The war was over and the spirit was broken
The hills were smokin' as the men withdrew
We stood on the cliffs, oh and watched the ships
Slowly sinking to their rendezvous
They signed a treaty and our homes were taken
Loved ones forsaken, they didn't give a damn
Trying to raise a family, end up the enemy
Over what went down on the plains of AbrahamAcadian driftwood
Gypsy tail wind
They call my home the land of snow
Canadian cold front movin' in
What a way to ride
Oh, what a way to go
(Robbie Robertson, Acadian Driftwood)
On September 13, 1759 a British army under the command of General James Wolfe defeated a French force under command of Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham, overlooking the city of Quebec. The entire battle was over in less than an hour. Both Wolfe and Montcalm died of wounds received on the field. Montcalm had ordered a hasty column attack, but Wolfe had ordered his troops to double shot their muskets and to hold fire until the French were within 20 yards. The ensuing volley devastated the French column.
As the French approached, the British lines held their fire. Wolfe had devised a firing method for stopping French column advances in 1755 that called for the centre – in this case, the 43rd and 47th Foot regiments – to hold fire while waiting for the advancing force to approach within 20 yards, then open fire at close range. Wolfe had ordered his soldiers to charge their muskets with two balls each in preparation for the engagement.[45] Captain John Knox, serving with the 43rd Foot, wrote in his journal that as the French came within range, the regiments "gave them, with great calmness, as remarkable a close and heavy discharge as I ever saw." After the first volley, the British lines marched forward a few paces towards the shocked French force and fired a second general volley that shattered the attackers and sent them into retreat.[46] A British Army historian later described the British fire thus: "With one deafening crash, the most perfect volley ever fired on a battlefield burst forth as from a single monstrous weapon."[47]
Wolfe, positioned with the 28th Foot and the Louisbourg Grenadiers, had moved to a rise to observe the battle; he had been struck in the wrist early in the fight, but had wrapped the injury and continued on. Volunteer James Henderson, with the Louisbourg Grenadiers, had been tasked with holding the hill, and reported afterwards that within moments of the command to fire, Wolfe was struck with two shots, one low in the stomach and the second, mortal wound in the chest.[48][49] Knox wrote that one of the soldiers near Wolfe shouted "They run, see how they run." Wolfe, upon being told that the French had broken, gave several orders, then turned on his side, said "Now, God be praised, I will die in peace," and died.
Within four years, France ceded eastern Canada to the British. The website for the Plains of Abraham battlefield can be found here.
