WOLFE AND MONTCALM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 26 August 1908, Page 13

WOLFE AND MONTCALM.

«*THE '"FIGHT WITH FRANCE FOR NORTH AMERICA."

(Concluded.) j [The sketch map is a part of the one illustrating Article 11, to make clear the five lines of attack — (a) Williamsburg to Duquesne; (b) New York to Oswego, viai the Hudson and its .tributary the Mohawk, and from Oswego the expeditions to Fort! Niagara and Frontenae. at opposite ends of Lake Eyre ; (c) New York to Quebec and Montreal, via the Hudson. Lake Champiain; and the Richelieu River ; (d) the expedition from Boston to the Isthmus connecting Acadia (Nova Scotia) with, the mainland; and (c) the expedition from New York to Louisbourg — all of which except "d " failed, though- LouLsbourg was afteryarda captured by Amherst and Wolfe, this victory being described in a separate article. The part reproduced illustrates the scenes of action in the present article. The map has Tbeen • reproduced from Bradley's volume, the name of which gives this series its heading.] IV.— AFTER WOLFE'S VICTORY. .Within twenty-four hours of the victory so often described isolated from all other events (before and after it, Wolfe and Montoalm lay' dead. Wolfe's body was pufe dn the cabin of, the " Sutherland " in the stream', and not long after Montcalm's remains " placed' in, a deal box, and, escorted by a few officers of the garrison and a troop of women, and children, were borne to the chapel of the Ursulines, and deposited in a grave made by the bursting of a British shell. - But Vhafc was the position of the two armies after the fall of the commanders? When fche_Jine of battle was drawn up /Wolfe had-'Montcalrnon his front, but it is not generally known that Bougainville, who afterwards became a famous navigator, was ■ in his rear, and that he was in danger of being 1 crushed between the two milestones. 'Nor is it generally y stated ' that though the •French were in retreat the citadel garrison iheld out for some days. In reality, the •British position was an exceedingly precarious one. There were only some 4000 troops available, and against these there jwere w^fehin reasonable distance about 7500 •inured to the hardships of war. But they lost their opportunity. After the battle JMbnfceahn's army ' fled panic-stricken, and* /did not etey itself until it had^ reached Jacques Cartief, some 30 miles away. Couriers had; been despatched to Levis, who jHa<l assisted' in the earlier stages of thei defences -of Quebec, but who had been sent . to Montreal in anticipation of British^efforts to" enter. Canada by the back dooiv-dovra jthe j3t. Laurence; and he hastened to give .what aid" ihe could. When he arrived he avas bumsting with indignation, yet bowed down with humiliation on seeing the demoralised condition of the forces. " Never in their darkest days of inexperience, discipline and bad leadership, had the British in America behaved so badly," as *he_ French had. Leyis. however, reanvigorated the demoralised army, . and dsepatohed in hot haste to Quebec by a circuitous route, mounted horsemen carrying sacks of meal for the famished garrison, with , instructions to hold out sj. little longer' «J9 aid, was coming. In the meantime, however, Townsend had iniformed $ie garrison that unless the place qvejf delivered up he would carry it by jstorTii, Ramezay, who was/ in command, fie&lng no hope of succour, sigrned the capi$nd the ink was hardly dry before the hopejn&n rode in with the meal bags. ( BTh« fVencb learnfc that niffht that j at vfi§ toj> late, "jind that the Union Jack j iwa£ Jjhf&^x" floating over the mini of *he WWa citv 1 which for a century and a (haJJ Md bean almost more French than ■TH$ DEPARTURE OF ADMIRAL ■ SAUNB-ERS • AND THE FRENCH I SI^GB OF QUEBEC. j ' YOn October 17 Admiral Saunders and * Dis ships sailed for England, carrying with them the embalmed body of the dead soldier whose endeavours they 'had from ■first to last bo. loyally seconded." On ■November 17. Wolfe's remains were landed at Portsmouth, and "amidst the tolling of muffled^ bells, jand the hushed silence of a concourse of spectators, tihe funeral cortege wound, jte way through the town on the lonsf roa^J to London." f But, a$ we' have seen, the burial of ■Wolfe In the family vault at Greenwich jwas by no meaiis the last scene in the struggle for supremacy in North America. Townsend 1 , who had assumed command after Wolfe fell, returned with Admiral igaundere, and Murray was left in control. VHe sat <Jown wftih Itfs small army to race the fierce Canadian winter amid the iruins <jf Quebec," and had before him "the certain prospect of feven months' oofiiplete isolation from everything but a vigilant and hardy enemy, smarting under the bitterness of defeat." He had about '7000 men under him, but the country had (been swfeDt tm-r© of food, and sia a reeuJt> ■the effective. efrerig+ih became eadly reduced. -QBy the New Year' about 1500 we*e in thf a, number afterwards increased ito 3000 of whom about 700 died of dysentrr. ficurvy, and lever. Curiou«ly. . 600 ■avomen attached to the army not one died and hardly -any sickened. Discipline became lax throuprh forced inaction, shortage of necessaries of life, and insufficient warm For theft or outrage asrain and again soldiers were sentenced to 1000 lashes, and women were flogged through the town for selling liquor without a permit. JVan'drevil, now that' the British were in n precarious position, surpassed himself in magnificent livin-cr. " The Grand 31onarch," Raid he, "has sunk, burned, ■and destroyed tJie greatest fleet that ever ■England put to sea; had made an entire .conquest of Ireland, sund put all fche trooras and jiatives who were in arms to the sword ; /so" that the next ship will certainly briner oik an Account of a peace beiner concluded /Quebec "will be restored, and Canada one flourish under a French Government.'" Quebeo was Aoi ■ restored, but though the fl&niori Jack was ilvinjr over the oitadel. a tbloodiei 1 battle ihan Wolfed ihad vet to be) fougEl, & battle in which Murray was jfo suffer" defeat, and after which he was to endure 1 much before reinforcements came from iSnglancLTHE BATTLE OF ST. FOY. December, January, February, ftJid lykJoh passed. April 26 came, and /with it the most; appajling thunderstorms • that had been kjioivn for years. *■' Abx>ye all, m thd glar^ pf the lightning gashed, (3be |>#/Bared towers ap4 Sables o| ,the lpng. harassed gity rosj> above the eurginsr river,

