Osprey, Men-at-Arms #023 Montcalms Army (1973) OCR 8.00

OSPREY· MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES

on/calms

cJ£rmy Text by

MARTIN WINDROW Colour plates by

MICHAEL ROFFE

MEN -AT-ARMS S ERI E S E D I T O R : PHI LI P WARNER

on/calms rmy T ext by

MARTIN WINDROW

Colour plates by

MICHA EL RO F F E

O SPR EY P UBLI SHI N G L IM ITED

Published in 19 73 by O sprey Publish ing Ltd, P.O. Box 25, 707 Oxford R oad , R eadi ng, Berk shire © Copyright 1973 O sprey Publish ing Lt d This book is copyrigh ted under the Berne Convention. All righ ts reser ved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private stud y, research , criticism or rev iew , as permitted under th e Copyri ght Act, 1956, no part of th is publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system , or tran smitted in any form or by any means, elec tronic, electrical, chemical, m ech a nical , optica l, photocop ying, recording or otherwise, without the pr ior permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the Pu blishers. The au tho r wo uld like to re cord his gratit ude to th ose who gave va lua ble help during th e prepara tio n of thi s book, no tably G . A. Embleton, R . G. W indrow a nd P. Gid a ly. T he ed itor of Tradition wa s kind enoug h to give his permission for th e reproduction of certain material first published in past issues of th at magazin e. Th e main source works con sulted were , not surprising ly, Fra ncis Pa rk ma n 's monumental wo rk Mon tcalm and Wolfe, first p ubli shed in 1884 a nd curre ntly ava ila ble in a 1964 edition from Eyre & Spottiswood e ; and th e series of co lour pl ates of Fren ch troops published by M . Eu gen e Leliepvre, th e mu ch-respect ed Fr en ch authority. ISfi N

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Printed in Grea t Britain by J arrold & Sons Ltd , No rw ich

UYWntctlll1is ~11ry

[ntroduaion

The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 did not lon g postpon e the final confrontation between Britain and Fra nce in North America . The whole continent, with the exce ption of th e thirteen British colonies on the eas t coast and residual Spanish hold ings in the far south and west was claimed by Louis XV as 'New France' . W it h strategic areas of settlement a long th e St Lawrence and the Great Lak es, a nd up the Mississippi from Louisiana on the Gulf co ast, France could throw a noose around th e Thirteen Colonies. Already penned behind th e natural barrier of the Ap palachians, the ir westward expansion could be fr ustrated by th is chain of Fren ch forts , blockhouses, trading pos ts, and mission s, a nd, most important in practice, by th e 'buffer ' of Indi an tribes manipulated by Fra nce. Fr an ce's weakness lay in numbers. The noos e looked impressive on a map, but wa s only ligh tly woven . In all her Am eri can possessions France had onl y a bo u t 80,000 colonists, some 5 5 ,000 of th em in Can ada. The bulk of th e remainder were in Acadia (ro ughly, mod ern Nova Scotia) and far -off Loui sian a ; th e chain of settlements up the Mis sissippi was ve ry weakly populated. I ronicall y, th e Rom an Catho lic Church in France was bu sily persecutin g the Hugu enots - a resourceful and able section of th e population, admirably suited for pion eer ventures - while refusing them th e chance to emigra te ; th e colon ies wer e reserved for orthodox Catholics only. If dogmatic bigotry denied the colonies muchneed ed new blood, at least it h elped ensure that

wh at co lonists t he re were follow ed th e path of ob edien ce. Canada was Old France in mi cro cosm, a feudal Catho lic sta te tra nspl anted to the wilderness. T he Governor-General had his little V ersailles a t Quebec. T he great hereditary seigneurs held hu ge land-grants fro m th e Crown, a nd the do cile pea santry work ed the m . All ed uca tion - and th e mean s to withhold it if conve nien t - lay with th e Church . But whil e Cana da h ad many of th e vices of th e mother co untry, including a deep ly entre nc he d cor rup tion wh ich ham strung th e colonial a d mi nistration, a t least the local gentry had esca pe d the effeminacy of m an y of th eir Fren ch cousins, a nd the peasants th e a bject mi sery of thos e

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E ngraving of a n o ffi cer salu ting wit h his fusil. N o te p articula rly the g orget worn by this . fi gure, a n d the hearts s tit c h e d into the coattails. This, and the other e n g r a vin gs in the same s e ries which a p pear in this book, are f roID the Exer cice d e

l ' Infanterie Francoise of 1757. T hey wer e d r awn by an officer of t he Grenadiers de la Gar d e n alDed Baudouin, a n d officer s and lDen w ear t he uniforIU of t hat unit.

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at hom e. This was a fron tier co m m u nity, whether feud al or no t, a nd a ce r ta in frontier h ard iness was it s sav ing grace. The Thi rt een Colonies had no sho r tage o f A . New HOmp snireo popula tion; by a bou t 1 7 5 0 th er e wer e 1,600,000 e. Mon oc nVle tts of them . In vivi d co n tras t to th eir French cou n terc. Rkode Island pa rts, h ow ever , th ey were a n unru ly a nd uncoD. Cono lkt'e.vl E. N e w York ord inated bro od whose d omesti c sq uab bles did F. N eow Je uey t hem unt old d am age aga in a nd again . Th e p ainful G . Pen n sy lva n ia bir th-pangs of d em ocr acy co uld ha rdly h ave come H. De law ar e a t a wo rse time. When France began to move 1. M a r yla nd J. V i rginia against th em , a nd th eir London-appoint ed goverK. Nort h Co rollno nors went to th e colonia l legisla tures with bill s for th e raising of m en a nd money for vital d efen ce '0I m easures, the colonies resisted what they wer e in clined to interpret as a d eviou s plo t to end anger their civil liberties. Unit ed o nly in their ultim ate alleg ia nce to King G eo rge, the co lonies viewe d eac h other with ind iffer ence or downrigh t sus picion . T hey wer e mentall y a nd physica lly remote; th eir hysteri cal d eb ates d ragged on wi th a blissful TH E d isregard for th e actual threat to th eir fu ture, a nd THIRTEEN COLON IES any parsim oniou s vo te of m en a nd m eans was passed only wh en th e fair-haired scalps wer e already dry on th e lod ge-p oles of th e Abenaki villages. For F rance had d ecid ed to stunt th e a long th e western frin ge of the British set tle me n ts. gro w th of the British co lo ni es by th e easiest .a nd With th e exce p tio n of th e Ne w Engl ander s, a nd most effective m eans a va ila ble - th e stirring up of particularly th e dour Yankees of M assachusetts, th e savage tribes who inh a bited the forested hills th e colo nists wer e in no st at e to d efend th emselves. For her maj or effor t France co nc en trated on the Ohio Valley, lin chpin of th e pla n ned a n ti-British belt a long the frontier. The Indians of the regi on included Delawares, W yandot s, Sh awanoes, Mingo es, Nipissings, Ottawas, a nd A ben a kis; a nd in recent years the in cursion s of Brit ish colonia l fur-trad ers h ad seriously d amaged French influence - and trade - in th e area. The first ste p was for officers of th e 'colony troops' (the Compagnies Franches de La Marin e, the local F ren ch gendarmerie) to travel throughout th e area lecturi ng th e tribes on th eir duty to th e Great F ren ch Father Across th e Sea, and on the p erfidy of the V irgini an a nd P ennsylvanian traders. A t th e same time the J esuit missionaries launch ed a great spi rit ual a nd political drive, based on th eir mi ssions a t L a Presentation, Lorette, St Francis, and elsewhere. Energetic priests, such a s the formid a bl e A b be Sketch-rrrap of the eastern half of the North Anterican continent in the 1750s, front the coast to the Mississippi. Pi cquet , lured th e tribes from th eir villages, French posses sions s u r r o u n d the Thirteen Colonies and vulne ra ble to th e British tr ader s, in to gre a t ca m ps prevent w e stwards expansion. (R.G.W.) 4

around th e mission s. T hese were chapels, fort s, expe dition of colony troops a nd militia down La ke and trading sta tions combi ned, staffed by both Erie in th e spring of 1753, and established for ts at priests and sold iers. The mission a ries were as much Presqu'ile a nd Le Bceuf, So me 300 men garrisoned political age nts as clergy men . In the ir forti fied th em in th e winter of 1753-4, when a n embassy settleme nts th ey preached a version of the Gos pel from Virginia, led by a young Major George which gave th e savages a pro per grasp of the utter Washington, arrived to d emand Frenc h withevil of th e British, without bothering their sim p le drawal from lands ' . . . so notorio usly known to be head s with niceti es of histori cal a ccuracy or moral th e property of the Crown of Great Brit ain' . H e judgm ent. H ere th ey ca rried on a brisk trade in received an evasive a nswer, great courtesy to his furs; a nd here they organized war-parties of face, a nd a war-p arty on his tr a il as he struggled Indian s a nd hardly less ba rbaric Canadian bush- through th e frozen for est o n a nightmare return rangers, to harry th e Brit ish fro ntie r set tle ments. journey. The I nd ians of the Ohio Valley were Here br andy barrels were tomah awked ope n positively fawning on th e French. Governor beside th e fires on which were ro asted the gifts of D inwiddie of Virginia, a tireless old watchdog for French catt le. H er e the wa r-belt was p assed from H is M aj esty' s inter ests, obtain ed permission an d hand to hand, and the war-song was sung,' while at length - means to com bat th e threat. H is procynica l Fren ch officers yawned be hind their hands vincial troops tri ed to esta blish a for t near the at the interminable speec hes of self-praise in whi ch Fo rks of th e O h io, but wer e chas ed off in April the Indians delighted . H ere the fin e Charleville 1754 by 500 French, who prom ptly erected th e muskets and the bright new h at ch et s wer e distri bu ted , th e powder an d ball, the stee l sca lpingknifes. And h ere the satiate d trib esmen re turned, fresh scalps reeking a t their belt s, herding halfcrazed white wo men to a life of slavery, or prisoners d estined for a hideou s d eath within earshot of the uncaring Frenc h agents. It was a strange gospel that th e Abbe Pi cquet prea ch ed , but it proved palatable. F ren ch influen ce grew, the tribes became infecte d with sca lp-fever as never befor e, a nd th e Bri tish traders we re expelled . Even some clans of the Five Nations wer e seduced from the lon g-st anding amity between Iroquois and British.

VI RG I N IA

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T he a rriva l in 1752 of the new Governor-Ge neral, Duquesne, ope ne d a new phase. Until now the struggle for su premacy had bee n ca rried on a t second hand, with Indians; now F ren ch uniforms would be seen on the fron tier. Duquesn e sent a n

The Ohio V alley region, cock p i t for battle throughout the war. George Washington a n d the Virginia Regiment were beaten by t he French at Fort Necessity in 1754; Braddock and the 44th and 48th F o ot were massacred on the Monongahela n ear Fort Duque sne in 1755; and Forbes eventu a lly took o ver the d e s erted remains of Fort Duquesne in 1758. The normal r o ute of French access was down the Allegheny f rom the settlemen ts on the s o u t h e rn shore of Lake Erie; that o f the British and provincials, up the Potomac f rom Alexandria . The main Indian tribes of the area a r e indicated here , a lth o u g h it was a time of great freedom of movement among the native population. (R.G.W.)

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formida ble Fort Du qu esne on th e site so conveniently cleared. In M ay a confused skirmish led Fr ench and Virginia n troops in to a fire-figh t for th e first tim e; and a ltho ugh it was to be tw o years befor e war was officia lly declar ed betw een Fran ce and Brit ain , matters now develop ed on th e fro n tier as if th e decla rati on had already bee n made. In July '754 th e Vi rgini a p rovincials wer e bloode d, a nd humiliat ed , by a la rge for ce of colony troop s and militia a t ' Fo rt Necessity' , an entre nc hed camp near Great M eadows. Throughout th e Thirt een Coloni es a la rme d gove rn ors went to the ir assem blies for gra nts to raise men to d efend th e newly threaten ed frontier. Those worthy bodi es fulfilled Fren ch hop es, by doin g all th ey could to thw art thi s necessar y provision. Only M assachusetts , ene rge tic as a lways , an swer ed the trumpet-c all promptly. Of th e othe rs, som e rejec ted th e bills out of ha nd ; some took refuge in a smug pa cifism; some prevaricat ed ; a nd some gleefully adde d such con stitutionally controversial ride rs th at th e fuming gove rnors could not possibly

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Baudouin plate s h o w i n g a soldier of the front rank of the battle line in the drill position, ' R e a d y your arlUs!'

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a pp rove the bills as a whol e. M eanwhile alarm was growing in London . Officiall y th er e was peace ; it suited the d evious minds of Whitehall ad mirably for th e far-off colonies to pay for their own defenc e. On th e other hand it would never do for th ese unruly children to acquire skill through fam iliarity at raising regiments of a rme d men . It seemed unavoidable, even to th e dim-witted Duke of N ewcastle (unde r whose rule En gla nd currently blundered along) that regular troops sho uld be sent to the Americas. No soon er had the news reach ed V ersaill es than Louis XV, too, prep ared a n expeditionary forc e. Both govern ments p rotested th eir peaceful intentions ; and while th e diplomats smil ed and lied, th e soldiers wer e mu ster ed. Britain had a large and formidabl e navy, but a weak and ill-led army. France had a weak navy , but a large army. Its leadership was not up to the standard achieved in the days of th e great Turenne and Saxe, thanks to th e meddling of La Pompadour, but it was a formidabl e instrument. Britain, whose interests would be serv ed best by hasty surgical action in the Ohio Valley, go t her fleet to sea first ; about 1,000 men of the 44th and 48th Foot, under Major-General Edwa rd Braddock, took ship from Cork in J anuary 1755. By April his army lay around Alexandria, Virginia, and recruiting was under way - both to b rin g the regular battalions up to strength a nd to provid e provincial support. Braddock, Dinwiddie, a nd Gov ernor Shirley of Massachusetts had agreed on a strategic plan. Braddock was to m arch on Fort Duquesne with his redcoats, th e most powerful force on the continent. (T h e Fren ch convo y still lay at Brest, dogged by del ays.) An expedi tion of New England provincials was to cauteri ze, a t long last, the running sore of French ac tivity in Nova Scotia. New England, N ew York, and New J ersey provincials would march on th e key F re nch position of Crown Point on th e shore of Lake Champlain, under the comma nd of William Johnson of New York ; he was a po pu la r and influential backwoods baron with a notable skill at managing relations with the M oh awk Indians, who worshipped him. The Fren ch post a t Niagara, on the southern shore of Lak e Ontario, would be taken by Shirley with two new provin cial regiments tak en into th e King's pay, a nd named 'S hirley's' a nd ' Peppe rell' s' . Canada would thus

George Washington, whose Virginian provincial troops fought the action which sparked off open hostilities in 1754, was present a t Braddock's massacre during the a b ortiv e advance on Fort Duquesne in 1755, and finally saw the abandoned ruins of the fort captured by Forbes ' s colurrm in the winter of 1758-(). This interesting old print purport s t o s h o w him saluting the raising of the British flag o ver the f o rt. It is correct in including Highlanders,

provincials and scouts on the scene, but incorrect in its implication that Washington was responsible for the s u c ce ss of the campaign. In fact the fort was taken over in the depths of a s n o w b o und winter, and its capture !naY be attributed equally to the poor French supply situation after reverses on Lake Ontario: the neglect of the Indian alliance by the commandant: and the detennination of the gallant Forbes himself. (P. H. Gidaly)

be cut off from her western ou tpos ts, which must perish. On 6 July 1755 an India n scout reported to Captain Contrecceur of the Compagnies Franches, commandant of Fort Duquesne, that a hu ge bo dy of British was approaching. This was Braddock's colum n ; it consisted of 1 , 2 0 0 re dcoats with engi neers and a rtille ry, some V irg inian 'bluecoats' und er G eorge Washington, a nd much baggage and impe d imenta . It was force d to travel slow ly as 300 axem en carved a track for it through the wilderness. Contrecoeur had but a few co mpanies of th e Compagnies Franches and some mili tia - tough forest fighters, but no m atch for redcoats tra ined to European standards . Pan ic th rea ten ed , but Contrecceur remained steady. H e orde red barrels of powder a nd ball op ened and set a t th e gates; then h e went to talk to hi s a llies - 800 warriors of

the Hurons, th e Ojibways, the Abenakis a nd Caughnawagas, th e M ingoes a nd Shawa noes, even som e O tta was led, it is said, by th e great Po ntiac himself. . . . The story of Braddock's Massacre is well kn own, and has no lengthy place here. The column was divided into an advance party, und er LieutenantColonel Thomas Gage, and a m ain force, under Braddock. At about noo n on the gt h the head of the column ran into the Frenc h force in thick woods som e seven mil es from Fort Duquesne, near the fords of the Monongahela Ri ver. T he Frenc h had about 8 00 Indians wit h abo ut th ir ty-six French officers scattere d among them - man y greased and painted like their a llies - in cluding particularly th e ga lla nt Captain d e Beauj eu and th e gue rilla, Langl ad e. They were sup ported by seventy-two men of th e Compagnies Franches a nd

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Sketches from contemporar y por t r aits of (left ) D aniel d e Beaujeu, who f ell l ea ding t he Indian atta ck on Braddock' s column in 1755, and (rig h t ) the Chevalier de Uvis , Mont calm ' s s e co n d -Incommand and s u ccessor. (G. A. Emb leto n).

some 140 militiam en. They suffered badly for th e first few minutes of th e action, as th e red coats swung into line and ch a rged wi th th e bayonet. Then th e Indian s spr ead along the flanks and began to snipe a nd to ru sh in to cut off stragglers. In minutes th e British were being driven back like bewild ered ca tt le, unable to see th e ene my who were firing into their ranks from behind thick cover. The advance party retreated , th e main force ad van ced , th e two collide d; and for three hours confused and increasingly panic-stricken knot s of redco ats blaz ed a way a t trees a nd banks of powd er-smoke, while th eir officers pushed them into the useless line forma tion, and the provincials took cover behind trees to fight back Indianfashion. Braddock was not a stupid man, though history has not been kind to him. H e simply kn ew no oth er way of fighting. Ben Franklin said of him: 'This G eneral was, I think, a br ave man, and would prob a bly have mad e a good figure in some Euro pean war, but he ha d too muc h self-confidence; too high an opinion of the va lid ity of regula r troops; too mean a on e of America ns and Indian s.'

