The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the First Battle of Quebec (French: Bataille des Plaines d'Abraham, Première bataille de Québec), was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War—whose North American theatre is referred to by Americans as the French and Indian War. The battle, which took place on 13 September 1759, was fought by the British Army and Royal Navy against the French Army on the Promontory of Quebec, a plateau just outside the walls of Quebec City on land that was originally owned by a farmer named Abraham Martin, hence the name of the location. The battle involved fewer than 10,000 troops in total, but proved to be a deciding moment in the conflict between France and Britain over the fate of the French colony of Canada or New France, influencing the history of Canada.
The culmination of a three-month siege by the British, the battle lasted about an hour. British troops commanded by General James Wolfe successfully resisted the column advance of French troops and Canadian militia under General Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm, employing new tactics that proved extremely effective against standard military formations used in most large European conflicts. Both generals were mortally wounded during the battle; Wolfe died of gunshot wounds just as the French began to retreat and Montcalm died the next morning after receiving a musket ball wound just below his ribs. In the wake of the battle, the French evacuated the city.
The French forces would attempt to recapture Quebec the following spring, and in the Battle of Sainte-Foy, they forced the British to retreat within the city's walls. However, the French failed to take the city and in 1763, following defeat in the Montreal campaign, France ceded most of its possessions in North America, including the colony of Canada, the Great Lakes and Ohio to Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris. The decisive success of the British forces on the Plains of Abraham and the subsequent capture of Quebec became part of what was known in Great Britain as the "Annus Mirabilis" of 1759.
Overview
As the Seven Years' War entered its later stages through 1758 and 1759, French forces and colonies in northeastern North America came under renewed attack from British armies. In 1758 after their defeat in July at the Battle of Carillon, the British took Louisbourg in August, causing Atlantic Canada to fall into their hands, and opening the sea route to attack Quebec. The British also captured Fort Frontenac in the same month, costing the French supplies for the Ohio Valley campaign. When some of the Indian supporters of the French made peace with the British, France was forced to draw its troops back. The French leaders, specifically Governor de Vaudreuil and General Montcalm, were unsettled by the British successes. However, Quebec was still able to protect itself as the British prepared a three-pronged attack for 1759.
James Wolfe expected to lead 12,000 men, but was greeted by only approximately 7,000 regular troops, 400 officers, and 300 gunners. He was supported by a fleet of 49 ships and 140 smaller craft led by Vice-Admiral of the Blue Charles Saunders.
In preparation for the fleet's approach to Quebec, James Cook surveyed a large portion of the river, including a dangerous channel known as The Traverse. Cook's ship was one of the first ships up the river, sounding the channel and guiding the fleet as it moved up; Wolfe and his men landed on the Île d'Orléans on 28 June. The French attempted to attack the fleet by sending seven fire ships downriver to disrupt the landing, but the ships were set afire too early and British sailors in longboats were able to pull the flaming craft clear of the fleet.
The following day, Wolfe's troops landed on the south bank of the river at Point Levis, nearly directly across the river from Quebec; an artillery battery was established there in early July that nearly levelled the lower town by bombardment.
Despite an air of defeatism among the leadership, the French troops and New French militia defenders focused their preparations for British attacks on the Beauport Shore. Montcalm and his staff, Major-General François de Gaston, Chevalier de Lévis, Colonel Louis Antoine de Bougainville, and Lieutenant-Colonel de Sennezergue, distributed some 12,000 troops in a nine-kilometre-long collection of fortified redoubts and batteries from the Saint-Charles River to the Montmorency Falls, along the shallows of the river in areas that had previously been targeted by British attempts to land. Before the British, a small fleet of supply ships had arrived in Quebec with much-needed supplies. Those supplies, along with 500 reinforcements, likely aided French resistance during the lengthy siege.
Wolfe, on surveying the town of Beauport, found that the houses there had been barricaded and organized to allow for musket fire from within; they were built in an unbroken line along the road, providing a formidable barrier. In addition, a screen of trees along the Montmorency River made an approach on that route dangerous. On 31 July, the first serious attempt by Wolfe's troops to land on the northern shore led to the Battle of Beauport, also known as the Battle of Montmorency. Approximately 3,500 troops, supported by a heavy bombardment, attempted to land but were fired upon in the river shallows. Members of the Louisbourg Grenadiers, who reached the beach, attempted a generally undisciplined charge on the French positions, but came under heavy fire; a thunderstorm ended the fight and allowed Wolfe to pull his troops back after taking some 450 casualties to Montcalm's 60.
Some French officers felt the Montmorency defeat would be the last British attack; Vaudreuil wrote afterwards that "I have no more anxiety about Quebec. Wolfe, I assure you, will make no progress... He contented himself with losing about five hundred of his best soldiers." He predicted another attack would come within days. Others in the French camp felt the campaign was over.
For the remainder of the summer, Wolfe's focus changed, possibly due to frustration with Montcalm's tactics. Wolfe's troops, along with American Rangers, attacked and destroyed small French settlements along the St. Lawrence. An estimated 1,400 stone houses and manors were destroyed, and many colonists killed. The effort was likely an attempt to force Montcalm's army out of its fortifications, but was unsuccessful. However, the attacks did reduce the number of suppliers available to the French, especially as the British navy, unable to control the St. Lawrence entirely, was successful in blockading the ports in France.
