Plains of Abraham 1759: Wolfe's Cliff Climb and Montcalm's Fatal Charge

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In the summer of 1759, during the Seven Years' War, General James Wolfe arrived outside Quebec with about 7,000 regulars and a large fleet, with a young James Cook helping navigate the St. Lawrence. The Marquis de Montcalm held the Beauport shore with roughly 12,000 French regulars, Canadian militia and Indigenous allies, and needed only to hold. Wolfe's July assault on Beauport cost him about 450 men to Montcalm's 60. Through August Wolfe was bedridden with fever and took opiates for the pain, Montcalm slept in his boots with his horse saddled, and the coming freeze of the river meant the Royal Navy would soon have to leave.

Wolfe rejected his brigadiers' plan and chose L'Anse au Foulon, a cove below a 53 meter wooded cliff. On the night of September 12 his boats drifted off course, a French speaking Scottish officer bluffed the sentries by claiming to be a supply convoy, and Colonel William Howe led 24 volunteers up the slope. By morning on September 13 more than 4,000 British troops stood on the Plains of Abraham. Montcalm attacked at once instead of waiting for Bougainville's 3,000 men, and the battle was over in under an hour. Both commanders were mortally wounded.

• Montcalm had dismissed warnings about the cliff path, saying the enemy would need wings to climb it.
• The officer Vergor had only about 40 of his 100 men at the top because he had let the rest go home for the harvest.
• Wolfe's men loaded two balls per musket and held fire until the French were about 30 yards away.
• Shot in the wrist, stomach and chest, Wolfe died after hearing the French were running, and Montcalm said he was glad he would not see the English in Quebec.
• A planned 250th anniversary reenactment in 2009 was cancelled after separatist leaders called it an insult and threats followed.