a force as that under Amherst. Ticonderoga was immediately abandoned; the example was followed at Crown Point; and the only way in which the French seemed to think of preserving their province was by retarding the English army with shows of resistance till the season of operation should be past, or till, by the gradual concentration of their forces, they should become numerous enough to make an effectual stand. A succession of storms upon the lake, and the want of vessels, rendered it impossible for Amherst to carry out the portion of the plan dependent on him, and instead of joining Wolfe or advancing upon Montreal, he was compelled to go into winter quarters at Crown Point. The New Hampshire Rangers, under Major Rogers, in September and October, made a successful foray against the Indian village of St. Francis, which they destroyed completely, and thus relieved the New England frontier of the dreaded attacks from that noted spot.
General Prideaux, early in July, reached Niagara with a considerable force. While directing the operations of the siege, he was killed by the bursting of a gun, and the command devolved on Sir William Johnson. That general, prosecuting with judgment and vigor the plan of his predecessor, pushed the attack of Niagara with an intrepidity that soon brought the besiegers within a hundred yards of the covered way. Meanwhile, the French, alarmed at the danger of losing a post which was a key to their interior empire in America, had collected a large body of regular troops from the neighboring garrisons of Detroit, Venango, and Presqu'ile, with which, and a party of Indians, they resolved, if possible, to raise the siege. But' they were totally routed, and a large part taken prisoners. The fort surrendered the next day, and six hundred men with it; these were carried to New York. According to the plan marked out, Johnson ought now to have advanced to co-operate with Amherst and Wolfe on the St. Lawrence; but the want of proper shipping and scarcity of provisions, put this quite out of his power. Thus, as it happened, Wolfe was left to carry on the siege and reduction of Quebec single handed.
As we have stated above, Wolfe, on the 26th of June, arrived off the Isle of Orleans. Quebec, that Gibraltar of America as it has been termed, was defended by the Marquis de Montcalm, with a force of two thousand regulars and several thousand militia and Indians. The attack having been long foreseen, as Murray relates, in his History of British America,[1] full time was allowed Montcalm to entrench and strengthen his position, but the supply of provisions was very limited. An attempt was first made to destroy the British fleet by fire-ships; but these were caught with grappling irons, towed aside, and allowed to burn out without doing any injury. Brigadier general Monckton then occupied Point Levi, opposite Quebec, which was thence bombarded with vigor; but, though a number of houses were destroyed, the defences remained almost uninjured. The place therefore could
- ↑ Vol. i., p. 175–178.
