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Skeletons Found Near Historic Plains Of Abraham - HISTORY Of Battle

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Author Topic: Skeletons Found Near Historic Plains Of Abraham - HISTORY Of Battle  (Read 2833 times)
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Bianca
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« Reply #15 on: June 22, 2008, 10:00:44 am »



HIGHLANDERS' THIN RED LINE









Four of the battalions wore the uniform common to the army's regular line regiments. One company in each battalion known as the Grenadier Company was composed of the tallest, strongest men. Originally they had been chosen to throw an explosive device called a grenade, a small iron bomb with an ignited fuse. The brimless hats they wore, which permitted easier throwing, became high, conical, yellow caps with a tufe at the peak.


 

  A HIGHLADER


They were decorated in front with a crown and the royal monogram G.R. Beneath it and immediately above the brow was the figure of a running white horse on a red background. Although this type of grenade bomb became obsolete in 1774, the grenadiers remained as a picked corps of fine fighting men. Wolfe grouped the grenadier companies of the various regiments into one separate battalion.

The line regiments wore white wigs and stiff, black, three-cornered hats with black cockades on the side like a badge. All had white knee breeches and stiff pipe-clayed belts and gaiters. The long gaiters that came over the knees were also white. Their long-tailed red coats were turned back to reveal yellow, buff or blue facings. The Fraser Highlanders had lofty, tam-o-shanter-type Scotch bonnets with a curly feather on the left side.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2008, 10:07:29 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #16 on: June 22, 2008, 10:02:32 am »



A Dragoon, Light Squadron 1757 (left)
& A Grenadier,

Regiment of Foot 1759







                                              


       "Come, each death-dealing dog who dares venture his neck,

        Come follow the hero who goes to Quebec.

        Ye that love fighting shall soon have enough,

         Wolfe commands us my boys, we shall soon give them Hot Stuff."

« Last Edit: June 22, 2008, 10:16:46 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

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« Reply #17 on: June 22, 2008, 10:19:19 am »










Montcalm meanwhile was unaware of Wolfe's threat to his position. He had passed a troubled night. It was six-thirty in the morning before he learned of the magnitude of what had transpired earlier. A messanger galloped up with news of the English landing. At first he refused to believe it, supposing the assault above the town to be a feint by a few hundred men. Discrediting reports that enemy troops in force had reached the height, he galloped to a crest of land to see for himself. As the astonishing sight greeted his disbelieving eyes dread darkened his features.

Where a scant eight hours before one saw nothing but an empty farmer's field, there not a mile distant stood thousands of British soldiers, their scarlet uniforms like bright beacons in the mist. The long, thin, red sash stretched across the plains ready for battle. The redcoats stood motionless under the grey sky as if waiting patiently for a review. As the Highlanders pipers produced their first dirge-like skirls, the force across the field gave the disturbing and unnereving impression of an army patiently prepared for whatever came.

Montcalm had failed the first military maxim: taking measures to ensure against surprise. "C'est serieux," he said to an aide. "They are where they have no business to be. After dispatching orders to bring up every French regular and most of the militia, he turned and without a word prepared to confront the crisis. It never occurred to him that moving fast - initiating the attack - could very well put him at a disadvantage. It limited his options. Better to have held back and let Wolfe make the first move. When he decided there was no choise but to attack he allowed the Enlish to score a triumphant advantage. First by landing so many men unopposed in the night and now by initiating the assault.

The critical elements in war are speed and adaptability. Great leaders must be able to adapt to the changing circumstances. Montcalm failed this fundamental. Impatient to a fault he saw no necessity to adhere to defensive warfare. In his destructively self-defeating pride he made a disastrous decision. Instead of remaining behind the massive walls of his fortress he summoned his soldiers to prepare to confront the British on the field of battle. He was allowing his strategy to be made by Wolfe.


                                     We often give our rivals the means of our own destruction.

                                     Aesop


Within the walls of the city citizens were awakened by the breathless cry, "The English are at the gates." French forces thronged through the narrow streets, pouring forth from the city with flags flying and drums beating. By nine o'clock in the morning Montcalm had some 4500 men mustered on the high plateau west of the town in front of the walled city. His army comprised battalions of white-uniformed regulars in black hats and gaiters and grey-clad throngs of Canadian militiamen.
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« Reply #18 on: June 22, 2008, 10:23:14 am »



French Soldiers Assembling

 







While the ranks of his regulars were swelled by incorporating militiamen, the training and tactics of the latter made the increase in numbers a doubtful blessing.

Before them stretched the open plain, a virtual parade ground on which a pitched battle calling for a highly disciplined fighting force was to be fought.

Montcalm's motley mix - which also included Native warriors wild in their war-paint - failed to qualify. Previous successes of the brave militiamen had inspired Montcalm with too much confidence in their capability.

Armed solely with hunting guns without bayonets, the Canadians lost their superiority on the open field.

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« Reply #19 on: June 22, 2008, 10:27:52 am »




FOR A BETTER VIEW OF THE MAP:

http://www.uppercanadahistory.ca/wm/wm7.html







*********** TABLE FOR GRAPHIC without COMMENT****************************** --> 



As with all tragic heroes, Montcalm did not take his fatal step without being given a warning alarm.

An orderly from Vaudreuil arrived and handed Montcalm a note entreating him not to precipitate an

 attack.

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« Reply #20 on: June 22, 2008, 10:32:20 am »



MONTCALM'S CUIRASS









"The success which the English have already gained in forcing our posts should be the ultimate source of their defeat but it is in our interest not to be over hasty. They should be attacked simultaneously by our army and the fifteen hundred men from the city. In this way they will be completely surrounded and their defeat would be inevitable." Montcalm scorned this sound advice.

