
were of little use in the open field, but could be trusted to fight
well behind intrenchments.
Wolfe was, unfortunately, in extremely bad health when he was selected,
by Pitt, to command the expedition against Quebec; but under him were
Brigadier Generals Monckton, Townshend, and Murray, all good officers.
The fleet consisted of twenty-two ships of war, with frigates and
sloops, and a great number of transports. It was, at first, divided
into three squadrons. That under Admiral Durell sailed direct for the
Saint Lawrence, to intercept the ships from France, but arrived at its
destination a few days too late. That of Admiral Holmes sailed for New
York, to take on board a portion of the army of Amherst and Abercromby.
That of Admiral Saunders sailed to Louisbourg, but, finding the
entrance blocked with ice, went on to Halifax, where it was joined by
the squadron with the troops from New York. They then sailed again to
Louisbourg, where they remained until the 6th of June, 1759, and then
joined Durell at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence.
Wolfe's force had been intended to be larger, and should have amounted
to fourteen thousand men; but some regiments which were to have joined
him from the West Indies were, at the last moment, countermanded, and
Amherst, who no doubt felt some jealousy, at the command of this
important expedition being given to an officer who had served under his
orders at the taking of Louisbourg, sent a smaller contingent of troops
than had been expected.
Among the regiments which sailed was that of James Walsham. After the
fight at Ticonderoga, in which upwards of half of his force had fallen,
the little corps had been broken up, and the men had returned to duty
with their regiments. Owing to the number of officers who had fallen,
James now stood high on the list of lieutenants. He had had enough of
scouting, and was glad to return to the regiment, his principal regret
being that he had to part from his two trusty scouts.
There was great joy, in the regiment, when the news was received that
they were to go with the expedition against Quebec. They had formed
part of Wolf''s division at Louisbourg, and, like all who had served
with him, regarded with enthusiasm and confidence the leader whose
frail body seemed wholly incapable of sustaining fatigue or hardship,
but whose indomitable spirit and courage placed him ever in the front,
and set an example which the bravest of his followers were proud to
imitate.
From time to time, James had received letters from home. Communication
was irregular; but his mother and Mr. Wilks wrote frequently, and
sometimes he received half a dozen letters at once. He had now been
absent from home for four years, and his mother told him that he would
scarcely recognize Aggie, who was now as tall as herself. Mrs. Walsham
said that the girl was almost as interested as she was in his letters,
and in the despatches from the war, in which his name had several times
been mentioned, in connection with the services rendered by his scouts.
Richard Horton had twice, during James's absence, returned home. The
squire, Mrs. Walsham said, had received him very coolly, in consequence
of the letter he had written when James was pressed as a seaman, and
she said that Aggie seemed to have taken a great objection to him. She
wondered, indeed, that he could stay an hour in the house after his
reception there; but he seemed as if he didn't notice it, and took
especial pains to try and overcome Aggie's feeling against him.
While waiting at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence, Admiral Durell had
succeeded in obtaining pilots to take the fleet up the river. He had
sailed up the river to the point where the difficult navigation began,
and where vessels generally took on board river pilots. Here he hoisted
the French flag at the masthead, and the pilots, believing the ships to
be a French squadron, which had eluded the watch of the English, came
off in their boats, and were all taken prisoners, and forced, under
pain of death, to take the English vessels safely up.
The first difficulty of the passage was at Cape Tourmente, where the
channel describes a complete zigzag. Had the French planted some guns
on a plateau, high up on the side of the mountains, they could have
done great damage by a plunging fire; but Vaudreuil had neglected to
take this measure, and the fleet passed up in safety, the manner in
which they were handled and navigated astonishing the Canadians, who
had believed it to be impossible that large ships could be taken up.
On the 26th, the whole fleet were anchored off the Island of Orleans, a
few miles below Quebec. The same night, a small party landed on the
island. They were opposed by the armed inhabitants, but beat them off,
and, during the night, the Canadians crossed to the north shore. The
whole army then landed.