Preparations
Through the summer siege, illness spread through the British camps. In August, Wolfe himself was bedridden, causing already low morale to slump even further among the British troops. With many men in camp hospitals, British fighting numbers were thinned, and Wolfe personally felt that a new attack was needed by the end of September, or Britain's opportunity would be lost. In addition, his frustration with Montcalm's defensive stance continued to grow. In a letter to his mother, Wolfe wrote, "The Marquis of Montcalm is at the head of a great number of bad soldiers, and I am at the head of a small number of good ones that wish for nothing so much as to fight him; but the wary old fellow avoids an action, doubtful of the behaviour of his army." Montcalm also expressed frustration over the long siege, relating that he and his troops slept clothed and booted, and his horse was always saddled in preparation for an attack.
After considering and rejecting a number of plans for landings on the north shore, a decision was made in late August by Wolfe and his brigadiers to land upriver of the city. If successful, such a landing would force Montcalm to fight, as a British force on the north shore of the St. Lawrence would cut his supply lines to Montreal. Initial suggestions for landing sites ranged as far as 32 km (20 mi) up the St. Lawrence, which would have given the French troops one or two days to prepare for the attack. Following the failed British assault on Montmorency, Montcalm altered his deployment, sending Bougainville and a column of approximately 1,500 regular troops, 200 cavalry, and a group of New French militia—some 3,000 men in all—upriver to Cap-Rouge to monitor the British ships upstream. He further strengthened his defences of the Beauport shore following the abandonment of the British camp at Montmorency, which he regarded as preparations for a descent (amphibious attack) on Beauport. In spite of warnings from local commanders, he did not view an upstream landing as a serious possibility.
The British, meanwhile, prepared for their risky deployment upstream. Troops had already been aboard landing ships and drifting up and down the river for several days when Wolfe on 12 September, made a final decision on the British landing site, selecting L'Anse-au-Foulon. L'Anse-au-Foulon is a cove situated west of the city, three kilometres upstream from Cap Diamant. It lies at the bottom of a 53 m (174 ft) high cliff leading to the plateau above, and was protected by a battery of guns. It is not known why Wolfe selected Foulon, as the original landing site was to be further up the river, in a position where the British would be able to develop a foothold and strike at Bougainville's force to draw Montcalm out of Quebec and onto the plains. Brigadier-General George Townshend wrote that "by some intelligence the General had, he has changed his mind as to the place he intended to land". In his final letter, dated HMS Sutherland, 8:30 p.m. 12 September, Wolfe wrote:
I had the honour to inform you today that it is my duty to attack the French army. To the best of my knowledge and ability, I have fixed upon that spot where we can act with most force and are most likely to succeed. If I am mistaken I am sorry for it and must be answerable to His Majesty and the public for the consequences.
Wolfe's plan of attack depended on secrecy and surprise. His plan required that a small party of men should land by night on the north shore, climb the Promontory of Quebec, seize a small road, and overpower the garrison that protected it, allowing the bulk of his army (5,000 men) to ascend the cliff by the small road and then deploy for battle on the plateau. Even if the first landing party succeeded in their mission and the army was able to follow, such a deployment would still leave his forces inside the French line of defence with no immediate retreat but the river. It is possible that Wolfe's decision to change the landing site was owing less to a desire for secrecy and more to his general disdain for his brigadiers (a feeling that was reciprocated); it is also possible that he was still suffering the effects of his illness and the opiates he used as painkillers. Some revisionist historians believe Wolfe ordered the attack believing the advanced guard would be repulsed, and anticipated dying gallantly with his men rather than returning home in disgrace.
Order of battle
British forces
British forces engaged in the battle were commanded by Major General James Wolfe. There is disagreement on the total number of men and equipment that Wolfe took into combat, with numbers varying across sources. According to the Government of Canada website, which uses numbers from historian André Charbonneau, the British had 4,426 men, all British Army soldiers on the Plains of Abraham, along with two bronze 6-pounder (2.7 kg) cannon. Wolfe deployed his men as follows;
Main line (Centre)
Left
Right
Reserve
Rear
French forces
French forces engaged were composed of a mix of both regular force and militia units along with Indian allies, numbers varying between sources again. The militia were poorly armed with rifles and no bayonets and the Indian allies were unfamiliar with European-style battle tactics. According to the Government of Canada website, using numbers provided by historian André Charbonneau, the French had 2,000 men of the French Army, 600 Canadians drafted into the regular force units, and another 1,800 militiamen and Indian allies. The French had more cannon than their British counterparts, but their numbers are not known. In the battle, they were commanded by Major-General Louis Joseph de Saint Véran, Marquis de Montcalm who deployed his forces as follows;
Right
Centre
Left
Landing
Bougainville, tasked with the defence of the large area between Cap Diamant and Cap Rouge, was upstream with his troops at Cap Rouge on the night of 12 September, and missed seeing numerous British ships moving downstream. A camp of approximately 100 militia led by Captain Louis Du Pont Duchambon de Vergor, who had unsuccessfully faced the British four years previously at Fort Beauséjour, had been assigned to watch the narrow road at L'Anse-au-Foulon which followed a streambank, the Coulée Saint-Denis. On the night of 12 September and morning of 13 September, however, the camp may have contained as few as 40 men, as others were off harvesting. Vaudreuil and others had expressed their concern at the possibility of L'Anse-au-Foulon being vulnerable, but Montcalm dismissed them, saying 100 men would hold off the army until daylight, remarking, "It is not to be supposed that the enemies have wings so that they can in the same night cross the river, disembark, climb the obstructed acclivity, and scale the walls, for which last operation they would have to carry ladders."