Personal Information: Born February 28,1712 near Nîmes, France
In 1741, when France invaded Germany, Captain Montcalm was serving as
the aid-de-camp to the Marquis de la Fare. In 1742 he had returned to France,
where on March 7, 1743 he became colonel of the Auxerrois Regiment. On
April 12, he became a chevalier of the Order of St. Louis.
Montcalm served during the War of Austrian Succession, and was wounded
several times. At the Battle of Plaisance in 1746, he showed great bravery. He
was captured by the Austrians, but not before he received five wounds. After
recovering from his wounds, hewas returned to France in an exchange of
prisoners. Soon after returning to Paris, he was given an audience with King
Louis XV, who awarded him the rank of brigadier. Montcalm rejoined the army
in Italy and took part in the Battle of Assiette in July 1747. He was also present
at the Battle of Placentia, and the Battle of Exiles. At the end of the War of
Austrian Succession, Montcalm returned to Paris and his wife.
In November 1755, Montcalm went to Paris, and was offered the command
of the troupes de terre in Canada. He excepted the command and on April 3rd,
the squadron set sail for Canada from the port of Brest. Once he reached
Canada, Montcalm began drilling the men daily. He ordered his men to get
along with the Canadians. The French regulars who came to Canada, and the
Canadians instinctively disliked one another. With the French officers, it
seemed the higher the rank, the stronger the dislike towards the provincials as
can be seen by the following letter;
"Let us beware how we allow the establishment of manufactures in
Canada; she would become proud and mutinous like the English. So
long as France is a nursery to Canada, let not the Canadians be
allowed to trade, but kept to their wandering laborious life with the
savages, and to their military services. they will be less wealthy, but
more brave and more faithful to us."
In an effort to put Canada in a state of adiquate defense, Montcalm
stationed Lévis at Fort Carillon, Bourlamaque at Fort Frontenac, and Captain
Pouchot at Fort Niagara. With these three strongholds securing the Canadian
frontier, Montcalm was then in a position to assume the offensive.
The defenses of Oswego consisted of three forts--Fort Ontario, Fort
Oswego, and Fort George-- the later referred to as "Fort Rascal," due to its
dilapidated condition. Montcalm reached Oswego on August 10th, were after a
well planned attack, managed to over run them. He excepted the surrender of
the three forts on August 14th. After destroying the fortifications, he fell back
to Montreal, departing August 21.
The winter of 1756/57 were spent in days of planning for the spring
offensive. The plan was to capture Fort William Henry, the British stronghold
nearest the shores of Lac Sainte Sacrament (Lake George). The nights were
filled with grand dinners and entertainment.
In the spring, Montcalm began gathering his forces at Fort Carillon
(Ticonderoga) in preparation for the >attack on Fort William Henry. Finally, on
July 29, 1757, the French troops began to put themselves in motion. They
marched in two divisions, the first under Lévis, marched along the western bank
of the lake, while the second went by water. On August 4th, the French forces
began to surround Fort William Henry. The siege having begun, lasted but 5
days. On the morning of August, 9th, the French trenchworks had progressed to
such a point that the defense of William Henry no longer possible. At 7 am., the
garrison raised a white flag and asked to capitulate. The fort was then destroyed,
and reduced to ashes.
In June 1758, Montcalm was again in Montreal organizing for the defense
of Fort Carillon, against which the might of the English was now directed. The
Berry and Languedoc troops continued to arrive at Carillon, and Montcalm
came in about June 25th. It would be that here that Montcalm would win the
greatest victory of his career.
He knew he would have to meet the English before they could reach the
fort. He ordered an earthwork and defile built on the heights across the whole
peninsula of Ticonderoga, about three quarters of a mile from the fort. These
works consisted of a great wall of logs, and an abatis of trees with their branches
sharpened, a hundred feet or so from the trenches. At several points, sacks of
earth with loopholes crowned the entrenchment's. From these, French
musket fire could come from all points in the trenches. The ground fronting the
trench formed a natural glacis, while on the right, an especially the left, the
ground was uneven. At the foot of the ramparts large trees were overturned,
for the distance of a gunshot. Their branches, sharpened into points, were
turned toward the enemy. Montcalm would command the center, the Chevalier
de Lévis, the right, and Colonel de Bourlamaque the left.
On July 5, 1758, the British army left the camp near the ruins of Fort
William Henry in hundreds of batteaux and whale boats, to attack Fort Carillon.
Early in the morning of July 6th the army landed at the northern end of Lake
George and immediatly advanced in four columns.
An advance party of French, under the Sieur de Trepezec had been
watching the landing, and while trying to return to the fort, had stumbled into the
advancing column of George Augustus, Viscount Howe. Howe was killed, and
the British columns demoralized, returned to the landing place on the 6th, but
advanced again on the 7th.
