Latest / Montcalm and Wolfe / 66 - Montcalm and Wolfe by Francis Parkman, Jr.

Transcript

66 - Montcalm and Wolfe by Francis Parkman, Jr. · Montcalm and Wolfe

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Section sixty five of montcalmen Wolf by Francis Parkman. This
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter twenty nine,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Part one, seventeen fifty nine to seventeen sixty Saint Foix.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: The fleet was gone, the great River was left to solitude,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: and the chill days of a fitful November passed over
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Quebec in alternations of rain and frost, sunshine and snow.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: The troops, driven by cold from their encampment on the plains,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: were all gathered within the walls. Their own artillery had
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: so battered the place that it was not easy to
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: find shelter. The lower town was a wilderness of scorched
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: and crumbling walls. As you ascend Mountain Street. The bishop's
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: palace on the right was a skeleton of tottering masonry,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and the buildings on the left were a mass of ruin,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: where ragged boys were playing at sea saw among the
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: fallen planks and timbers. Even in the upper town, few
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: of the churches and public buildings had escaped. The cathedral
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: was burned to a shell. The solid front of the
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: College of the Jesuits was pock marked by numberless cannon balls,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: and the adjacent Church of the Order was woefully shattered.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: The Church of the Recollects suffered still more. The bomb
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: shells that fell through the roof had broken into the pavement,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: and as they burst, had thrown up the bones and
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: skulls of the dead from the graves beneath. Even the
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: more distant Hotel Dieu was pierced by fifteen projectiles, some
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: of which had exploded into the halls and chambers. The
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Commissary General Burniers thus describes to Bourlamac the state of
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: the town Quebec is nothing but a shapeless mass of ruins, confusion, disorder, pillage, rain,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: even among the inhabitants. For the English make examples of severity.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Every day everybody rushes hither and thither, without knowing why.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Each searches for his possessions, and not finding his own,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: seizes those of other people. English and French, all is
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: chaos alike. The inhabitants, famished and destitute, escape to the country.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Never was there seen such a sight. Quebec swarmed with troops.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: There were guardhouses at twenty different points. Sentinels paced the ramparts,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Squads of men went the rounds. Soldiers off duty strolled
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the streets, some in miter caps and some black three
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: cornered hats, while a ceaseless rolling of drums and a
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: rigid observation of military forms betrayed the sense of a
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: still imminent danger. While some of the inhabitants left town,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: others remained, having no refuge elsewhere. They were civil to
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: the victors, but severe towards their late ruler. The citizens,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: says Knocks, particularly the females, reproach Monsieur Voudroy upon every
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: occasion and give full scope to bitter invectives. He praises
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the agreeable manners and cheerful spirit of the Canadian ladies,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: concerning whom another officer also writes, it is very surprising
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: with what ease the game deaety of their tempers enables
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: them to bear misfortunes which to us would be insupportable.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Families whom the calamities of war have reduced from the
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: heights of luxury to the want of common necessaries, laugh,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: dance and sing, comforting themselves with this reflection fortune de guerre.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Their young ladies take the utmost pains to teach our
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: officers French. With what view, I know not if it
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: is not that they may hear themselves praised, flattered, and
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: courted without loss of time. Knox was quartered in a
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: small stable with a haloft above and a rack and
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: manger at one end, a lodging better than fell to
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: the lot of many of his brother officers, and by
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: means of a stove and some help from a carpenter,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: he said that he made himself tolerably comfortable. The change, however,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: was an agreeable one, when he was ordered for a
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: week to the general hospital a mile out of the town,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: where he was to command the guards stationed to protect
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: the inmates and watch the enemy. Here were gathered the
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: sick and wounded of both armies, nursed with equal care
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: by the nuns, of whom Knox speaks with gratitude and respect.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: When our poor fellows were ill and ordered to be
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: removed from their odious regimental hospital to this general receptacle,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: they were indeed rendered inexpressibly happy. Each patient has his
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: bed with curtains allotted to him, and a nurse to
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: attend him. Every sick or wounded officer has an apartment
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: to himself, and is attended by one of these religious
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: sisters who in general are young, handsome, courteous, rigidly reserved,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: and very respectful. Their office of nursing the sick furnishes
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: them with opportunities of taking great latitudes if they are
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: so disposed, But I never heard any of them charged
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: with the least levity. The nuns, on their part, were
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: well pleased with the conduct of their new masters, whom