By nine o'clock Montcalm had formed his French and colonial forces between the citadel and the crest of rising ground beyond which waited Wolfe and his silent soldiers. Montcalm held a brief council of war with his commanders, but knowing he was resolved to attack none dared oppose him.






In His Own Words:



"We cannot avoid the issue. The enemy is entrenching and already has two cannon. If we give him time to make good his position we can never attack him with the few troops we have."

By ten o'clock the rain had slackened and spears of sunlight pierced the gloom. Some saw this as an omen. Shards of sunlight shimmered on the sabres and flashed on the bayonets of the wall of red-coated regulars standing coolly confident a quarter mile distant. In their centre the multi-coloured uniforms of the Highlanders stood out in bold relief as did the nasal notes of the droning bagpipes that screamed defiance. Wolfe when told the pipes inspired the men declared, "Let them play like the devil."

Crisis led to a climax. The destiny of North America hung in the balance. Fearing further delay Montcalm prepared for a frontal assault in a frantic attempt to drive the redcoats into the river. Within hours the fate of Quebec was to be decided. The French commander was dressed in his finest green and gold-embroidered coat open to reveal a polished cuirass, [**] his cavalry breastplate and the Grand Cross of St. Louis glittering on his chest. Towering alone and aloft Montcalm was honoured by the personal devotion of his men. He spoke briefly to his troops standing shoulder to shoulder as they thought, perhaps, of the leave they'd been promised and now might never have. Instead they waited filled with panic or pleasure, excitement or dread for the order to advance and kill or be killed. Montcalm's words filled them with ardour: they were anxious to attack.
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« Reply #21 on: June 22, 2008, 10:46:08 am »












                                  An eighteen year old Canadien recalled the scene in his old age.






In His Own Words



"Montcalm rode a black horse along the front of our lines brandishing his sword as if to excite us to do our duty. He wore a coat with wide sleeves which fell back as he raised his arm and showed the white linen of the wristband."


 


In the midst of his men on the jet-black charger Montcalm never appeared more noble to the troops he always inspired with the martial manner they so admired.

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« Reply #22 on: June 22, 2008, 10:52:33 am »



Montcalm on his Charger

 







It was a general's duty to flaunt himself before his men and with sword held high played the role. "Are you ready, my children?" They responded with a deep-throated bellow. The psychology of a regiment on the verge of a charge included excitement, expectation, pumping adrenalin and a keeness not to be seen to be dragging back. It reflected a culture of elan and esprit de corps that prizes action over contemplation. The flying flags and the sound of fife have been described as unsurpassed and sublimely inspired discipline and pride. It was an exhilarating sight for Frenchmen and a daunting one for those awaiting the regiment's full force and fury.

At this critical moment both Montcalm and Wolfe might very well have voiced the anxious prayer William Shakespeare put on the lips of Henry V before his attack on the French at Agincourt in 1415.




Oh God of battles! Steel my soldiers' hearts

Possess them not with fear; take from them now

The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers

Pluck their hearts from them. Not today, Oh Lord!




Signalling advance the great Marquis proceeded with his intemperate attack. The drums rolled along the line, beating the pas de charge, an ominous, impetuous metre - ta rum-dum, ta rum-dum, ta rum-dum, rum-a-dum, rum-dum! Holding their flags high and uttering a mighty war cry, the French regulars moved off in a measured advance flanked by the Canadian militia while war-whooping warriors on either side of the ranks flitted into and out of the bushes. Ta rum-dum! The rear pressed forward and the drums beat faster. Ta rum-dum, ta rum-dum. The deep roar of cheering men swept across the plains. Their blood was up and their heads were down.





The Canadian colonials had earlier been described as surpassing all the troops of the universe owing to their skill as marksmen. On those occasions they had enjoyed the benefits of a nearby woods as a shelter in which to disappear, load, reappear and fire. Fighting a set piece battle on a flat open field was something else again, a fact that was about to be made tragically clear. The concept of maintaining good order sounds so simple, but in the heat of battle with communications nearly impossible and adrenaline coursing through the fighters' veins, it was extremely difficult to achieve. At 130 yards the militia opened fire, then as was their custom threw themselves down to reload. This was a disrupting procedure which before long began to cause the regulars' lines to lose cohesion. Ahead the red wall waited with unflinching courage.


  • Deploying foot soldiers in elongated formations to maximize their firepower left the terribly vulnerable. Once such a line was breached or flanked, the whole line was likely to crumble. The infantryman could either flee or fight. It was a psychological propostion, a thin line of men staking everything on their abilidyt to perform a prescribed ritual while being subjectet to the most terrifying possibilities - opposing infantry blasting away and cannonball whizzing by. Against this concentrated assault on the senses, infantrymen had only their training and their discipline.
[**]Montcalm wore this piece of body armour as he rode his black horse into his final battle on the morning of September 13, 1759. Although of little value in the age of firearms, French officers wore them as a mark of rank and status. The status failed to stop any bullets.



http://www.uppercanadahistory.ca/wm/wm7.html
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« Reply #23 on: June 22, 2008, 11:02:37 am »



Mort du Marquis de Montcalm
 
(The Death of Montcalm)



Engraved by Juste Chevillet after François-Louis-Joseph Watteau in 1783


This print was published 24 years after the death of French General Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm in 1759 at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Here, the artist commemorates the event as heroic, virtuous, and honourable.

Beaverbrook Collection of War Art CWM 19940056-004

http://www.militaryheritage.com/quebec1.htm
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