Battle of the Plains of Abraham Essay Example

the East side of Quebec, from the city to the Montmorency river in a series of earthworks (the line was about 9 kilometers long). The defenses proved to be effective, a forced Wolf to probe unsuccessfully and ravage the nearby settlements until September.

By then, Montcalm had sent 3,000 men to Cap Rouge to observe British ship activities. On the 12th of September, Wolf made his final decision regarding the landing site. He chose L’Anse-au-Foulon – a cove lying 53 meters below the plateau above and 3 km from the city. That same night, 3,300 British regulars crushed the French picket and assembled on the plateau, The Plains of Abraham. Montcalm moved immediately, believing that were the British to dig and bring up artillery, he would be unable to push them back into the St. Lawrence.

Thus, instead of waiting for the 3,000 men upriver that could attack the British from behind or to assemble all the men he had in the fortifications along the St. Lawrence (in all he would have about 13,400 men), Montcalm only brought 3,500 men from Quebec for the battle. On the 13th, Wolf arranged his troops across the Plains of Abraham, anchored on the flanks by the St. Lawrence to the right and a bluff and thick wood on the left. To cover this kilometer wide area, Wolf stretched his troops into two ranks rather than the usual three.

French irregulars attacked the British left, taking cover in the tress and bushes, and were the only part of the French army to see any success that day. Montcalm ordered his troops into different formations. His regular

troops were positioned in the conventional three ranks, the militia in six and the least dependable in column. At 10 am, Montcalm ordered the attack. The French commenced their approach without response from the British. Finally, the French fired two disorganized volleys at their enemies and started forward again.

The British, more or less unscathed, fired a volley, then marched forward and fired a second (they had charged their muskets with two musket balls each in preparation), which shattered French morale, who broke ranks and ran towards Quebec. During the battle, both Wolf and Montcalm were struck by shots, Wolf died after being told that the French were routing and Montcalm passed away the next morning in Quebec city. Covered by irregular and cannon fire, French forces were able to retreat to Quebec while the victorious English (now under Townshend) had to reform to counter the threat from the 3,000 French on their way to Quebec from Cap-Rouge.

The battle resulted in 644 French casualties to 658 British dead. Following the battle, the majority of the French army abandoned Quebec and the defensive works to the East of the City, marching west to combine with the 3,000 men. Quebec was left under the command of Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Roch de Ramezay who, on the 18th surrendered Quebec to the British. The battle had a huge impact on the war in North America. The remaining French troops attempted to re-take Quebec but were unable due to lack of siege equipment and reinforcements.

French forces retreated to their last Canadian stronghold - Montreal. Montreal, in turn, surrendered on the 8th of September 1760. Following the capture of

Montreal, French resistance had collapse, and there were no more real threats to the new British territories of North America. In the treaty of Paris, which officially ended the 7 years war in North America, France ceded the Louisiana territory to Spain to compensate for Spain’s losses, and regained Guadeloupe and Martinique as well as Saint Pierre and Miquelon and fishing rights in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence.

While the Battle of the Plains of Abraham was not particularly large and caused few deaths on both sides, it was one of the most important battles fought on Canadian soil. The results were the deaths of the Marquis de Montcalm and general Wolf, as well as the British capture of Quebec. The capture of the city forced the remainder of French forces to Montreal, allowing all English armies in North America to converge on the town, ending any opportunity of opposition. The Battle of the Plains of Abraham was thus the battle that sealed the fate of the continent.