The
Campaign of 1759
Pitt,
nothing daunted, planned a still greater effort for 1759. Amherst, the successful assailant of
Louisbourg, was now given the chief command in America and ordered to strike by
the Lake Champlain route, or by the upper St. Lawrence from Lake Ontario, at
Montreal or Quebec. James Wolfe, whose
conduct as a brigadier at Louisbourg had caught Pitt's eye, and who was only
32, was given an essentially independent command and a more uncertain task: a
direct seaborne attack on Quebec by the St. Lawrence. Pitt also desired an attack on Fort Niagara, at the Lake Ontario
end of the Niagara River.
It must be
remembered that at the same time significant events were taking place in
Europe. British troops, British fleets
and British money were at work there, and the French court was too busy with
these menaces near home to pay much attention to Canada's plight. This was the year when a partly British army
under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick won the battle of Minden, (This
victory saved Hanover from conquest.
Hanover being a possession of King George II, it was a natural objective
for the French, offering the hope of diverting British forces from America and
perhaps providing a makeweight against British con theme in a peace
settlement.) and
when a French plan to invade England was defeated by Admiral Hawke's victory of
Quiberon Bay. Minden, Quiberon, and
Quebec were the names that were to make 1759 for Englishmen the annus mirabilis-the wonderful year.
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As the
crisis of the struggle approached, New France was almost entirely cut off from
the Mother Country and the French forces there felt themselves orphans. The British control of the North Atlantic,
though not absolute, was so complete as to discourage any large-scale attempt
to reinforce Canada in the spring of 1759, and none was made. Indeed, Montcalm and Vaudreuil did not
really press for one. (They asked for drafts and specialists-and even so didn't
get all they asked for). What they did
strongly recommend was a powerful diversion against the coasts of the southern
British colonies. But the French
government preferred to aim the diversionary attack at Britain herself as we
have just seen, this scheme failed. |
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The Marquis de Montcalm |
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The forces
defending Canada consisted basically of eight regular battalions from France;
40 companies of colonial regulars; and the citizen militia, perhaps as many as
13,000 strong. These forces were weaker
than the attackers in both quantity and military quality; and they had to be
divided to meet the various British menaces.
The main body under Montcalm protected Quebec against the seaborne
threat; but three regular battalions, eight companies of colonial regulars and
a considerable number of militia, under Brigadier Bourlamaque, were stationed
on Lake Champlain to guard against Amherst; and detachments held Fort Niagara
and the other western posts. The French
position was further weakened by the lack of good understanding between
Montcalm and his superior, Governor de Vaudreuil. |
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General Wolfe |
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