From the end of the island, Wolfe could see the full strength of the
position which he had come to attack. Three or four miles in front of
him, the town of Quebec stood upon its elevated rock. Beyond rose the
loftier height of Cape Diamond, with its redoubts and parapets. Three
great batteries looked threateningly from the upper rock of Quebec,
while three others were placed, near the edge of the water, in the
lower town. On the right was the great camp of Montcalm, stretching
from the Saint Charles, at the foot of the city walls, to the gorge of
the Montmorenci. From the latter point to the village of Beauport, in
the centre of the camp, the front was covered with earthworks, along
the brink of a lofty height; and from Beauport to the Saint Charles
were broad flats of mud, swept by the fire of redoubts and
intrenchments, by the guns of a floating battery, and by those of the
city itself.
Wolfe could not see beyond Quebec, but, above the city, the position
was even stronger than below. The river was walled by a range of
steeps, often inaccessible, and always so difficult that a few men
could hold an army in check.
Montcalm was perfectly confident of his ability to resist any attack
which the British might make. Bougainville had long before examined the
position, in view of the possibility of an English expedition against
it, and reported that, with a few intrenchments, the city would be safe
if defended by three or four thousand men. Sixteen thousand were now
gathered there, and Montcalm might well believe the position to be
impregnable.
He was determined to run no risk, by advancing to give battle, but to
remain upon the defensive till the resources of the English were
exhausted, or till the approach of winter forced them to retire. His
only source of uneasiness lay in the south, for he feared that Amherst,
with his army, might capture Ticonderoga and advance into the colony,
in which case he must weaken his army, by sending a force to oppose
him.
On the day after the army landed on the island, a sudden and very
violent squall drove several of the ships ashore, and destroyed many of
the flatboats. On the following night, the sentries at the end of the
island saw some vessels coming down the river. Suddenly these burst
into flames. They were the fire ships, which Vaudreuil had sent down to
destroy the fleet. They were filled with pitch, tar, and all sorts of
combustibles, with shell and grenades mixed up with them, while on
their decks were a number of cannon, crammed to the mouth with
grapeshot and musketballs.
Fortunately for the English, the French naval officer in command lost
his nerve, and set fire to his ship half an hour too soon; the other
captains following his example. This gave the English time to recover
from the first feeling of consternation at seeing the fire ships, each
a pillar of flame, advancing with tremendous explosion and noise
against them. The troops at once got under arms, lest the French should
attack them, while the vessels lowered their boats, and the sailors
rowed up to meet the fire ships. When they neared them, they threw
grapnels on board, and towed them towards land until they were
stranded, and then left them to burn out undisturbed.
Finding that it would be impossible to effect a landing, under the fire
of the French guns, Wolfe determined, as a first step, to seize the
height of Point Levi opposite Quebec. From this point he could fire on
the town across the Saint Lawrence, which is, here, less than a mile
wide.
On the afternoon of the 29th, Monckton's brigade crossed, in the boats,
to Beaumont on the south shore. His advanced guard had a skirmish with
a party of Canadians, but these soon fell back, and no further
opposition was offered to the landing.
In the morning a proclamation, issued by Wolfe, was posted on the doors
of the parish churches. It called upon the Canadians to stand neutral
in the contest, promising them, if they did so, full protection to
their property and religion; but threatening that, if they resisted,
their houses, goods, and harvest should be destroyed, and their
churches sacked.
The brigade marched along the river to Point Levi, and drove off a body
of French and Indians posted there, and, the next morning, began to
throw up intrenchments and to form batteries. Wolfe did not expect that
his guns here could do any serious damage to the fortifications of
Quebec. His object was partly to discourage the inhabitants of the city
exposed to his fire, partly to keep up the spirits of his own troops by
setting them to work.
The guns of Quebec kept up a continual fire against the working
parties, but the batteries continued to rise, and the citizens, alarmed
at the destruction which threatened their houses, asked the governor to
allow them to cross the river, and dislodge the English. Although he
had no belief that they would succeed, he thought it better to allow
them to try. Accordingly, some fifteen hundred armed citizens, and
Canadians from the camp, with a few Indians, and a hundred volunteers
from the regulars, marched up the river, and crossed on the night of
the 12th of July.
The courage of the citizens evaporated very quickly, now they were on
the same side of the river as the English, although still three miles
from them. In a short time a wild panic seized them. They rushed back
in extreme disorder to their boats, crossed the river, and returned to
Quebec.
The English guns soon opened, and carried destruction into the city. In
one day eighteen houses, and the cathedral, were burned by exploding
shells; and the citizens soon abandoned their homes, and fled into the
country.