earneefc, friendly amenities and banter passed between them, as had been the case between tine two generals taking part in the siege of liOuiebouTg. "Levis sent MxiT-ray a present of spruce-pine tops for making spruce beer and some partridges, while Murray sent Levis a Cheshire cheese. The Frenoh leader offered to back himself for £500 to capture the oity. Murray replied that he would not rob de Levis of his money, as he felt convinced that he would have the pleasure of shipping him and his whole army back to Europe in the summer in English bottoms." - And he had. But this is anticipating. On May 4, 1760, a, French sloop ran down past the batteriee, but on May 8 she was forging her way back. Why? *Ehe British shouted sarcastically : "Why don't you atop and pilot up your fleet?" The reason was obvious: the British fleet had arrived, and the sloop was scudding 1 away before it. Presently its forerunner, the frigate, the Ix>westoffe, arrived and fired a salute of 21 guns. The tide of war had again turned. Soon other ships came ■up and, pushing ahead, fell upon the two frigates and four smaller vessels forming the naval armament of Levie. Now began the retreat up tJie river to Montreal, and the final jnove in the great game. And at this part of the story let us pause while operations on the other attacking lines are being briefly referred to. THE THREE CONCENTRATING MOVEMENTS. In the previous articles fairly clear accounts were given of the disasters on the three back-door routes to Canada — one to Duquesne, now known as Pittsbur°r: the second, with Albany as its base, and up the rivers Hudson and its tributary the Mohawk, to Oswego, whence Forte Niagara and Frontenao — Frontenac was where Kingston now stands (see the map) — were to be attacked ; and the third, from the same base directly north, yia Lake Ohamplajjri |nd the Richelieu Rjver. SfyejK ©jcueditions hay been sen-6 oul. Oawego had beeij reoccupkd by far?fs despatched frofg Albany, and frojg there

thawingv. fragments., oi-.iia . ice-fields."-Wheu the thunder' ceased, a tempest of unusual fury burst from the south-west. Winds and wave 6 and ice-floes raged together in furious combat. . . In the dark hours of this wild night a French, soldier was drifting- down the St. Lawrence upon, an ice-floe, expecting' every " moment " to be his last. . . By a miracle he was seen and rescued, more dead than alive " by watchers on the Racehorse sloop, the only British ship that had wintered in the river. It was two houTS before he could tell his story, which contained the startling news that Levis was coming down upon the city with 12,000 men. i He was right except io regard to numbers, though Levis himself admits to 8000, of whom 4000 were veterans in Canadian -warfare. Probably the. number was nearer ] 10.000. "Young and ardent, and perhaps . wishing to emulate the fame of Wolfe, i Murray marched out to meet him with 3000 " scorbutic skeletons," and fought the battle of St. Foy just above the city, and not far from the scene of Wolfe's achievement-?^ The battle lasted two hours, and could have only one issue. The guns were hopelessly mir-ed and had to be aban- j doned. and the troops were ordered to fall back into Quebec. "I> n it! What is failling back but retreating?" was the cry of some of the troops. Murray lost 1100 { in the engagement, -and the French loss was anything from 300 .to 2000. Fortunately, Murray had a good supply j)f cannon, an i arm Levis was short of. - The French ships now came down stream and landed stores, and Levis busied himself in entrenching, hitr- /troops within about half a, j mile of tho-, walls, but_.as often as he set a j gun up the acurate fire of the British dismounted it. <* Though the .two generals \?ere in 'deadly