This time they advanced by way of a bridge over the small stream
connecting Lake George with Lake Champlain. The army advanced to the spot
of the present day town of Ticonderoga, where they camped for the night. The
morning of the 8th, the army advanced in three columns to attack the fort.Early
in the morning, the British attacked. In defiance of reason, Abercromby ordered
a frontal assault on the French positions. With the light infantry leading the way,
British and Provincial soldiers attacked again and again. Each time they were
driven back with terrible losses. The battle continued through the hot July day.
In this fight, the 42nd Highlanders suffered greatly. Many of the Highlanders
fought their way through the abatis and some even reached the wall, only to be
killed by bayonet or bullet. The Royal American regiment had losses only less
than the Black Watch. By the end of the day, when Abercromby finally ordered a
retreat, he had lost almost 2000 men, while Montcalm's losses were only about
400. The British and Colonial losses were almost as great as the whole French
defending force. The French were left in command of the field.
"War is the tomb of the Montcalms"
The next great engagement of the conflict for America would be the last for
the Grand General. The final stand to save New France would be at the fortified
city of Québec. Here was a natural fortress with high steep cliffs stretching for
miles on either side of the city. Two rivers enclosed Québec, the Cap Rouge
River flowed into the St Lawrence River west of the city, and the St. Charles
River protected Québec to the east. Cannon were placed at key points on the
cliffs and in the town, making passage up the St Lawrence River below, almost
impossible.
On June 26,1759, a large British naval force anchored off the Island of
Orlean, located in the St. Lawrence River, three miles below Québec. General
James Wolfe, was in command of this large force. He set up his main camp on
the Montmorency, across from Montcalm's trenches. On the 30th of June,
Brigadier General Robert Monckton, second in command, captured Point Lévis,
taking it after a short fight. He set up his own camp there and moved his
artillery into position. From this position, the artillery was able to lay a deadly
fire on Québec less than a mile away. The British cannon fired coniuosly, and
shot rained down on Québec day and night.
Montcalm knew he would not have to fight to win. If he could simply hold
on, avoiding an all out fight until winter, when the freezing of the rivers would
drive the invaders away. To remain until October, would mean trapping the fleet
when the St. Lawrence froze over. The English on the other hand, had to force
Montcalm to fight, either by tricking him down, or by scaling the cliffs.
The English could find no way to directly assault the city, or to breach the
high cliffs. In hopes of drawing the French out of the city, Wolfe gave the orders
to raise the farms to the south of Québec. British light troops were sent out on
both sides of the St. Lawrence, burning farms. The inhabitants were forced to
flee their homes and seek shelter at Québec. This in turn, put a strain on
supplies within the city.
Montcalm, watched all this from his headquarters at Beauport, dispatching
a few parties, but refusing to let his army be drawn from the walls of Québec. He
had no choice but to let Wolfe bombard Québec and burn villages, for every day
Wolfe failed to bring him into battle was a day closer to winter and victory.
General Wolfe decided upon a desperate gamble. He noticed that there
were French batteries at several points along the shore above the high water
line. At low tide, mud flats as much as a half mile wide were exposed for a few
hours each day. His plan was to have troops landed on these mud flats. The first
wave would be the grenadiers. At the same time other regiments of troops
would wade across the Montmorency from the main camp. He hoped Montcalm
would come down from his trenches to save the batteries and be drawn into
battle.
The first wave of 800 grenadiers rowed toward the shore, but submerged
rocks kept the boats from reaching land. The men were forced to wade ashore
under heavy fire. Many men were ripped apart in a hail of musket fire and deadly
cannonballs. In fear and desperation, those who made shore attacked a French
battery with their bayonets fixed. The artillerymen were skewered where they
stood. The second wave soon landed and began scaling the cliffs, the French
began to fire volley after volley down the slope. The grenadiers were killed by
the dozens, their bodies falling to the beach below. Then a heavy rain began and
the cliffside soon became cataract of muddy water. A retreat was sounded and
the English troops began to fall back to their boats. At the end of the day, the
English counted 443 men, killed, wounded, or missing.
The English next planned a landing above Cape Rouge, about 25 miles
west of the city. The area there was lightly defended and offered the best chance
of climbing the cliffs in safety. Once on top, they would cut the French supply
line to Quebec. Montcalm must then fight to reopen the roads or starve.
The English camp on the Montmorency was evacuated and and the army
was concentrated at Point Lévi. Each night a few ships sailed upriver, past the
batteries at Québec, until a squadron of twenty vessels lay west of the city. Each
day the squadron drifted downstream with the ebb tide, as if searching for a
place to land. Then each night it rode upstream on the flood tide. This soon
forced Bougainville's detachment, now at a strength of three thousand, to follow
along the cliffs. The idea was to tire the French, and get them used to seeing
English ships that never attacked. When the French became overconfident, the
attack would occur.