The destruction of the city, however, even if complete, would have
advanced Wolfe's plans but little. It was a moral blow at the enemy,
but nothing more.
On the 8th of July, several frigates took their station before the camp
of General Levis, who, with his division of Canadian militia, occupied
the heights along the Saint Lawrence next to the gorge of Montmorenci.
Here they opened fire with shell, and continued it till nightfall.
Owing to the height of the plateau on which the camp was situated, they
did but little damage, but the intention of Wolfe was simply to keep
the enemy occupied and under arms.
Towards evening, the troops on the island broke up their camp, and,
leaving a detachment of marines to hold the post, the brigades of
Townshend and Murray, three thousand strong, embarked after nightfall
in the boats of the fleet, and landed a little below the Montmorenci,
At daybreak, they climbed the heights, and, routing a body of Canadians
and Indians who opposed them, gained the plateau and began to intrench
themselves there.
A company of rangers, supported by the regulars, was sent into the
neighbouring forests; to prevent the parties from cutting bushes for
the fascines, to explore the bank of the Montmorenci, and, if possible,
to discover a ford across the river.
Levis, with his aide-de-camp, a Jacobite Scotchman named Johnston, was
watching the movements of Wolfe from the heights above the gorge. Levis
believed that no ford existed, but Johnston found a man who had, only
that morning, crossed. A detachment was at once sent to the place, with
orders to intrench themselves, and Levis posted eleven hundred
Canadians, under Repentigny, close by in support.
Four hundred Indians passed the ford, and discovered the English
detachment in the forest, and Langlade, their commander, recrossed the
river, and told Repentigny that there was a body of English, in the
forest, who might be destroyed if he would cross at once with his
Canadians. Repentigny sent to Levis, and Levis to Vaudreuil, then three
or four miles distant.
Before Vaudreuil arrived on the spot, the Indians became impatient and
attacked the rangers; and drove them back, with loss, upon the
regulars, who stood their ground, and repulsed the assailants. The
Indians, however, carried thirty-six scalps across the ford.
If Repentigny had advanced when first called upon, and had been
followed by Levis with his whole command, the English might have
suffered a very severe check, for the Canadians were as much superior
to the regulars, in the forest, as the regulars to the Canadians in the
open.
Vaudreuil called a council of war, but he and Montcalm agreed not to
attack the English, who were, on their part, powerless to injure them.
Wolfe's position on the heights was indeed a dangerous one. A third of
his force was six miles away, on the other side of the Saint Lawrence,
and the detachment on the island was separated from each by a wide arm
of the river. Any of the three were liable to be attacked and
overpowered, before the others could come to its assistance.
Wolfe, indeed, was soon well intrenched, but, although safe against
attack, he was powerless to take the offensive. The fact, however, that
he had taken up his position so near their camp, had discomfited the
Canadians, and his battery played, with considerable effect, on the
left of their camp.
The time passed slowly. The deep and impassable gulf of the Montmorenci
separated the two enemies, but the crests of the opposite cliffs were
within easy gunshot of each other, and men who showed themselves near
the edge ran a strong chance of being hit. Along the river, from the
Montmorenci to Point Levi, continued fighting went on between the guns
of the frigates, and the gunboats and batteries on shore. The Indians
swarmed in the forest, near the English camp, and constant skirmishing
went on between them and the rangers.
The steady work of destruction going on in the city of Quebec, by the
fire from Point Levi, and the ceaseless cannonade kept up by the ships
and Wolfe's batteries; added to the inactivity to which they were
condemned, began to dispirit the Canadian militia, and many desertions
took place, the men being anxious to return to their villages and look
after the crops; and many more would have deserted, had it not been for
the persuasion of the priests, and the fear of being maltreated by the
Indians, whom the governor threatened to let loose upon any who should
waver in their resistance.
On the 18th of July a fresh move was made by the English. The French
had believed it impossible for any hostile ships to pass the batteries
of Quebec; but, covered by a furious cannonade from Point Levi, the man
of war Sutherland, with a frigate and several small vessels, aided by a
favouring wind, ran up the river at night and passed above the town.
Montcalm at once despatched six hundred men, under Dumas, to defend the
accessible points in the line of precipices above Quebec, and on the
following day, when it became known that the English had dragged a
fleet of boats over Point Levi, and had launched them above the town, a
reinforcement of several hundreds more was sent to Dumas.
