Siege of Quebec

Siege of Quebec

Part of: Seven Years War

The destroyed Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church

date	June 26, 1759 to September 18, 1759
place	Québec and environs
output	British victory

Parties to the conflict
Great Britain	France Indian allies
Commander
Army: Jeffrey Amherst James Wolfe Robert Monckton George Townshend James Murray Marine: Charles Saunders Philip Durell Charles Holmes	Army: Pierre de Rigaud Louis-Joseph de Montcalm François-Gaston de Lévis
Troop strength
9,500 army soldiers 49 warships 13,500 marines 119 transport ships 4,500 sailors	4,000 army soldiers 2,600 marines 15,000 militiamen 1,200 Indians 1,500 seamen

The siege of Québec was one of the major events of the Seven Years' War in North America between France and Great Britain . British troops under the command of James Wolfe landed on June 26, 1759 in the vicinity of the city of Québec and established themselves on the offshore Île d'Orléans and on the south bank of the Saint Lawrence River . From July 12, they took the city under heavy artillery fire for several weeks from the opposite bank of the river. The French under Louis-Joseph de Montcalm were able to repel a first attempt at attack on the north bank on July 31 at the Battle of Beauport . In retaliation, the British then destroyed several hundred buildings in the surrounding villages. Finally, after two and a half months of siege, the British managed to cross west of the city onto the north bank. The decisive battle on the Plains of Abraham on September 13th ended with a victory for the British, who then closed the siege ring. On September 18, the remaining French garrison capitulated and the strategically important city of Québec passed into British possession.

Starting position

Delayed Conquest of New France

In June 1757, after a few months in the opposition , William Pitt was reappointed to the British government and formed a coalition with the Duke of Newcastle . As Secretary of State , he pursued the abandoned plans to conquer the French colonies in North America, with Canada as the main target. The campaign of 1758 was a partial success for the British: On July 26th, Admiral Edward Boscawen and Brigadier Jeffrey Amherst took the fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island , four months later General succeeded in taking Fort Duquesne in the Ohio Valley John Forbes . The main goal could not be implemented at first: On July 8, the battle for Fort Carillon ended with a French victory when the troops led by Louis-Joseph de Montcalm repulsed the British under James Abercrombie .

Pitt wanted the British fleet to advance to Québec immediately after taking Louisbourg , but the Royal Navy advised against it due to the approaching winter. Amherst, who had been promoted to commander in chief of British forces in North America, ordered a staggered campaign. Troops were due to advance overland to Montreal in the fall . During this operation took Brigadier John Prideaux , the Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario and could after the Battle of La Belle Famille taking. Meanwhile, the fleet under Vice Admiral Charles Saunders drove up the Saint Lawrence River to just outside Québec to put ground troops ashore to begin the siege of the city. Major General James Wolfe was given the task of defending the outposts in the east and west of New France and thereby forcing the French to split up their troops.

Hardly any support from France

In December 1758, Governor Pierre de Rigaud and Louis-Joseph de Montcalm , commander of the troops of New France , hurriedly dispatched Louis Antoine de Bougainville to Versailles to seek help. The French government was barely able to provide assistance. Montcalm thought the situation was hopeless. Although he was hoping for a large supply of soldiers and ammunition, he was well aware that the Royal Navy would be able to intercept any French ship. He proposed a mock attack on Virginia or Carolina to instigate a slave riot. This would have forced the British to move troops there and take less offensive action against Canada. He also proposed that the most capable Canadian militiamen be included in the French troops. Montcalm asked to be recalled for health reasons. Vaudreuil, in turn, sought the help of the French Navy so that it could take action directly against the enemy in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence or in a diversionary maneuver against British colonies. At the same time he advocated the recall of Montcalm and proposed his deputy François-Gaston de Lévis as his successor.

The French government decided to send four ships with ammunition and equipment, leaving the transport of food to private companies. In addition, 400 additional soldiers, 40 gunners and several engineers were dispatched. It was agreed with Montcalm that Canadian militiamen should join the ranks of the French troops. Montcalm was not recalled, but was promoted to lieutenant general in recognition of his victory at Carillon. Vaudreuil was ordered to consult Montcalm on all matters relating to military operations and defense, and to forward all letters he received from France.

The blockade of the St. Lawrence River, which Vice-Admiral Philip Durell had been charged with, proved a failure. Because of the icy river, he had to keep his ships in Halifax until the end of April 1759 . Unfavorable winds caused a further delay until May 5th. It was not until May 21 that the fleet of ten war ships and three transport ships with 600 soldiers arrived in Le Bic near Rimouski . 16 French ships had already passed this place on May 9th and reached Québec on May 18th. Other convoys - including the Chézine with Bougainville on board - followed over the next few days.