During this time, a inlet was found two miles west of Quebec with an
overgrown path winding up the cliff face. The top was guarded by a company of
Canadian militia under Captain Duchambon de Vergor. Here the English found
the weakness in Québec's defenses.
September 13th, 2:00 A.M., a procession six miles long drifted downstream
on the ebb tide. A whaleboat with twenty-four men, all volunteers, would lead
the way up the cliff and silence the French sentries at the top. The party
landed,and advanced to the cliff. The men scrambled up the path, using clumps
of grass for leverage. Soon, the men cleared the top of the cliff and formed
ranks. They rushed the French sentries, who fired and the fell back towards the
tents. Captain Vergor, being awakened by the shots, rushed out with about
thirty men, to form a defense. He had earlier sent most of his men home to
gather in the crops. A picket of light infantry had by now landed, and Vergor was
caught between the two. All but one of his men excaped by running through the
brush. Captain Vergor, was shot through the foot, while attempting his excape.
The remaining light infantry started up the cliff, General Wolfe was with
them. It was 5:00 A.M. when he reached the top. Meanwhile, the fusillade had
been heard at the battery at Samas, which opened a heavy fire on the English
ships. As the first light of dawn approached, the second wave of troops were in
route to the landing point, under this heavy cannon fire. Colonel Howe was now
dispatched with some light infantry, to capture the batteries. These two artillery
garrisons, being assaulted by superior forces and near being surrounded,
retreated towards Cap Rouge.
As the regiments reached the top, they were marched to their assigned
positions. The left wing extended towards Silvery, the right in the direction of
Québec, the whole line facing the St. Louis road. Before them stretched a broad,
flat strip of land, the Plains of Abraham.
Montcalm was making his morning rounds, when a messenger brought a
note from Governor Vaudreuil. Patrols had spotted the British on the plains.
With the English on the plains, there were no options but to fight.
Montcalm ordered the French regulars be formed up in three lines near the
walls of the city. Militia formed the two wings, regiments of the line in the
center, the Royal Roussillon, then those of Guyenne, Béarn, Languedoc and La
Sarre. Major Dumas commanded the largest party of Canadians on the right.
Some pieces of artillery were brought out. Once formed, Montcalm, in a uniform
of green and gold, rode along the ranks encouraging his men. "Are you tired? ",
he joked. Cheers and laughter rose from the men. "Are you ready my
children?" another cheer arose. With this he raised his sword, and gave the
signal to advance.
The army advanced, three rows deep, with Canadians and Indians on their
flanks. They held their fire until they were within one hundred yards of the
British lines. But their lines became broken while crossing the revine, due to
the rough ground. The opening volley was fired strangely by all three lines at
once, with little affect on the British line. Now the firing became ragged and
scattered, the men firing and reloading on the march.
The English troops stood with their muskets shouldered, bayonets fixed.
When the French had advanced to within forty yards, the English opened fire.
The first rank dropped to one knee. Both ranks leveled their weapons, each of
which were loaded with double ball. The opening volley was devastating. A deep
cut appeared in the first rank. The English reloaded, and taking twenty paces
forward, fired again.
The two French commanders of the La Sarre and Guyenne regiments,
Senezergues and Fontbonne, were mortally wounded, as was the second in
command on the right, M. St. Ours. Then Lieutenant Colonel Privat, of the
Languedoc regiment was critically wounded. Adjutant Malartic had two horses
shot from under him. Montcalm, ran from one point to another trying to rally his
men.
The last volleys were fired with the two armies mere feet apart. With this
final hail of musketballs, the French lines were broken. Those that survived the
volley, were dazed and shaken. The shattered bodies of the dead and wounded
littered the ground. Wolfe gave the order to charge. The British bayonet charge
caused the French center to give way, and the whole army began to turn to the
rear.
The Canadians fell back, but then rallied in some places. In the little woods
on the right, they held back part of the British regulars for a time. Indians and
Canadians were not offered a chance to surrender, French officers though were
sometimes spared.
Montcalm was riding among his men, trying to rally some companies in
front of the St. Louis Gate, when two bullets passed through his body. The first
wound he received in the groin, a fatal wound, followed almost immediately with
one in the thigh. Weakening, he asked two nearby soldiers to hold him up in the
saddle, so as not to cause more panic. In this way he rode through the St. Louis
Gate, to the surgeon. Once there, he was informed that he had but hours to live.
He replied " So much the better, I shall not see the surrender of Quebec."
Louis Joseph Montcalm de Saint Véran, Marquis de Montcalm died early
the next morning and was buried in a shell hole in the convent of the Urseline
nuns.
Died 1759, Quebec, Canada
Montcalm to M. de Berryer: 1757