On the night of the 20th Colonel Carleton, with six hundred men, rowed
eighteen miles up the river, and landed at Pointe aux Trembles on the
north shore. Here, many of the fugitives from Quebec had taken refuge,
and a hundred women, children and old men were taken prisoners by
Carleton, and brought down the next day with the retiring force. Wolfe
entertained the prisoners kindly, and sent them, on the following day,
with a flag of truce into Quebec.
On the night of the 28th, the French made another attempt to burn the
English fleet, sending down a large number of schooners, shallops, and
rafts, chained together, and filled, as before, with combustibles.
This time, the fire was not applied too soon, and the English fleet was
for some time in great danger, but was again saved by the sailors, who,
in spite of the storm of missiles, vomited out by cannon, swivels,
grenades, shell, and gun and pistol barrels loaded up to the muzzle,
grappled with the burning mass, and towed it on shore.
It was now the end of July, and Wolfe was no nearer taking Quebec than
upon the day when he first landed there. In vain he had tempted
Montcalm to attack him. The French general, confident in the strength
of his position, refused to leave it.
Wolfe therefore determined to attack the camp in front. The plan was a
desperate one, for, after leaving troops enough to hold his two camps,
he had less than five thousand men to attack a position of commanding
strength, where Montcalm could, at an hour's notice, collect twice as
many to oppose him.
At a spot about a mile above the gorge of the Montmorenci a flat strip
of ground, some two hundred yards wide, lay between the river and the
foot of the precipices, and, at low tide, the river left a flat of mud,
nearly half a mile wide, beyond the dry ground.
Along the edge of the high-water mark, the French had built several
redoubts. From the river, Wolfe could not see that these redoubts were
commanded by the musketry of the intrenchments along the edge of the
heights above, which also swept with their fire the whole face of the
declivity, which was covered with grass, and was extremely steep. Wolfe
hoped that, if he attacked one of the redoubts, the French would come
down to defend it, and that a battle might be so brought on; or that,
if they did not do so, he might find a spot where the heights could be
stormed with some chance of success. At low tide, it was possible to
ford the mouth of the Montmorenci, and Wolfe intended that the troops
from his camp, on the heights above that river, should cross here, and
advance along the strand to cooperate with Monckton's brigade, who were
to cross from Point Levi.
On the morning of the 31st of July, the Centurion, of 64 guns; and two
armed transports, each with 14 guns, stood close in to one of the
redoubts, and opened fire upon it; while the English batteries, from
the heights of the Montmorenci, opened fire across the chasm upon the
French lines.
At eleven o'clock, the troops from Point Levi put off in their boats,
and moved across the river, as if they intended to make a landing
between Beauport and the city. For some hours, Montcalm remained
ignorant as to the point on which the English attack was to be made,
but became presently convinced that it would be delivered near the
Montmorenci, and he massed the whole of his army on that flank of his
position.
At half-past five o'clock the tide was low, and the English boats
dashed forward, and the troops sprang ashore on to the broad tract of
mud, left bare by the tide; while, at the same moment, a column 2000
strong moved down from the height towards the ford at the mouth of the
Montmorenci. The first to land were thirteen companies of Grenadiers,
and a detachment of Royal Americans, who, without waiting for the two
regiments of Monckton's brigade, dashed forward against the redoubt at
the foot of the hill. The French at once abandoned it, but the
Grenadiers had no sooner poured into it, than a storm of bullets rained
down upon them, from the troops who lined the heights above.
Without a moment's hesitation, the Grenadiers and Americans dashed
forward, and strove to climb the steep ascent, swept as it was by a
terrific hail of bullets and buckshot from the French and Canadians.
Numbers rolled, dead or wounded, to the bottom of the hill, but the
others struggled on.
But at this moment, the cloud, which had been threatening all day,
suddenly opened, and the rain poured down in a torrent. The grassy
slopes instantly became so slippery that it was absolutely impossible
to climb them, and the fire from above died away, as the wet rendered
the firelocks unserviceable.