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Brad doc k fell shot through th e lungs as h e tried to order a retreat by the survivors; he h ad alrea dy had four horses shot from under him, a nd his courage , at least , was nev er in qu estion. H e di ed lat er, and the army marched over his grave to hide it from th e I nd ians. O nly a bout twenty-three officers and 460 men escaped alive a nd a ble to wal k, out of 1,450 od d . The wounded were a bandoned on the field, and a white ca ptive a t Fort Duquesne recorded nightmare scen es in the Indian camps for d ays afterwards. The sur vivors, still ash en with th e memory of what they had seen , arrived at length a t Fort Cumberland . They were soon pulled right back to Phila delphia, a nd the frontier was left naked to th e French and their jubilan t savages. The shock in the Thirteen Co lonies was as gr eat as h ad bee n the ir confidence when th e apparently invincible redcoats h ad m arch ed off. I n New Fran ce all was rejoici ng, little di m me d by the news th at Aca dia (Nova Sco tia) h ad at last been cleared of their suppo rters wit h a terrible efficiency by som e 2,00 0 Massachusetts men a nd a small force of British regulars. (T his had occurred in]une 1755; and in the months to follow Britain was to transport every peasant in Acadia who would not swear fealty to K ing George - rough justice, bu t long withheld. ) Far to the north another little drama was in pr eparation, which would also go down in Ameri can folklore. The new Go vernor of Cana da, the unpleasant Marquis d e V audreuil, had now

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Acadia and the neighbouring i slands , 1755. In t hat yea r a force of Massachusetts provincials landed a t the head of t h e Bay of Fundy and took Fort Beausejour, t he ce n t r e from which trouble had been fomented a m o ng the F r e n c h peasants a n d the MiclDac Indian s for lDany years. (R.C.W.)

arrived and tak en over from Duquesne, and with him he brou ght regulars to th e number of abo ut 1,600 und er a G erman ge ne ral, Baron D ieskau , who had serve d with Saxe. Originally the eon voy had ca rr ied a bo u t 3,000 of th e white-coated troupes de terre; some 1,000 of the battalions of Artois and Bourgogn e had been la nd ed to reinforce the Louisbourg ga rrison on rl e Royale - now completely cu t off from Canada by the purging of Acad ia - a nd a no the r 40 0 had be en captured at sea. Ad miral Boscaw en had managed to ambush the vessels Alcide and Ly s off Cape Race in June, capturing four com panics each of the battalions of La R ein e a nd La Sarre. Pap ers found on th e field of Braddock's Massacr e warned th e Fren ch ofJohnson's impending attack on Crown Point, so Di eskau ' s forc e was sent down Lak e C ham p la in in ca noes and bateaux, with support tot all in g a bo ut 2,000 colony troops, Ca na dia n militia , a nd Indians. Leaving the baggage at Crown Point th ey marched on to th e promontory of Ticondero ga, commanding the narrows whe re Lak e G eorge and Lake Champlain The M a rquis d e Vaudreuil, la s t French Governor-General joined , a nd where rapids forced all trav ellers to of Canada, a nd Montcalm's b ittere st e nem y. (Fro m a contemporary portrait) manhandle th eir bo at s ove r a portage track. From here thcy co uld cover a ll practical rou tes ofa dvance on Crown Point. north a long it. W a rn ed on th e 8th of th e approach J ohnson , wi th a n army of 2,500 provincials from of a bo ut 1,000 of j ohnson 's force from th e ca m p, several colonies, was now mo vin g north from th e Di eska u set a tra p. H alting th e regul ars on th e sett led a reas of th e Hudson a nd Mohawk Valleys. road h e sent the I ndi a ns a nd militia forward The last major set tlem ent was the D ut ch fur- throu gh the trees on each flank. Their first surprise trad in g ca pita l of Albany, a fortifi ed fronti er cit y. volley cru m p led the head of th e provincial colum n The for ce rea ch ed a temporary sto ck ad e on the ·like a pack of cards, and th e regulars ca me tr ampsite lat er n amed Fort Edward lat e in August, and in g into sight to d rive the sh aken provincia ls back in September cut a fourteen -mile road to th e up the road. Aft er initial panic they made a good southe rn tip of Lak e G eorge. Some 500 men re- withdra wal by 'fire an d movem ent' , a nd regained mained a t the stockade; som e 2,000 with a fluctuat- th e barr icades of tree-t runks, bo ats, and wagons ing forec of Indians ca m pe d on the lak e near th e whi ch J ohnson had been throwing up a ro und th e site of the lat er Fo rt William H enry. H er e th ey ca m p since hea ring the gunfire on th e wind. This staye d wh ile bo at s wer e brought up for the pro- ac tion was ever aft erwards kn own as 'The Blood y jec ted trip to C ro wn Point. M orning Scout' . It was follow ed th at aftern oon O n 7 Sep te m ber scou ts br ou ght Johnson word by 'T he Battle of Lake George'. For four hours th e of tracks to the eas t. Di eskau, with 216 regu lars Fren ch regulars charged th e barricades, suffering (two com pa nies each of thc battalions of Lan gu e- severely fro m Johnson's three ca nno n, wh ile doc a nd La R einc), 680 Can adians, a n d 600 irregulars of bo th sides skirmished in the thick Indian s, was movin g south to attack thc stoc kade, bu sh in fron t of th e per ime ter. Eventuall y th e and not until th at ni ght did they realize that th er e F ren ch were beaten off with 228 losses, including was a ca m p o n Lake G eorge. They cut the ro ad half the French regu lars a nd nearly all th e officers. betw een th e stockade and the camp, a nd moved Provincial losses were about 260 . Di eskau ,

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wounded rep eat edl y in the legs a nd pelvis, was Shirley fai led to press his exped itio n ag ainst cap t ure d, a nd narrowly esca ped bein g roas ted Niaga ra. All in a ll th e French had reason to be alive a nd ea ten by J ohnson' s Mohawk a llies. T he well pleased wit h th e result s ga ined for littl e price. stoic German , who was never fully to recover , Braddock' s M assacre led to an autum n and ea rly paid his r ustic victo rs a pretty complime nt : th at in wint er of shee r hor ror along the lonely march es of th e mo rning th ey had fou gh t like good boys, a t th e T hirteen Colonies. Flushed with vic to ry, th e noon like men , a nd in the aftern oon like devils. tribesmen took up the hat ch et with a vengeance, H e had no thing but rollin g curses for his own a nd traged y visited man y a lonely little sett leme n t unreliabl e I ndian s a nd Canad ians. in the clea rings of th e primeval forest. Dumas, th e J oh nson did not develop his movem ent tow ard s new com ma ndan t a t Fort D uq uesne, re po rted : C rown Point, a nd staye d wher e h e wa s. The ' . . . I h ave succeeded in ruining the three adj acent provin ces, Pennsylvania, M aryland and French retr eated to T icond eroga . Far to th e southwest a serious thr eat to th e int egr ity of th e line of Virginia, drivin g off the inha bi ta nts, a nd tot a lly destroyin g th e settlemen ts over a tract of co untry French holdings was rem oved when Go verno r thi rty leagu es wid e, reckoning from the line of Fort Cumberl and. M . de Contrecceur ha d not been gon e a week befor e I ha d six or seve n differ ent war-parties in th e field a t once, a lways acco m panied by Frenc hmen . So far we have lost only two officers and a few soldie rs, wh ile the x ' 0. Eve ntua l sole of Ft. Cor illon Indian villages are full of prison ers of every ag e a nd sex. The enem y has lost far mor e since th e ........ Di eskau's route battle than on th e d ay of his defeat. ' To do them credit, it mus ~ be said that Du mas a nd his officers m ad e genuine a ttem pts to limit th e N barbarity of the savages against th eir prison ers, but ther e was little th ey could do. The fro ntiers continued to end ur e a reign of ter ror until th e winter of 1755-6 brou ght large-scal e ca m paigning to a close.

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Jo hnso n's Com Bortl e 01 Lak e Geo rge

johnson' s

Stockade

The Lake George-Lake Ohampfaln area ; the lakes forIlled a water highway between Albany and the British settlerrrenrs on the Mohawk and the Hudson, to the south, and the Richelieu River and Montreal, to the north. This region was therefore the rnoa t hotly contested of all during the Seven Y ears W a r. The routes a n d positions s h o w n on this s ket c h -Illap r efer to Die skau ' s defeat at the Battle of L ake G eorge in 1755; note that Fort WiliiaIll Henry later ros e on the site o f 'J o h nso n's Camp", and Fort Edward on t he s ite of 'John s o n ' s Stockade ' . (R.G.W.)

10

After such in cid ents of horror it is strange to record that it wa s onl y in M ay 1756 that war was formally declared. The delica te balance of po wer in Europe was trembling, a nd far mor e was at stake tha n the fut ure of New F rance a nd the Thirteen Colonies. At V ersai lles a ll eyes wer e turned to th e traditional battlegr ounds of E ur ope; igno ring th e vital pot ential ofthe Ame rica n em pire

in term s of trad e and world power, France persisted in regarding th e war th er e as a sideshow. Neverthe less, how ever boring th e problem might be for th e men - a nd women - wh o had appointments in the ir gift, France must clearly hav e a new general in the colony . Di eskau was still str ugg ling toward an imperfect recov ery in British captivity. None of the co urt favourites saw much prospect of glory an d adva nce me nt in suc h a n uncomfortable command, a nd at len gth th e cho ice fell on a n obscure brigadier, six times wounded , a front-lin e colonel in th e lat e wars in Boh emia a nd Italy . H e ha d few import ant co nnections, no wealth , a nd if one co uld credit suc h a thing - preferred to slum it on his thread bare little estates in the south, surrounde d by pigs a nd children , rather than circ ula te with th e gilde d moths of Versailles. Obviou sly the man was born to do jobs like th is. Loui s-J oseph, Marquis d e Montca lm-Gozon d e Saint -V cran, was just forty-four years old, a short man running to middle-ag ed ch ubbine ss. H e was 'a M editer ran ean characte r, warm a nd open, with lively d ark eyes, thi ck bl ack brows, a nd a great predatory beak of a R om an nose. H e wa s a shade impu lsive, bu t a lways conside ra te to his subordinates, a h umorous and ene rge tic man who tended to talk too fast a nd lau gh too loud wh en excited . H e was one of those rare ge ne rals whose men love h im as well as respecting him . When h e fell, com mon soldiers wh o h ad seen him, from a dista nce, three or four times in their lives, would weep like ch ildren. H e was a leader of men, whose officers were consume d with a fier ce loyalty to hi m, a read iness to cham pion him against any detract or. H is surviving letters to hi s family show him to be a tender husband , a nd a loving father; the letters a nd j ournal s of hi s sta ff officers show th at hi s a ffectio nate nature was a pp rec ia te d . Born in th e family chateau a t Candiac, near Ni rnes, in 17 I 2, Louis was the son of coun try nob ility wi th ac res but little cas h . By th e tim e h e jo ine d th e R egim ent d 'Hain ault as a n ensig n in 1727, a ped an tic tu tor h ad m anaged to in stil a love of boo ks an d a mildly acade m ic leaning, though never a legi ble Fren ch h and or 'a proper do cility'. I n 1729 h is fathe r bo ug h t him a cap ta incy, and six years la ter di ed , leaving Lou is th e title and considerable debt s. A m arriage was a rrange d wh ich brought him prop erty, some connections,

Louis-Jos eph, Marquis d e Montcalm-Gozon d e SaintV e rano (F rom a contemporary portrait)

a nd great happiness. The former Ange liq ue Loui se Talon d u Boulay bore him ten child re n, of wh om five survive d him. In 1741 he fou ght in Boh em ia, and in 1743 became th e Co lonel of th e R egimen t d 'Auxerrois. Betw een 1744 a nd 1746 he saw mu ch hard fighting, including a n Itali an ca m paign under M a rshal de M aill eb ois; in 1746 h e was ca p tured, after receiving five sa bre wounds while rallying his men before th e wall s of Piace nza. Paroled , he re turned to active serv ice in tim e to be hit by a musket-ball befor e th e Peac e of Aix-l aChapelle in 1748. H e was appoin ted to th e Am eri- : ca n co m mand in Fe bruary 1756, and prom ot ed m aj or -gen er al on his d eparture. H e was given tw o battal ion s as reinfo rce me nts. On 3 April 1756, afte r watching his 1,200 sold iers of th e battalions of R oyal-Roussillon an d La Sarre file a boa rd ship from the Brest q uays, he set sail for New France in th e friga te Licorne. As seco nd a nd third in command he had been give n Brigadier th e Chevali er d e Levis, a nd Co lonel the C hevalier de Bourlamaqu e, men in who m th e be tte r aspec ts of th e eigh tee nt h-cen tury Frenc h a ristoc racy wer e consp icuous. One of Montcalm's a ides, a nd soon a trusted friend, was a you ng officer of humbl e