Course of the siege

Preparations

Louis-Joseph de Montcalm

At the beginning of May 1759, the French army command learned of a new expedition against Québec across the St. Lawrence River. Montcalm, who was staying in Montreal, immediately left for Québec to take over the defense of the city. He arrived there on May 22nd and started directing the necessary work. On May 24th, 300 sailors began digging entrenchments on the right (western) bank of the Rivière Saint-Charles . A chain of ports was laid across this river . Further jumps were built between the Montmorency Falls and the city wall. The French battalions that had wintered in Montreal were relocated to Québec. Vaudreuil ordered the mobilization of the entire militia and the evacuation of the area around Québec (the Île d'Orléans , the south bank around today's Lévis , the bank area of Beauport ). The residents poured into the city with valuables and herds of cattle, and the men joined their militia units. All able men between the ages of 16 and 60 were conscripted. In total there were around 15,000 fighters (including around 140 deported Acadians ) who put themselves in the service of the colony, which had 60,000 inhabitants. Montcalm mockingly remarked that half of the militiamen were old people or children. The evacuation of the rural area could not be completed in time, so the residents hid armed in the woods.

On the British side, the expedition against Québec began on June 4th. Saunders' fleet left Louisbourg and sailed up the Saint Lawrence River towards Québec. 49 warships (about a quarter of the entire Royal Navy) carried a crew of 13,500 men. In addition there were 119 requisitioned merchant ships with 4,500 sailors, which had a landing command of 8,500 soldiers on board.

Before Québec

On June 26th, the British fleet reached the Île d'Orléans across from Québec without any problems. French nautical charts and information from captured seamen enabled British pilots to reach their destinations without loss. The British proceeded cautiously and methodically: they systematically sounded out the current and thereby checked the accuracy of the enemy's information. James Cook participated in this work . On June 27, General Wolfe let some of the soldiers go ashore near Saint-Laurent in the south of the Île d'Orléans. They marched ten kilometers to the western tip of the island, where they could see the long French line of defense from the Rivière Montmorency to the city. A little later the British set up their main camp there.

On June 26th, Wolfe had a manifesto circulated to intimidate the population. Copies were posted on the gates of various churches in the days that followed. In it, he threatened the destruction of settlements and crops if the British troops encountered resistance. Late in the evening of June 28, the French left seven Brander float down the river to inflict the greatest possible damage to the anchored off the Ile d'Orléans fleet and to interrupt the landing operations. The fires were lit a little too early, however, so the British managed to pull them away from boats with hooks. The following night, lightly armed British troops disembarked in the south bank area of Beaumont parish . On the morning of June 30th they were followed by four battalions from the Monckton Brigade. The Canadian militia failed to prevent the landing.

Persistent artillery fire

Plan of the siege of Québec in 1759 drawn by FW Des Barres

Also on June 30th, the city gates of Québec were closed. Meanwhile Monckton's unit in the village of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Pointe-de Lévy began immediately opposite the town of artillery - batteries build, at a distance of about 1,200 yards to a mile (about 1100 to 1600 meters). Lieutenant Colonel George Williamson, commander of the artillery, had a first battery set up on July 6th with five 13-inch mortars and six 32-pound cannons . At the end of August, four batteries with 13 mortars and 20 cannons were in use. The batteries were set up along the rock face (at what is now the École Marcelle-Mallet school in Lévis). There was also Lt. Col. Ralph Burton's redoubt .

On the evening of July 12th, around 9 p.m., the artillery opened fire. The city was shelled practically all night for two months, occasionally during the day. From the start of the bombardment until around noon the following day, around 300 storeys penetrated the fortifications. The fire was aimed at the houses in the upper town and the French batteries in the lower town. The Ursuline monastery had already been damaged on the first day of the bombardment , and the nuns had to move to the Hôpital général in the north-west of the city. Despite the severe damage, the Ursuline monastery is one of the few buildings from that era that still stands today.

The worst damage was caused by a considerable number of incendiary projectiles . The projectiles, known as carcasses , triggered several major fires; on July 16 and 22 in the upper town, on August 8 in the lower town. Notre-Dame de Québec Cathedral was destroyed on July 22nd. The fire caused the greatest damage on August 8, when 152 buildings and the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church were destroyed by flames. A British dispatch dated August 10th read: “We have already fired more than three times as much ammunition as in the siege of Louisbourg.” On September 2nd, Williamson reported that there were “2,498 30-inch shells and 1,920 shells 10 ", 283 10" incendiary bullets, 93 10 "incendiary bullets, 11,500 24 pound cannonballs and 1,589 32 pound cannonballs were fired. Due to the low powder reserves, the French batteries had little to counter this massive bombardment.