The Grenadiers fell back into the redoubt. Wolfe, who had now arrived
upon the spot, saw that it was absolutely impossible to carry the
heights under the present conditions, and ordered the troops to
retreat. Carrying off many of the wounded with them, they fell back in
good order. Those of the Grenadiers and Americans who survived
recrossed, in their boats, to the island; the 15th Regiment rowed back
to Point Levi; and the 78th Highlanders, who belonged to Monckton's
brigade, joined the column from below the Montmorenci, and slowly
retired along the flats and across the ford.
The loss fell entirely upon the Grenadiers and Americans, and was, in
proportion to their number, enormous--four hundred and forty-three,
including one colonel, eight captains, twenty-one lieutenants, and
three ensigns, being killed, wounded, or missing. The blow to the
English was a severe one, and even Wolfe began to despair, and
meditated leaving a portion of his troops on Isle aux Coudres and
fortifying them there, and sailing home, with the rest, to prepare
another expedition in the following year.
In the middle of August, he issued a third proclamation to the
Canadians, declaring, as they had refused his offers of protection, and
had practised the most unchristian barbarity against his troops on all
occasions, he could no longer refrain, in justice to himself and his
army, in chastising them as they deserved. The barbarities consisted in
the frequent scalping and mutilating of sentinels, and men on outpost
duty, which were perpetrated alike by the Canadians and Indians.
Wolfe's object was twofold: first, to cause the militia to desert, and
secondly, to exhaust the colony. Accordingly the rangers, light
infantry and Highlanders were sent out, in all directions, to waste the
settlements wherever resistance was offered. Farm houses and villages
were laid in ashes, although the churches were generally spared.
Wolfe's orders were strict that women and children were to be treated
with honour.
"If any violence is offered to a woman, the offender shall be punished
with death."
These orders were obeyed, and, except in one instance, none but armed
men, in the act of resistance, were killed.
Vaudreuil, in his despatches home, loudly denounced these barbarities;
but he himself was answerable for atrocities incomparably worse, and on
a far larger scale, for he had, for years, sent his savages, red and
white, along a frontier of 600 miles, to waste, burn, and murder at
will, and these, as he was perfectly aware, spared neither age nor sex.
Montcalm was not to be moved from his position by the sight of the
smoke of the burning villages. He would not risk the loss of all
Canada, for the sake of a few hundred farm houses.
Seeing the impossibility of a successful attack below the town, Wolfe
determined to attempt operations on a large scale above it.
Accordingly, with every fair wind and tide, ships and transports ran
the gauntlet of the batteries of Quebec, and, covered by a hot fire
from Point Levi, generally succeeded, with more or less damage, in
getting above the town. A fleet of flatboats was also sent up, and 1200
troops marched overland, under Brigadier Murray, to embark in them.
To meet this danger above the town, Bougainville was sent from the camp
at Beaufort with 1500 men. Murray made another descent at
Pointe-aux-Trembles, but was repulsed with loss. He tried a second time
at another place, but a body of ambushed Canadians poured so heavy a
fire into the boats, that he was forced to fall back again with
considerable loss. His third attempt was more successful, for he landed
at Deschambault, and burned a large building filled with stores, and
with all the spare baggage of the officers of the French regular
troops.
Vaudreuil now regretted having sent the French frigates up the river,
and withdrawing their crews to work in the batteries. Had they been
kept just above the town, they could have overpowered the English
vessels as they passed up. The sailors were now sent up to man their
ships again; but Admiral Holmes, who had taken command of the ships of
war above Quebec, was already too strong for them, and the sailors were
recalled to Quebec.
Both armies were suffering. Dysentery and fever had broken out in the
English camp, and the number of effective men was greatly reduced. Upon
the other hand, the French were suffering from shortness of supplies.
The English frigates above the town prevented food being brought down
from Montreal in boats, and the difficulties of land carriage were very
great.
The Canadians deserted in great numbers, and Montcalm's force had been
weakened by the despatch of Levis, to assist in checking the advance of
Amherst. The latter had captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Niagara
had also been taken by the English. Amherst, however, fell back again,
and Levis was able to rejoin Montcalm.
But the greatest misfortune which befell the English was the dangerous
illness of Wolfe, who, always suffering from disease, was for a time
utterly prostrate. At the end of August, however, he partially
recovered, and dictated a letter to his three brigadier generals,
asking them to fix upon one of three plans, which he laid before them,
for attacking the enemy. The first was that the army should march eight
or ten miles up the Montmorenci, ford the river, and fall upon the rear
of the enemy. The second was to cross the ford at the mouth of the
Montmorenci, and march along the shore, until a spot was found where
the heights could be climbed. The third was to make a general attack
from the boats upon Beauport.
