[doughty] battle of THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM 337 



'' composed of two officers and fifty men who had been sent across the 

 " river to take a prisoner; that the French generals suspect that we are 

 " going higher up, to lay waste the country, and to destroy such ships 

 " and craft 'as they have got above; and that Monsieur Montcalm will 

 " not be persuaded on to quit his situation, insisting that the flower 

 " of our army are still below the town." " In consequence of this 

 "'agreeable intelligence, the following orders were this day issued to 

 " the army. 



Oedees. _ 



" The enemy's force is now divided ; great scarcity of provisions 

 "now in their camp and universal discontent among the Canadians. 

 " Our troops below are in readiness to join us ; 'all the light artillery 

 " and tools are embarked at Point Levis, and the troops will land where 

 " the French seem least to expect it. The first body that gets on shore 

 " is to march directly to the' enemy 'and drive them from any little post 

 "they may occupy; the officers must be careful that the succeeding 

 " bodies do not, by any mistake, fire upon those who go on before them. 

 " The battalions must form on the upper ground with expedition, and 

 " be ready to charge whatever presents itself. When the artillery and 

 "' troops are landed, a corps will be left to secure the landing place, 

 "while the rest march on and endeavour to bring the French and 

 " Canadians to battle." 



This portion of the Journal is quoted for the purpose of showing : 



1. That General Wolfe did not expect to meet with much opposi- 

 tion on the' ground immediately above his landing place; that is, in the 

 vicinity of the race course, or the Marchmont property.^ 



2. That he T\''as aware that Montcalm still held his position beyond 

 the Eiver St. Charles, the location of which is shown on plan JSTo. 1. 



3. That he expected to have to march towards Montcalm's camp 

 to bring the enemy to battle. 



It will be seen from these orders that Wolfe was in possession of 

 valuable information as to the enemy's position, and that it was his 

 intention to fight the battle near the city, otherwise it would have been 

 unnecessary to have left troops on the M'archmont property to preserve 

 communication with the landing place. 



How these orders were observed may be ascertained from the 

 descriptions given of the movements of the army on the 13th of Sep- 

 tember, by the various writers hereinafter >cited. 



The next authority is Brigadier-General Townshend, upon whom 

 devolved the command of the forces after Wolfe received his fatal 



