Siege of Quebec (1760)

In 1759, a British expedition, led by James Wolfe, had sailed up the St Lawrence River and laid siege to Quebec. After an initial failure at the Battle of Beauport, Wolfe managed to defeat the French field army under Louis-Joseph de Montcalm at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on 13 September 1759. After Montcalm's death during the battle, the French armies outside Quebec retreated westwards despite their numerical supremacy and left the garrison of Quebec exposed to the British. The city surrendered several days later, and British forces under James Murray marched in and occupied it. The retreating French troops had reached the Jacques-Cartier River, where they came under the command of François Gaston de Lévis on 17 September 1759. He initially hoped to lead his force back to recapture Quebec directly, but it became clear that such an immediate attack was impossible, and he decided to postpone any attempt until the following year. During the winter, Lévis's forces camped near the Jacques-Cartier River. In spite of his decision not to attack, rumours continued to circulate around Quebec throughout the winter that a major French assault was imminent. Lévis rejected a proposal by Murray for a winter truce. French patrols continued to operate and a position was even set up at Saint-Augustin close to Quebec until it was captured in a surprise attack by the British using snow shoes. Lévis prepared his attack during the winter, and sent a message to Paris in October 1759 asking for reinforcements, siege artillery and supplies to be sent to Quebec as soon as possible. He was determined to press on as soon as the ice began to melt making the St Lawrence passable. On 20 April his force set out from Montreal, and reached the village of Sainte-Foy by 27 April. He had around 7,000 troops, around half were French regulars the remainder were Canadian militia and Native allies, and twelve artillery pieces. Murray received warning of the French approach on the morning of 27 April costing Lévis the element of surprise he had hoped for. Murray's response to the appearance of Lévis and his force outside the city was to march out and take up a strong defensive position. He hoped Lévis would attack him, but it also allowed Murray time to withdraw his outposts of light infantry, some of them at Cap Rouge, who would otherwise have been cut off. Lévis declined to attack Murray since he realised that the battlefield would not suit his plans. Instead, during the night, he chose to move his army to outflank Murray, using the woods on the British left as cover. Battle of Sainte-Foy thumb|The Battle of Sainte-Foy</a> took place outside Quebec, just before the siege, on 28 April 1760. Lévis did not expect the British to give battle and was surprised to see them the following day. The battle began when Murray saw that the French main body was still on the march and had not yet formed up. Impulsively, abandoning the high ground, the British decided to attack. Their advance was slowed by the terrain, a mixture of half-melted snow and mud, and by the time the two sides engaged, the French were prepared. Initially, the British had success, driving the outlying French from their strong points and sending panic through the French ranks, which led some to flee into the nearby woods. The British pressed on and ran into the main body of French troops under Lévis. After around an hour of close-quarters fighting, the British flanks began to give way, and Murray ordered a withdrawal. The French then completed their victory by capturing the abandoned British artillery. The battle was even bloodier than the one fought a year earlier: Lévis suffered 833 killed and wounded, while the British under Murray sustained 1,088 casualties—nearly a third of his force. Seeing that there was no chance of salvaging the situation, Murray retreated with his remaining forces back into the city and prepared to hold out in the hope that relief would arrive up the Saint Lawrence for the defenders. Lévis had similar hopes, although he was realistic about the chances of any French relief, as he brought up the rest of his forces and began preparing to lay siege to the city. The captured British artillery was added to the French guns brought from Montreal. ==Siege==

