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

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  Speaker 1: Section sixty three of mont Carmen Wolf by Francis Parkman.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter twenty eight,
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  Speaker 1: Part one, seventeen fifty nine.
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  Speaker 2: Fall of Quebec.
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  Speaker 1: Never was rout more complete than that of our army,
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  Speaker 1: says a French official. It was the more so because
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  Speaker 1: mont carm held no troops in reserve, but launched his
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  Speaker 1: whole force at once against the English. Nevertheless, there was
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  Speaker 1: some resistance to the pursuit. It came chiefly from the Canadians,
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  Speaker 1: many of whom had not advanced with the regulars to
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  Speaker 1: the attack. Those on the right wing, instead of doing so,
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  Speaker 1: threw themselves into an extensive tract of bushes that lay
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  Speaker 1: in front of the English left, and from this cover
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  Speaker 1: they opened of fire to distant for much effect, till
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  Speaker 1: the victors advanced in their turn. When the shot of
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  Speaker 1: the hidden marksmen told severely upon them. Two battalions therefore
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  Speaker 1: deployed before the bushes, fired volleys into them and drove
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  Speaker 1: their occupants out again. Those of the Canadians, who, before
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  Speaker 1: the main battle began, attacked the English left from the
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  Speaker 1: brink of the plateau towards the Saint Charles withdrew when
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  Speaker 1: the route took place, and ran along the edge of
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  Speaker 1: the declivity till at the part of it called Cote
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  Speaker 1: Saint Jelvive. They came to a place where it was
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  Speaker 1: overgrown with thickets. Into these they threw themselves, and were
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  Speaker 1: no sooner under cover than they faced about to fire
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  Speaker 1: upon the Highlanders, who presently came up. As many of
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  Speaker 1: these mountaineers, according to their old custom, threw down their
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  Speaker 1: muskets when they charged, and had no weapons but their broadswords.
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  Speaker 1: They tried in vain to dislodge the marksmen, and suffered
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  Speaker 1: greatly in the attempt. Other troops came to their aid,
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  Speaker 1: cleared the thickets, and after stout resistance, drove their occupants
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  Speaker 1: across the meadow to the bridge of boats. The conduct
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  Speaker 1: of the Canadians at the Cote Saint Genevieve went far
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  Speaker 1: to atone for the shortcomings of some of them in
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  Speaker 1: the battlefield. A part of the fugitives escaped into the
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  Speaker 1: town by the gates of Saint Louis and Saint John,
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  Speaker 1: while the greater number fled along the front of the
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  Speaker 1: ramparts rushed down the declivity to the suburb of Saint
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  Speaker 1: roch and ran over the meadows to the bridge, protected
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  Speaker 1: by the cannon of the town and two armed hulks
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  Speaker 1: in the river. The route had but just begun when
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  Speaker 1: voor Droy crossed the bridge from the camp of Beauport.
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  Speaker 1: It was four hours since he first heard the alarm,
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  Speaker 1: and his quarters were not much more than two miles
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  Speaker 1: from the battle field. He does not explain why he
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  Speaker 1: did not come sooner. It is certain that his coming
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  Speaker 1: was well timed, to throw the blame on Montcalm in
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  Speaker 1: case of defeat, or to claim some of the honor
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  Speaker 1: for himself.
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  Speaker 2: In case of victory.
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  Speaker 1: Monsieur the Marquis of Montcalm, he says, unfortunately made his
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  Speaker 1: attack before I had joined him. His joining him could
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  Speaker 1: have done no good, for though he had at last
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  Speaker 1: brought with him the rest of the militia from the
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  Speaker 1: Beauport camp, they had come no farther than the bridge
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  Speaker 1: over the Saint Charles, having, as he alleges, been kept
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  Speaker 1: there by an unauthorized order from the chief of staff Montroy.
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  Speaker 1: He declares that the regulars were in such a fright
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  Speaker 1: that he could not stop them, but that the Canadians
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  Speaker 1: listened to his voice, and that it was he who
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  Speaker 1: rallied them at the Cote Saint Gelvive. Of this the
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  Speaker 1: evidence is his own word. From other accounts, it would
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  Speaker 1: appear that the Canadians rallied themselves. Voor Droy lost no
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  Speaker 1: time in recrossing the bridge and joining the militia in
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  Speaker 1: the redoubt at the farther end, where a crowd of
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  Speaker 1: fugitives soon poured in after him. The aide de Comte Johnston,
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  Speaker 1: mounted on horseback, had stopped for a moment in what
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  Speaker 1: is now the suburb of Saint john to encourage some
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  Speaker 1: soldiers who were trying to save a cannon that had
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  Speaker 1: stuck fast in a marshy hollow, when, on spurring his
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  Speaker 1: horse to the higher ground, he saw within a musket
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  Speaker 1: shot a long line of British troops, who immediately fired
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  Speaker 1: upon him. The bullets whistled about his ears, tore his clothes,
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  Speaker 1: and wounded his horse, which, however, carried him along the
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  Speaker 1: edge of the declivity to a windmill, near which was
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  Speaker 1: a roadway to a bake house on the meadow below.
