1759. in. Wolfe in the a. June 27. 4. Proceed mean time. about 8000 men at Louisburg, under convoy of a fleet of 22 ships of the line, and an equal number of frigates and sinall armed vessels, commanded by Admirals Saunders and Holmes; he safely landed the army, near the end of June, on the Isle of Orleans a few miles below Quebec. "The French forces, to the number of thirteen thousand 1. Disposition of the French men, occupied the city, and a strong camp on the northern forces. shore of the St. Lawrence, between the rivers St. Charles and Montmorenci.* 7. General Wolfe took possession of Point Levi, where he erected batteries which destroyed the Lower Town, but did little injury to the defences of the city. He soon after crossed the north channel of the St. Lawrence, and encamped his army near the enemy's left, the river Montmorenci lying between them. Convinced, however, of the impossibility of reducing the place unless he could erect batteries nearer the city than Point Levi, he soon decided on more daring measures. He resolved to cross the St. Lawrence and the Montmorenci, with different divisions, at the same time, and storm the intrenchments of the French camp. 2 sures which ted. First meaWolfe adop b. June 20. c. See Map. July 10. p. 280. 3 Daring next resolved measures upon. the troops. 8. For this purpose, on the last day of July, the boats Landing of the fleet, filled with grenadiers, and with troops from Point Levi, under the command of General Monckton, crossed the St. Lawrence, and, after considerable delay by grounding on the ledge of rocks, effected a landing a July 31. little above the Montmorenci; while Generals Townshend and Murray, fording that stream at low water, near its mouth, hastened to the assistance of the troops already landed. But as the granadiers rushed impetuously for. 5. Repulse of ward without waiting for the troops that were to support them, they were driven back with loss, and obliged to seek shelter behind a redoubt which the enemy had aban doned. 'Here they were detained a while by a thunder &. storm, still exposed to a galling fire; when night approaching, and the tide setting in, a retreat was ordered, that seas This unfortunate attempt was attended with the loss of nearly 500 men. the grena diers. What compelled a re treat, and sustained Gen. Wolfe 9. The bodily fatigues which General Wolfe had en- 7. Sickness of dured, together with his recent disappointment, acting upon a frame naturally delicate, threw him into a violent fever; and, for a time, rendered him incapable of taking an extensive tract of country. The fortifications of the Upper Town, exten ling nearly across the peninsula, inclose a circuit of about two miles and three-quarters. The Plains of Abraham, immediately westward, and in front of the fortifications, rise to the height of more than 300 feet, and are exceedingly dificult of access from the river. (Map) • The liver Montmorenci enters the St. Lawrence from the N. about seven miles below Quebec. The falls in this river, bear its mouth, are justly celebrated for their beauty. The water descends 240 feet in one unbroken sheet of foam. lap, p. 280.) 1. Plan next ANALYSIS. the field in person. 'He therefore called a council of his officers, and, requesting their advice, proposed a second proposed. attack on the French lines. They were of opinion, however, that this was inexpedient, but proposed that the army should attempt a point above Quebec, where they might gain the heights which overlooked the city. The plan being approved, preparations were immediately made to carry it into execution. 2. Account of the execution adopted. 10. The camp at Montmorenci being broken up, the of the plan troops and artillery were conveyed to Point Levi; and, soon after, to some distance above the city; while Montcalm's attention was still engaged with the apparent design of a second attack upon his camp. All things being in readiness, during the night of the 12th of September, the troops in boats silently fell down the stream; and, landing within a mile and a half of the city, ascended the precipice, dispersed a few Canadians and Indians; and, when morning dawned, were drawn up in battle array on the plains of Abraham. 3. Proceed calm. 4. The attack. attack. 11 'Montcalm, surprised at this unexpected event, and ings perceiving that, unless the English could be driven from their position, Quebec was lost, immediately crossed the St. Charles with his whole army, and advanced to the About nine in the morning fifteen hundred Indians and Canadians, advancing in front, and screened a. Sept. 13. by surrounding thickets, began the battle ; but the English reserved their fire for the main body of the French, then rapidly advancing; and, when at the distance of forty yards, opened upon them with such effect as to compel them to recoil with confusion. 5. Circum deaths of the two commanders. 