Monckton, Townshend, and Murray met in consultation, and considered all
the plans to be hopeless; but they proposed that an attempt should be
made to land above the town, and so to place the army between Quebec
and its base of supplies, thereby forcing Montcalm to fight or to
surrender.
The attempt seemed a desperate one, but Wolfe determined to adopt it.
He had not much hope of its succeeding, but should it not do so, there
was nothing for him but to sail, with his weakened army, back to
England. He therefore determined at last to make the attempt, and
implored his physician to patch him up, so that he could, in person,
take the command.
"I know perfectly well that you cannot cure me," he wrote; "but pray
make me up, so that I may be without pain for a few days, and able to
do my duty. That is all I want."
On the 3rd of September, Wolfe took the first steps towards the
carrying out of his plans, by evacuating the camp at Montmorenci.
Montcalm sent a strong force to attack him, as he was moving; but
Monckton at Point Levi saw the movement, and, embarking two battalions
in boats, made a feint of landing at Beauport. Montcalm recalled his
troops to repulse the threatened attack, and the English were able to
draw off from Montmorenci without molestation.
On the night of the 4th, a fleet of flatboats passed above the town,
with the baggage and stores. On the 5th the infantry marched up by
land, and the united force, of some 3600 men, embarked on board the
ships of Admiral Holmes.
The French thought that the abandonment of Montmorenci, and the
embarkation of the troops, was a sign that the English were about to
abandon their enterprise, and sail for England. Nevertheless, Montcalm
did not relax his vigilance, being ever on the watch, riding from post
to post, to see that all was in readiness to repel an attack. In one of
his letters at this time, he mentioned that he had not taken off his
clothes since the 23d of June.
He now reinforced the troops under Bougainville, above Quebec, to 3000
men. He had little fear for the heights near the town, believing them
to be inaccessible, and that a hundred men could stop a whole army.
This he said, especially, in reference to the one spot which presented
at least a possibility of being scaled. Here Captain de Vergor, with a
hundred Canadian troops, were posted. The battalion of Guienne had been
ordered to encamp close at hand, and the post, which was called Anse du
Foulon, was but a mile and a half distant from Quebec. Thus, although
hoping that the English would soon depart, the French, knowing the
character of Wolfe, made every preparation against a last attack before
he started.
From the 7th to the 12th, Holmes' fleet sailed up and down the river,
threatening a landing, now at one point and now at another, wearing out
the French, who were kept night and day on the qui vive, and were
exhausted by following the ships up and down, so as to be ready to
oppose a landing wherever it might be made.
James Walsham's regiment formed part of Monckton's brigade, and his
colonel had frequently selected him to command parties who went out to
the Canadian villages, as, from the knowledge he had acquired of
irregular warfare, he could be trusted not to suffer himself to be
surprised by the parties of Canadians or Indians, who were always on
the watch to cut off detachments sent out from the British camp. There
were still ten men in the regiment who had formed part of his band on
the lakes. These were drafted into his company, and, whatever force
went out, they always accompanied him.
Although James had seen much, and heard more, of the terrible
barbarities perpetrated by the Canadians and their Indian allies on the
frontier, he lamented much the necessity which compelled Wolfe to order
the destruction of Canadian villages; and when engaged on this service,
whether in command of the detachment, or as a subaltern if more than
one company went out, he himself never superintended the painful work;
but, with his ten men, scouted beyond the village, and kept a vigilant
lookout against surprise. In this way, he had several skirmishes with
the Canadians, but the latter never succeeded in surprising any force
to which he was attached. Walsham and his scouts were often sent out
with parties from other regiments, and General Monckton was so pleased
with his vigilance and activity, that he specially mentioned him to
General Wolfe, at the same time telling him of the services he had
performed on the lakes, and the very favourable reports which had been
made by Johnson, Monro, Lord Howe, and Abercromby, of the work done by
the corps which he had organized and commanded.
"I wish we had a few more officers trained to this sort of warfare,"
General Wolfe said. "Send him on board the Sutherland tomorrow. I have
some service which he is well fitted to carry out."
James accordingly repaired on board the Sutherland, and was conducted
to the general's cabin.