II

his ambition, he took every oppo rtunity to sla nde r the general a nd his regul ar tr oop s, while inve nting tr iumphs for his own brutal militia a nd some time s less than impressive colony tr oop s. H e hotly resisted a ttempts to place all ca tegories of troops under Montcalm , thus adding th e complication of a split command . It was not a happy at mos phere in which th e new Gen er a l had to assess his task. H is forc es wer e not numerou s considering th e prospect which faced th em , of in creasingly hea vy British attacks on vital points in th e Fren ch lin e. The colours of two of Montcalm' s r egula r regi men ts - (l ef t) the L a R eine, a n d (righ t) the That ' line ' itself was mi sleading, of co urse . Ther e Guyenne. That of the La R e ine is quartered, was no connect ed system , merely a series of forts, first and third green, s e co n d a n d fourth black. A white c r oss bears gold fl eur-de-lis and g o ld blockho uses, stockaded settle me nts, mission s, a nd and red crowns. The Guyenne co l o u r i s Indian villages stre tch ing, at inter vals of many quartered, first and third g r een, seco n d and fourth pale buff, with a w hite cross. (R .G. W .) m iles, ac ross a howling wild erness of thick forest, swa m p, rivers, and lak es. I nfilt ra tion was relatively sim ple for forest- trained men , of whom th e British provincials were begin ning to find large :;:;:::;:::::;:: numbers. T ravel was by canoe and light bateau, for the wa terw ays were the on ly practical highways. 11!!!!!!!!!!!!I! T he game was not very pl entiful in many are as, a nd in winter particu larly the isolated po sts, their garde ns froz en over and th e woods silen t, relied on staple supplies like grain a nd salte d fish to survive. T roops usua lly suffer ed ten or twenty per The regimental colours of the La Sarre (l eft) cent casualties from d isease a t a nyone time, due and Beam (rig h t) . The La Sa rre ' s quarterings are first and third a dark r eddish brown, s e co n d to primitive facilities a nd tot al igno rance of and fourth black, with a white cros s. The Beam hygiene. . has two s car l e t and tbree p ale buff s t rip es in each quarter, with a white cross. (R .G .W.) M ontcalm 's little army numbered perhaps 2,500 effectives of the troupes de terre, the regulars from Old France, with cer tain local eleme nts. The regiments of La R eine, Langu edoc, G uye nne a nd birth named Bougainville ; lat er in life a famous Beam h ad each p rovid ed a battali on for Di eskau's navi gator, he was, happily, a prolific writer of expe ditionary forc e. (A French infantry battalion journals. With all these officers M ontcalm quickly a t that tim e n umbered about 500 m en , in one esta blished friendly relations based on genuine grenad ier, one ligh t, and eight fusilier companies mu tu al regard . eac h mu sterin g one captain, on e lieuten ant, on e Such a rela tions hip with his new ch ief, Gover- ensign, one or two ca dets, two sergeants,' two nor-General Vaudreuil, was to prove beyond his corpo ra ls, a d ru mm er, and a bou t fort y-five men .) grasp. Troub le was br ewing eve n before he pre- With M ont calm had come battalion s of th e regi sented him self at Montreal in May 1756. H e was me nts of R oyal-Rou ssillon a nd La Sarre, more ever tactfu l, but th e two men wou ld be th rown than 300 of who m were now laid low by sickness. int o con flict (a nd even tually bitter hos tility) by (T he R oyal-Roussillon was a n old regiment; it for ces th ey co uld not contro l. Vaudreui l, colony- had originally been rais ed by Cardinal M azarin born , distrusted m en sen t out from France and in about 1657 in th e regions of R ou ssillon and resented th e necessity of h avin g regular troops in Catalonia, with th e title Catalan-Mazarin. It had Can ad a, especially troop s on ly nominally un der adopted th e new title on bein g tak en on th e royal his orders. An egoist whose talents did not match esta blish me nt in 1667 .) I n add ition to the infantry

:Il i lilil l l l~

12

Mon tcalm had small numbers of engineer and artillery specia lists. The main local force was th e co lonia l gendarmerie, the inde pe nde nt co m panies of the Compagnies Franc/u s de La Marin e. (All French colonies ca me und er the Minister of M arine, and th e a ncho r was th e badge of Fren ch colonial infantry until the I 960s. ) This service h ad be en cr eated out of a n earlier organization in the I 690s , and provided th e only uniformed Fren ch presenc e in America until Dieskau 's arrival in 1755. For most of th e first half of th e eighteent h century th er e were only about 800 men - some tw enty-eig ht co m pa nies of thirty or so men ea ch. By 1750 the strength had risen to t hirty co m p anies of fifty men; in 1756 it went up to thirty of sixty-five, and in 1757 it would rise again to forty companies of sixty-five. Officers a nd me n wer e recruited in France, and encouraged to settle in th e colony on com pletio n of eight years' serv ice . (As the war dragged on and

. ..--. ...,.-. .-.." .

--..,.

' Ready your ar.ns!' as p e rfor.ned b y .nen in the s eco n d and third ranks of t he French infantry line.

m anpow er became more of a problem , local men wer e accep ted into th e Compagnies Franches. A prop ortion of the officers had , in practi ce, been drawn from th e local nobLesse for many years.) In pea cetime some units looked more like settle rs than soldiers, eve n befor e di scharge. The com panies wer e sca ttere d as ga rrisons and escorts a ll over th e frontiers of th e sett led areas, often far ou t in th e wilds. Ther e was little to do of a milita ry nature, a nd before Governor Duquesne tighten ed discip line it appears th at m an y of the officers wer e mostly co nce rned with fur-trading. The colo ny troops wer e tou gh a nd hardy forest-fighters, but uns ophisticated by European sta ndards. They were unreliable in pitch ed battles on op en gro und - bu t such battles scarcely eve r occ urred . Some of the officers a nd men of the more isolated commands 'went native', a nd ad op ted certain aspects of Indian custo ms which did not ende a r them to th e regula r troop s, who conside red them, a t best, p rovincial. Althou gh there was a tot al of som e 1,850 men on the establishme nt, they wer e answer able p rimarily to th e Governor, and were not always pl aced a t M ontcalm 's disposal, although som e com panies took part in virtually eve ryone of the frontier battles. In 1758 th er e wer e tw enty-four co mpanies on d etached service in Louisbourg, re d uci ng the Canadian forc e to a bo u t 1,000. The third catego ry of troops was th e Can adian militia. This was organize d by Governor Frontenac in 1672. Each parish had to provid e a co m pany of m en according to a quota syste m designed to leave enough men at liber ty to keep agri culture and tr ade goi ng . Ever y a ble-bod ied man between th e age s of fifteen a nd six ty was eligible, and in theory V audreuil had 15,000 men at his beck and call. In fact it was undesirab le to call so many from th e plou gh , a nd eve n in 1758 only about 1,100 wer e ac t ually ca lled to arms - alt houg h abou t 4,000 were em ploye d in tr an sportin g and supplying the tr oop s, a job at whi ch th ey wer e sk illed a nd rel iable. W hen muster ed they received no p ay, but were give n a rms and a m m unition, a nd could buy the musket a t cost a nd tak e it home wh en disbanded - a co nside rable inducem ent. Ever bo astful of th eir prow ess a nd ever contemptuou s of the blunderin g of the regu lars in the for est-fighting of th e ea rly war years, the mi liti a

13

had a mix ed reputation. Discipline was not goo d, and some of th e wilder elements were littl e better th an the Indian s - th ey certainly took sca lps o n occasion. They wer e tou gh and woo dscrafty, a nd ac hieve d some not abl e co ups when accompany ing I nd ian s on raid ing pa rt ies; but against for me d regul ar tr oop s th ey were most unreliable and apt to break a nd run a t th e first volley. For scouti ng a nd patrol work M ontcalm relied on th e coureurs de bois and the tribes t he mselves . The former wer e th e backwood smen , the trappe rs and hunters wh o in p eacetime lived in the fores t, alone or with the Indians, only coming into th e sett leme nts on ce or twi ce a year to trade for necessities. They wer e persecuted in p eacet im e, as 'drop-outs' from the tigh tly orde red feudal hi er arch y of New France, but in wartime their field cr aft a nd knowl ed ge of the forest tr ail s we re inv aluable. The war-pa rties whic h pl ayed suc h red h avoc with settle ments along the fringe of th e Briti sh colonies usu all y cons iste d of Indians, a few of th ese 'woods-run ne rs', forty or fifty militiamen , and a handful of colony troops, led by crafty p artisan lead ers like M arin and Langlade, with two or th ree high-spirited young chevaliers alo ng for expe rience, painted and feathered lik e Indian s. These bu shrangers were often as ruthless as the Indian s, a nd th eir sca lp -taking was on ly the least of th e horrors th ey either co m mitte d, or wat ch ed ind iffere ntly. The Indians them selves, as M ontcalm q uic kly found, wer e not to be incl ude d in a ny pla n of ca m paign. They wer e extremely ca p ricious a nd unreli able, a nd tended to co me a nd go as they plea sed. They d em anded en d less h and-ou ts, a nd wer e chiefly useful as scouts wh en the enemy was of a ny stren gth. They never re peate d their p erforman ce a t Braddock 's M assacre. M ontcalm found th em repulsive a nd in furiating. '. . . One nee ds th e patien ce of a n angel to ge t on wi th them. Ever since I have been here, I have h ad nothing but visits, haran gu es, and deputatio ns of these gentry. . . . They mak e war wit h as to und ing cr uelty, sparing neither men, wo me n nor children.. . ' . The M arqu is spared his lady the infor mation th at th ey were also cannibals. T he least unreliabl e wer e ge nerally the 'Christian' Indians fro m th e mission s of Canada - the H urons of Lorett e, th e Abenakis from St Francis a nd

14

Bat iscan, the Iroquois of Caughnawaga and La Present a tion , a nd th e I roquois a nd Algonq uins of the Two M ountains on th e Ottawa. While he go t to kn ow his m en and his surroun din gs, M ontcalm was exerc ised by rumours t hat the British would re ne w their attempts against Ticondero ga and Crow n Point, and Fort Niagara a nd Fort Fron ten ac on Lake O nta rio. He improved the hour by h aving m ore substa ntial fortifica tio ns prep ared , p arti cul arl y at Niagara wh er e he sen t the Beam - a nd a t Ticonderoga. A t the latter pl ace h e ord ered the co nstruction of a stro ng fort, to be named Carillon. It was one of the most strategic po sition s in America; it co mmanded the most constricte d po in t of the series of waterways which sprung fro m the heart ofCanada, and pointed like a hi ghroad a t the hea rt of the northern co lon ies of Great Britain.

Oswego

By June 1756 the Beam was cam ped at the now strong F ort Ni agara ; the La Sarre and G uyenne, with militia sup port, guarde d Fo r t Frontenac; La R ein e and Langu ed oc were a t Ticonderoga, and th e remaining battalion was in reserve at M ontreal. A scare that month, prompted by an I nd ia n report th at 10,000 British were m a rching on Ticonde roga, took Montcalm to th at im por tant post with th e R oyal-Roussillon, det achments of the Cornpagnies Franches, a nd some mil it ia . The rumou r proved false; the provincial s were indeed moving men a nd supplies up th e lin e fro m the Hudson and Mohawk to the forw ard p osts a t Fort Edward a nd Fort William H enry (the new post a t the tip of Lak e G eorge, near th e site of J ohnson ' s cam p and battlefield ), a nd red- coa ted r egul ars were a rriving in the Thirteen Colonies, but ther e was no immediate d anger. The colonies were perfor ming th eir usual ritual d ance, a nd th e usual ill-feel ing between provincial a nd regular soldiers was

reaping it s usual harvest ofin efficien cy and bloodymind edness a t eve ry level of or ganization . Montcalm was well sa tisfied by what he saw a t Ticonderoga, a nd gave com ma nd of th e new Fort Carill on to his galla n t and courtly deputy, d e Levis. The fort was a sturdy redoubt with four bastions, sto ne barracks, bombproof shelters, and outwor ks blas ted in som e plac es from the solid rock. Throu gh ou t the summer of 1756 th e provincial s moved m en a nd supplies up to O swego on Lak e Ontario, a nd Fort William H enry on Lak e G eor ge, and the co nvoys of p ack -horses and bateaux provided targets too tempting for th e I nd ia n and French raidi ng parties to pass up. The woods were alive with th em , but th ey did no t have things all their own wa y. One R obert R ogers, a provincial

officer of or iginality, skill and ruthlessness, was already making a name for his ' Range rs' with d arin g rec onnaissance pa tr ols deep in Fren ch territory. One of th e main a nx ieties of th e Briti sh was O swego, the foothold on Lak e Ontari o, between th e t wo Fren ch posts at Fronten ac on the north shore a nd Niagara on th e south. It was a vita l base for operations agai nst these two positions, a nd the winte r had left it in a depl or able sta te. When Shirley had retreat ed th e previous a utum n h e h ad left it garrisoned by 7 0 0 provin cials, but now it h eld not half this number of scarecrows. D ecimated by d isease, hunger , a nd cold during the h arsh winter, th ey could hardly stand guard without crutc hes. The spring had seen drafts of raw recruits mo ved hurriedl y up to reinfo rc e

One of t he nlovenlents of t h e ' G r o und arnls! ' - s h owing how the s o ldier holds his decorated grenadier pouch with his l eft a rnl b e hind his b a ck; Note the tightly queued h air.

15

th em , but thi s was a mer e pa llia tiv e. Early in Au gu st Lord Loudon , th e new British Co m mande rin Ch ief, sent Colonel W ebb up fro m Albany with th e rebuilt 44 th Foot, but while still on the road they m et fleein g boatmen who told a startling tal e. Persistent ru mo urs during July of Brit ish moves against For t Carillon had prompted M ontcalm and V audreuil to adopt a new pl an. They would launch an a ttack on O swego, lon g a che rish ed project of th e Gov ernor's; it wou ld b e in tende d mainly as a feint to draw troops off fro m the southern end of Lak e G eor ge, but if it seeme d to prosper it could a lwa ys be reinforced. Leavin g Ticonderoga in th e hands of d e Levis a nd a forc e of 3,000 men , Montcalm reached Fort Fronten ac on 29 J uly 1756, wh ere he mu ster ed his expe dition. The La Sarre an d G uyenne wer e already a t th e fort, a nd th e Bearn soo n a rr ived fro m Ni agara. A d etachment of the colon y troops, some militia, and about 250 savages brought the tot al streng th to a bo ut 3,000 men , with plen tiful a rt illery - som e of it ca ptured in Braddock 's M assacre. Supported by som e eighty gu nboats, Montcalm's force crossed th e lak e under cover of d a rkness, a nd by 8 Au gu st th e whole a rm y was co ncealed a t Ni aoure Bay. On th e 9th a n advance party began a march along th e shore under cov er of the forest , to cov er th e landing of th e rest wh o followed by boat. At midnight on 10 Aug ust th e landing was made without opposition a bo ut a mil e a nd a half from Oswego. The n ext d ay th e a tt ack began on Fort Ontario. Oswego consisted of thr ee forts: Fort Ontario, a new star-shap ed timber fort on t he right bank of the river wh er e it entered Lak e Ontario ; Old Fort O swego, opposit e it on th e other bank of th e river; a nd nearby a n un finished stoc ka de known as ' Fort R ascal ' for its ge ne ra l lack of a me nities, once a ca ttl e-pen but now sketchily fortified by 150 New J ersey provincial s. It wa s clear to Colonel M ercer, th e O swego com mandan t based in the O ld Fort, that Fort O n ta rio could never withsta nd th e can non h e sa w bein g d ragged into po sition, despit e its own small battery of swivels a nd morta rs. After a d ay of h arassm ent from cover by the swa rming Ca na di a ns a nd I nd ians, the ga rrison of Fort On ta rio (some 370 provincials of Pepper ell's R egiment ) wer e signalled a nd order ed to join their co m ra des in O ld Fo rt Oswego. They spiked

16

th eir ba tt ery a nd row ed across th e river to th e o ther fort. This had rou ghly-buil t clay a nd stone wall s a nd a sto ne tr ading pos t in the centre of th e com pou nd ; b ut again, nothin g th a t co uld wi thsta nd a twel ve-pound cannon-ball at close ra ng e. Old Fort O swego was h eld by Shirley's R egiment, mos tly raw recru its a nd in valid s, joined now by the other ga rrison a nd a few boa tmen a nd waggon ers. I n all, including some hundred or so wo m en wh o disturbed th e a ir wit h th eir wail ing a t the prosp ect of Indian massacr e, there were per haps 1,500 souls in Colon el M er cer 's care. By the morning of 14 Aug ust some tw enty cannon had been set up by M ontcalm 's sold iers on the hill ock on whi ch Fort O nt ario stood, a nd th ese op en ed a brisk fire which quickl y breache d th e walls of Old Fort O swego in a score of places though not without loss to th e gun cre ws fro m the defender s. The d efen ces of O ld Fort O swego were a lmo st non-existent on th e eas t, where stoo d th e sister fort now in th e enem y's hand s, a nd all the ca nnon pointed west. These wer e manhand led over to the ea st a nd install ed in pork-barrel case m a tes. D espite this spirited performance, M ercer kn ew his com mand was doomed ; it was isolat ed , outnumber ed , outgunn ed, a nd man for m an it was in a sorry sta te com pared to M ontca lm's tough regul ars and howling savages. When th e gallant M er cer himself was cu t in half by a cannon-ball , th e white flag was no t long in fluttering up. The ga rrison was in no position to haggl e about terms, with th e I ndia ns swarming round the walls under th e tenuous con trol of th e French chevaliers. When th e ga tes were ope ne d th e Indians a nd scarcely more civilized Canad ians flood ed in, plundering a nd j ostli ng, a nd q uic kly drinking themselves stupid on ca ptured ru m . So me prisoners tri ed to run, a nd wer e tom ahawked on the spot; m any others would h ave p eri shed , had not Montcalm ru shed from gro up to gro up, offering the chiefs ex travagant cas h presents to forgo their bloody spo rt. Ev entu all y th e expe dition marched for home, loaded with p rison ers a nd booty, and leaving behind a bu rn ing fort, stripped of its artillery a nd su ch provisions as could be ca rried . The English cas ualt ies h ad not reach ed fifty, and th e Fren ch h ad eve n fewer ; ye t th e position of th e Thirteen Colonies was o nce more end a ngered , a nd Fren ch troop s (as opposed to