On 29 April, the day after the battle, the siege commenced, but Lévis had not originally intended to besiege Quebec, as he was waiting for reinforcements from France. As a result, he chose not to launch an immediate assault; his troops were too exhausted, and he was uncertain about the reliability of some of the militiamen. Instead, he occupied the hospital outside the city walls and began bringing up the artillery. However, Lévis refused to open fire with any cannon or mortars until he had forty guns in position, intending to unleash a devastating barrage. As the French siege works began to take shape, morale plummeted for the British and teetered on the brink of anarchy. Fearing a wider breakdown in discipline, Murray ordered harsh punishments for offenders. One man was hanged on the spot for endemic drunkenness, and Murray had all the liquor in the Lower Town poured away or destroyed. Nevertheless, the French siege works were soon being bombarded with considerable accuracy, and by May 1, order, subordination, hope, and almost confidence were completely restored in Murray's army. The city's defences, however, had been shattered by the previous year's bombardment, and it had even been suggested after its capture that the British should simply destroy the fortifications and abandon the city. Instead, work parties had tried to rebuild the fortifications, and Murray also concentrated on erecting defences beyond the city walls. The weakness of the city's defences had a major impact on his decision to confront the French in open battle, rather than remain in the city. In addition, such was the shortage of men that British officers strapped themselves into harnesses to help haul cannon into the Lower Town. Stalemate As time wore on, it became clear a stalemate had developed. The French cannons were too weak to batter down the city's defences, and the British were not strong enough to march out and drive off the more numerous French. In a common courtesy during a siege, the two commanders exchanged small gifts of food. Lévis sent spruce beer and partridges, while Murray responded with Cheshire cheese. Victory would go to whoever's ships first came up the St Lawrence carrying reinforcements. On 9 May, a ship arrived off Pointe-Lévis; the French shouted Vive Le Roi believing the ship to be theirs, while the anxious British expected the worst. The ship however turned out to be , a 28-gun frigate detached from a squadron under Lord Colville who were just outside the Saint Lawrence. A twenty-one-gun salute and the hoisting of the Union flag turned British fears into sudden joy. Lévis and the French were in despair and realised that Quebec had to be bombarded into submission as quickly as possible before the main British force arrived. Artillery duel Two days later at noon, the French batteries finally opened against the walls of Québec, which was not built to bear the brunt of heavy shot. Both sides exchanged lively fire till nightfall. A French schooner and two floating batteries passed below Québec to plant a mortar at Beauport. Over the next few days the artillery duel continued. In contrast, the British brought many heavy guns to bear on the French positions, had unloaded a number of guns from the fleet before it had sailed, and had plentiful supplies of ammunition. Gunpowder was the one substance that was in abundance in the shattered town. During this bombardment the French suffered heavily; British shells alone killed 72 and wounded another 133. Just after dusk on May 15, the first of Commodore Colville's five ships of the line appeared below the Île d'Orléans with two fresh British regiments from Louisbourg. The following morning two more British frigates under Commodore Robert Swanton arrived after having sailing upstream. Swanton in response to the expressed wishes of Murray, gave orders to and HMS Lowestoffe, soon followed by , to pass the town and to attack the French vessels under Captain Jean Vauquelin in the river above. Swanton forced the French to cut their cables and a running battle soon ensued. Swanton eventually drove Lévis's six smaller ones aground, British troops then took the men ashore prisoner. The frigates then lined up against the French trenches to enfilade them with grape and round shot, which forced their abandonment. French retreat The destruction of the French vessels was a death blow to the hopes of Lévis since they contained his stores of food and ammunition. With the bombardment knocking out his guns and causing casualties, Lévis resolved to wait for the night before he retired after which he hastened to raise the siege, leaving behind his sick and wounded as well as the siege camp. He also gave orders to throw his artillery down the cliff near Anse-au-Foulon and to distribute provisions to the troops. At 10pm, the army began its march with the cannon having been sent forward. Deserters from Lévis's camp then told Murray that the French were in full retreat from which all the British batteries opened fire at random through the darkness and sent cannonballs ricocheting over the Plains of Abraham on the heels of the retreating French army. Murray then marched out with five battalions, the grenadiers and the light companies were to fall upon their rear. He pushed over the marsh to Ancienne-Lorette. The British captured many French stragglers but failed to overtake the main body. The French had already crossed the Cap-Rouge River, where they remained on the banks of the river. The British naval presence was reinforced on 18 May with the arrival of Lord Colville's squadron, and two days later merchant ships carrying vital supplies started to arrive which thus marked the end of the French siege. ==Aftermath==

British losses during the siege came to only around 30 killed or wounded, but there still around 1,000 sick from disease. For the French, losses were heavy, with 350 killed or wounded. After its failure to proceed up the St Lawrence, the French relief convoy had taken shelter in the Restigouche River, where there were still Acadian inhabitants loyal to France. They were defeated by the Royal Navy at the Battle of Restigouche two months later. With Murray's forces substantially increased in Quebec, the city thus became a staging point for the conquest of the remainder of French Canada. The British strategy for capturing Montreal, the last major French stronghold, involved a three-pronged advance. Separate forces under Jeffery Amherst and William Haviland would advance from Lake Ontario in the west along the St Lawrence River and from upper New York via the Richelieu River respectively. James Murray led the third prong of 4,000 men advancing from Quebec down the St Lawrence River and approaching the Island of Montreal from the east. Faced with such overwhelming numbers, Governor Marquis de Vaudreuil ordered Lévis, who had wanted to fight, to lay down his arms. On 8 September 1760, the city was surrendered to Amherst. Quebec would endure another siege in 1775, the third in sixteen years, during the American War of Independence when American rebel forces participating in the Invasion of Canada. The attack failed and the arrival of British ships down the St Lawrence the following spring forced the Americans to abandon their attempt, in a situation very similar to the relief of 1760. ==Notes==