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: one of them describes as the most moderate of all conquerors.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I lived here, Knox continues at the French King's table,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: with an agreeable, polite society of officers, directors, and commissaries.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Some of the gentlemen were married, and their ladies honored
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: us with their company. They were generally cheerful, except when
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: we discoursed on the late Revolution and the affairs of
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the campaign. Then they seemingly gave way to grief, uttered
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: by profound sighs, followed by an ou mon dieu. He
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: walked in the garden with the French officers, played at
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: cards with them, and passed the time so pleasantly that
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: his short stay at the hospital seemed an oasis in
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: his hard life of camp and garrison. Mayre de Saint
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Claude the Superior, a sister of Ramsay, late commandant of Quebec,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: one morning sent him a note of invitation to what
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: she called an English breakfast, and though the repast answered
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: to nothing within his experience, he says that he fared
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: exceedingly well and passed near two hours most agreeably. In
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the society of this ancient lady and her virgin sisters,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: the excellent nuns of the General hospital are today what
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: their predecessors were, and the scene of their useful labours
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: still answers at many points to that described by the
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: careful pen of their military guest. Throughout the war, they
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: and the nuns of the Hotel Dieux had been above
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: praise in their assiduous devotion to the sick and wounded.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Brigadier Murray, now in command of Quebec, was a gallant soldier,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: upright humane, generous, eager for distinction, and more daring than prudent.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: He befriended the Canadians, issued strict orders against harming them
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: in person or property, hanged a soldier who had robbed
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: a citizen of Quebec, and severely punished others for slighter
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: offenses of the same sort. In general, the soldiers themselves
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: showed kindness towards the conquered people. During harvest, they were
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: seen helping them to reap their fields without compensation, and
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: sharing with them their tobacco and rations. The inhabitants were
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: disarmed and required to take the oath of allegiance. Murray
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: reported in the spring that the whole country from cap
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Rouge downward was in subjection to the British crown. Late
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: in October it was rumored that some of the French
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: ships in the river above Quebec were preparing to run
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: by the batteries. This was the squadron which had arrived
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: in the spring with supplies and had lain all summer
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: at Batiscan, in the Richelieu and at other points beyond
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: reach of the English. After nearly a month of expectancy,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: they at length appeared anchored off Sillery on the twenty
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: first of November and tried to pass the town on
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: the dark night of the twenty fourth. Seven or eight
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: of them succeeded. Four others ran aground and were set
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: on fire by their crews, excepting one which was stranded
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: on the south shore and abandoned. Captain Miller, with a
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: lieutenant and above forty men boarded her. When apparently through
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: their own carelessness, she blew up. Most of the party
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: were killed by the explosion, and the rest, including the
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: two officers, were left in a horrible condition between life
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: and death. Thus they remained till a Canadian venturing on
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: board in search of plunder, found them, called his neighbors
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: to his aid, carried them to his own house, and,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: after applying with the utmost kindness what simple remedies he knew,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: went over to Quebec and told of the disaster. Fortunately
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: for themselves, the sufferers soon died. December came and brought
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: the Canadian winter, with its fierce light and cold, glaring
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: snow fields, and piercing blasts that scorched the cheek like
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: a firebrand. The men were frost bitten as they dug
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: away the dry, powdery drifts that the wind had piled
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: against the rampart. The sentries were relieved every hour, yet
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: feet and fingers were continually frozen. The clothing of the
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: troops was ill suited to the climate, and though stoves
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: had been placed in the guard and barrack rooms, the
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: supply of fuel constantly fell short. The cutting and dragging
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: of wood was the chief task of the garrison for
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: many weeks. Parties of axemen, strongly guarded, were always at
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: work in the forest of Saint Foix, four or five
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: miles from Quebec, and the logs were brought to town
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: on sledges dragged by the soldiers. Eight of them were
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: harnessed in pairs to each sledge, and as there was
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: always danger from indians and bush rangers, every man carried
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: his musket slung at his back. The labor was prodigious,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: for frequent snowstorms made it necessary again and again to
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: beat a fresh track through the drifts. The men bore
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: their hardships with admirable good humor, and once a party
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: of them, on their return, dragging their load through the street,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: met a Canadian also with a load of wood, which
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: was drawn by a team of dogs harnessed much like themselves.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: They accosted them as yokefellows, comrades and brothers, asked them
