ploited this opportunity and landed his entire
army on the night of September 12, 1759. The
sudden deployment caught Montcalm at a dis-
advantage, as his men were dispersed over a
wide area, with Levis in Montreal and Bourla-
maque and Bougainville in detachments along
the shore. Furthermore, perceiving that the
British force before him was only part of
Wolfe’s army, he decided to defeat them in de-
tail before they could be reinforced. This un-
characteristically rash action, perhaps from
the outrage of finally being trumped by Wolfe,
also precluded the arrival of Bougainville
with his force of elite troops. The fate of New
France now hung in the balance.
Montcalm mustered less than 5,000 men
for his assault, an amount roughly equal to
Wolfe’s force. He could have been augmented
by infantry and artillery belonging to the colo-
nial establishment, but Vaudreuil refused to
let them leave the city. The French then sor-
tied and attacked the British in deep columns
while the latter, deployed in line, enjoyed
great advantages in firepower. Several volleys
crippled the attack, and in the ensuing confu-
sion both Montcalm and Wolfe were mortally
wounded. The French leader was borne back
to Quebec, where he died on September 14,
- With him passed the fate of New France,
for Vaudreuil felt obliged to surrender Quebec
to the English. Montcalm’s struggle to save
Canada may have been doomed from the start
given the disparity of forces, but no French
general, possibly save for Levis, could have
forestalled the inevitable with such gallantry,
determination, and heroism. For all these rea-
sons Montcalm remains a legendary military
leader, an enduring icon of Canadian national
history.Bibliography
Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War
and the Fate of Empire in British North America,
1754–1766. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000;
Brumwell, Stephen. Redcoats: The British Soldier
and War in the Americas, 1755–1763.New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2001; Chartrand, Rene.
Quebec: The Heights of Abraham, 1759: The Armies
of Wolfe and Montcalm.Oxford: Osprey Military,
1999; Donaldson, Gordon.Battle for a Continent:
Quebec, 1759.Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973;
Fregault, Guy. Canada: The War of Conquest.
Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1969; Fryer, Mary
B. Battlefields of Canada.Toronto: Dundurn Press,
1995; Hamilton, Edward P. Fort Ticonderoga: Key to
a Continent.Boston: Little, Brown, 1964; Hamilton,
Edward P. The French and Indian Wars: The Story
of Battles and Forts in the Wilderness.Garden City,
NY: Doubleday, 1962; Lapierre, Laurier L.1759: The
Battle for Canada.Toronto: McClelland and Stew-
art, 1990; Lewis, Meriwether L. Montcalm, the Mar-
velous Marquis.New York: Vantage Press, 1961; Mc-
Culloch, Ian. “But the King Must Be Obeyed:
Montcalm at Quebec, 1759.” Beaver 72, no. 5 (1992):
4–15; Whitridge, Arnold. “The Marquis of Montcalm,
Defender of Quebec.” History Today19, nos. 2–3
(1969): 77–83; 184–189.MONTOJO, PATRICIO
Montojo, Patricio
(September 7, 1839–September 30, 1917)
Spanish Admiral
T
he cultured, dignified Montojo com-
manded Spanish naval forces during
the lopsided defeat at Manila Bay in- This decisive loss was clearly not his
fault, but the government made him a scape-
goat to cover its own incompetence.
Patricio Montojo y Pasaron was born in El
Ferrol, Corunna, Spain, on September 7, 1839,