Wolfe and Montcalm : Their Lives, Their Times, and the Fate of a Continent

by Carroll, Joy

• ISBN13: 9781552979051
• ISBN10: 1552979059
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-07-31
• Publisher: Firefly Books Ltd

Summary

A fascinating profile of two generals who shaped history.In 1759, after the battle on the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec City, the English general James Wolfe and the French general, Louis-Joseph Montcalm lay mortally wounded, each hit by a sniper's bullet. Neither could know that the outcome on the Plains of Abraham would shape the history of both the United States and Canada.After researching letters and journals and reading dozens of books, Joy Carroll has written a compelling account of the lives and times of the two generals which is both intimate and entertaining while maintaining the highest standards of historical accuracy. The generals shed their stuffy textbook images and emerge as real people who were brave, ambitious and colorful and coped with trials that would have broken the spirits of lesser men.Wolfe and Montcalm is packed with fascinating accounts of the generals' mothers, lovers, friends, enemies, kings and moments of consuming passion, and the events that led up to the battle that changed the course of history. Find out what these men were really like. Read the true story of how they ended up in the French colony. How the British government failed Wolfe and the rulers of France abandoned Montcalm and how Wolfe won. Although the battle on the Plains of Abraham is the centerpiece of this work, the book also presents a rich tapestry of eighteenth century North America, France and England.

Author Biography

Joy Carroll began her writing career as a journalist on a daily newspaper and after writing a bestselling historical romance turned to Canadian history for subsequent books.

Table of Contents

Prologue	13	(4)
PART ONE	17	(84)
1: Wolfe's Military Heritage	19	(9)
2: Horrors and Heroics	28	(14)
3: Montcalm's Army Career	42	(17)
4: Whispers at Court	59	(11)
5: Siege of Fort William Henry	70	(10)
6: Ticonderoga: Montcalm's Stunning Victory	80	(13)
7: Unrest in the Colony	93	(8)
PART TWO	101	(82)
8: The Walls of Louisbourg	103	(11)
9: The Worst Posting in Canada	114	(10)
10: The King and His Mistress	124	(6)
11: Hoping for Another Miracle	130	(11)
12: Bitter Exchanges: Townshend and Wolfe	141	(9)
13: Montmorency Falls: Wolfe's First Major Defeat	150	(11)
14: General Wolfe Is on the Recovery	161	(14)
15: Wolfe's Letter to Pitt	175	(8)
PART THREE	183	(95)
16: A Hazardous Scheme	185	(17)
17: Enemy Forces Seem Considerable	202	(9)
18: The Plains of Abraham	211	(16)
19: Wolfe Killed, Montcalm Fatally Wounded	227	(13)
20: Holding the Fort	240	(9)
21: A Public Scandal	249	(8)
22: A Final Clash	257	(9)
23: The Honours of War	266	(12)
Afterword	278	(12)
Bibliography	290	(3)
Index	293

Excerpts

Prologue The Battle That Gave England Half a Continent "The officers and men will remember what a determined body of soldiers inured to war is capable of doing against five weak French battalions mingled with a disorderly peasantry" -- Major-General James Wolfe, on the eve of the battle One morning in the fall of 1759, ten thousand men gathered on an empty tract of land just west of Quebec. In those days, soldiers dressed to kill. British privates fought in scarlet jackets faced with yellow and tall caps embroidered with the letters GR for George Rex. French regulars wore big black tricorns and long greyish-white coats with brass buttons that glinted in the sun. Each array of troops flew a national flag: the sleek gold lilies of France on white silk, and England's flame-red cross of St. George over St. Andrew's white cross on a sea of blue. They were about to fight a battle that would determine the future of North America. And yet the presence of Major-General James Wolfe and his little army on the Plains of Abraham was, in itself, impossible. The field was a small square of grass and corn stalks perched two hundred feet above the mighty St. Lawrence. A few miles upriver from the fortress of Quebec, one faint trail led up the sheer bank and a second was clogged with fallen trees. General Louis-Joseph Montcalm had scoffed at his cohorts' fears that Wolfe might land on the beach, climb to the plateau and threaten the town. "We need not suppose that the enemy has wings," he told Canada's ruling council. But he was wrong, and his next pronouncement on the subject was less fanciful: "There they are where they should not be!" At dawn on September 13 the sky over Quebec was leaden. Both generals dreaded thunderstorms because pouring rain stopped musket fire and violent winds ruined even the cleverest plan. This morning, troops on both sides were revved up for a final confrontation -- and it had to take place before the men lost their edge. The lateness of the season was a factor, too. Winter was approaching and a death-struggle in the snow was out of the question. Who was going to control Canada? The issue needed to be settled. The siege of Quebec, occurring at "half-time" in the Seven Years' War, was the most decisive battle in the eighteenth century. This conflict, which for many years had been called the French and Indian War, was based mostly upon squabbles between France and England over colonies. England turned these endless skirmishes into a larger conflict by declaring war on France on May 18, 1756. France responded in June. The two countries had been warring for centuries for one reason or another, so the latest outbreak came as no surprise. Three years later, the battle on the Plains of Abraham was part of this ongoing struggle. The generals who fought it were players in a drama that had consequences they could never have imagined. The two armies faced each other. The rain stopped. Tension mounted as officers on both sides tried to make themselves heard above the clamour of rattling gun-carriages, cursing soldiers and keening bagpipes. The rules of combat on an open field were rigid: all rows of costumed puppets must be in place, the lines perfectly straight; and they must be ready to wheel like clockwork. An hour passed before both generals were satisfied, and by then the sun had come out from behind the clouds. When at last the French advanced, it was a pretty sight: pale waves of white and blue rushing toward a frail scarlet ribbon sparked with gold. Uniforms were brighter than the autumn leaves, for this was a time when kings dressed their troops in the fancy outfits of the toy soldiers they had loved as children. But there was a practical side to the dazzle, too. In hand-to-hand fighting, a man could identify his enemy by the colour of his coat. The idea of camouflaging armies was still far in the future, unless yo