In the summer of 1757, Montcalm launched
another preemptive strike deep into New
York to forestall British operations against
Montreal. His objective was Fort William
Henry, which had been erected by Sir William
Johnson at the head of Lake George. Again,
the French commander carefully transported
a select battery of 30 cannons to reduce the
fort, which finally surrendered 2,000 men and
17 cannons on August 9, 1757. Montcalm cor-
dially extended his counterpart, Col. George
Monro, the honors of war and allowed the
enemy to depart with flags and baggage. En
route, however, they were set upon by numer-
ous Indians, who massacred around 50 men,
women, and children. When Montcalm real-
ized what was happening, he chivalrously
threw himself in defense of the prisoners, ex-
claiming “Kill me but spare the English who
are under my protection!” This celebrated
tragedy was subsequently captured in litera-
ture as part of James Fenimore Cooper’s The
Last of the Mohicans.Montcalm demolished
the fort but, lacking greater resources, was
unable to push south against Fort Edward. He
thereupon withdrew against the orders of
Vaudreuil, who vociferously began agitating
for his replacement.
Despite Montcalm’s tactical successes, the
strategic fortunes of New France continued
waning precipitously by 1758. To the east,
Gen. Jeffery Amherst had taken the mighty
fortress of Louisbourg, gateway to the St.
Lawrence River. Fort Frontenac (present-day
Kingston, Ontario) had also fallen to Lt. Col.
John Bradstreet, and on the distant Pennsyl-
vania frontier Fort Duquesne surrendered to
Gen. John Forbes. This left only Montcalm,
with 3,500 men ensconced at Fort Carillon
(Ticonderoga, New York), with forces able to
resist. That summer a large British column of
15,000 men started up the Champlain Valley
under Gen. James Abercromby. The strategic
city of Montreal was his objective. Before the
British arrived, the French defenders actively
strengthened their position with a wooden
breastwork and an abatis (lines of fallen
trees) and awaited the onslaught. On July 8,
1758, Abercromby committed his men to a se-
ries of unimaginative frontal assaults against
Montcalm’s position and was repulsed with
nearly 2,000 casualties. French losses totaled
a mere 377. The British were so shaken by
their reverse that Abercromby called off his
offensive and retired back down the valley.
This stunning victory was Montcalm’s finest
hour and bought New France another year of
existence. Yet Vaudreuil continued to despise
the man and insisted on his replacement. The
French government evinced greater faith than
did the governor-general, fortunately, and
Montcalm was subsequently promoted to
lieutenant general. Being fully occupied in a
war with Prussia’s Frederick the Great, how-
ever, the king declined to dispatch much-
needed reinforcements to New France. By
comparison, William Pitt, the energetic
British prime minister, made victory in
Canada a national priority.
The French and Indian War entered its final
and crucial phase by 1759. That year the fall
of Fort Niagara, in western New York, in-
duced Montcalm to withdraw all his forces
from New York, save for a detachment under
Bourlamaque at Carillon. Thus, the French
controlled only a strip of land along the St.
Lawrence River between Montreal in the west
and Quebec farther east. Montcalm, still on
bad terms with the governor-general, had no
authority to command the militia or colonial
regulars, so he used his own troops to fortify
Quebec against the impending storm. On June
26, 1759, the British fleet made its appearance
under Gen. James Wolfe, who made several
attempts to land troops on the fortified banks
of the St. Lawrence. Montcalm’s active de-
fense beat off four desperate attempts to land
with considerable loss to Wolfe. Rather than
risk his surviving forces in a pitched battle, he
was content to let the British wear them-
selves out against Quebec’s defenses before
the onset of winter forced them to withdraw.
The strategy proved viable for two months
until Wolfe, in a final gamble, discovered an
unfortified cove leading to the Plains of Abra-
ham above the city. The audacious Briton ex-MONTCALM, LOUIS-JOSEPHDEMONTCALM-GOZON, MARQUISOF