CHAPTER I

MONTCALM'S EARLY YEARS-HIS ARRIVAL

ON

AT QUEBEC

March 14th, 1756, General the Marquis

of Montcalm descended the grand staircase of the palace at Versailles, where he had just received his final orders from the king, Louis XV. He was leaving for Canada, where he went to replace the Baron de Dieskau, who had been taken prisoner the year before at the unfortunate affair of Lake St. Sacrament, better known as Lake George. The prince, to whom the Marquis of Montcalm had been recommended as one of the most brilliant officers of his army, had raised him to the dignity of major-general and appointed him commandant of the troops that he was sending to carry on the war in New France.

The general left Versailles the following day for Brest, accompanied by his leading aide-de-camp, M. de Bougainville, a young man then but little known, but who was destined to make himself famous, later on, by his travels around the world.

Montcalm was full of hope and joy when he left; for the king, as the finishing touch of his goodness, had named his son, who was barely seventeen years

1Minute details regarding the life of Montcalm may be found in the Abbé Casgrain's Montcalm and Lévis, of which a second edition is now on sale in Quebec.

of age, colonel of a regiment of cavalry. The happy father hastened to convey the good news to his wife and his mother, informing them at the same time that he had gone with his son to thank the king and to present the young colonel to the members of the royal family.

The journey through Brittany was a pleasant one, thanks to the influence of the first fine days of spring which had opened the buds of the trees and clad the hillsides once more in green. At Brest Montcalm found awaiting him all the members of his establishment who had preceded him, and his second aide-de-camp, M. de la Rochebeaucour "a man of quality, a native of Poitou and a lieutenant in Montcalm's regiment of cavalry." He was joined shortly afterwards by his third aide-de-camp, M. Marcel, sergeant in the regiment of Flanders, promoted to the rank of an officer.

There lived at Brest at this time a man of the highest integrity in the person of M. Hocquart. He had held the office of intendant in Canada, and gave a warm welcome to Montcalm and to the superior officers who accompanied him. In the salon of Madame Hocquart was one with whom Montcalm formed the first link of a friendship that was never broken. This was the Chevalier de Lévis, who had arrived at Brest the day before, and who had been appointed second in command under Montcalm with the rank of brigadier. From that time forth nobody possessed the confidence of Montcalm