Backs to the Wall

The Battle of Sainte-Foy and the Conquest of Canada

D. Peter MacLeod

• Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781771621274
• eBook ISBN:
  9781771621281
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759 and the subsequent capitulation of Quebec set the stage for an equally significant French-British engagement in the struggle for northeastern North America, the Battle of Sainte-Foy.In the spring of 1760, after having suffered a brutal winter, Quebec garrison commander James Murray's troops were vulnerable and reduced to an army of skeletal invalids due to malnutrition and scurvy. Trapped in hostile territory and lacking confidence in the fortifications of Quebec, Murray planned to confront French attackers outside the walls. Instead of waiting at Montreal for the British to attack, Montcalm's successor, François-Gaston de Lévis, returned to the plains for a rematch accompanied by every combatant available--French regulars, Canadian militia and First Peoples warriors. The ensuing Battle of Sainte-Foy was less a battle for territory than a struggle for survival between two equally desperate adversaries. If the British lost the battle, they would lose Quebec. If the French lost the battle, they would very likely lose Canada--both the French and the British had their backs to the wall.MacLeod presents this historical event in riveting detail, from the preparation and day-by-day actions during the engagement to the compelling siege of Quebec by land and ship. Backs to the Wall is an accessible and engaging account of an important episode in Canadian history.

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Endnotes

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Preface

1 W.J. Eccles, The Canadian Frontier, 1534–1760, revised edition (Albuquerque, 1983), pp. xi-xii. Bank of Canada Inflation Calculator, http://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculator/. Accessed 17 March 2016.

Chapter 2

1 Wolfe to Walter Wolfe, 19 May 1759, Beckles Wilson, The Life and Letters of James Wolfe (London, 1909), p. 429.

2 Guy Le Moing, La Bataille navale des “Cardinaux” (20 Novembre 1759) (Paris, 2003), pp. 21–22; Frank McLynn, 1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World (London, 2004), pp. 99, 183–190; N.A.M. Rodger, The Command of the Ocean, A Naval History of Britain, 1639–1815 (New York, 2005), p. 277; Nicholas Tracy, The Battle of Quiberon Bay 1759: Hawke and the Defeat of the French Invasion (Barnsley, 2010), p. 115.

3 Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, 9th Edition (London, 1794), p. 96.

4 Rodger, The Command of the Ocean, pp. 277–278; Tracy, The Battle of Quiberon Bay, pp. 115–116.

Chapter 3

1 Earl John Chapman and R. Paul Goodman, “Quebec, 1759: Reconstructing Wolfe’s Main Battle Line from Contemporary Evidence,” Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, vol. 92, no. 369 (spring 2014), pp. 1–59; D. Peter MacLeod, Northern Armageddon: the Battle of the Plains of Abraham (Vancouver, 2008), pp. 206–215.

2 Jean-Guillaume Plantavit de Lapause de Margon, “Relation des affaires du Canada depuis le 1er Xbre 1759 au [15 juin 1760],” Rapport de l’archiviste de la province de Québec, 1933–34, p. 140.

3 “An account of the guns, mortars, ammunition, and arms, &c. found in the city of Quebec upon its surrender to his Majesty’s troops the 18th of September, 1759, viz.,” An Authentic Register of the British Successes (London, 1759), p. 112.

4 Robert Eastburn, A Faithful Narrative, of the Many Dangers and Sufferings, as Well as Wonderful Deliverances of Robert Eastburn, during His Late Captivity among the Indians: Together with Some Remarks upon the Country of Canada, and the Religion, and Policy of Its Inhabitants; the Whole Intermixed with Devout Reflections (Philadelphia, 1758), reprinted in Held Captive by Indians: Selected Narratives, 1642–1836, ed. Richard Vanderbeets (Knoxville, 1973), pp. 168–169.

5 Jemima Howe, “The Captivity and Sufferings of Mrs. Jemima Howe, Taken Prisoner by the Indians at Bridgman’s Fort, in the Present Town of Vernon, Vt. Communicated to Dr. Belknap by the Rev. Bunker Gay, 1755,” in North Country Captives: Selected Narratives of Indian Captivities from Vermont and New Hampshire, ed. Colin G. Calloway (Hanover, 1992), p. 95.

6 W.J. Eccles, “Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, Marquis de Vaudreuil,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. IV, 1771 to 1800, ed. Francess G. Halpenny (Toronto, 1979), pp. 662–674.

7 Buying a regimental colonelcy was a major investment. During the 1740s Montcalm commanded an infantry regiment worth 40,000 livres. See W.J. Eccles, “Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, Marquis de Montcalm,” DCB, vol. III, 1741 to 1770, p. 458.

8 W.J. Eccles, “François [François-Gaston] de Lévis, Duc de Lévis,” DCB, vol. IV, pp. 477–482.

9 François Le Mercier, “Mémoire relatif à la situation du Canada, en se réduisant à l’indispensable pour conserver au Roy cette colonie jusqu’au printemps 1761,” 7 January 1760, Library and Archives Canada, Manuscript Group 1, Archives des Colonies, C11A, vol. 105, ff. 267–269, reel F-105.

10 Ibid.

11 Vaudreuil to Berryer, 7 November 1759, in Alfred Barbier, “La Baronie de la Touche-D’Avrigny et le Duché de Chatellerault sous François 1er,” Mémoires de la société des antiquaires de l’ouest, vol. IX, second series (1880), p. 370; Gilles Proulx, Le dernier effort de la France au Canada: Secours ou Fraude, Revue d’histoire de l’amérique française, vol. 36, no. 3 (December 1982), pp. 415–416.

12 Vaudreuil to Berryer, 7 November 1759, in Barbier, “La Baronie de la Touche-D’Avrigny,” Mémoires de...

Table of contents

• Map
• The People of 1760
• Preface
• Preparations
• Battle
• Siege
• Montreal
• Conclusion
• Photos
• Acknowledgements
• Endnotes
• Bibliography
• Illustration Credits
• Index