The British take Quebec on the Plains of Abraham
By the summer of 1759 the Seven Years’ War had become a struggle for North America. A British fleet carried an army under General James Wolfe up the St Lawrence to Quebec, the capital of New France, perched on cliffs above the river. For almost three months Wolfe bombarded the town and probed its defences without success, while the French commander, the Marquis de Montcalm, waited behind his lines for winter to drive the British away.
In the darkness before dawn on 13 September, British boats landed troops at a cove below the cliffs west of the town, and by morning about 4,500 men were drawn up on the Plains of Abraham. Montcalm attacked at once. The British held their fire until the French were close, then broke their advance with volleys in a battle that lasted barely an hour. Wolfe was shot and died on the field; Montcalm was wounded in the retreat and died the next morning. Quebec surrendered five days later, and within a year New France had fallen to Britain.
Read the full storyHistory & Timeline →Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia: Battle of the Plains of Abraham ↗
