Prefatory Note

THE Battle of the Plains of Abraham stands out as a memorable event in the history of the world, being not only the most important event in the history of Canada, but an achievement of the highest moment in the military annals of the British Empire as well. And the celebration of its occurrence on the immediate outskirts of the city of Quebec, by the issue of such a volume as this, cannot but be of interest to the King's subjects in every part of the British possessions. The battle in question is sandwiched between two collateral events, namely, the Repulse at Montmorency and the Battle of Sainte-Foye; and within the scope of this memorial volume, an unambitious attempt is made to bring its readers in touch with the topography of the scenes of these conflicts, by means of a series of observation lessons, having each for its nucleus a synopsis in verse, à là ballade,-the said ballads being supplemented by notes explanatory of each event, recorded in the order of its happening, and the whole being given to the public as an authentic account of the Third Siege of Quebec, on the one hundred and fiftieth year after its occurrence.

General Introduction

As there are three main events in one to be remembered in connection with the Siege of Quebec in 1759-60, so there are three main vantage-points, among many others in that city, from which observations may most conveniently be made of the battlefields connected therewith in turn. The first of these three events of the siege was the unsuccessful assault made by General Wolfe at the eastern end of General Montcalm's line of defence, which extended all the way from the city to the Montmorency River; and the scene of that assault may be studied to the greatest advantage from the city end of the Dufferin Terrace, or from one of the windows of the Chateau Frontenac. The inner extremity of the Island of Orleans, with its nestling village and church spire, forms a picturesque landmark of the first landing-place of Wolfe's army, on the arrival of the British fleet up the channel to the left of the island looking up the river. Secondly, the scenes connected with the preliminary driftings of the fleet up and down the river, before Wolfe and his army had arrived on the battlefield proper to the rear of the town, may be scanned with like convenience from the remote end of the extended Dufferin Terrace, as it finds its exit into the Battlefields Park beyond the Citadel's western trenches; and, thirdly, the topog