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  Speaker 1: He descended, crossed the meadow.
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  Speaker 2: Reached the bridge, and rode over.
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  Speaker 1: It to the great redoubt or horn work that guarded
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  Speaker 1: its head. The place was full of troops and Canadians
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  Speaker 1: in a wild panic. It is impossible, says Johnston, to
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  Speaker 1: imagine the disorder and confusion I found in the horn Work.
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  Speaker 1: Consternation was general. Monsieur de Voudroy listened to everybody, and
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  Speaker 1: was always of the opinion of him who spoke last.
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  Speaker 1: On the appearance of the English troops on the plain
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  Speaker 1: by the bake house, Montguet and la Motte, two old
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  Speaker 1: captains of the Regiment of Bayarne, cried out with vehemence
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  Speaker 1: to Monsieur de VOUDROI, that the horn Work would be
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  Speaker 1: taken in an instant by assault sword in hand, that
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  Speaker 1: we should all be cut to pieces without quarter, and
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  Speaker 1: that nothing would save us but an immediate and general
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  Speaker 1: capitulation of Canada, giving it up to the English. Yet
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  Speaker 1: the river was wide and deep, and the horn Work
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  Speaker 1: was protected on the water side by strong palisades with cannon. Nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: there rose a general cry.
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  Speaker 2: To cut the bridge of boats.
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  Speaker 1: By doing so, more than half the army who had
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  Speaker 1: not yet crossed, would have been sacrificed. The axe men
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  Speaker 1: were already at work when they were stopped by some
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  Speaker 1: officers who had not lost their wits. Monsieur devor Droy
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  Speaker 1: pursues Johnston was closeted in a house in the inside
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  Speaker 1: of the horn Work with the Intendant and some other persons.
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  Speaker 1: I suspected they were busy drafting the articles for a
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  Speaker 1: general capitulation, and I entered the house, where I had
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  Speaker 1: only time to see the Intendant with a pen in
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  Speaker 1: his hand, writing upon a sheet of paper. When Monsieur
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  Speaker 1: devor Droy told me that I had no business there.
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  Speaker 1: Having answered him that what he had said was true,
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  Speaker 1: I retired immediately, in roth to see them intent on
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  Speaker 1: giving up so scandalously a dependency for the preservation of
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  Speaker 1: which so much blood and treasure had been expended. On
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  Speaker 1: going out, he meant Lieutenant Colonel's Dalcaire and Polaries, whom
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  Speaker 1: he begged to prevent the apprehended disgrace. And in fact,
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  Speaker 1: if voor Droy really meant to capitulate for the colony,
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  Speaker 1: he was presently dissuaded by firmer spirits than his own. Johnston,
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  Speaker 1: whose horse could carry him no farther, set out on
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  Speaker 1: foot for Beauport, and, in his own words, continued sorrowfully
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  Speaker 1: jogging on with a very heavy heart for the loss
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  Speaker 1: of my dear friend, Monsieur de Montcalm, sinking with weariness
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  Speaker 1: and lost in reflection upon the changes which providence had
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  Speaker 1: brought about in the space of three or four hours. Great,
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  Speaker 1: indeed were these changes. Montcalm was dying. His second in command,
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  Speaker 1: the Brigadier Senes ERGEs, was mortally wounded. The army, routed
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  Speaker 1: and demoralized, was virtually without a head, and the colony,
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  Speaker 1: yesterday cheered as on the eve of deliverance, was plunged
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  Speaker 1: into sudden despair. Ah, what a cruel day, cries Bougainville,
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  Speaker 1: How fatal to all that was dear to us. My
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  Speaker 1: heart is torn in its most tender parts. We shall
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  Speaker 1: be fortunate if the approach of winter saves the country
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  Speaker 1: from total ruin. The victors were fortifying themselves on the
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  Speaker 1: field of battle. Like the French, they had lost two generals,
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  Speaker 1: for Monkton, second in rank, was disabled by a musket shot,
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  Speaker 1: and the command had fallen upon town's end. At the
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  Speaker 1: moment when the enemy were in full flight, he had
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  Speaker 1: recalled the pursuers and formed them again in line of battle,
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  Speaker 1: knowing that another foe was at hand. Bougainville, in fact
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  Speaker 1: appeared at noon from cap Rouge with about two thousand men,
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  Speaker 1: but withdrew on seeing double that force prepared to receive him.