Battle of Beauport

On the night of July 8th to 9th, British forces went ashore east of Montmorency Falls unmolested and set up camp about 1.2 km from the east end of the French fortifications at Beauport . On July 30th, James Wolfe decided to launch an attack, which could not be carried out until the following day due to unfavorable winds. He wanted to take a redoubt to lure the French out of their trenches. Too late, he realized that the British were within range of the French, but ordered the attack to continue. Further troops could only be deployed with a delay of a few hours. Fierce French resistance and a summer thunderstorm that soaked the powder supplies that had been brought with them forced Wolfe to retreat. The Battle of Beauport ended in a French victory; the British suffered 443 casualties, the French 60.

Punitive expeditions

Goreham expeditions

After the defeat of Beauport, Wolfe ordered the fortification of his camp at the Montmorency Fall. It kept his men busy until he came up with a new plan of attack. On August 3, he gave James Murray the order to attempt an attack against the ammunition and provisions depot in Trois-Rivières and to divide and divert the enemy through several landings west of Québec. This mission lasted until August 25th.

On August 4, more than a month after the first manifesto was circulated to the population, Wolfe began to act on his threat and ordered the demolition of settlements and facilities in the area. With the retaliatory actions he commissioned Joseph Goreham, who was assigned 150 rangers . In a letter to Monckton on August 6, Wolfe suggested setting fire to "all the houses in the village of Saint-Joachim on the Rivière Montmorency" and, if Goreham returned in time, he would give him all the reinforcements he needed to take care of all the buildings between the Rivière Destroy Chaudière and the Rivière Etchemin .

Goreham and his men set out for the village of Baie-Saint-Paul on August 6 , which they destroyed three days later. The expedition moved on to La Malbaie, ten miles east, and devastated everything on the way. After destroying part of the parish of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière , they returned on August 15th. On the same day Wolfe wrote to Monckton: "All houses and stables between the Rivière Etchemin and the Rivière Chaudière could be set on fire at the first opportunity." As soon as they arrived at the camp, Goreham's men set off on another expedition. On August 23, they were in Montmorency and began demolishing all buildings up to Saint-Joachim. There were also fires on the Île d'Orléans on the same day.

The destruction of the villages did not take place without resistance. The Rangers encountered several groups of French Canadians and Native Americans defending their property, as well as those of their neighbors and parents. Goreham's troops had been reinforced by 300 soldiers from the 43rd Regiment on the orders of Captain Alexander Montgomery to oppose the militia around M. de Portneuf, the pastor of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré . With a cannon, the British forced the defenders to leave the houses in which they had barricaded themselves. Portneuf's thirty-strong militia unit was captured, killed and scalped.

Scott Expedition

Wolfe wrote on August 22nd, "I intend to burn down all of the enemy's buildings and crops on the south bank." Major George Scott was entrusted with the command of this second punitive expedition. On September 1, Scott's unit broke up and sailed down the river to Île Madame, a small island northeast of Île d'Orléans. She cast off there on September 3 and reached the south bank of the Saint Lawrence River on the afternoon of September 6. The following day, Scott's men anchored near Kamouraska . Scott sent a patrol to scout the area. On September 9, the unit set fire to 56 buildings in Kamouraska, and a day later another 109 buildings.

Scott's unit marched on to Rivière-Ouelle on September 11 , where 121 buildings were set on fire. On September 12 and 13, 271 buildings followed in the area. 151 buildings were destroyed between Rivière-Ouelle and Sainte-Anne, and another 90 between Sainte-Anne and Saint-Roch. Scott wrote in his report on September 19 that his unit had marched a total of 52 miles and had “998 good houses, two Slups , two schooners , ten sloops , several boats and small sails destroyed, 15 prisoners taken (including six women and five children), five enemies killed ”. A regular soldier was wounded, two rangers were killed and four other rangers were wounded.

In mid-September, the British Army reported "more than 1,400 farms destroyed" in the rural areas of Québec on both sides of the river. The Boston Newsletter , a New England newspaper , reported on the December 6th and estimated that it would take the enemy nearly half a century to recover.

New plan of attack

James Wolfe

While the British soldiers bombed the city and sacked and burned the area, Wolfe devised a new plan of attack. His health deteriorated in mid-August and on August 19 he had to go to bed with a fever attack. According to Captain John Knox, by August 25th he was on the mend. Finally, on August 27th, he decided to consult his brigadiers, which he had never done before. He proposed three courses of action, all of which involved an attack on the Beauport defensive line. French deserters had reported that the city was running out of supplies, which is why it would soon surrender in an attack.