12. 'Early in the battle General Wolfe received two stances of the wounds in quick succession, which he concealed, but, while pressing forward at the head of his grenadiers, with fixed bayonets, a third ball pierced his breast. Colonel Monckton, the second officer in rank, was dangerously wounded by his side, when the command devolved on General Townshend. The French general, Montcalin, likewise fell; and his second in command was mortally wounded. General Wolfe died on the field of battle, but he lived long enough to be informed that he had gained the victory. 6. The rela ued. 13. 'Conveyed to the rear, and supported by a few attion contin- tendants, while the agonies of death were upon him he heard the distant cry, "They run, they run." Raising his drooping head, the dying hero anxiously asked, "Who run?" Being informed that it was the French, "Then," said he, "I die contented," and immediately expired. Montcalm lived to be carried into the city. When in formed that his wound was mortal, "So much the better,' 1759. he replied, "I shall not then live to witness the surrender of Quebec." of the city. a. Sept. 18. 1760. 14. 'Five days after the battle the city surrendered, 1. Surrender and received an English garrison, thus leaving Montreal the only place of importance to the French, in Canada. "Yet in the following spring the French attempted the recovery of Quebec; and, after a bloody battle fought three miles above the city, drove the English to their fortifications, from which they were relieved only by the arrival of an English squadron with reenforcements. 2. Attempt to recover Quebec. b April 28. c. May 16. 15. During the season, General Amherst, the com- 3. Capture of mander-in-chief, made extensive preparations for reducing Montreal. Montreal. Three powerful armies assembled there by d. Sept. 6, 7. different routes, early in September; when the commander of the place, perceiving that resistance would be ineffectual, surrendered, not only Montreal, but all the other French posts in Canada, to his Britannic majesty. e. Sept. 8. the car with the year 1760. 1759. g. May, Aug. 16. Early in the same year a war broke out with the 4. Events of powerful nation of the Cherokees, who had but recently, the Cheroas allies of the French, concluded a peace with the Eng-kees, during lish. General Amherst sent Colonel Montgomery against f. Sept. 26, them, who, assisted by the Carolinians, burned many of their towns; but the Cherokees, in turn, besieged Fort Loudon,* and having compelled the garrison to capitulate, afterward fell upon them, and either killed, or carried away prisoners, the whole party. 'In the following year Colonel Grant marched into their country,-overcame them in battle,-destroyed their villages, and drove the savages to the mountains; when peace was concluded with them. i 17. "The war between France and England continued on the ocean, and among the islands of the West Indies, with almost uniform success to the English, until 1763; when, on the 10th of February of that year, a definite treaty was signed at Paris. 'France thereby surrendered to Great Britain all her possessions in North America, eastward of the Mississippi River, from its source to the river Iberville ;t and thence, through Lakes Maurepast h. Aug. 7. i. Aug. 8. 5. During the year 1761. j June 10. progress, and Farther end of the France and England. 1763. 7. What pos war between sessions were France, and ceded by what by Spain. Fort Loudon was in the northeastern part of Tennessee, on the Watauga River, a stream which, rising in N. Carolina, flows westward into Tennessee, and unites with Holston River. Fort Loudon was built in 1757, and was the first settlement in Tennessee, which was then included in the territory claimed by N. Carolina. Iberville, an outlet of the Mississippi, leaves that river fourteen miles below Baton Rouge, and flowing E. enters Amite River, which falls into Lake Maurepas. It now receives water from the Mississippi-only at high flood. In 1699 the French naval officer, Iberville, sailed up the Mississippi to this stream, which he entered, and thence passed through Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to Mobile Bay. (See Ilist of Louisiana, p. 521.) t Maurepas is a lake about twenty miles in circumference, communicating with Lake Pontchartrain on the E. by an outlet seven miles long. ANALYSIS. and Pontchartrain,* to the Gulf of Mexico. At the same time Spain, with whom England had been at war during the previous year, ceded to Great Britain her possessions of East and West Florida.† 1. Peace of 1763. Hoto we may view the colonies at this period. 2. Of the causes which led to this change. 