Forts Fronetnac and Niagara • were reduced, but there is neither time nor space to go into details. Suffice it to say that Bradstreet captured it, and with it nine vessels carrying over a hundred guns ; on chore, the valuable fur stores and provisions taken were worth neary a million sterling. From the same base (Oswego) Fort Niagara received its quietus at the hands of Prideaux and Johnston, and the French flag disappeared from Lake Ontario. While this was going on, an expedition of 6000 under Forbes was pushing its way through 'to Duquesne. An advance guard under Grant was repulsed with loss and fell back upon the main " body, but Forbes, though desperately ill and much discouraged, resolved to persist. Eventually his troops entered the smoking ruins of the fort, th& French having retreated precipitately when they hoard of British success in their rear at Niagara and Frontenac. Duqueshe now became Pittsburg, and remains so still. Amherst, who was in charge of the "whole operations in America, "had massed perhaps 12,000 for the forcing of the Hudson-Champlain-Richelieu route at the same tame as Wolfe was to attack Quebec; but he could not 'get through on time. This line of defence, however, was now to be pierced in time for the troops to help in the reduction of Montreal. Details must be omitted, but an off-shoot expedition from Amherst' s is worthy of notice. There was a settlement of Abernakis Indians on the St. Francis River, and these redskins had been made ruthless use of by the French. Rodgers, a daredevil frontiersman, asked permission to teach them a lesson. Amherst said, l£Take your re- ' venge, but though these villains have promiscuously 'murdered our women and children of all ages, s it is my orders that none

of theirs are to be killed or hurt." How he stole along the shore of the lake and got behind the French to attack their aUies reads mote like the improbable incidents in a novel of adventure. Hie 230 picked men were reduced to 142 before he sighted the settlement ; but these encircled the sleeping settlement and wiped out nearly every man in it. " The five English captives were released, and 600 English 6calps torn from both sexes and all ages were found nailed to the doors of the houses as trophies." No sooner was the settlement wiped out than Rodgers heard of 400 French in front of him and 200 on his flank. How his men ran short of food, broke up into small companies, and reached the British lines again are narratives among the thousand thrilling tales of border warfare. Many, of course, were killed, and many were" carried off by Indians to torture and the stake. But the object was accomplished. THE CONCENTRATION ACCOMPLISHED. Three expeditions concentrating on Montreal can now be pictured, the one under Murray going up from Montreal ; a second, of 3000 men, under Haviland, coming via Lake Champiain to join forces with Murray ; and a third, under Amherst, who had crossed over to take charge of it, coming down the St. Lawrence, via Oswego, with 11,000, to attack Montreal from above. In shooting the rapids Amherst lost 66 of his 800 boats and about 100 men, but otherwise the descent of the river was not very eventful. At« St. Therese. an island a few miles below the city, Murray, with his fleet of 32 ships and nine floating batteries, i awaited the arrival of Haviland and Am- ! hersfc. On September 6, the triple moveJ menfc was completed, and troops were I landed for the final move. Levis by this j time had but 2500 troops, for the French Canadians anc] his Indian allies had pretty well a-U deserted him! against these Aroher&t could pjt 17,000 oi 18,000, mainly veterari^, There yfas nothing for it but absolute surrender. Leyis bitterly regenie4 a?* bfing flipped to SAEch oj&t

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with tli© honours of war, but Amherst ' sternly refused to reconsider the terms, for he had in mind the barbarous methods and treacheries perpetrated by the French "and their Indian allies. And so closed " The Fight With France For North America.,*' the conclusion of which opened up ihe way for tho American colonists to assert their independence — a-n independence they had dreamed of whiletho fight with France was in progress. But that is another story. "In these articles the object has been to show that Wolfe's victory neither began nor ended th 6 struggle for supremacy ; that campaigns and battles were fought on, a much larger eca-le than is generally supposed ; that in the making- of historythere is an evolution of ovenis, and not an event here- and there standing out isolated. The battle on fcho Heights was a great one. but others had to precede it,, and to malte ifc issue successfully other victories, far apart but all working- together, had to be won. We cannot read history aright nor can we teach true patriotism unless wo recognise th.-.t all historical landmarks are only the orrtcome of strenuous work on the part of pioneers—^ it matters not in what sphere, the military* colonising, scientific — what you will.