Virgin Forest in Canada
James Wolfe
We have just seen how the English and the French struggled to get control of the Ohio Valley. But the fighting in the Last French War was not confined to this region. Many of the battles were fought to secure control of two waterways. One of these was the route to Canada, including Lakes George and Champlain, and the other was the St. Lawrence River. Indeed, the crowning feature of the Last French War was the heroic effort made by a young English general to capture Quebec. This young general was James Wolfe. He was born in the southeastern part of England in 1727.
Baking Bread in Murray Bay
Baking Bread in Murray Bay
Siege of a village by Champlain
In this campaign he employed instruments of warfare which greatly astonished the savages, and easily secured him the victory. For the attack of a village, he constructed a cavalier of wood, which 200 of the most powerful men "carried before this village to within a pike's length, and displayed three arquebusiers well protected from the arrows and stones which might be shot or launched at them." A little later, we see him exploring the river Ottawa, and advancing, in the north of the continent, to within 225 miles of Hudson's Bay. After having fortified Montreal, in 1615, he twice ascended the Ottawa, explored Lake Huron, and arrived by land at Lake Ontario, which he crossed.
General Montcalm
The French army at Quebec, commanded by General Montcalm, numbered more than 16,000 men, consisting of Frenchmen, Canadians, and Indians. But some were boys of fifteen, and others old men of eighty. Here they awaited Wolfe, whose army numbered 9,000.