Indians) h ad w on th eir mo st important battle ye t on Am eri can soil. No w th at th er e was no ene my assem bly-p oint o n th e lak e from whi ch attacks could be prepared a nd launch ed , rel atively mod est French garriso ns co uld hold Fronten ac. and Niagara, a llowing th e rest of th e field army to be gathered to Fort Carillon. P erhaps th ey might eve n seize Alban y, cen tre of th e Dutch furtrad ers? It was a h ead y return march. The failure of th e British provincials to achi eve any wo rthw hile m ilit ary objective in 1756 was partly due to weaknesses pe culi ar to them. Without a milit a ry esta blishm ent, d isunited , discordant, and frugal, they had th e greatest difficulty in building a n army ea rly eno ugh in th e ca m paigning season to set afoot a ny major op eration. The grow ing act ivity of New En gland raiding-parties in th e sum mer a nd au t um n of 1756, such as those led with suc h d ash by th e famous R ogers, stemmed from the p art icular stre ng ths of th e provincials: their ind ivid ual ha rdiness a nd resource, a nd th eir skill in 'commando' operatio ns as di stinct fro m man ceuvr es involving la rge form ed units. As the winter of 1756-7 set in, Montcalm concentra ted at Fort Carillon a n a rmy of 5,300 regula rs a nd Canadians. The ene m y Commanderin-Chief, Lord Loudon, was a t Fort Edward; in all he had some 10 , 0 0 0 provincial and regular troops , sca tte red throu ghou t the frontier regions. Neithe r ge neral wished to mount a ny large-sca le opera tio ns for the time bein g, a nd as the winter grew hard er they rel ied upon patrols a nd raids to keep the war go ing. T he frontiers of th e Thirteen Colonies were now g uarde d, sket chily, by a series of blockho uses a nd small forts of widely vary ing qual ity, a judgm ent eq ually a pplicable to th e ga rrisons. In lat e 1756 th e I ndia ns raged virtually un ch ecked , a nd sca lp-hun ting for bo unty was the or der of th e d ay. (O ne of Governor Va udreu il's least a ttractive tr aits, in mod ern eyes, was his m eticulou s chronicling of eve ry Briti sh settler 's sca lp turned in to his age nts; the records have an undertone of sa tisfaction whi ch is faintly repulsive. ) The partisan wa rfare, which took the form of a deadly game of hide-and-seek throu gh the silent woo ds a rou nd Fort Ca rillon, Fort William H enr y a nd othe r po sts on Lak e G eor ge, was often enlivene d by d aring raid s o n Fren ch posts a nd Indian villages by parties of provin cial

' 0 t., ,., • •

.

~

At, .. , .. , .'- /

. .. 1,. , ' " . ....,...... l. .•. A:' -7"

,

/

' ",

,t

Two cantentp o rary d r a w in g s of c uri o us but contpelling s t y le, s h o wing 'an India n pursuing a wounded enerny with h is Tontahawk' and 'an Indian dres s'd for War, w ith a Scalp '. (C o urtauld I nstit ute )

ra id ers. These o perations, whi ch some times took sma ll part ies deep into Frenc h Canada, wr eak ed havoc on the nerves of outlying ga rrisons, a nd R ogers's R a ngers acq uire d a n awesome reputation. The British had few clie nt I ndians and were forced to rel y on th ese ruthless and increasing ly confident backwo od smen, who in conseq ue nce became ve ry expe rience d a nd skilled . T he French

17

Thirteen Coloni es - which compla ine d bitterl y a bo ut bill eting British regul ars d uring the winter. In M arch 1757 a n un successful expedition was mounted against Fort William H enry ; Montcalm helpe d with th e pl anning, but it was very m uch Va ud re uil's project a nd was commanded by his brother , Rigaud. A force of 1, 600 men of the militia, th e raiders, the Compagnies Franches, and one or two friendly tribes cre p t down th e lak e a nd a tta cked at night from th e ice. The assa ult was botched; after indecisive manoeuvres and a co uple of d ays of h arassing fire the attackers retr eat ed again, havin g succeed ed in burning some out build ings a nd some boa ts laid up on shore by th e fort.

Colours of (top) the Be r ry and (centre) the Languedoc regiDl.ents. Berry had a white cross with two violet and o n e pale buff stripe in each quarter. The w hit e cross of the Langued oc is surrounded by first and third quarters in violet, s e co n d and fourth in dark brown. (lower) The c o lours of the RegiDl.ent de RoyalRoussillon : a white cros s with g o l den fl eur de-lis , with q uarterings of dark blue, scarlet, green, and pale buff.

(R.G.W.)

war-parties were mad e u p of I ndi ans a nd coureurs de bois, led by suc h formid a ble partisans as the famo us M a rin. As mu ch as sheer vengeance, thes e ra ids were intended to secure prison ers, a vital part of the inform ation- ga th ering of bo th side s; a nd to di srupt th e sup ply convoys, bo th of over land sledges a nd of ca noes a nd river-boats, upon which th e isolat ed fort s of both side s relied. I n th e depth of wi nt er the Frenc h a rmy was pulled back from Ticonderoga to th e M ontreal area where M ontcalm a nd his staff wintered; th e fort was left gua rde d by five or six companies of reg ula rs. At Fort Willia m H enry, M ajor Eyr e kept wat ch with 400 red coa ts, a nd th e tattered provin cial units, most of t he m a t the end of th eir specified peri od of servic e, moved back to th e

18

:Fort

William:HenrJ' The ca mpaigning seaso n of 1757 opened at a time of increasingly bitter fact ional feeling in N ew Fran ce. While diplom atic to his face , Vaudreuil lost no opport u nity to sla nder M ontcalm secretly . No matter how mu ch he resented the reg ula rs' presenc e in hi s satrapy, however, Vaudreuil was forc ed to conce de th at a reinforc ement was necessary in view of th e build-u p of reg ular stre ng th by th e ene my . His req uest was granted , and two battalions of the R egimen t d e Berry a rrived at Queb ec in th e spring and summer th e Second in April, th e Third inJ uly. No immedi ate offensive was possible ; a large British fleet was known to be ou tfitting for Ame rica in English ports, a nd if its target was Quebec th en th e regulars must stay in th e heart of th e colony . I n fact th e in vasion force was d estined for Louisbourg, th e great fortress on the rocky Nova Scotia sea boa rd . It a nc ho red a t H al ifax ea rly in July, a nd was joined by most of Lord Loudo n's

best regular units, thus leaving the west ern frontier d anger ou sly weak. Indecision a nd co nfusio n, conflicting orders a nd poor intelligence pl agued th e ex pe dition, a nd in the end no assault was'rnade on Louisbourg ; but while Loudon's red coats idl ed arou nd H alifax, Montcalm struck. H e took Fort William H enry. In July 1 7 5 7 a gre a t a r my was gather ed a t Ticonderoga. For months the French agents had been bu sy coll ecting food to feed 12,000 m en for a month. Since M ay Bourlamaque h ad been ca mpe d a t For t C arillon with the Beam a nd th e R oyal-Rou ssillo n , setting a ll in orde r a fter th e winter a nd sen d ing patrols d own the lak e to wa tch th e British. For months Montcalm a nd hi s officers h ad been visiting Indian villages, to sing with the m t he wa r-song . Now th e Chevali er de Levis had a larg e tented camp near th e Ti conderoga sa w m ill, in which th e L a Sarre, th e La R ein e, th e L angu edoc, a nd th e Guyenne awaited their orders. Other ca m ps contained tho usands of men of th e Compagnies Franches, th e militi a , and th e Mission Indi ans, while th e fires of the wild tr ib es smo ked a ll around: nearly 2 ,0 0 0 of th em , of for ty-one tribes a nd su b-tribes . The major di stinction be tween the Mission Ind ians and their wi ld bro the rs seems to have been th at th e former h ad gu ns in place of the bows a nd spears of the latter , and had been p ersuaded by their priests to give up cannibalism on all but th e most specia l occasions. The officers from Old France we re shocked by the treatment of the prison ers which scouting p arties brought in almos t every d ay, and used to buy them from th e Indians to save their lives when ever they could . Uncontroll able a nd in fur iating though th e tribesm en were, it was sad ly tru e th at, in Bougainvill e's words, ' ... here in the for ests of America we can no more d o witho u t them th an cavalry on the plains'. The army was to m ove p artly b y land, p artly by wat er, and numbers of bateaux had been prep ared ; the artillery, numberi ng m ore than thirty can no n and hal f as many mor ta rs, was mounted on pl atforms b uilt across two bateaux lashed together. On 30 July 1757 d e Levis took to the wood s with a bo ut 2,500 m en ; a nd o n I Au gust Montcalm embarked wi th a bo u t 5 ,000 m ore, leavin g 400 a t Fort Carillon. Of th e total of a bou t 7 ,60 0 in hi s

Baudouin engraving of an officer of the Grenadiers de la Garde Fran~oises (sic) carrying a fusil in the regulation position. '

19

a rmy a bou t 1 , 6 0 0 wer e Indian s. The French flot illa mu st h ave m ad e a n im p ressive sigh t as it slipped over th e wat er close to th e woo de d sho res of th e la ke. First ca me a clo ud of birc h-ba rk ca noe s filled with painted savages. Then ca me the flat-bottom ed bateaux, und er sailor oars, m ore th an 25 0 of th em , filled with d ra b mi liti a a nd brightly u niformed regu la rs of the La R eine, Langued oc, La Sa ne, a nd Guyenne. Nex t ca me th e ca nno n and morta rs on their mak eshift barges, row ed by th e militi a of Sa int-O urs, and followed by the whit e coats of the Beam a nd the R oyalR oussillon , th e p rovision boat s, the hospital boats, a nd boat-lo ad a fter boat-load of Canadians.

The main force rendezvoused success fully with de Levis's a dvanc e pa rt y ; an d on 3 A ug ust the first clas h took pl a ce, as th e scouting parties close d in on th e Bri tish fort, a nd th e d efenders sa llied o ut to d ri ve in th eir ca ttle and burn their o utho uses to clear field s of fire. Fort Willia m H enry was a n irregul ar bastion ed sq uare of logs a nd ra mmed ea rt h pro tected to th e nor th by th e lak e, to th e east by swa m ps, a nd to the south and west by ditch es a nd small outwo rks. T he road south to Fort Ed wa rd , fourteen m iles away, lay o n t he east beyond th e swa m p, covered by an entren ch ed positi on on a hill beyond it. T he fort was co m mande d by th e gallan t Li eutenan tCo lonel M onr o of the 35 th Foo t; he had a t his disposal sev enteen ca nnon, a nd several mor ta rs a nd swivels. His garrison n umber ed 2,200 , mor e than h alf of them provin cials. At For t Edward lay Ge ne ral W eb b, in an unen via ble positi on . H e had on ly about 1 ,60 0 men , la rgely p rovin cial s; anot her 800 or so g uarde d forts o n the road to Albany . H e could not respond to the m essages which M onro sent him, req uestin g immed iate reinfor cem ent, without leaving the rou te to Albany nak ed to th e invader. Hi s availa ble for ce was too small to risk on th e forest road , h aunted as it was by Indian s, a nd would onl y redu ce the odds to a bout tw o to one even if it co uld reac h the beleagu er ed fort. Nevertheless, o ne is tempted to believe th a t if th e po sitions had been reversed , M onr o would have tried it. W ebb stayed wh ere he was, sending frantic ap peals for militia to the Thirt een Colonies, militia wh ich co uld n ever a rrive in time. In a nswer to M onr o's rep ea ted messages h e fin all y sent word tha t surre nde r on d ecent terms, if ob ta inable, was the best p la n. Hi s letter was brou ght to M ontca lm by the Indians wh o butch ered W ebb' s messenger in the woods. If W ebb was h aunted by Bradd ock's ghost, th en M on tcalm was not free of mem ories of Dieskau 's ruin so close to his presen t ca m p. Ther e was to be no frontal assault; h e h ad the men , th e A French s o l d i e r in winter cam p a ign dres s, 1755-60. guns, a nd the time for a form al eig h tee nth -ce n tury There was little major movement of troops in the harsh siege. While hi s red men a nd irregula rs sur rounde d Canadian winter, as the logistic problems of s i m p ly s i tti n g out the winter s a f e l y in one of t he i solated forts were the a rea a nd cu t off a ll esca pe , h is regulars du g enormous. This s o ld i e r c a r rie s extra powder in a horn, parallels, and set up batter ies. As each ca n no n was and a hatchet for hand-to-hand fi ghting . H e wears a capote or blanket-coat and locally -made mittens , and his landed a nd em placed it op en ed fire, a nd for days musket is muffled with r ag to protect the p rill1.ing from th e fort a nd th e tr en ch es exc hange d a brisk dasrsp, (G. A . Embleton, c o urtesy T radition)

20

Print o f nineteenth-cen t u ry vintage purporting to show Montcabn t r ying t o s a ve the victims of the Indian mas sacre a fter the s urren der of Fort William Henry in 17 5 7. (P. H . G i daly)

bombardment. The Indians wer e d elig hted wi th the show, and tended to lou nge around in eage r anticipatio n of th e fall of th e fort . Mon tca lm had warned M on ro to surre nde r at the outset, as the trib es wou ld be difficult to restrain if frustrat ed by a long d efen ce; M onr o, as hono ur bound, had refused. Aft er a few days, Montcalm sent young Bougainvill c into th e fort under flag of truce, with Webb's captu red letter , urging surrender on ce mor e. Ag a in it wa s refused, in the mo st courteou s term s. By the morning of 9 Aug ust, however , a d ifferen t mood prevail ed , a nd Monro sen t h is emissaries into th e F rench ca m p. More than 3 00 of the defenders had bee n kill ed a nd wo unded, and many othe rs lay helpless in the grip of th e smallpox which was raging in th e fort. T he ramparts had been br each ed in seve ral plac es, and nearly a ll th e canno n h ad eithe r burst or been kno cked out by Fr en ch fire. An assa ult, if pressed , cou ld not be repul sed ; and M on ro now asked for terms.

It was ag ree d th at th e ga rr ison wou ld march out with th e honours of war, keeping on e of th eir survivin g ca n no n as a gesture of respect for th eir ga lla n t d efen ce, and wou ld " be escorted to Fort Edward by a French det achment ; ther e wer e other terms co n nec ted with paroles and exchange s of prison ers. Befor e agreeing to these terms Montcalm spec ifically co nsulted the Indian chiefs, as king their co nsent, an d th eir assurance that th ey could and wou ld res train th eir warriors. They conse nte d to everything, a nd rea ssured him on eve ry point. The ga rr ison th en evac ua te d the fort and march ed to j oin the ir co m rades in th e entr en ch ed ca m p, wh ich h ad a lso held out, and whi ch was included in the sur re nde r. Immedi ately th e Indian s swarmed into th e fort and but ch er ed th e bed rid de n sick wh o sti ll lay wit hin. They then turned on th e entre nc he d ca m p, acco m panied by some of the wilder Ca na dians. They ro am ed throu gh th e ca mp, p lun de ring what th ey fancied, a nd threat ening th e un easy ca p tives, who h ad

21

man y women and ch ild re n a mo ng them . The Fren ch g ua rd see m to have been un able or unwillin g to keep th em out. When M ontcalm heard of th is h e ran to the ca m p in person , and seems to have used every d evice to persuad e the chiefs to res train their men. After an aft ernoon of frantic diplomacy, wit h the threa t of massacre a hair's breadth away, he seems to have restored som e order and even secured a promise of represen tatives of each tri be to accompany th e prisoners on the m arch to Fo rt Ed ward as g uarantees of goo d fai th. His effor ts wer e, in th e lon g run, unavailing. So me more of th e wounded wer e murdered durin g the night, a nd sho rtly a fter th e dism al m a rch began th e next d ay, th e Indian s wh o were cro wding round the forl orn colum n rai sed a whoop, and fell on th em. The escort's p art in th e a ffair seems di scredi table, th ou gh not so much so as that of many Canad ian militiamen a nd officers, who watched fifty white men, wo men, a nd children butch er ed before th eir eyes with th e most ca llous di sinterest. Abo ut 200 of th e p rison ers were d ragged into the forest a nd never seen again. M ontcalm a nd his officers, hurryin g to th e scene, tr ied to restrain th e savages physically, a t risk of th eir lives, and even tually provid ed a prop er escort to take th e shocked survivors to Fo rt Ed wa rd . One find s it h ard to feel sympathy for th e India ns who la ter contracted smallpox from th e co rpses they sca lpe d so eagerly, a nd di ed in great numbers .

fre n
®Bri tish Flee t @

WOlfe" lond;ng

©Oi vers ion

@

® ®

O ive r$iOn

@ Sunken

l ou isb o urg

\\\~I I~ I'

Frenc h ship '

sandbanks

/ / 111\\ \\

French batter y

Main d ispositions i n the siege and capture of Louisbourg, b y a British a r nty unde r General Antherst, in the s u ntnte r of 175 8. (R.G.W.)