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  Speaker 1: He had not heard till eight o'clock that the English
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  Speaker 1: were on the plains of Abraham, and the delay of
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  Speaker 1: his arrival was no doubt due to his endeavors to
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  Speaker 1: collect as many as possible of his detachments, posted along
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  Speaker 1: the Saint Lawrence for many miles towards Jacques Cartier. Before midnight,
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  Speaker 1: the English had made good progress in their redoubts and entrenchments,
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  Speaker 1: had brought cannon up the heights to defend them, planted
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  Speaker 1: a battery on the Cote Saint Genevieve, descended into the
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  Speaker 1: shadows of the Saint Charles, and taken possession of the
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  Speaker 1: general hospital, with its crowds of sick and wounded. Their
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  Speaker 1: victory had cost them six hundred and sixty four of
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  Speaker 1: all ranks killed, wounded and missing. The French loss is
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  Speaker 1: placed by vor Droy at about six hundred and forty
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  Speaker 1: and by the English official reports at about fifteen hundred.
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  Speaker 1: Measured by the numbers engaged, the Battle of Quebec was
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  Speaker 1: but a heavy skirmish. Measured by results, it was one
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  Speaker 1: of the great battles of the world. Vor Droy went
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  Speaker 1: from the Hornwork to his quarters on the Beauport Road
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  Speaker 1: and called a council of war. It was a tumultuous scene.
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  Speaker 1: A letter was dispatched to Quebec to ask for advice
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  Speaker 1: of Montcalm. The dying general sent a brief message to
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  Speaker 1: the effect that there was a threefold choice to fight again,
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  Speaker 1: retreat to Jacques Cartier, or give up the colony. There
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  Speaker 1: was much in favor of fighting. When Bougainville had gathered
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  Speaker 1: all his force from the river above, he would have
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  Speaker 1: three thousand men, and these joined to the garrison of Quebec,
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  Speaker 1: the sailors at the batteries, and the militia and artillery
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  Speaker 1: men of the Beauport camp would form a body of
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  Speaker 1: fresh soldiers more than equal to the English. Then on
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  Speaker 1: the plains of Abraham. Add to these the defeated troops,
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  Speaker 1: and the victors would be greatly outnumbered. Bigau gave his
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  Speaker 1: voice for fighting. Voor Droy expressed himself to the same effect,
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  Speaker 1: but he says that all the officers were against him.
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  Speaker 1: In Vain, I remarked to these gentlemen that we were
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  Speaker 1: superior to the enemy, and should beat them if we
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  Speaker 1: managed well, I could not at all change their opinion,
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  Speaker 1: and my love for the service and for the colony
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  Speaker 1: made me subscribe to the views of the council. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: if I had attacked the English against the advice of
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  Speaker 1: all the principle.
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  Speaker 2: Offers, their ill will would have.
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  Speaker 1: Exposed me to the risk of losing the battle and
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  Speaker 1: the colony also. It was said at the time that
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  Speaker 1: the officers voted for retreat because they thought voor Droy
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  Speaker 1: unfit to command an army, and still more to fight
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  Speaker 1: a battle. There was no need, however, to fight at once.
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  Speaker 1: The object of the English was to take Quebec, and
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  Speaker 1: that of voor Droy should have been to keep it.
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  Speaker 1: By a march of a few miles, he could have
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  Speaker 1: joined Bougainville, and by then entrenching himself at or near
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  Speaker 1: Saint Foix. He would have placed a greatly superior force
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  Speaker 1: in the English rear, where his position might have been
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  Speaker 1: made impregnable. Here he might be easily furnished with provisions,
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  Speaker 1: and from hence he could readily throw men and supplies
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  Speaker 1: into Quebec, which the English were too few to invest.
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  Speaker 1: He could harass the besiegers, or attack them should opportunity offer,
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  Speaker 1: and either raise the siege or so protract it that
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  Speaker 1: they would be forced, by approaching winter, to sail homeward.
