Part 1: Accurate and Authentic Journal of the Siege of Quebec, 1759

July 4th

A flag of truce was sent by the general to the town, to acquaint the governor of our design of attacking it on the part of his Brittanick majesty, and also to inform him, that he was ordered by his master to carry on the war in this country with the utmost lenity, that he expects the troops under his command will follow his example, and that the inhuman practice of scalping, either by Indians or others, may be put a stop to, as he &hall answer the consequence of it being severely revenged: at the same time we act at liberty twenty-five women, that were taken by us in the river.

Monsieur Le Marquis de Vandreuil, who commands in the town, return'd a very polite answer, and desied the admirall might be acquainted, that as two gentlemen had been taken off the isle Condre by his people, belonging to Admiral Durell, the greatest care should be taken of them, and that as soon as he thought proper to remove our fleet and army he would return them: they made no scruple of informing our officer, that they were well acquainted with our force, and were suprised we should attempt the conquest of this country with such a handful of men.

5th The batteries were begun, and the ordnance landed, all the ships sent their boats, to row guard above us, as we are apprehensive of the enemy sending down fire-stages, which we learn are preparing in great numbers above the town. What ships they have are above the town, but how far up, we are not able to discover.

7th Our barge, sounding between the north-side of Orleans and the main, was chased by several cannons ashore upon the island, and was taken with one of the people, being wounded, the rest escaped to our camp.

8th The Porcupine stoop, and an arm'd brig, fell down between the island and the north-short, a little below the falls; two small batteries red upon them going down, but did no damage. At midnight General Wolf with two brigades from Orleans, landed below the falls, without opposition, the enemy keeping within their posts, to the west of the small river of Montmorency, of which the narrow part is deep, and very rapid, and falls into the river St. Lawrence from a precipice, of 200 feet high; the banks of the river above the fall are very high and steep, especially on the western side, and are entrench'd and defended by breast-works, in the same manner as the banks of the river St. Lawrence, from the falls to Quebec. Admiral Holmes, with the Captain, Dublin, Vanguard, Medway, and Shrewsbury, came up, and anchored off the west-end of Orleans; and Admiral Durel, and the rest of the three-deck ships, &c. remainder of the fleet, [it off the east-end of the island.

10th Our bombs threw several shells into the French camp near Beauport, which they return'd with shot from their batteries, that is large boats with a gun each, of 12 to 24 pounders of these they have about twenty, in different parts of the river, who keep so close under their own breast, that we can get no opportunity of cutting them off. -- In the evening the Captain dropt as close in shore as the depth of the water would allow, and fir'd several broadsides at their camp, which they were obliged to move a little further back, but as they are entrenched close to their breast-works on the bank, cannot drive them from thence. At night the enemy, having got a mortar down to their camp, threw several shells very near the captain and the Bombs, upon which they weigh'd and drop'd out of their reach.

11th The enemy made a very brisk fire from the town, on our batteries, effecting on Point Levi.

12th The communication between the fleet and our camp below the falls being interrupted by their battoes [bateaux], we mounted two 24 pounders on Orleans to protect the passage, -- our troops at Montmorency, which are about 3000, are encamped close to the castermost side of the falls, as the enemy is to the westward, within musquet-shot of each others sentinels.

13th At night our batteries at Point Levi, of six 32 pounders and four mortars, were opened on the town; at the same time the boats having dropt up play'd upon it also; but the ebb tide making very strong down, their anchors came home, and they were obliged to drop down again.

The enemy having opened a small battery to the westward of the falls, fired briskly upon our camp; but upon drawing some of our cannon on the bank below the falls, soon silenced them. This day the mortars were landed from the boats, in order to be mounted on Point Levi; we keep an incessant fire from thence on the town, which they return, but with little effect.

Our carcasses [incendiary shells] from the battery on Point Levi set the Upper Town on fire, which burnt with great fury for several hours, before it was extinguished; we could observe the enemy very industrious in fortifying their posts, having entrenchments and redoubts cut across the country, and at Beauport have a pass guarded by 20 pieces of cannon. At the mouth of the river St. Charles they have two hulks, with a teer of guns each, to defend that portage up the river, besides being commanded by great part of the cannon from the town.

Our firing continues to do great execution upon the town; in the night the Sutherland, Squirrel, two transports, and two sloops, having 500 men from the camp at Point Levi, ran past the town, with a light breeze, favourable, and tide of flood. The enemy kept a hot fire at them, but did no damage: the Diana going up ran aground upon Point Levi.

20th General Wolf and Admiral Holmes went up by land to the fleet above the town.

21st The detachment above Quebec landed on the north short, at the village of Trembles, ten leagues above Quebec with little opposition; they took 300 prisoners, mostly women, and some booty, and re-embarked again with the loss of a few men.

22nd In the night the cathedral of Quebec, the largest and most magnificent building of the kind in this part of the world, was set on fire and consumed by our carcasses, together with a great number of the houses in the Upper Town.