New York itself in danger; but M ont calm, wit ho ut the m eans to mo ve his artillery swiftly to Fort Edward a nd in the expectatio n of h eavy Briti sh reinforcemen ts (which did , in fact, arriv e soon afte rwa rds), re turned to Ticonderoga. H e spe n t the winter of 1757-8 in Quebec a nd Montrea l, o n bad terms with V audreuil an d writ in g wry lett ers to his fri ends. The colony, as a whole, had a bad winter. Food was sca rce, a nd the consequent riot s by civilians infected th e Compagnies Franches, a nd eve n th e regulars of the Beam. T he Chevalier d e Levis quelled the trouble with some forc eful but nicely judged languag e. Around Lak e G eorge th e partisans of both sid es sta lked thro ugh the sno wcover ed forests; th e redoubta bl e R ogers butc hered French beefs under th e very wa lls of Fort Carillon, a nd left cavalier notes fixed to th eir horns. His sense of humour was bl un ted in M arch 1758, however, by a sav ag e fight with a Fren ch p arty which co st him 125 m en, a nd nearly his life. In London th e winter saw William Pitt take over the helm of gove rn me nt, with a co nseq ue nt improvem ent in the dir ection of th e war. Pitt's three priority targets were Loui sbourg, to clea r a naval road for an attack on Queb ec ; Fort Carillon, to r emove the fester in g ,sore in th e flank of th e northern colonies; and Fort Duquesne, to break the enem y grip on the Ohio Valley . Whi le Montca lm wr ot e loving m essages to his fami ly, a nd exc hanged dryly humor ou s not es with hi s sta ff The cap ture, a nd subs equent burning, of Fort officers, his fat e was bein g sea led across the William H enry was th e onl y m aj or Fren ch ope ra- Atlantic. Lord Loudon was recalled, a nd his tion of 1757. When the news reached the T hir tee n second, M ajo r-Gen eral Abercrombie, too k his Colonies th ere wa s great a la rm , a nd som e de clared pl ace by righ t of seniority ; bu t Pi tt actually ho pe d

~isbourg and

firt Garillon

22

The [ustaucorps of three regiOlents which, with the Volontaires E trangers, for-med the Olain garrison of Louisbour g in I 7S8. (Left) Bourgogne: coat entirely white, three buttons on pocket a n d cuff, waistcoat red, buttons and lace gold. (Centr e) Artois: coat entirely white, nine

buttons on pocket and s i x on cuff, waistcoat red, buttons and lace gold. (Right) CaOlbis: red collar, cuffs and waistcoat, three buttons on pocket and cuff in s e q uen ce silvergold-silver, hat lace Olixed gold and s ilve r . (G. A. EOlbleton)

tha t Brigadier Lord Howe of the 55 th Foot, ' the best sold ier in th e British Ar my', would be th e movin g spirit behind the p lanned expe dition to Fort Carillon. Louisburg -was to be the goal of Major-Gen eral Jeffrey Amhers t, with a young officer named J ames Wolfe among hi s brigadiers; and Fort Duquesn e was to b e attacked by Brigadier J ohn Forbes. Among the rein force ments sent ac ross the Atlantic were two regimen ts of the. Highl and troop s which Pitt h ad had a h a nd in raising years befor e. British troop s under Am h erst land ed on r le Royale o n 8 June 1758, a nd the fortress of Louisbourg ca me under siege sho rtly th ereafter. With a mile a nd a half of ston e ramparts, four great bastions, nearly 250 a rtillery pieces a nd a garr ison of

more th an 3,000 regulars, Louisbourg was th e most formida ble fortress on the con tine nt. When it surrendered on 26 July th e wa lls on th e landwa rd side wer e breached a nd two of th e bastions crumbling; not a single ca nnon was left in working ord er on that face; th e town within th e wa lls was almost entirely d estroyed by th e Briti sh bo mbardment; and a q uarter of the ga rr ison wer e cas ualties. The sto ut Drucour a nd h is men of the battalions of Artois, Bou rgogn e, Cambis, and Volontaires Etrangers, a nd the Compagnies Franches de la Marine, wer e ready to fight on, but were p reva iled upon to surre nde r to save the in habita nts fur ther suffering. The afte rm ath of Fort W illiam H enry la y heavy on Fren ch cons cienc es - if not on Vaudreuil 's, th en on those of Frenchmen nearer

23

Artist's hnpression of General Abercrombie supervising t he embarkation of his army on Lake George for the attack on Fort Carillon in September 1758. (P. H . Gidaly)

th e sound of gunfire - and there was a certa in unwillin gn ess to for ce the enemy to storm th e breach. Hi storicall y, this gave the attackers the unqu estion ed right to sack the town once it fell into the ir hands. At every stage young Brigadier W olfe di stinguished himself. H e led the real invasion party asho re in F resh wat er Cove, while Lawrence and Whitmore led di versions against Flat Poi nt a nd White Point. H e march ed his brigade ro und th e h arbour a nd set up a battery on Lightho use Point, silencing th e French guns on Goat I sland. H e was always to th e fore in th e savage clashes be twee n besiegers, sally-parties, and harassing militia. Altho ug h Queb ec now lay open to hi m, it was well on in th e seaso n, and Amherst igno re d th e temptati on a nd sailed to join Abercrom bie a t Lake George with six regiments. M ontcal m now faced a probable assault on Fort Carillon by ove rwhel m ing num bers, and faced it without th e colony troops or mi litia; Vaudreuil, whose spite had reache d the point where he co uld risk d a maging his Ki ng's cause if he cou ld ruin M ont-

24

calm th er eby, had drawn th em , a nd th e sta lwa rt d e Levis, ofT to M ontreal for some sche me of his own. R eports from a prison er in mid-June, of ' 30,000 British' coming to Fort Carillon within a fortnight, forc ed th e Go vernor to release d e Levis a nd promise reinforcem ents, bu t there was no reason to hope th at eithe r would arrive in time. M ontcalm seems to h av e been throu gh a period of indecision. H e sprea d his little army of regu lars along th e probable lin e of British advance, with detachments a t the landing-pl aces a t th e h ead of Lak e G eor ge, th e end of the port age track, th e sawmill by th e narrows west of th e fort, a nd th e fort itself - wher e th e Second Berry was set to dig ging th e beginnings of a lin e of outworks half a mi le in front of th e fort. H e kept his op tions op en as to th e point wh er e h e would sta nd a nd fight. His prospects were h ardly enco uraging . Ab ercrombie em barked on 5 J uly from his camp at th e sou the rn end of Lake George surely a haunted camp-ground if eve r one existed . His a rmy number ed a bo ut 15,000. So me 6,000 wer e regul ars of the 27th, 44th, 46 th, 55 th, a nd

Major-General the Marquis of Mont calm

MICHAel ROFFE

A

2

Canadian militiaman, Trois Rivieres Brigade 1759 2 Fusilier, Compagnies Franches de la Marine, c. 1750 3 Fusilier, Swiss Regiment 'Karrer', Louisbourg, 1745 1

1

B

3

MI CHAEL ROFFE

3

1

Fusilier, Compagnies Franches , winter campaign dres s , 1750S 2 Fusilier, Compagnies Franches , summer fatigue dres s, 1750S 3 Coureur de bois , 1750S 1

2

MICH AEL ROFFE

c

r

x Fusille.r, Regilnent de Beam,

x7SS-6o 2

Grenadier, Regiment de La Reine, with battalion colour :

x7SS-6o 3 Officer, Corps of Engineers ,

x7So S

D

MICHAEl ROFFE

1 2

Sergeant, Regiment de Royal-Roussillon, 1756-60 Corporal, Regiment de Guyenne, marching order,

1755-60 3 Mission Indian, 17505

MICHAEL ROFFE

E

1

Corporal, Regiment de La Sarre,ofl-dutydre s s, 1756-60 2 Company officer, R egiment de Berry, Quebec, 1757 3 Fusilier, Regiment d e La Reine, summer ca mpaign dres s , 1758 1

F

1 Drummer, Regiment de Guyenne, 1755-60 Company officer, Regiment de Languedoc, summer campaign dress, 1758 3 Woods Indian warrior, 1750S 2

2

MICHAEl ROFFE

G

Cadet-GendlhOlnnte, COrpS Royal d'Ardllerie, 1757 2 Grenadier, Regintent de Cantbis, Louisbourg, 1755 3 Grenadier, Regintent de Languedoc, 1755-60 1

1

H

MI CHAEL ROFfE

Both Fo ot , th e 42nd Highla nd ers and the 60th

I I

Royal Americans, with d etachments of Light I nfan try under Gage. Ther e wer e about 9,000 \ provincial s, with Massachusetts well to the fore, and Rogers scouted ahead with his green-coated Rangers. Ab ercrombie himself was an undistinguishe d com mande r, a man of conne ction rath er th an ta lent. The heart a nd brain of the a rmy was th e gay, brilliant young Brigadier Lord H owe, a thirty-four-year-old officer who seems to have made a re marka ble impression on a ll who met him. H e was loved a nd re spected by a ll ranks, not least because he unfailingly shared eve ry hardship of th e common sold iers. H e performed marvels of diplomacy to re concile th e mutually resentful regul a r a nd provin cial officers; and he spared no effort in hi s d et ermination to fit himself and his army for for est ca m paigning , wh ether they liked it or not. The British army sailed up to Lake G eorge in a convoy of ca noes, wh al e-boats, and barges six mil es lon g, a nd landed , co m plete with a rtillery, by noon on 6 July. It was planned to sweep north round th e outside of th e narrows between the lak es, turning eas t a nd sou th again to approach T iconderoga fro m the landward side . Late that aft ernoon th e h ead of H ow e's colu m n, pushing north through thick woodl and , blunder ed into a stro ng Fren ch party wh ich was tryin g to regain th e shelter of the fo rt. In a co nfused skirmish Lord H owe wa s sho t d ead , a nd gloo m set tle d on th e entire a rmy . Pitt h ad wanted him to be the movin g spirit - but now th e spirit was qu en ch ed . Ab er crombie wasted a day in indecisive co unte rma rc hing , pullin g th e troops back to th e landings a nd th en deciding to adv a nce by means of th e portage track an yh ow . Montcalm, wh o had cam ped near th e sawmill with his main for ce until the eve ning of th e 6th, now fell back on the fort it self a nd made use of th e preciousday th e ene my ge ne ra l had give n him. Throu ghou t th e 7th, officers and men of th e battali on s of Old F rance swea ted and h eaved side by side, a nd a nin e-foot wall of logs, loop -h oled for d efenders a nd zigzagging to give en filad ing fire, rose in fro nt of th e fort. It was stre ng the ne d with ~ ~. ~~-:.::' -" . -. . . sac ks a nd baskets of earth a t some points; a nd in "~~,, . ;-.::~~.~<:~:-~~;,c.~.jI front a 'killing -grou nd' wa s provided . A th ick, tangled a ba tis of felled tr ees wa s spre ad ov er the Baudoufn pla t e s h o wing a n officer - a p p a r e n tly ope n gro und, th eir bran ch es interwoven a nd officer - w ith a n esp o nto o n.

l\

-

a s en io r

25

Baudouin plate s h o wing firs t , second and t hird ran ks o f t h e b attle line a t t he 'Aitn' pos i tio n .

pointed in a terrible obstacle, as bad as a barbedwir e enta ng leme n t. D espite th e prodi gies hi s m en p erform ed , M ontcalm had littl e ca use for op timism as d awn rose on th e 8th. W it h rations for eigh t d ays, he stoo d eve ry chance of being cut off from a ll help. H e had bee n cheered by the last-minute arriva l of de Levis durin g th e night, with 400 regul ars, but thi s still on ly brought his st rength up to 3,600, against 15 , 0 0 0 enemy. H ad Abercrom bie chose n a nyone of numerous plans of a ttack base d on stea dily closing in a ro und Ticonderoga a nd brin gin g his a rtillery up from Lak e G eorge to pound the fort into splinters, di saster was in evita ble. As it h appen ed Abercro mbie did th e one thing M ontcalm had no right to hop e for - he sent wa ves of infantry against th e Fren ch d efences, without suppor t. Wh en th e Fren ch picket s wer e driven in by th e adva ncing Rangers a t a bou t noon, a nd the red coat s began to show betw een th e trees a t th e far edge of th e clearing, M ontcalm was r eady. O n the ea rt hwo rk wa ll, h alf a mil e in fro nt of the fort, the regul ars wer e draw n up. (T he wa ll did not ex ten d as far as th e wat er at eac h end - th e gaps were plu gged by Ca nad ia ns and some ten companies of th e Compagnies Franches, sup ported by th e ca nno ns of th e fort. ) The left, or sou th end, was com mande d by Bourlamaq ue, the centre by M ontcalm, a nd th e nor th or rig ht flank by de Levis. Bourl amaqu e h ad under his co m mand the

26

La Sarre a nd Langued oc, und er Li eu ten antColonels d e Sennezer gu es a nd d e Privas. In th e cen tre wer e th e Roya l-Roussillon a nd th e T hird Berry, und er d e Bernetz a nd de T recesson respe ctively. The La R ein e (Lieuten a n t-Colonel de R oquem a rr e), th e Beam (Lieu ten a nt-Colonel de L'H6pital ) a nd th e Guyenne (Lieuten an t-Colonel d e Fonbonne) were o n th e right. T he grenad iers had been d et a ch ed from all th ese battalions, a nd were sta tione d together as a reserve force a bo ut h alf-w ay between ea rthwo rk and fort. I n the fort it self the Second Berry of Li euten an t- Colonel de Trevis kept guard . Against th ese expe rience d sold iers, firing through loop-holes in a wall higher than th eir heads, Aber crombie launch ed hi s in fantry with orde rs to tak e th e po sition with th e bayon et. The first wave struggled for a full hour in th e bulletswe p t hell of the abatis befor e falling back exhau sted. G all antl y supported by the provin cials they hacked th eir way throu gh th e clinging branch es with stolid cour age, only to fall fa r fro m th e br eastwork, or to di e scr ab bling at it s foot under the terrible cross-fire . They were sent in a seco nd time, clambering now between th e bodies of th eir d ead and wounded , whi ch hung in the cruel en ta ng leme nt as if in some great web; and again the Fren ch volleys d rove th em off, to triumph ant sho uts of' V ive le roi' a nd 'Vive notre genera l!'

o I

Mile A.

Fort Cari lion

B.

Earthworks

C.

Sa w Mill

0.

French advanced post

E. Abercromb ie's la nd ing F.

Where Howe was killed

® The abortive attack on Fort C a rillon, 6-8 Septelllber 17 58.