The three brigadiers Robert Monckton , George Townshend and James Murray met on August 28 and conferred with Vice Admiral Charles Saunders. In a report dated August 29, they concluded that the attack plans presented were unsuitable and that the army should attack the city from the west instead. They recommended an attack on Pointe-aux-Trembles , followed immediately by an entrenchment at the nearest suitable point. Wolfe accepted the suggestions of his subordinates, but a little later he modified this idea and decided, without much discussion, to start the attack in the small bay of Anse au Foulon near Sillery .

From September 3, the British completely cleared their camp near Montmorency. Wolfe left the Carleton-led Royal Americans in their camp on the Île d'Orléans and the 48th Regiment led by Burton at Pointe-Lévy. He moved most of the army west along the south bank to a point opposite the mouth of the Rivière Etchemin. The military equipment was transported upriver in boats at night and the soldiers marched along the bank. A few days later, everything was ready to transport the soldiers across the St. Lawrence River. On September 12, Wolfe and his brigadiers met aboard HMS Sutherland to prepare the battle plan. During the night, Saunders' fleet maneuvered off Beauport to simulate a landing operation.

Battle on the Plains of Abraham

→ Main article : Battle on the Plain of Abraham

Quebec Bishop's Palace and surrounding ruins

On the morning of September 13th, the British soldiers crossed over to the north bank of the Saint Lawrence River by boat. From a guard post, the French noticed boats on the river, but mistakenly assumed it was a French supply convoy. By sunrise, Wolfe's army had successfully positioned above the slopes of the Colline de Québec . The reaction of the French was initially very hesitant, as they had actually expected the attack in the east near Beauport. The British used the full width of the high plateau and advanced on the city. On the Abraham Plain there was an open field battle in the European military manner of the 18th century, the only one of its kind during the Seven Years' War in North America. The British were able to repel a first attack by the French and then went on the offensive. Wolfe was fatally wounded, while Montcalm sustained serious injuries and the latter died a day later. Under James Murray's command, the British were able to close the siege ring. On September 18, the French garrison gave up and surrendered.

literature

• Guy Frégault: La Guerre de la Conquête . Fides, Montreal 2009, ISBN 978-2-7621-2989-2 .
• D. Peter MacLeod: La vérité sur la bataille des plaines d'Abraham . Les éditions de l'Homme, Montreal 2008, ISBN 978-2-7619-2575-4 (translated from English by Marie José Thériault).
• Gaton Deschênes: L'Année des Anglais: la Côte-du-Sud à l'heure de la Conquête . Septentrion, Sillery 1998, ISBN 2-921114-00-3 .
• Jacques Lacoursière: Histoire populaire du Québec . Septentrion, Québec 1998, ISBN 2-921114-00-3 .
• Charles Perry Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle . MacMillan, Toronto 1959.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 1.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 2.
3. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 19.
4. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. Pp. 20-21.
5. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 22.
6. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 25.
7. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 23.
8. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 8.
9. ↑ Frégault: La Guerre de la Conquête. P. 330.
10. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 40.
11. ↑ Frégault: La Guerre de la Conquête. P. 337.
12. ↑ Frégault: La Guerre de la Conquête. P. 336.
13. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 5 and 8.
14. ^ MacLeod: La vérité sur la bataille des plaines d'Abraham. P. 50.
15. ^ MacLeod: La vérité sur la bataille des plaines d'Abraham. P. 55.
16. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 51.
17. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 88.
18. ^ Lacoursière: Histoire populaire du Québec. P. 299.
19. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 52.
20. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 53.
21. ^ Lacoursière: Histoire populaire du Québec. P. 299.
22. ↑ ^{a b} MacLeod: La vérité sur la bataille des plaines d'Abraha. P. 70.
23. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 63.
24. ↑ ^{a b} Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 64.
25. ↑ Frégault: La Guerre de la Conquête. P. 341.
26. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 65.
27. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. Pp. 75-80.
28. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 81.
29. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 88.
30. ↑ ^{a b c} Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 90.
31. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 89.
32. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 91.
33. ^ ^{A b} Deschênes: L'Année des Anglais: la Côte-du-Sud à l'heure de la Conquête . Pp. 145-146.
34. ↑ Frégault: La Guerre de la Conquête. P. 342.
35. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 93.
36. ↑ ^{a b} Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 95.
37. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 179.
38. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 103.
39. ↑ Stacey: Quebec, 1759: The Siege and The Battle. P. 104.

Coordinates: 46 ° 48 '18 "  N , 71 ° 13' 48"  W.