Wolfe vs. Montcalm

The Total Strategy

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Quebec was settled then just north of the St. Lawrence River and west of the St. Charles River. General Wolfe had his men settled in between the St. Charles River and Montmorency River. So that he they were camped across the river from the French. Quebec was very fortified and its banks protected by many ships for defense against attacks.

   As shown in the map, Britain tried to enclose the French with batteries on the closest land across the St. Lawrence. The French had held off British attacks for a while, but the British stepped up their game and took it to the French with decisive battles along the River that connects Canada and New York. With every victory, the British pushed the French more north, until they were at their limit which was Quebec.

Although it seems that the British just tried to force their way through, they had a plan to cut off Britain from all of their resources. The British actually enclosed themselves onto the French. Most of the significant battles didn't occur near Quebec. The battle at the Fort Dequesne was actually at modern-day Pittsburg. The battle at the Fort Louisburg was in Nova Scotia. It is really all about brains in this battle of Wolfe vs. Montcalm. The British victory at Fort Frontenac cut supply lines to Fort Duquesne causing Duquesne to be captured by the British soon after. The capture of Fort Louisburg was next on the list and the last straw. This cut Montcalm's communication with the rest of Canada. The British simply had the French in a headlock and was preparing to finish them off in Quebec.
Wolfe had Charles Saunders and a crew sailing up and down the St. Lawrence River, looking for a place to land, but the French had fortified its land very well. However, Wolfe chose to land right below a cliff on which Quebec sat. Although it was somewhat guarded with cannons, it wasn't a place Montcalm had expected them to land. Wolfe got 5140 of his men on top of that cliff onto the Plains of Abraham. Montcalm had roughly 13500 men ready to fight that were in Quebec city. He even was advised not to be drawn out into battle but was not thinking strategically. He took only 6500 of his men into battle and just started shoooting away. They did have a good hit that evintually killed general Wolfe, but they had lost and were forced to retreat to Quebec City. Montcalm's second in command Bougainville was outnumbered by the British and retreated to the Jaques Cartier River. The garrison in Quebec then surrendered to the British.

Quebec
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Quebec just above the St. Lawrence River

Death of James Wolfe
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