(R. G.W .)

from the wa lls. M ontcalm, lost in admiration , record ed seve n distinct ch arges between on e a nd seven o' cloc k. So m an y ac ts of d esperate courage wer e performed th at non e ca n be singled ou t with j ustice. A few individu als rea ch ed the breastwork and hurled th em selves at the top, flailing with gun-butt or hat ch et , but on ly a few - and th ey soon j oin ed th e tumbled corpses at the foot of the wall. The o nly mom ent of real d an ger ca me with a n attac k of u nequ all ed d et ermination on th e right fla nk, a t about five in the aft ernoon. This was th e fam ou s cha rge of the Black W atch, wh en th e berserk clansm en hacked their wa y through th e ob stacl es with th eir broadswords a nd a ctually rea ch ed th e breastw ork s. The G uy en ne a nd Beam wer e mom entarily in difficu lti es, and Montcalm rushed . to th e spot with the grenadi er reserv es. Captain Cam p bell and his littl e handfu l of Hi ghl anders earned th e grim honour of bein g th e only Briti sh soldiers to di e on th e Fren ch side of the stoc ka de . A flank a ttack on this column ofa ttac kers wa s led by de Levis and included som e of th e colony tr oop s fro m th e extre me flank ; they did not distingu ish th em selves. As dusk drew on th e battle settle d into a spor adic musket ry duel a t lon g range, to cover th e reco ver y of wounded from th e op en ground . W ith twili ght ca m e silence, except for the gro a ns of those still crucified in the maze of j agged branch es befor e the wa lls. Abercro mbie had lost 1,944 officers and me n kill ed , wounded , a nd missing. Montcalm had lost 377 . Bourlamaque was badly wounded , Bou gainvill e slightly, and de Levis had two bullet-holes in his h at. They had stood off a n attack of breath-taking courage but little intelligence. They wer e faced by the certain prospect of mor e p ati ent assaults, back ed by plentiful artill ery, no w that the first day's losses ha d taken th e fire out of the British infantry. The situation continued to look gr im; wh at reinforcem ent could they expect fro m V audreui l, and when? M ontcal m 's concern was needl ess. Ab ercrombie, his intelligence a nd reso lution apparently unequal to th e respon sibi lity of com mand , was retreating with a ll haste. His a rmy, which still outnumber ed th e ene my four to one, sai led away down th e lake leaving its baggage stre wn in its wa ke. The troops, humiliat ed a nd furious a t bein g pulled out without

a chance to ave nge th e deaths of so many heroi c comrad es, wer e soon diminished by dispersal ; a nd th e rump of the ar my dug in on th e old site of Fort William H enry, a nd soon contracted the usual ca m p diseases. It was a dismal and undeser ved en d for a p roud ar my, a nd on e which underlined ve ry clearly th e fact that leadership is worth mor e th an numbers. The chee ring men of th e Frenc h lin e ba tt alion s ouside Fort Carillon took the p oin t.

C]/ie 'J;JJinter Of "Despair The large war-parties, assem bled from among the plentiful reinforce me nts whi ch soon rea ch ed Mont calm and went out to h arass the Brit ish, would, as it transpired , have a chieved more of va lue had th ey been em ployed on Lake Ontario . N ews soon ca me th a t, a t th e end of Au gust 1758, Li eutenant-Colonel Bradstreet and a small a rmy of provin ci als had m ade a sudde n a nd successful a ttack on Fort Fronten ac. Although th e succ ess was not follow ed up ene rge tically, co m ma nd of th e lak e was thu s lost to th e Fren ch , a nd a ga ping hol e ope ne d in th eir lin e. Lines of com m unica tion betw een Can ada a nd Fort Duquesne wer e cut at a time wh en th at post need ed a ll th e support po ssible. In September a force of mor e than 6 ,000 , made up la rgely of provin cia ls with a stiffening of Highl and ers a nd R oyal Ame rica ns, wa s hacking a new route to th e Ohio Valley through th e som bre for ests of th e Alleghenies. It was led by Brigadi er J oh n Forbes, a fine Sco ts officer wh ose performan ce in t he face of unusuall y fractious provincia ls, wid espread lack of co-ope ra tion, a nd his own painful illn ess, was co nsiste ntly ad mira ble. His a rmy was not impressive an d his problems wer e legion; ye t he pressed on steadily, consolidatin g his lin e of adv a nce by sett ing up fort ified

27

-, ~~

.....

-'.

Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Montcalm 's aide, chronicler, and friend, and later in hi s life a famou s navigator of the South Seas. (From the D elpech lithograph)

d ep ot s, and scouti ng a he ad cons cien tiously - he had no intention of em ula ting Bra ddock. One major blessing was th e fact that patient diplom acy, stea dfast persiste nce, a nd ene rge tic bribery were inducing th e Indian s of th e region to waver in th eir loyal ty to France. Li gn eri s, commandan t at Duquesne, h ad a llow ed thi s vital part of his d uties to go by dcfa ul t ; a nd in the ea rly autumn a great treat y was concl uded between th e tribes and the Brit ish under th e very noses of th e mortifi ed F re nch. Vaudre uil, con fide nt of th e tr ibes ' sup port, had neglect ed more orthodox precau tions. Both th e Fren ch a t Duquesne a nd th e Brit ish co lum n in th e mount a ins suffered miserably in the wet a utum n weat he r and th e ea rly snows - th e French fro m lack of supplies since the fa ll of Fort Fronten ac, th e British from expos ure and some dis mally mismanaged skirmishes. Yet a t the end of November Forbes, wracked and shivering in his litter, had the sa tisfactio n of being ca rr ied int o th e clearing of Fo rt Duq uesne, an d seeing th e charred ruins of th e fort whi ch ha d sta rted th e who le ugly co nflict fou r yea rs previously. Lign eris had blown it up an d withd rawn on Presq u'ilc a nd Fort Le Bceuf Before retu rn ing to Pennsylva nia - to di e

28

in M arch - the sta lwart Fo rbes h ad an outpos t esta blished on th e site, a nd gave d ecent bur ia l at last to th e grisly d eb ris of Braddock's colum n which still lit ter ed th e forest floor n ear by. With Fort Duquesne in the south, Fort Fronten ac in th e cen tre , a nd Lou isbou rg in th e north all lost to th em , a nd th e I ndian alliance cru m blin g, the F ren ch faced the ruin of th e d efensive stra tegy which th ey h ad p ursued with suc h success, despit e feebl e resources, for five years. It wa s characteristic of V a ud reu il that in his ex tre mity h e sho uld hun t for a scapegoa t. His sla nde rous corresponde nc e wi th France, d emanding Montcalm 's recall on every pretex t from outrageous public utterances to milita ry incompeten ce, rea ch ed a new peak of hys teria. Versa illes re minde d him wi th som e asper ity th at he sho uld d efer to M on tcalm in a ll things military. M ontcalm for his part wa s driven to d espair by the corru p tion and mi smanageme nt which was in large pa rt responsible for th e loss of Fo r t Duquesn e. H e wished for nothing be tte r th an an hon ourable recall, a nd wrote long ing letters to Cand iac; but he was d et ermin ed to see his duty out to the end . Even th e sto lid Canadia n po p ula tion, in cr easingly u neasy at the evid ent mi sgovernment of th e colony, bega n to m utt er. Wild inflation, th e shortage of every necessity, due to the British blocka de of th e St Lawrence, a nd a poor h arvest all in cr eased th eir wr etchedness. It seeme d that O ld Fra nce, preoccupied with disasters in Eu rope , had abando ned h er colony to its fat e. In the winter of 1758- 9 Bou gai nvill e was sen t to Fran ce to appea l for suppo rt. H e ac t ua lly managed to secu re a n a ud ienc e wit h th e King -and L a Pompadour - but th e only gest ur e they would m ak e was to promote him, M ontcal m , d e Levis, a nd Bourlamaque one rank ea ch. The fa mo us interview between Bou gainvill e and th e Colonial Minister , Berryer , is worth repea tin g. When the Minister answered the young officer ' s a ppeal with th e cold observation, ' Monsieur, wh en th e hou se is on fire one ca nno t occupy on eself wit h th e sta ble', Bougainville ret ort ed , 'A t least, Monsieur , nobody will say th at you ta lk like a hor se.' Ve rsa illes wa s adamant, and all th a t Bougainville co uld wring from Fra nce wer e a few hundred re placeme n ts a nd a few shiploads of supplies to

meet im me dia te need s.' Like Imperi al Rome, Fra nce was cyn ica lly relying on th e undeserv ed devoti on of her fro ntier centu rio ns. In th e spring of 1759 Bou gainvill e returned, br ing ing firm in tellige nce th at a vast British expedition was bound for Queb ec - the figure of 50,000 m en was mention ed. Montcalm was orde red to pl a n hi s d efen ce with the aim of ensuri ng, with his tiny resources, that a firm foothold was ret a ined in th e h eart of Canada, however small. H e had a m er e 3,500 regular soldiers, about 1,500 co lony troops, a nd a maximum of 13,000 militia to call upon. Ther e was a slim cha nce th at h e mi ght m ak e use of geographi- . ca l advan ta ges to keep th e ene m y from th e area aroun d Q uebec a nd M ontreal a t least. If he failed , he fully in te nde d to retreat down the entire len g th of th e Mis sissippi and make a last stand in far-ofT Lou isiana .

th at Wolfe mi gh t be forc ed to withdraw by lack of supplies a nd the a pp roach of wint er. Wolfe was impatient to make a d ecisive move, but bide d his time in the knowledge tha t Am he rst was adva nc ing fro m N ew En gland up th e great va lley whi ch co ntained Lakes G eorge a nd C ha m p lain . Bourlamaqu e could never hold th e ga te, an d Montcalm would be for ced to d et ach more troops. For a month th er e wer e no maj or op er ations. W olfe's a rmy sat on th e isla nd a nd scouted up a nd down th e shores, and Montcalm sa t on th e heights a nd wat ch ed him. M any of the Canadia n militia became bored and discou raged , a nd deserted in droves. Lat e in Ju ne W olfe succeede d in seizing Point Levi, opposite th e city, a nd soon esta blishe d batteries whi ch brought Queb ec under fire. The ca nnon of bo th sides thu nd ered across the wat er , th e Rangers and Canadia ns clashed in th e thicket s, bu t no major operatio ns seeme d to be in train. Ev en the scour ing of the surro und ing p arishes by Wolfe's light infantry a nd Hi ghl anders - with occasional di sgraceful episodes - fail ed to tempt M ontcalm into leavin g h is stro ng position. At th e end ofJ uly, Wolfe - wh o now had position s on th e north side of th e riv er a t th e left end of th e Fren ch encam p men ts - lau nched a com bined land and sea-bo rne a ttack on ene m y redoubts nea r the mouth of the M ontmor en ci. It was beat en off with 450 or so casualties, man y of th em grenadi ers a nd R oyal Am er ica ns. The Fren ch wer e In Ju ne it beca me certain th at Queb ec was to be chee red by thi s, and the British d epressed. They th e mai n targe t, a nd a lmos t all the availa ble soon heard news whi ch gave mor e food for th ou ght. forces wer e conce n tra ted in th at a rea ; Bourlama- Amherst had tak en Fort Carillo n on th e night of qu e was left a t Tico nde roga with th e Second and 26 July ; it had been abando ned to him, a fter th e Third Berry a nd th e La R ein e, to gu ard against blowing of th e magazine. This was a wise step, as an at tac k in the rea r by enemy forces in th e th e p reciou s little army of Bourl am aque could Thi rt een Co lonies. O n 26 June 1759 the fleet ac hieve fa r more in th e strong defen sive position bearing th e Briti sh a rmy of M ajor-Gen er al a t l le-au x-Noix a t the hea d of Lak e C ha m plain, J am es W olfe a nchored safely ofT th e I sle of wh ere h e now dug in . Almost sim ulta neo usly, Orlean s, a few miles fro m Queb ec, and di sem- however, the Fren ch wer e suffer ing an o th er barked. W olfe fa ced a d aunting task. All aro und reverse which co uld not be justified o n tacti cal him th e h eights were cro wned by Fren ch bat- ground s. A force of abo ut 2,30 0, reg ulars a nd teries, an d nowhere was there a pra cti cabl e provin cials an d some hu ndreds of Indians, co mlandin g-place from which h e mi ght ad va nce on m anded by Willia m J ohnson a fter th e d eath of Queb ec; the grea t cam p of M ontcalm was Brigadier Prid ea ux, sco red a double victo ry. They clearl y visib le on th e Beauport H eights. Montcalm h ad besieged Fo rt Niagara for th ree weeks wh en a nat urall y hop ed to fight a d elaying ac tion . If he relief for ce of 1,300 Canadia ns, colo ny troop s, a nd co uld p rolong th e d efen ce, th ere was a slim cha nce India ns a rrived from th e F ren ch posts on Lak e

,Quebec

29

oI

10 0 0

.2.O
Feet -. bridge of boats ••••• _ Montcalm fs • -HQ

.

.:

R. St. lawren ce

The Battle of the Plains of AbrahalD. British battle line:

(I ) Lawrence's Royal AlDericans , (2) O tway' s 35 th Foot, (3) Louisbourg Grenadiers , (4) Bragg ' s 28th Foot, (5) Kennedy' s 43rd Foot, (6) Lascelles ' 47th Foot, (7) Fraser's 78th Highlanders, (8 ) Anstruther' s 58t h Foot, (9) AlDherst's 15th Foot, (10) Howe ' s Light Infantry. (X) indicates Canadian and Indian s kirznish e rs. French battle line : (a) Quebec Militia, (b) Regt. d e la Sarre, (c) R egt. de

--~

Cape ~iamond Languedoc, (d) Regt. de Beam, (e ) Regt. de Guyenne, (f) Regt. de Royal-Roussillon, (g) Montreal Militia, (h ) Trois Rivieres Militia. (A) and (B) in the city itself represent the Ursuline convent and the cathedral. Note that the calDps of the French arzny between June and Septernbee 1759 stretched a considerable way along the Beauport s h o r e, beyond the edge of this sketch-lDap. (R.G.W.)

Erie; this column inclu ded m any of the hardiest Ber ry and part of th e La R eine ; a nd Amherst, an d most dreaded of th e partisans a nd coureurs de in stead of m arching on M ontreal , was indulging bois, the 'white India ns' . J ohnson promp tly split his usual p assion for fort-build ing. Wolfe, seriously his little for ce in th ree; one guarde d the trenc hes ill and beginning to d espair of his mission, h ad befor e th e fort , one guarded the boats by which p erhaps 5,000 men ava ila ble for an a tt ack, once th ey had come, a nd one met a nd d ecisively beat Point Levi a nd th e Isl e of Orlean s wer e properly th e rel ief force. The fort, und er Captain Pouchot garrisoned. M ontcalm had twice th at number, of the Beam , was compelled to surrender. The co un ting hi s d windling forces of militia, but Wolfe fleeing partisa ns burned P resq u'ile, Le Bceuf, a nd di scounted the latter in open battle, eve n though Venango, and fell back on Detroit. The O hio he h ad a healthy respect for th e regulars. Sep temValley, Lak e Eric, and Lake Ontario wer e lost for ber signalled th e imminen t close of th e season, a nd Wolfe ga m bled . ever. M ontcalm, at hi s h eadquarters on th e Beauport Dismal as th is news was for Montcalm, the campaign season wa s wearing on and ther e was H eights, p assed a troubled night on 1 2 / I 3 Septemstill no sign of a British initiative. Bourlamaque ber. Ther e was h eavy British activity in front of his was firm ly established a t Yle-aux-Noix with the position s, a nd h e a nticipated an attack. There was

30

unusually h eavy cannon-fire a t sever al points. He had no fears for th e sector up river above the city; th e banks were impassable, a nd anyway his trusted Bougainville was on guard there with 3,000 men - though tired from marching fruitlessly up a nd down keeping watch on British con voys. As dawn broke he heard cannon above th e tow n, a nd rode to investigate. As he reached th e hi gh er ground near th e city he saw, beyond th e grey roo fs on th e n arrow grassy plateau of the Plains of Abrah a m, a line of brick-red. Wolfe had mad e his famous night climb up the cliffs by the An se d u Fo ulon, between Bougainville's troops a nd th e city, a nd now stood ready to meet his ene my face to fac e a t last. There were less than 3 , 500 men in his battle lin e, as detachments had to be posted to cov er th e rear. M ontcalm sp urre d his horse forward. Behind him th e ca mps came awa ke, a nd the troops poured out tow ards Q uebec. The Guyenne was already on the pl ains, warily standing in the path of th e en emy; now th e La Sarre, th e Languedoc and Beam, th e Compagnies Fra nches and the militia, the proud Royal-Roussillon, all flood ed through the narrow stre ets of Queb ec and out of the St Louis and St Jcan gates on to the grassy plateau, which rose towards th e west, and was dotted with cornpatches a nd bushes. The British line waited in silence. A ligh t drizzle was falling as Montcalm held counc il with his sta ff. All was confusion and contradict ion . H e h ad asked Vaudreuil to send aft er hi m th e m en from th e camps at the far left of the lin e along th e Beauport shore; these had been promised , bu t never a rrived - the Governor decided to keep th em to gua rd against th e chance of anoth er Briti sh a ttack in that sector. The city garrison, also under V audreuil's orders, refused to come up, a nd sent only three of their cannon to Montcalm's field a rmy. While skirmishing parties of Canadia ns a nd Indians sniped and worried at th e English rear a nd flanks, and th e French regul a rs sorted the mselves into th eir lin e, th e qu estion of whe ther to attack or delay was thrashed out . It is said that Montcalm and his staff wer e unanimously for an attack. It is hard to underst and why, and Montcalm's southern impetuosity mu st be susp ect ed. Bougainville was an hour a nd a half's m arch behind the enemy with 3,000 mor e men. In time Montcalm should have

been a ble to persuad e the Governor to release men fro m Beauport and th e city. It is said he feared th at the Briti sh would be reinfor ced - th ere was nobod y to reinforce th em with, but he evide ntly did not reali ze tha t. At all eve nts, th e M a rquis de Montcalm orde red a general advan ce a t a bout 10 a .m, Hi s lin e - reg ula rs in th e centre, mixed regul a rs, colony troop s and militia on th e flanks came on stea dily. The two British ca nno n whi ch h ad been d ragged up th e cliffs, a nd th e three French pi eces fro m Quebec, pli ed th e closing batt le lin es with grape and ca nister. The redcoat s, who h ad bee n lyin g down to avoid thi s a nd th e snipe rs' fire, now stoo d up a nd order ed th eir ranks. The white ranks app roaching th em became slightly ragged - th e colony troops a nd militia were not used to this sort of manoeuvre and could not m aintain th eir dressing ; and th e Canadians, following th e habits of th e for est, threw th emselves down on the gro und to reload after eac h sho t, completely d estr oyin g th e continuity of th e lines. The British did not fire; th ey adva nced a few paces, a nd wait ed. When th e two a rmies wer e a m er e fort y ya rds a part, th e order was give n, and ' the most perfect volley eve r fired ' cra she d out. The traditional stre ng th of th e British infantry, th e d elayed, perfectl y timed mass volley a t short range, sounde d like a single ca nnon shot. As th e great bank of dirty grey -whi te smoke rolled forward a nd com pletely hid th e armies from on e another , a second volley followed , th en a sha rp period of ' fire a t will '. The smoke lifted , a nd revealed a sce ne of carnage. The regul ars of Old France lay wri thing or still on th e gr ass in th eir hundreds, and th e disorder ed front waver ed in confusion. The order to cha rge passed down th e British lin e; som e d ashed forward firing, som e with th e bayonet , th e Hi ghl anders with the broadsword. The Fren ch re treated, som e in panic, others more steadily and still firin g. Wolfe was on th e far righ t, with th e un it of gre na diers detached from th e regiments a t Loui sbourg. Urgin g on th e advance, h e was h it in th e wrist. H e wr apped a kerchief round th e sha ttered joint a nd kept on. A second shot, in the bod y, staggered him ; a third dropped him. H e di ed a few minutes later in th e a rm s of Gren adier H enderson, knowing that his a rmy wa s victorious. As th e French retreat became more frenzi ed and

