392 KOYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



lon<red to stand iijion the <\)n[ wlicro Wnlfe died. The journal is dated 

 1810. 



"• The I'lains of Abraham lie south and west of Quebec, and com- 

 " mence the moment you leave the walls of the city. The battle was 

 " particularly severe on the French left, and the English right. This 

 " ground is very near the St. Lawrence, and but a little distance in 

 " front of the Citadel, and all the events that passed there, must have 

 " been distinctly seen by those on the walls of Quebec." It must have 

 " been a most interesting spectacle, and we can easily enter into the 

 " feelings of the American French, who viewed their country and their 

 " city, and their firesides and homes, as involved in the issue of this 

 " battle. With what emotions then must they have seen their de- 

 " fenders, not only falling in the ranks, but driven by the furious on- 

 " set of the enemy to the walls of the cit}^, where they were slaughtered 

 " l)y the bayonet and the broad sword, on the very glacis and in the 

 " ditches, immediately under their eyes." 



A brief examination will now be made of the works of more 

 modern authors. The first book we will take is " Montcalm and Wolfe," 

 by Francis Parkman. The extract is from the second volume, page 282. 



"He went to reconnoitre the ground, and soon came to the Plains 

 '"' of Abraham, so called from Abraham Martin, a pilot known as Maître 

 "Abraham, who had owned a piece of land here in the early days of 

 " the colony. The plains were a tract of grass tolerably level in most 

 " parts, patched here and there with cornfields, studded with clumps 

 " of bushes and forming a part of the high plateau at the eastern end 

 " of which Quebec stood. On the south it was bounded by the de- 

 " clivities along the St. Lawrence, on the north by those along the St. 

 ** Charles, or rather along the meadows through whicli that lazy stream 

 " crawled like a writhing snake. At the place Wolfe chose for his 

 " battle-field, tlic plateau is less than a mile wide. 



" Thither the troops advanced, marched along by files till they 

 " reached the ground, and then wheeled to form their line of battle, 

 "which stretched across the plateau and faced the city. It consisted 

 " of six battalions and the detached grenadiers of Louisbourg, all drawn 

 " up in ranks, three deep. Its right wing was near the brink of the 

 "heights along the St. Lawrence, but the left could not reach those 

 "along the St. Charles. On this side a space was j>erforce left open, 

 " and there was a danger of being outflanked. To prevent this, Briga- 

 " dier Townshend was stationed here with two battalions drawn up at 

 " right angles with the rest and fronting the St. Charles. The battalion 

 " of Webb's regiment, under Colonel Burton, formed the reserve, the 

 " third battalion of Royal Americans was left to guard the landing, 