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  Speaker 1: Robbed of the fruit of their victory, at least he
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  Speaker 1: might have taken a night for reflection. He was safe
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  Speaker 1: behind the Saint Charles. The English, spent by fighting, toil
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  Speaker 1: and want of sleep, were in no condition to disturb him.
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  Speaker 1: A part of his own men were in deadly need
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  Speaker 1: of rest. The night would have brought refreshment, and the
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  Speaker 1: morning might have brought wise counsel Vor Droy would not wait,
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  Speaker 1: and orders were given at once for retreat. It began
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  Speaker 1: at nine o'clock that evening Quebec was abandoned to its fate.
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  Speaker 1: The cannon were left in the lines of Beauport, the
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  Speaker 1: tents in the encampments, and provisions enough in the storehouses
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  Speaker 1: to supply the army for a week. The loss of
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  Speaker 1: the Marquis de Montcalm, says a French officer then on
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  Speaker 1: the spot, robbed his successors of their senses, and they
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  Speaker 1: thought of nothing but flight. Such was their fear that
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  Speaker 1: the enemy would attack the entrenchments. The next day. The
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  Speaker 1: army abandoned the camp in such disorder that the like
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  Speaker 1: was never known. It was not a retreat, says Johnston,
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  Speaker 1: who himself was a part of it, but an abominable flight,
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  Speaker 1: with such disorder and confusion that, had the English known it,
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  Speaker 1: three hundred men sent after us would have been sufficient
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  Speaker 1: to cut all our army to pieces. The soldiers were
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  Speaker 1: all mixed and scattered, dispersed, and running as hard as
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  Speaker 1: they could, as if the English army were at their heels.
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  Speaker 1: They passed Charlebourg, Lorette and Saint Augustine till on the
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  Speaker 1: fifteenth they found rest on the impregnable hill of Jacques Cartier,
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  Speaker 1: by the brink of the Saint Lawrence, thirty miles from danger.
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  Speaker 1: In the night of Humiliation, when vor Droy abandoned Quebec,
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  Speaker 1: mont carm was breathing his last within its walls when
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  Speaker 1: he was brought wounded from the field. He was placed
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  Speaker 1: in the house of the surgeon Arnoux, who was then
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  Speaker 1: with Bourla mac at el Anois, but whose younger brother,
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  Speaker 1: also a surgeon, examined the wound and pronounced it mortal.
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  Speaker 1: I am glad of it, Montcalm said quietly, and then
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  Speaker 1: asked how long he had to live twelve hours more
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  Speaker 1: or less was the reply, so much the better, he returned,
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  Speaker 1: I am happy that I shall not live to see
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  Speaker 1: the surrender under of Quebec. He is reported to have
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  Speaker 1: said that since he had lost the battle, it consoled
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  Speaker 1: him to have been defeated by so brave an enemy,
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  Speaker 1: and some of his last words were in praise of
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  Speaker 1: his successor, Levis, for whose talents and fitness for command
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  Speaker 1: he expressed high esteem. When voor Droy sent to ask
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  Speaker 1: his opinion, he gave it. But when Ramsay, commandant of
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  Speaker 1: the garrison, came to receive his orders, he replied, I
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  Speaker 1: will neither give orders nor interfere any further. I have
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  Speaker 1: much business that must be attended to, of greater moment
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  Speaker 1: than your ruined garrison and this wretched country. My time
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  Speaker 1: is very short there.
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  Speaker 2: Pray leave me.
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  Speaker 1: I wish you all comfort and to be happily extricated
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  Speaker 1: from your present perplexities. Nevertheless, he thought to the last
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  Speaker 1: of those who had been under his command, and sent
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  Speaker 1: the following note to Brigadier Townsend, Monsieur, the humanity of
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  Speaker 1: the English sets my mind at peace. Concerning the fate
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  Speaker 1: of the French prisoners, and the Canadians feel towards them
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  Speaker 1: as they have caused me to feel. Do not let
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  Speaker 1: them perceive that they have changed masters. Be their protector
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  Speaker 1: as I have been their father. Bishop pontbriand himself fast,
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  Speaker 1: sinking with mortal disease, attended his death bed and administered
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  Speaker 1: the last sacraments. He died peacefully at four o'clock on
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  Speaker 1: the morning of the fourteenth. He was in his forty
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  Speaker 1: eighth year. In the confusion of the time, no workman
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  Speaker 1: could be found to make a coffin, and an old
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: servant of the Ursulines, known as Bonhomme Michel, gathered a
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  Speaker 1: few boards and nailed them together so as to form.