31

The wholly inaccurate painting of Montcalm ' s death by Vatteau; two of the more obvious a bsu r dities are the placing of the General's death on t he battlefield, and the palm-tree. (P . H. Gidaly)

less orderly, M ontcal m was borne bac k in th e cr ush towa rd s th e St Louis Gate. A shot passe d through his bod y ; th e Royal Artillery la ter cla imed it was gra pe from Captain York's cannon, but on wh a t gro unds it is hard to say . H eld in his sadd le by a soldier on either side, he rod e his blac k horse throu gh th e St Louis Gate, blood strea ming down . Some women of the city, clu stering round, saw his wound a nd crie d out, ' Mo n Di eu , Ie Marquis est tuc!' 'Ce n'est rien, ce n' est rien ; ne vous a ffiigez pas po ur moi, mes bonnes a mies,' he repli ed. They took him to th e house of Surgeon Arnoux ; told th at he had some twe lve hours to live, he replied th at he was happy he wou ld not live to see th e surre nder of Quebec - which the poltroon Vaudreuil was a ba ndoning to its fate. H e ga ve certa in advice on the military situation, a nd hi ghl y recommended his friend de Levis as his successor. O ne of his last acts was to wr ite to Brigadier Townshend, now the British commande r

32

with Wolfe d ead and Monckton di sabl ed , interceding for the Canadian civilian s. When the confused officer s of th e staff begged for his or ders, he replied : ' I will neither give orde rs nor interfere a ny furth er. 1 have much business th at must be attended to , of gr eater moment than your ruined ga rrison and this wretched coun try . M y time is very short; th er efore, pray leave me. 1 wish you all comfort, and to be happily extricated from your present perplexities.' H e received th e last sacrame nts from Bishop Pontbriand, and di ed at a bout four o'clock on th e morning of 14 September 1759. Vaudreuil lat er wrote a letter to his Minister blaming all th e misfortunes of th e colony on th e dead soldier, in terms which leave the reader sicken ed a t th e d epths of meanness to which th e human spirit ca n sink. Just under on e year later , on 8 Septem ber 1760, Vaud re uil sign ed th e ar ticles of capit ulation by which Canada a nd all its d ep endencies passed to th e British Crown.

CJfie Plates

A Major-General the Marquis

rif Mo ntcalm

Montcal m is shown here as h e is believed to h ave appeared when ra llying th e Fren ch for ces on th e Plai ns of Abraham be fore th e battl e in whi ch h e was morta lly woun de d, on th e morning of 13 Sep tember 1759. Eye witnesses rep orted that he rod e up and do wn or de ring th e Fren ch line of battle, on a black horse, with drawn sword . The cuirass, with lines of sim ple chiselled d ecoration as illustra ted here, is a n unusual feature at this lat e d a te ; it is preser ved a t his family home, the

A lDuch 1D0r e a uthen tic view - 'La Mort de MontcallD ' b y Suzor -Cot e . The Marquis died in the early hours of the day after t h e b a ttle, i n the hous e of a n absent Quebec s urgeon. He was b uried on the night of 14 Septernbee 1759,

Chat ea u de Candiac. French gene ra l officers of th e day wore a prescribed un iform only wh en ac tua lly on campaign. It consisted of a singlebreasted blue coat, a re d wais tcoat, and re d or whi te breeches, with a black coc ked hat d ecorat ed wi th go ld lace trim and white plumage. The coat and waistcoat were richly embroidered with a ' folded ' pattern of gold bu llion lace. Decora tion s and orders were not generally worn wit h the ca mpaign uniform. Heavy blac k leather ridingboots are worn; the sword-belt is of wh ite leather wit h gold decoration, and the sword and scabbard are furnished in gilt metal and bu llion cor d.

B [ Canadian militiaman, Trois Rioieres brigade, [759

For th e campaign of 1759 the militia companies wer e amalgamated into three brigades by region of origin, and wore the kn itted tuque or stocking cap typ ical of the French habitant in di ffer ent colours according to their br iga de: red for Queb ec, white for Trois R ivieres, a nd blue for M ontreal.

in a s hell-h o le i n the Ooor of the wrecked chapel of the Urs uline co nvent in t he city, which had s uffe r e d heavy d alDa g e f roID t he British artillery. (M usee du Quebec l N . Ba d o ).

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This man's dress is ot herwise com pletely nonmilitary. The brown civilian coat, wit h low pockets a nd ' ma rine r's cuffs', is of rather archaic cut, as are th e shoes with laced flaps . The woo llen sash under th e waist-belt was common wear in New France. The belt supports a bullet-bag a nd a ' butche r knife'. The powder flask slung fro m a cr oss-belt is thirty years out of d ate - a ca nny administration saved such old equipme n t for issue to th e militia. T he few personal effects are bundled into a simple bag an d slung with ro pe . The musket is th e exce llent iron-moun ted model of 1728, and th e promise of keeping it, at an a rtificially low price, on his release from service was a majo r inducem ent to the unpaid militiaman.

th e cr ude flower or a nima l tattoos common a mong the rough er elem ent in N ew F ra nce . T hey wer e imprinted by burning gunpo wder in th e needl e-wounds.

B3 Fusilier, Swiss Regiment 'Karrer', Louisbourg, 1745 The French h ave alway s made great use of mercena ry regime nts, and the Swiss h ave a lon g tr adition of merc enary sold iering. T he Karre r R egiment was raised for service in the colonies by th e French Ministry of M arine in 1721; its com pa nies served in Louisian a and the Caribbean as well as in Canada. In 1745 two compa nies serv ed as part of the garrison of Louisbourg, a nd wer e apparently on th e verge of mutiny due to th e bad livin g conditions. The fortress fell to PepB2 Fusilier, Compagnies Franches de la M arine, c. 1750 per ell's provincials in 1745; th e garrison fought In about 1700 th e men of the Compagnies Franches bravely, but had little chance. There were no had worn the greyish-white Fren ch infantry coat - th ejustaucorps - with bl ue cuffs, and th eir hat lace and buttons had been false silver and pewt er. The distinction s became false gold and brass about th at peri od , and by 1740 the cuffs had changed to coat-colour. T he cuffs of sergeants had a strip of gold lace round the top. The low standup collar is characteristic of this corps. The j ustaucorps is worn over a long-sleeved thighlength waistcoat in royal blu e; blue kn ee-breeches; and blu e woollen stockings. The shirt is of white lin en, collarless, with full sleeves ga thered at the wrist. The stock a nd sho es a re black leather. All buckles are brass. The stitched heart d ecorations on th e coat-tails, which a re hooked up for ease on the march, are typi cal of eigh tee nth-century military fashion, and were worn in severa l forms by men ofseveral nations. Equipment is slung on bu ff leather belts ; the waist-belt has a double frog holding the scabbards of the sword and socket bayon et , and th e ca rtridgebox is slung on th e cross-b elt. The sword is a straigh t, brass-hilted ep ee ; both sca b bards are cover ed with brown leather an d tipped with brass. The lea ther cartouchier hold s tw enty-seven paper cartridges for th e ·6g-ca libre smooth-bore musket, model 1728. The mu sket is 5 ft. 21 in. T he pakalem or fatigue cap of the French troops. The cap long. w as alwa y s the sante co l o ur as t he regintental waistcoat, i t h frontal badg e , b raiding and t a s s e l in white or yellow The illustration shows a local enlistee to th e w acco r ding to t he co l o ur of the regintental buttons and Compagnies Franches; his face is di sfigured by on e of hat lace. (G. A. Entb leton)

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proper stocks of necessary supplies, and many of th e em placements had no cannon. T his fusilier - th a t is, a private soldier of a company other than th e gr enadier company - is illu strat ed as he would appear on sentry duty on th e windswept ramparts, at th e drill position known as 'Porter l'arme au bras'. H e has added locally-mad e sca rf an d mittens to his uniform in the dreary Nova Scotia n winter. His black cocked ha t has a black ribbon cockade in the usual infantry fashion, and white tape 'lace' . The red justaucorps is characteristic of Swiss units in French service; it s blue collar, cuffs, and lining an d white metal buttons, and th e peculiar cut of the poc kets, are all regimental distinctions. It is worn over a royal blue waistcoat and breeches, and this sentry wears the standard-issue white ca nvas ga it ers, fastened with buttons and a kneestrap , worn by all French infantry in the field and for drill. His 17 17 Charlev ille musket, buff leather eq uipment, sword, bayonet, and pouch are all standard-issue items.

CI Fusilier, Compagnies Franches, winter campaign dress, I750S T he physical conditions made winter campai gning by large units of regular troops impossible in America, an d th e reg ula rs were usually pulled back to the heart of Canad a and put into winter qu ar ters. A war of patrol a nd ambush, escort and scouting took the place of large scale op eration s; and in these expedi tions th e men of the colony tr oopsj oin ed the coureurs de bois and the Indians. T he hair and beard were probably worn lon g, for comfort. T he traditional tuque is worn, as is th e capote or heavy u nbleach ed blanket-coa t. Wi th a hood, and decorative frin ges and bands of simple colours, this was normal wear for soldi ers a nd civilians ali ke. M occasin s and fancy leggings or mitasses, here of wool but often of blanket or hide, were normal patrol wear. Indian ga rters were often worn, suc h as the Ojibway ones illu str a ted here; a nd th e ceinture fleche, or fancy coloured sash, was also popular. Bulky and un necessa ry equipme nt has been a bandoned; the cartridge -box is worn centrally on a waist-belt, an d a hatche t repl aces sword a nd bayonet for hand-to-hand fighting. (T he ha nd -

ax e was the normal close combat weap on a mong Fren ch , English, America n, a nd Indian alike.) R ations a nd spare clot hing are carried in th e de la Parterie pack, a simple lin en bag with the flap tied do wn over a strap. Snow-shoes - raquettes - were standard issue to the colony tr oops; and thi s soldier carries ice-creepers, th e simple iron crampons which were tied to th e shoes to ease mov ement over the frozen lakes a nd riv ers.

C2 Fusilier, Compagnies Franches, summer fa tigue dress, I750S A colony soldi er as he migh t appear in peace tim e or far from the figh tin g, eking out his meagr e pay from a cor ru pt administration by working the land of a local seigneur. His too ls are copied from items excavated in Canada. The hollow, plu gged gourd wa s a popular form of home-made watercanteen in th e eighteenth century. The pipe was as ub iquitous as th e mod ern soldi er 's fag-end - it is recorded that practically every male in New France chain-smoked fro m th e age of twelve up. The black stock was hardly ever removed , a nd on e may assu me that this soldier' s sergeant is far aw ay. H e wears the norma l warm-weath er working a nd figh ting dress - the coat has been laid aside, a nd he wears onl y th e long-sleeved veste and br eech es, wit h his ca nv as gaiters partially unbuttoned for ease of mo vem ent. If he appears to be physically su bstandard, it should be born in mind th at the only medica l re quire me nts of th e Compagnies Franches were a height of 4- ft. 10 in., and eno ugh tee th to be a ble to survive on winter rations, wh ich wer e not ofgourmet quality. C3 Coureur de bois, I750S

A 'woods-runne r' of the type who proved such in valuable scouts for M ontcalm' s a rmy, and such ru thless rai ders of outlying British sett leme nts. In mixed war-parties with Indian s, a few colon y troop s, militia, and perhaps a few adve n turous young chevaliers, th ey left a tr ail of red havoc along th e frontier, a nd th eir sta ndards of behaviour towa rd s p risoners wcrc little higher th an those of th e Indians. T he better guerilla lead ers, such as M arin and Charles Langladc, werc of great help to M ontcalm, but even they could not control th e tr ib esmen with any certainty.

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T hi s fierce tra ppe r is clad in a shapeless fur cap, gren adiers were issued: a broad-tip ped curved and frin ged buc kskin h unting-shirt and leggings sa bre in place of th e stra ight epee sword, a nd a worn with a breech -cloth in the I ndi an fashio n. A larger a nd more ornate pouch. Altho ug h referre d deerskin pou ch decorat ed with coloured quills to as a gre na de -pouc h, this wa s used for carrying conta ins hi s few necessities - d ried mea t trail cartridges in th e usu al way. rati on s, bullets a nd flints, spare moccasins, etc. A This gre nadier's grey-white coat and breeches tom ahawk, a carved a nd stained powder-horn, are distinguished by a red colla r a nd cuffs, whi te and a ra the r eld erl y dog-lock musket, com plete metal buttons, false silver h a t trim, an d distinctive hi s worldly possession s. T he hair a nd beard are eigh t-bu tton po cket flaps peculiar to this regime nt alone. The veste is blu e. On campaign the hai r was u ntrimmed ; braids a nd earrings were po p ular. pulled back into th e usual bl ack bow, then wr apped into a tight pigtail bound with leather, cloth, or eel-skin. The equipme nt is unrem arka ble a part Dr Fusilier, Regiment de Beam , 1755-60 from th e grenadier it em s. The colour, of which Formed origina lly fro m elements of th e Pi cardie each battalion had one when on d et ach ed serv ice, R egim ent in 1684, th e Bea m saw much ac tion is that of th e regiment. The pik e h as a brass h ead und er M ont calm; it was p resen t at all m ajor and is decorated with a wh ite silk scarf and gold engageme n ts of th e ca mpaign. It was di sbanded tassell ed cords; th ese were ofte n removed a nd afte r re patria tion in 1760. stowed away when in th e field - unlik e th e colour, This fusilier is in the d rill position, 'Remettee la they were paid for out of the colonel's poc ket . bagrette en son lieu' - just returning th e ir on ram rod to its pipes afte r loading the musket . His h air is carefully queu ed a nd powd ered , and th e coa tskirt s are not hooked up as was usual on ca mpaignD3 Officer, Corps of Engineers, 1750S h e appears as h e might when in M ontreal or Despite the popular image of the American fort, Quebec for th e winter. The usual grey -white all pointed tree-trunks a nd rustic woo dwork, the justaucorps a nd br eech es of the F re nc h regular major forts of th e French/Indian W ars were co ninfantry are enlive ned by certain regi me n ta l structed on conventional Europ ea n lines using distin ctions. A red veste is worn, and th e coat h as a local materials; and profession al engineers, with red turn-down colla r a nd re d cuffs with three a proper grasp of th e scien ce brou gh t to suc h a button s; all button s, a nd th e hat lace, are of yellow high peak of expe rtise by V auban, were necessary m et al finish. The shape of the poc kets is anothe r members of any gene ra l's staff. T he reconnaissance regimental distincti on. Arms and eq uip me n t are a nd eva lua tion of th e ene my's positions fell within standard issu e. the engineer 's task, as much as the surveying of sites and laying out of one's ow n batteries and bastions; for two centuries the engineer officer was D 2 Grenadier, Regiment de La Reine, with battalion to have a function with much of the intelligence officer about it. Montcalm lost a va lue d engi neer colour: 1755- 60 Thou gh no lon ger used for their original fun ction, in Descombles, tomahawked by a 'friendly' grena die r com pa nies still figured on th e establish- Indian while reconnoitring Fort O nt a rio for his men t of Fren ch infa ntry battalions, and were still ch ief; the Indian placed as mu ch va lue on his th e 'shock tr oop s' , h and-picked fro m the biggest scalp as Montcalm did upon hi s brain. The engineer illustrat ed h ere wears the royal a nd stro nges t recruits. At Tico nderoga M ontcalm detach ed all th e grena diers and he ld th em as a colours of hi s corps, th e blu e coa t lined and reserv e behind th e main d efensive line. Grena dier collared in red. A particul ar disti nction of th e companies still enjoyed minor uni for m di s- engine ers was th e black plush velve t cuff; and the tinctions. The men were encouraged to wear gilt buttons are arranged in fives. The veste and moustach es, while othe r soldiers had to be clean- breeches are red , and the sword-belt is the usual shaven. Two items of equipment peculiar to officer 's pattern.

