S70 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Tho despatch of Townshond is of special -sialue for the following- 

 reasons : — 



1. It is tho official account of the action forwarded to Kn^rland a 

 few days after the event. 



2. Because it gives precise details of the disposition of the army 

 made by Wolfe, and agrees exactly with the order of the regiments as 

 described on phan B. 



3. It defines the position of the houses occupied by the light in- 

 fantry as being opposite to a band of Indians, who waited for an op- 

 jiortunity to fall upon the rear of the English line on the left, and the 

 houses are described in this position on the plan. 



4. It mentions the position of the four-gun battery which Wolfe 

 desired to capture on gaining the high ground, near the Marchmont 

 property, as being on the left of the landing plice ; and on the plan 

 the battery is shown to be. on the left. 



It is necessary to note particularly the position of this battery, 

 because it is claimed by Mr. Hawkins that the field was commanded by 

 a four-gun batter}', the '• ruins of which were seen near the race 

 course" in (1834). 



By referring to plan No. 1 or plan B, it will be seen that the guns 

 command the river, and not the field, and, moreover, on the drawing 

 made by the aide-de-camp of General Wolfe, some houses are shown to 

 intervene between the battery and the field. If the battery had been in 

 the position indicated by Mr. Hawkins, it would have been on the right 

 of the landing place. 



The ruins of a battery, or redoubt, are described on a plan dated 

 1785, attributed to Major Holland, but I have been unable to find any 

 evidence proving that a battery existed there in 1759,^ The Chevalier 

 de Montreuil, in a letter addressed to the Minister, nine days after the 

 battle, mentions that a post was situated between L'Anse' des Mères, 

 and Foulon, about three-eighths of a mile north. " L'échec que nous 

 "avons eu le malheur d'essuyer le 13 de ce mois, sur les hauteurs de 

 " Québec, a été occasionne par la surprise d'un poste entre L'Anse des 

 "Mères et celle du Foulon, à la distance d'un demi quart de lieue au 

 "Nord audessus de Québec." Tliis would be near the position men- 

 tioned on the plan. On a plan published by Mr. Hawkins in 1841, 

 seven years after the publication of his book "Picture of Quebec," the 

 location of this battery is described as "a redoubt to preserve com- 

 munication with the boats," and no mention is made of a four-gun 

 battery in this direction. It would appear, therefore, that at the time 

 of the engagement this ground was occupied as a French post, and that 