"General Monckton has spoken to me in high terms of you, Lieutenant
Walsham, and he tells me that you have been several times mentioned in
despatches, by the generals under whom you served; and you were with
Braddock as well as with Johnson, Howe, and Abercromby, and with Monro
at the siege of Fort William Henry. How is it that so young an officer
should have seen so much service?"
James informed him how, having been pressed on board a man of war, he
had been discharged, in accordance with orders from home, and, hearing
that his friends were going to obtain a commission for him, in a
regiment under orders for America, he had thought it best to utilize
his time by accompanying General Braddock as a volunteer, in order to
learn something of forest warfare; that, after that disastrous affair,
he had served with Johnson in a similar capacity, until, on his
regiment arriving, he had been selected to drill a company of scouts,
and had served with them on the lakes, until the corps was broken up
when the regiment sailed for Canada.
"In fact, you have seen more of this kind of warfare than any officer
in the army," General Wolfe said. "Your special services ought to have
been recognized before. I shall have you put in orders, tomorrow, as
promoted to the rank of captain. And now, I am about to employ you upon
a service which, if you are successful, will give you your brevet
majority.
"There must be some points at which those precipices can be climbed. I
want you to find out where they are. It is a service of great danger.
You will go in uniform, otherwise, if caught, you would meet with the
fate of a spy; but at the same time, even in uniform you would probably
meet with but little mercy, if you fell into the hands of the Canadians
or Indians. Would you be willing to undertake such a duty?"
"I will try, sir," James said. "Do you wish me to start tonight?"
"No," the general replied. "You had better think the matter over, and
let me know tomorrow how you had best proceed. It is not an enterprise
to be undertaken without thinking it over in every light. You will have
to decide whether you will go alone, or take anyone with you; when and
how you will land; how you will regain the ships. You will, of course,
have carte blanche in all respects."
After James had returned on shore, he thought the matter over in every
light. He knew that the French had many sentries along the edge of the
river, for boats which, at night, went over towards that side of the
river, were always challenged and fired upon. The chance of landing
undetected, therefore, seemed but slight; nor, even did he land, would
he be likely, at night, to discover the paths, which could be little
more than tracks up the heights.
Had he been able to speak Canadian French, the matter would have been
easy enough, as he could have landed higher up the river and, dressed
as a Canadian farmer, have made his way through the French lines
without suspicion. But he knew nothing of French, and, even had he
spoken the language fluently, there was sufficient difference between
the Canadian French and the language of the old country, for the first
Canadian who spoke to him to have detected the difference.
Nor could he pass as an Indian; for, although he had picked up enough
of the language to converse with the redskin allies of the English on
the lakes, the first Indian who spoke to him would detect the
difference; and, indeed, it needed a far more intimate acquaintance
with the various tribes, than he possessed, for him to be able to paint
and adorn himself so as to deceive the vigilant eyes of the French
Indians.
Had his two followers, Nat and Jonathan, been with him, they could have
painted and dressed him so that he could have passed muster, but, in
their absence, he abandoned the idea as out of the question. The
prospect certainly did not seem hopeful.
After long thought, it seemed to him that the only way which promised
even a chance of success would be for him to be taken prisoner by the
French soldiers. Once fairly within their lines, half the difficulty
was over. He had learned to crawl as noiselessly as an Indian, and he
doubted not that he should be able to succeed in getting away from any
place of confinement in which they might place him. Then he could
follow the top of the heights, and the position of the sentries or of
any body of men encamped there would, in itself, be a guide to him as
to the existence of paths to the strand below.
The first step was the most difficult. How should he manage to get
himself taken prisoner? And this was the more difficult, as it was
absolutely necessary that he should fall into the hands of French
regulars, and not of the Canadians, who would finish the matter at once
by killing and scalping him.
The next morning, he again went off to the Sutherland. He was in high
spirits, for his name had appeared in orders as captain, and as
appointed assistant quartermaster general on the headquarter staff. On
entering the general's cabin, he thanked him for the promotion.
"You have earned it over and over again," the general said. "There are
no thanks due to me. Now, have you thought out a plan?"
James briefly stated the difficulties which he perceived in the way of
any other scheme than that of getting himself taken prisoner by the
French, and showed that that was the only plan that seemed to offer
even a chance of success.
"But you may not be able to escape," Wolfe said.