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Et Sergeant, Regiment de Royal-R oussillon, 1756-60 Dressed for duty in town or camp, this N.C. O . wears his waist-belt and sword slung over his sho ulde r - a popular fashion among soldiers of the d ay. H e ca rries his halberd of rank, but this would certainly h ave been rep lac ed by a musket on ca mpaign. (G re nadieJ: sergeants carried muskets in pl ace of halberds a t all times. ) The j ustaucorps, worn with a blue oeste, has blue collar and cuffs; th e pocket shape, th e six-button cuffs, the yellow metal bu tt on s, and the false gold hat trim are all regimental di stin ctions. The lac e around the top of the cuff is th e serg eant's insignia of r ank.

prized among the Indians; this one has un buttoned th e deep cuffs of his too-short sleeves. The coat is worn with the traditional hide leggings and moccasins, and a breech-cloth. T he neck laces of bead s and claws, and the stretched ea rlobes with brass ornaments, are mentioned by contemporary wri ters. The battered British Ar my tin canteen is, perha ps, a souvenir of the fall of Fort Will iam H enry, when the mission I ndia ns led th e massacre of p risoners.

Ft Corporal, Regiment de La Sarre, off-duty dress, 175 6- 60 A not untypical sight aroun d T iconderoga, E2 Corporal, Regiment de Guyenne, marching order, Frontenac, and Niagara in th e lat e 1750s; an officer of the Languedoc wrote of' . .. nothing but 1755- 60 The [ustaucorps of this regiment had red collar' and pease and bacon on the mess-table. Luckily the cuffs; the waistcoa t was red, the buttons brass, and lakes are full of fish, and both officers a nd soldiers th e hat was tri mme d with false gold. The pockets have to turn fishermen.' For an afternoon's had a sim ple th ree-button flap . The in signi a of a ng ling this N .C.O., his ran k indica ted by th e corporal's rank in the Guyenne wer e three strips A of yellow worsted lace arranged vertically on the three-button cuff. This N. C.O. is dressed for a long d ay 's march in th e wild erness. H is h air is not powder ed, a nd is pl ai ted for conve nience . His sword has been left 'in store', an d instead he has a hatchet slipped into th e str aps of his cartouchier. H eart-shaped designs d ecora te the hook ed-up coat-skirts. The de la Parterie pack contains rations and spare clothing : sta ple fare in cluded biscuit, salt pork or salt cod , a nd split peas, bu t officers received brandy and chocola te in ad dition . An extra pair of moccasins a nd a small ca mp-ket tle a re slung on th e outside. The bund le of po les tied with rope are th e frame D for the four-man sq uad tent.

E3 Mission Indian, 1750S The 'Chris tian' Hurons of Lor ette, th e Ab enakis from St Francis, a nd the Iroquois of La Presentation , were th e most consisten t of France's unruly native allies, a nd their J esuit priests exerted much control, by various means ; a not unusual means is a tt racting this wa rrio r's interest. A minor chief or sachem, he has been given a French officer 's gorge t to wear round his neck as a mark of a u thority . Old laced E uropean coats wer e apparently mu ch

Cuff lace of French r egular N.C.O.s : (A) t he g o l d l a ce stripe of a s e r g ea n t in the R eghnent d e Royal-Rous s illon ; (B) the yellow worsted s t rip es o f a corporal i n the Bea m ; (C) the yellow worsted loops of a corporal i n the L a Sarre; and (D ) the yellow loops of a corporal of t he G uyenne. (G. A. ElI1bleton, courtesy Tradition)

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loops of wor sted lace on his cuffs, wears the pakalem fati gu e cap. R egimen tal di stin ctions include a red veste and ajustaucorps with blu e colla r and cuffs, a nd br ass buttons.

F2 Company Officer, Regiment de Berry, Qyebec, 1757 A young chevalier newly arrive d from Fran ce, in drill uniform . Ap art from th e supe rior quality a nd cut of th e material his grey -white coat and breech es are th e same as those worn by his men. Hi s red regimental oeste with a dou ble row of gilt buttons is embroider ed with gold lace to indicate com missioned rank. R egim ental distinctions include gilt buttons and gilt hat-lace, th e unusual double

French infantry equipment of t h e 175 0s. The s m a ll, plain cartridge-boxes are fusmer styles, the large one with the royal arms starnped on the fl ap i s the g r e nadier pouch. The double frog holds a fusme r ' s e pee and bayonet, and a grenadier' s s a b r e i s s h o wn on the right. All leather belts were buff-coloured a n d all rne t al f u rniture b ras s . (G. A . Ernbleton)

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vertical coat pockets, a red collar and red cuffs with five buttons. The black stock of th e com mon soldier was som etimes worn in th e field , but in garrison th e officer wore a white neckcloth, with fine lace a t th e throat of th e shirt. The white gaiters wer e worn for drill. The gorge t is a sign of commissioned rank, as is the espo ntoo n or halfpik e - it was used, like th e sergeant's halbe rd, to dress th e ranks a nd to signal evolu tions . The sword, with gilt furniture, is slu ng fro m a white stitched leather belt.

F3 Fusilier, Regiment de La Reine, summer campaign dress, 1758 The eq uipment is worn directly over th e blue regime nta l oeste with wh it e metal buttons, which made a comfor table and neat su m mer uniform. H e has discarded his sword, and carries his musket cas ually rev ersed. T he only notable thing a bout his dress is his replac ement of th e hat coc kade with a bunch of feathers. T he cock ad es wer e often lost or spoi led by weather, and th e soldier was expec ted to purchase another; feathers, hanks of coloured thread, or even leaves were popular a nd che ape r alternatives. The La R eine fou ght under d e Levis at the north end of the Ticondero ga breastwork, where the 42nd H ighl anders mad e th eir famous charge. After th e battle, this fusilier examines a Black Watch gr enadier cap he has picked up off the field.

Gl Drummer, Regiment de Guyenne, 1755- 60 T his company d ru mmer wears th e uniform common to musicians of all the regular reg ime nts in Canada exce pt the La R eine. Drum m ers wor e th e ' King 's livery' - a blue coat with red distinctions. Coat a nd oeste were generously trimmed , down th e front edges, on the buttonholes, and along all main sea ms, with a special pattern of lace: red, wit h a white 'c hain' motif. The ' K ing's' regiments were also di stinguished by th e blu e bodies of th e drums themselves. The drummer s of La R ein e wore the ' Queen's livery' - red coats trimmed with blue, blue lace wit h a white ' chain', a nd red drums with blue and white diagonall y striped coun ter-

hoops. The dru m is decorated with trophies of arms and represen ta tio ns of th e regimental colours supporting the royal arms. When in use it is carried hooked to a broad leather sling with metal terminals, a nd on th e march it is slung on the bac k by th e plaited cord . This drummer has sub stituted a bunch of autu m n leaves for a mislaid cockad e. H e is armed with a sword onl y.

G2 Company officer, Regiment de Languedoc, summer campaign dress, 1758 When campaigning in the forests the French lin e officers soon discovered th e wisdom of adopting a practical but nea t form of dress, similar to wh at th ey wou ld wear for a day's shooting on their Fren ch esta tes. This officer has laid aside his coat a nd fights in his richly em broid ered regimental veste, with gilt buttons. The plush velvet breeches a hard er-wea ring materi al than that known as velvet today - were very popular a mong officers of th e da y, being both sturdy and comfortable. The legs are well protected by infantry officer 's campaign gaiters, robust leggings made of stiff black leat her, a nd fastened with brass buckles up the outside. This officer retains his white leather sword-belt a nd regul ation sword ; and the gorget of rank wou ld never be discarded. His hat is trimm ed with th e gold lace of his regiment. His wea pon is a fine flintlock fusil, probably his person al hunting wea pon, alt houg h such guns were issued to officers by the army . It is much shorter and lighter than a musket. H e carries am munition in a fusilier's ca rtridge-box of normal pattern , and fine-grain powder for his sup erior flintl ock in a silver-mo un ted horn.

G3 Woods Indian Warrior, 1750S ' I see no difference,' Bou gainville wrote, ' in th e dress, ornaments, dances, a nd songs of th e va rious western nations. They go nak ed , exce p ting a strip of cloth passed through a belt. .. .' A mission ary wr ites : 'Imagine a great assem bly of savages adorned with every orn am en t most suited to disfigu re th em in European eyes, pai nted with vermilion, white, green, yellow, and black . . . meth odically lai d on wit h th e help ofa little tallo w,

which serves for po matum. The head is shaved exce pt at th e top, where th ere is a sma ll tuft, to which are fastened feathers, a few bead s of wampum, or som e such trinket. . . . Pendants hang from th e nose and also from the ea rs, which a re split in infancy and drawn down with weights till they flap at last against the sho ulders .. . !' Knives wer e worn hanging from th e neck, a nd pierc ed silver discs were popular gifts and tra de currency. H er e, th e buckskin leggin gs worn in close country are allowed to han g down over the kn ee-garters. Many of th e wild Indians were armed with flint arrows and spears, a nd by no means all had guns. This warrior has just acq uired a rather eld erly flintlock of late seventeenth-century pattern, in a raid on some frontier settle me nt. The 'curve d swastika' pattern on th e arm let was a popular d ecor ative motif. T he knife is a European trade item.

HI Cadet-Gentilhomme, Corps Royal d'Artillerie, 1757 An artille ry company had served a t Louisbourg since 1743, and this was suppleme n ted in 1750 by raising a secon d from promising men of th e Compagnies Franches. In 1757 twenty officers and men were sent from France to reinforce the small artillery contingent. T he unski lled work of handlin g the gu ns was probably carried out by infantry and militia . T he royal colours are worn: a blue coat with red di stinctions, with five brass buttons on the po ckets and four on th e cu ffs; veste and breeches were also red, with a double row of bu ttons for enlisted men an d a single row for officers. T his gen tleman-cade t, learning th e martial arts in the field, wears th e basic uniform of a com mo n soldier distingu ished by a knot of yellow worsted cor ds at the right shoulde r. H e has a large mas ter-gunner's powder-horn, of th e typ e used to p rime cannon, and ho lds a combination powderscoop and worm. Cadets-gentilhommes were under the orders of N.C.O.s but were excused fatigues.

H2 Grenadier, Regiment de Cambis, Louisbourg, 1755 O ff duty and dicing away his pay, thi s soldi er wears his hat pu shed well forward in th e currently fashionable manner. His red reg ime n ta l veste hangs

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in the characteristic way wh en unfasten ed. The black stock is worn. The shirt is lin en, collarless, full and pleated; it is a pullover sty le, split halfway down the chest. The white knee-breech es have a typical flap front; th e soldier wears a belt for conveni ence, though it was not regul ation. In th e barracks he do es not wear his ca nvas ga iters over the wooll en stockings and bu ckled shoes. The ubiquitous clay pipe was often br oken off sho rt for conveni enc e in the field, a nd ca rried in a leather pouch round th e neck. The j ustaucorps of the Cambis had a red coll ar a nd cuffs, th e latter with three buttons, two of white metal a nd th e cen tre one in brass . This style was rep eated on th e pocket flap.

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H3 Grenadier, Regiment de Languedoc, 1755- 60 This grenadi er, with th e moustach e of his privileged status, is in full uniform a nd issue eq uipme nt, including the grenadier sabre. H e is in th e drill position, 'D echirez la cartouch e avec les d ents' tearing the paper cartridge ope n with his teeth , in order to pour powder into th e pan an d then insert th e rest of th e cartridge int o th e muzzle of the musket. H e wears a [ustaucorps with regime nta l distinctions; blue collar a nd cuffs, brass buttons (four on the cuffs ), and six-button pockets. The veste is blue, the hat lac e false gold . Yet a no the r variation on th e hear t motif is stitch ed to th e coattails; littl e brass hearts wer e som etim es attached to the cloth .

Men-at-Arms Series TITLES ALREADY PUBU SHED

THE STONEWALL BR IGADE T HE BLAC K WATCH

John Selby

Cha rles Grant

FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION Marlin Windrow

GEO RGE W ASHI NGT O N' S AR M Y Peter Toung

T HE BU FFS

Gregory Blaxland

L U FT W AFF E AI RBORNE AND FIELD UN ITS Marlin Windrow

FOOT GRENADIERS OF THE IMPE R IA L GUARD Charles Grant

T HE SOVIET ARMY

THE IR O N BR IGADE

UN ITED STATES MA R INE CORPS

John Stlby

Peter roung

C HASSEU RS OF THE GUARD

John Selby

T HE COSSACKS

WAFFEN-SS

Marlin Windrow

U.S . CAVALRY

Charles Granl

John Selby

T HE ARAB LEGION

Charles Granl

ARGYLL AND SUTHERLAND H IG HLANDERS William McElwtt T HE CONNAUGHT RANG ER S Alan Shepperd 3(hll PUNJA BIS

ROYAL AR TI L LE R Y

Peter Toung

W. r. Carman

T HE PANZE R DI VI SI O NS

Peter 'You"g

R O YAL SCOTS GREYS

Albert Seaton

BLU CH ER'S AR MY

T HE COLDSTREAM GUAR DS

Albert Seaton

James Lawford

Marlin Wi"drow

J AP ANESE ARMY OF WORLD WAR II Philip W amer

THE R U SSI AN ARMY O F THE CRIMEA Alber: Seaton

T HE K ING'S R EGI M ENT

Alan ShePPtrd

T HE R US SI AN AR M Y OF THE NA POLE ONIC WA RS Albert Seaton

FUTURE TITLES IN CLUDE

THE ENG LISH CIV IL WA R ARMIES Peter Toung

WI-:LI.INGTON 'S PEN INSULAR ARMY James Lawford

AUSTRO-HUNGAR IAN ARMY OF THE NA POLEONIC WARS Albert Seat on T HE BLACK BRUNSWICKERS 0110 von P ivka THE AME R ICAN PROVINC IAL CORPS 1775- 1784

Philip Katcher

FREDER ICK THE GREAT'S ARMY A lbert Seaton

THE KI NG'S GE R MAN LEGION Ouo von Pivka ARM IES OF T HE AMERICAN WAR 181 2- 18 14

Philip Kalchtr

THE AUSTRO-HUNGA R IAN ARMY OF THE SEVEN YEA RS WA R Albert Seaton WOLFE'S AR MY Gerald Embleton T HE ROMAN I M PERIAL ARMY Michael Simkins

TH E GE R MAN AR M Y OF T HE NEW E M P I RE 1870-1888 Albert Seaton

MARTIN WINDROW has become we ll known as a writer on aviation and military history and was the original editor of Aircraft Profil es. More recently he has p ublished several books, in his own name .and as co-author with Francis Mason, with whom he collaborated on the d efinitive B attle Over B ritain, He is a regular contributor to magazines, a nd has w ritten several p r evious titles in the Men-at-Arms Series. H e is an Assoc iate of the R oyal Historical Society, and a Com panion of the R oyal Aeronau tical Society £1·25 net (in U.K. only)

ISB N

° 85045

1442