18. The peace of 1763 was destined to close the series of wars in which the American colonies were involved by their connection with the British empire. We may now view them as grown up to manhood, about to renounce the authority of the mother country-to adopt councils of their own-and to assume a new name and station among the nations of the earth. Some of the causes which led to this change might be gathered from the foregoing historical sketches, but they will be developed more fully in the following Appendix, and in the Chapter on the causes which led to the American Revolution. Pontchartrain is a lake more than a hundred miles in circumference, the southern shore of which is about five miles N. from New Orleans. The passage by which it communicates with Lake Borgne on the E. is called The Rigolets. (See Map, p. 438.) †That part of the country ceded by Spain was divided, by the English monarch, into the governments of East and West Florida. East Florida included all embraced in the present Florida, as far W as the Apalachicola River. West Florida extended from the Apalachicola to the Mississippi, and was bounded on the N. by the 31st degree of latitude, and on the S. by the Gulf of Mexico, and a line drawn through Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas, and the Rivers Amite and Iberville, to the Mississippi. Thus those parts of the states of Alabama and Mississippi which extend from the 81st degree down to the Gulf of Mexico, were included in West Florila. APPENDIX TO THE COLONIAL HISTORY. 1. Before we proceed to a relation of the immediate causes JAMES I. which led to the American Revolution, and the exciting incidents 1603-1625. of that struggle, we request the reader's attention, in accordance 1. General with the design previously explained, to a farther consideration of character and such portions of European history as are intimately connected with design of this our own during the period we have passed over in the preceding pages;-in connection with which we purpose to examine farther more of the internal relations, character, condition, and social progress of the American people during their colonial existence. Appendix. puritans. 2. 2At the close of the "Appendix to the period of Voyages and 2 Previous Discoveries" we gave an account of the origin, early history, and account of the character of the puritan party in England, some of whose members became the first settlers of several of the North American colonies. We now go back to England for the purpose of following out in 3. Continua their results the liberal principles of the puritan sects, as they tion of their afterwards affected the character and destiny both of the English and the American people. history. 3. 4On the accession of James the First to the throne of Eng- JAMES 1. land, in the year 1603, the church party and the puritan party 1603-1625. began to assume more of a political character than they had ex- 4. Character hibited during the reign of Elizabeth. The reign of that princess the time of of parties at had been favorable to intellectual advancement; the Reformation the accession of James I. had infused new ideas of liberty into the minds of the people; and as they had escaped, in part, from the slavery of spiritual despotism, a general eagerness was manifested to carry their principles farther, as well in politics as in religion. 4. 5The operation of these principles had been in part restrained by the general respect for the government of Elizabeth, which, however, the people did not accord to that of her successor; and the spell being once broken, the spirit of party soon began to rage with threatening violence. That which, in the time of Elizabeth, was a controversy of divines about religious faith and worship, now became a political contest between the crown and the people. 5. Political aspect of the religious controversies. Increase of and influ ence. 5. The puritans rapidly increased in numbers, nor was it long 6. before they became the ruling party in the House of Commons, the puritans in numbers where, although they did not always act in concert, and although their immediate objects were various, yet their influence constantly tended to abridge the prerogatives of the king, and to increase the power of the people.* Some, whose minds were absorbed with the 7. Their vartdesire of carrying out the Reformation to the farthest possible and the ten ous objects, extent, exerted themselves for a reform in the church: others at- dency of their tacked arbitrary courts of justice, like that of the Star-chamber, efforts. and the power of arbitrary imprisonment exercised by officers of The appellation "puritan" now stood for three parties, which though commonly united, were yet actuated by very different views and motives. "There were the political puritans, who maintained the highest principles of civil liberty; the puritans in discipline, who were averse to the ceremonies and episcopal government of the church; and the doctrinal puritans, who rigidly defended the speculative system of the first reformers."-Hume. |