"I may not," James replied, "and in that case, sir, I must of course
remain a prisoner until you take Quebec, or I am exchanged. Even then
you would be no worse off than you are at present, for I must, of
course, be taken prisoner at some point where the French are in force,
and where you do not mean to land. My presence there would give them no
clue whatever to your real intentions, whereas, were I taken prisoner
anywhere along the shore, they would naturally redouble their
vigilance, as they would guess that I was looking for some way of
ascending the heights."
"How do you propose being taken?" Wolfe asked.
"My idea was," James replied, "that I should land with a party near Cap
Rouge, as if to reconnoitre the French position there. We should, of
course, be speedily discovered, and would then retreat to the boats. I
should naturally be the last to go, and might well manage to be cut
off."
"Yes," Wolfe replied, "but you might also, and that far more easily,
manage to get shot. I don't think that would do, Captain Walsham. The
risks would be twenty to one against your escaping being shot. Can you
think of no other plan?"
"The only other plan that I can think of," James said, "might involve
others being taken prisoners. I might row in towards Cap Rouge in broad
daylight, as if to examine the landing place, and should, of course,
draw their fire upon the boat. Before starting, I should fire two or
three shots into the boat close to the water line, and afterwards plug
them up with rags. Then, when their fire became heavy, I should take
the plugs out and let the boat fill. As she did so, I could shout that
I surrendered, and then we could drift till we neared the shore in the
water-logged boat, or swim ashore. I can swim well myself, and should,
of course, want four men, who could swim well also, picked out as the
crew."
"The plan is a dangerous one," Wolfe said, "but less so than the
other."
"One cannot win a battle without risking life, sir," James said
quietly. "Some of us might, of course, be hit, but as we risk our lives
whenever we get within range of the enemy, I do not see that that need
be considered; at any rate, sir, I am ready to make the attempt, if the
plan has your approval."
"I tell you frankly, Captain Walsham, that I think your chances of
success are absolutely nil. At the same time, there is just a faint
possibility that you may get ashore alive, escape from the French,
discover a pathway, and bring me the news; and, as the only chance of
the expedition being successful now depends upon our discovering such a
path, I am not justified in refusing even this faint chance."
The general touched a bell which stood on the table before him.
"Will you ask the captain to come here," he said to the officer who
answered the summons.
"Captain Peters," he said when the captain appeared, "I want you to
pick out for me four men, upon whom you can thoroughly rely. In the
first place they must be good swimmers, in the second place they must
be able to hold their tongues, and lastly they must be prepared to pass
some months in a French prison. A midshipman, with the same
qualifications, will be required to go with them."
The captain naturally looked surprised at so unusual a request.
"Captain Walsham is going to be taken prisoner by the French," General
Wolfe explained, "and the only way it can be done is for a whole boat's
crew to be taken with him," and he then detailed the plan which had
been arranged. "Of course, you can offer the men any reward you may
think fit, and can promise the midshipman early promotion," he
concluded.
"Very well, general. I have no doubt I can find four men and a
midshipman willing to volunteer for the affair, especially as, if you
succeed, their imprisonment will be a short one. When will the attempt
be made?"
"If you can drift up the river as far as Cap Rouge before daylight,"
James said, in answer to an inquiring look from the general, "we will
attempt it tomorrow morning. I should say that the best plan would be
for me to appear opposite their camp when day breaks, as if I was
trying to obtain a close view of it in the early morning."
"The sooner the better," General Wolfe said. "Every day is of
importance. But how do you propose to get back again, that is,
supposing that everything goes well?"
"I propose, general, that I should conceal myself somewhere on the face
of the heights. I will spread a handkerchief against a rock or tree, so
that it will not be seen either from above or below, but will be
visible from the ships in the river. I cannot say, of course, whether
it will be near Cap Rouge or Quebec; but, if you will have a sharp
lookout kept through a glass, as the ships drift up and down, you are
sure to see it, and can let me know that you do so by dipping the
ensign. At night I will make my way down to the shore, and if, at
midnight exactly, you will send a boat for me, I shall be ready to swim
off to her, when they show a lantern as they approach the shore. Of
course, I cannot say on what day I may be in a position to show the
signal, but at, any rate, if a week passes without your seeing it, you
will know that I have failed to make my escape, or that I have been
killed after getting out."