[doughty] battle OF THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM 369 



" battalions of Beam and Guienne. Their left was composed of the 

 "remainder of the troops of the colony, and the battalion of Eoyal 

 "Eonssillon. This was, as near as I can gness, their line of battle. 

 " They brought np two pieces of small artillery against iis, and we had 

 "been able to bring np but one gun, which, being admirably served, 

 "galled their column exceedingly. My attention to the left will not 

 " permit me to be very exact, with regard to every circumstance which 

 " passed in the centre, much less to the right; but it is most certain 

 " that the enemy formed in good order, and that their attack was very 

 " brisk and animated on that side'. Our troops reserved their fire till 

 "within forty yards, which was so well continued, that the enemy 

 " everywhere gave way. It was then that our General fell at the he'ad 

 " of Bragg's and the Louisbourg Grenadiers, advancing Avith their 

 "bayonets ; about the same time Genetal Monckton received his wound 

 " at the head of Lascelle's. 



" In front of the opposite battalions fell also M. Montcalm, and his 

 "second in command is since dead of his wounds on board our fleet. 

 " Part of the enemy made a second faint attack; part took to some 

 "thick coppice wood and seemed to make a stand. It was at this 

 "moment that each corps seemed in a manner to exert itself with a 

 "view to its own character. The Grenadiers, Bragg's, Kennedy's and 

 " Lascelle's pressed on with bayonets, Brigadier Murray advancing 

 "briskly with the troops under his command, completed the route on 

 •' this side, when the Highlanders, supported by Anstruther's, took to 

 "their broad swords, and drove part into the town, and part to their 

 " works at the bridge on the Eiver St. Charles. 



" The action on our left was not so seveTe. The houses into which 

 " the light infantry were thrown, were so well defended, being sup- 

 " ported by Colonel Howe, who taking post with two companies behind 

 " a small coppice, and frequently sallying upon the flanks of the enemy 

 " during their attack drove them often into heaps; against the front of 

 "which I advanced platoons of Amherst's regiment, which totally pre- 

 " vented the right wing from executing their first intention. Before 

 " this, one of the Eoyal American battalions had been detached to pre- 

 " serve our communication with our boats; and the other being sent to 

 " occupy the ground which Brigadier Murray's movement had left open. 

 "I remained with Amherst's to support this disposition, and to keep 

 "back the enemy's right, and 'a body of savages, which waited still 

 " more towards our rear, opposite to the' posts of our light infantry, 

 " waiting for an oj^portunity to fall upon our rear." 