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  Speaker 2: A rough box. In it was laid the body of
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  Speaker 2: the dead soldier.
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  Speaker 1: And late in the evening of the same.
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  Speaker 2: Day, he was carried to his rest.
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  Speaker 1: There was no tolling of bells or firing of cannon.
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  Speaker 1: The officers of the garrison followed the bier, and some
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  Speaker 1: of the populace, including women and children, joined the procession
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  Speaker 1: as it moved in dreary silence along the dusky street,
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  Speaker 1: shattered with cannon ball and bomb to the chapel of
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  Speaker 1: the Ursuline convent. Here a shell bursting under the floor
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  Speaker 1: had made a cavity, which had been hollowed into a grave.
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  Speaker 1: Three priests of the cathedral, several nuns, Ramsy with his officers,
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  Speaker 1: and a throng of townspeople were present at the right.
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  Speaker 1: After the service and the chant, the body was lowered
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  Speaker 1: into the grave by the light of torches, and then,
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  Speaker 1: says the chronicle, the tears and sobs burst forth. It
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: seemed as.
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  Speaker 2: If the last hope of the colony were buried.
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  Speaker 1: With the remains of the general. In truth, the funeral
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  Speaker 1: of Montcalm was the funeral of New France. It was
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  Speaker 1: no time for grief. The demands of the hour were
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  Speaker 1: too exigent and stern. When on the morning after the
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: battle the people of Quebec saw the tents standing in
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  Speaker 1: the camp of Beauport, they thought the army still there
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  Speaker 1: to defend them. Ramsay knew that the hope was vain.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: On the evening before voor Droy had sent two hasty
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: notes to tell him of his flight. The position of
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: the enemy, wrote, the governor becomes stronger every instant, and
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: this with other reasons, obliges me to retreat. I have
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: received all your letters, as I set out this moment.
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  Speaker 1: I pray you not to write again. You shall hear
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  Speaker 1: from me to morrow. I wish you good evening. With
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: these notes came the following order, Orsieur de Ramsey is
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: not to wait till the enemy carries the town by assault.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as provisions fail, he will raise the white flag.
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  Speaker 1: The order was accompanied by a memorandum of terms, which
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Ramsey was to.
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  Speaker 2: Ask of the victors.
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  Speaker 1: What a blow for me, says the unfortunate commandant, to
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  Speaker 1: find myself so soon abandoned by the army, which alone
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  Speaker 1: could defend the town. His garrison consisted of between one
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  Speaker 1: and two hundred troops of the line, some four or
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: five hundred colony troops, a considerable number of sailors, and
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  Speaker 1: the local militia. These last were in a state of despair.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: The inhabitants during the siege had sought refuge in the
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: suburb of Saint Roch, had returned after the battle, and
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: then there were now twenty six hundred women and children,
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  Speaker 1: with about a thousand invalids and other noncombatants to be supported.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Though the provisions in the town, even at half rations,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: would hardly last a week. Ramsay had not been informed
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  Speaker 1: that a good supply was left in the camps of Beauport,
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  Speaker 1: and when he.
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  Speaker 2: Heard at last that it was there.
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  Speaker 1: And sent out parties to get it, they found that
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: the Indians and the famished country people had carried it off. Despondency,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: he says, again, was complete discouragement. Extreme and universal murmurs
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: and complaints against the army that had abandoned us rose
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  Speaker 1: to a general outcry. I could not prevent the merchants,
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  Speaker 1: all of whom were officers of the town militia, from
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: meeting at the house of Monsieur Danes, the mayor, there
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  Speaker 1: where they declared for capitulating, and presented me a petition
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  Speaker 1: to that effect, signed by Monsieur Dane and all the
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: principal citizens. Ramsey called a council of war. One officer alone,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Piedmont Captain of artillery, was for reducing the rations still
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: more and holding out to the last. All the others
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: gave their voices for capitulation. Ramsey might have yielded without dishonor,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: but he still held out till an event fraught with
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: new hope took place at Jacques Cartier. This event was
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the arrival of Levis on the afternoon of the battle,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: vor Droy took one rational step. He sent a courier
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: to Montreal to summon that able officer to his aid.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Levis set out at once, reached Jacques Cartier and found
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: his worst fears. Realized the great number of fugitives that
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: I began to meet at three Rivers prepared me for
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: the disorder in which I found the army I never
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: in my life knew the like of it. They left
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: everything behind in the camp at Beauport, tents, baggage and
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: kettles
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: And of Section sixty three