23rd In the Morning before day-break the Loestoffe and Hunter got under sail to ran above the town, but the wind taking them short abreast of the town, were obliged to put back under a very smart fire, but received no damage. A flag of truce was sent to Quebec with the women taken at Trembleau; notwithstanding this, and a great many other instances of our lenity shewn to the enemy, we find little benefit accrue to us from them, they continue to scalp every person who is unhappy enough to fall into their hands. -- A proclamation was issued by General Wolf, and affixed to the church doors throughout the country, acquainting the inhabitants, that as the war carried on here is not intended against them, but against the forces and forts of his most Christian Majesty, he therefore invites them and their families to return to their respective habitations, on or before the 10th of August, where they shall be protected in their religion and liberty, and have all the indulgens granted to the subjects of his Britannick Majesty, but if not, and they still persist in their resolution to carry arms, he will then destroy, and ruin to the utmost, all their possessions that shall fall in his power.

24th At night several buildings in the lower Town set on fire and consumed by our shells.

31st In the morning two armed transports got under way, and at high-water can ashore, close to the enemies batteries, a little above the falls of Montmorency, and began a very smart fire upon them, which they returned. At seven the troops from Point Levi and Orleans embarked in the boats, and at eight rendezvoused in two lines between the island and the north short. The grenadiers, in the first line, supported by 200 Royal Americans, and Amhersts, and the Highlanders in the second line, at the same time the Centurion dropt as near as possible to their batteries, and kept a continual fire upon them, which they returned upon the boats with eight pieces of cannon and two mortars; which, notwithstanding out being within point-blank shot (or several hours, suffered very little. The enemy's troops in the mean time filled their breast-works and trenches, and behind them paraded with an army greatly superior to ours in number. Notwithstanding this, their batteries, the height of the bank, steep and difficult of access, and many other disadvantages, the greatest spirit and chearfulness was discernable through our whole army, and all waited with the utmost impatience for the moment of attack. General Wolf row'd at the head of us, and give his orders with great calmness, and so did the rest of our general officers.

Admiral Sounders was greatly exposed, and the fleet had like to have lost in him a gallant commander, a shell failing so near his boat as to damage some of the oars and half fill her with water, at noon the first line of boats was ordered in a-breast of the batteries, but some of the boats grounding upon a bank some distance from the shore, were ordered off again; General Townsend, with all the troops from Montmorency, except the light infantry, were in readiness at the same time to march a-cross the strand and passing between the falls and the river to join us at our landing. Colonel How, with the light infantry, were at the same time to make a faint of passing Montmorency river, some distance above the falls, to divert the attention of the enemy.

At four the first line of boats was landed, and the grenadiers, without waiting for form, or orders, rushed on with the greatest impetuosity for the bank, where they received from the enemy such an incessant fire of musquetry, as must be far easier to conceive than describe; but firm to their purpose, and nothing daunted, true Englishmen, they endeavoured to surmount all difficulties, and attempted to gain the steep bank; and would, in all probability have fallen a sacrifice to their bravery, it a violent and sudden squall of wind and rain had not put a stop to the enemy's Fire, and at the some time made it impossible for those brave fellows to proceed further, occasioned by the excessive slipperiness of the ground.

During this time General Townsend with his brigade passed below the falls, and advanced to join us, but the General finding the difficulty of the attempt, and unwilling to sacrifice such brave fellows with so little probability of success, ordered the retreat to be best, and fortunately for us, the lower part of the strand was out of musquet shot. After getting the wounded into the boats, general Wolf, with the remainder of the grenadiers and highlanders, joined General Townsend, and marched in good order along the strand towards the falls, and embarked Amherst's in the boats, saluted all the time by the infernal clamours of the Indians, and the Vive le Roy of the French; though the Poltroons, who were twice our numbers, dared not come down to us, though often invited by the hats waved at them from our general officers and troops: at five we took the people out of our armed transports and set fire to them; the enemy kept a continual fire from their batteries on our troops as they marched along the strand, but providentially did little execution; our grenadiers had possession of one of their small batteries, but in the confusion forgot to spike up the guns; the evening was employed in transporting the troops to their respective posts.

Our loss this day was sixty killed, and between 3 and 400 wounded, all which we got off in the hosts, except a Captain of the Royal Americans, who we bear is prisoner among the French, but mortally wounded; the Indians, according to their barbarous custom, stripped and scalped the dead, and with difficulty this officer escaped, being rescued by some French officers. What lost the French have sustained we can only guess at, but suppose it to be considerable, as a continual fire was kept from our train at Montmorency, and from the Centurion and two armed ships: our whole body of troops at this attack did not amount to 5000, while the enemy acknowledge theirs to be 16000; but the advantage of the ground, not the number, fought against us; and it is the general opinion, that half our troops in their situation would have been a sufficient match for their whole number.

Part 1: Accurate and Authentic Journal of the Siege of Quebec, 1759