Therefore he
was in haste to attack before these succors could arrive. As was the
general, so was the army. "I believe," writes an officer, "we were one
and all infatuated by a notion of carrying every obstacle by a mere
_coup de mousqueterie_."[626] Leadership perished with Lord Howe, and
nothing was left but blind, headlong valor.
[Footnote 626: See the letter in Knox, I. 148.]
Clerk, chief engineer, was sent to reconnoitre the French works from
Mount Defiance; and came back with the report that, to judge from what
he could see, they might be carried by assault. Then, without waiting to
bring up his cannon, Abercromby prepared to storm the lines.
The French finished their breastwork and abattis on the evening of the
seventh, encamped behind them, slung their kettles, and rested after
their heavy toil. Levis had not yet appeared; but at twilight one of his
officers, Captain Pouchot, arrived with three hundred regulars, and
announced that his commander would come before morning with a hundred
more. The reinforcement, though small, was welcome, and Levis was a host
in himself. Pouchot was told that the army was half a mile off. Thither
he repaired, made his report to Montcalm, and looked with amazement at
the prodigious amount of work accomplished in one day.[627] Levis
himself arrived in the course of the night, and approved the arrangement
of the troops. They lay behind their lines till daybreak; then the drums
beat, and they formed in order of battle.
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