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: what allowance of pork and rum they got, and invited
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: them and their owner to mess at the regimental barracks.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: The appearance of the troops on duty within the town,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: as described by Knox, was scarcely less eccentric. Our guards
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: on the Grand parade make a most grotesque appearance in
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: their different dresses, and our inventions to guard us against
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: the extreme rigor of this climate are various beyond imagination.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: The uniformity, as well as nicety of the clean, methodical soldier,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: is buried in the rough, fur wrought garb of the
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: frozen Laplander. And we rather resemble a masquerade than a
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: body of regular troops. Insomuch that I have frequently been
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: accosted by my acquaintances, whom, though their voices were familiar
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: to me, I could not discover or conceive who they were. Besides,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: every man seems to be in a continual hurry, for
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: instead of walking soberly through the streets, we are obliged
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: to observe a running or trotting pace. Early in January
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: there was a storm of sleet followed by severe frost,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: which glazed the streets with ice knocks. Being ordered to
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: mount guard in the lower town found the descent of
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: mountain streets so slippery that it was impossible to walk
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: down with safety, especially as the muskets of the men
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: were loaded and the whole party, seating themselves on the ground,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: slid one after another to the foot of the hill.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: The Highlanders, in spite of their natural hardihood, suffered more
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: from the cold than the other troops, as their national
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: costume was but a sorry defense against the Canadian winter.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: A detachment of these breechless warriors being on guard at
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: the general hospital, the nuns spent their scanty leisure in
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: knitting for them long woolen hose, which they gratefully accepted,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: though at a loss to know whether modesty or charity
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: inspired the gift. From the time when the English took
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: possession of Quebec, reports had come in through deserters that
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Levis meant to attack and recover it. Early in November,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: there was a rumor that he was about to march
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: upon it with fifteen thousand men. In December, word came
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: that he was on his way, resolved to storm it
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: on or about the twenty second, and dine within the
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: walls under the French flag. On Christmas Day. He failed
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: to appear, but in January a deserter said that he
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: had prepared scaling ladders and was training his men to
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: use them by assault on mock ramparts of snow. There
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: was more tangible evidence that the enemy was astir Murray
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: had established two fortified outposts, one at Saint Foix and
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: the other farther on at Old Lorete. War parties hovered
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: round both and kept the occupants in alarm. A large
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: body of French grenadiers appeared at the latter place in
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: February and drove off a herd of cattle, when a
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: detachment of rangers, much inferior in number, set upon them,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: put them to flight and recovered the plunder. At the
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: same time, a party of regulars, Canadians and Indians took
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: up a strong position near the church at Point Levi,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: and sent a message to the English officers that a
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: large company of expert hairdressers were ready to wait upon
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: them whenever they required their services. The illusion, of course,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: was to the scalp lifting practices of the Indians and
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: bush rangers. The river being now hard frozen, Marie sent
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: over a detachment of light infantry under Major Dalling. A
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: sharp fight ensued on the snow around the church and
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: in the neighboring forest, where the English soldiers, taught to
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: use snow shoes by the rangers, routed the enemy and
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: killed or captured a considerable number. A third post was
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: then established at the church and the priest's house adjacent.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Some days after, the French came back in large numbers,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: fortified themselves with felled trees, and then attacked the English position,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: the firing being heard at Quebec. The light infantry went
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: over to the scene of action, and Murray himself followed
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: on the ice with the Highlanders and other troops. Before
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: he came up. The French drew off and retreated to
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: their breastwork, where they were attacked and put to flight,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: the nimble Highlanders capturing a few, while the greater part
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: made their escape. As it became known that the French
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: held a strong post at Lechlvert, near Saint Augustin two
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: days March from Quebec, Captain Donald MacDonald was sent with
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: five hundred men to attack it. He found the enemy
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: behind a breastwork of logs protected by an abetise. The
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: light infantry advanced and poured in a brisk fire, on
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: which the French threw down their arms and fled. About
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: eighty of them were captured, but their commander, Herbin escaped
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: lee moving to the victor's his watch hat and feather,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: wine liquor case and mistress. The English had six men
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: wounded and nearly a hundred frostbitten. End of Section sixty
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: five