Against this force, posted behind defensive works, on positions almost
impregnable by nature, Wolfe brought less than nine thousand men
available for operations on land.[709] The steep and lofty heights that
lined the river made the cannon of the ships for the most part useless,
while the exigencies of the naval service forbade employing the sailors
on shore. In two or three instances only, throughout the siege, small
squads of them landed to aid in moving and working cannon; and the
actual fighting fell to the troops alone.
[Footnote 708: See Appendix H.]
[Footnote 709: Ibid.]
Vaudreuil and Bigot took up their quarters with the army. The
Governor-General had delegated the command of the land-forces to
Montcalm, whom, in his own words, he authorized "to give orders
everywhere, provisionally." His relations with him were more than ever
anomalous and critical; for while Vaudreuil, in virtue of his office,
had a right to supreme command, Montcalm, now a lieutenant-general, held
a military grade far above him; and the Governor, while always writing
himself down in his despatches as the head and front of every movement,
had too little self-confidence not to leave the actual command in the
hands of his rival.
Days and weeks wore on, and the first excitement gave way to restless
impatience. Why did not the English come? Many of the Canadians thought
that Heaven would interpose and wreck the English fleet, as it had
wrecked that of Admiral Walker half a century before.
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