The citizens, alarmed at the threatened destruction, begged
the Governor for leave to cross the river and dislodge their assailants.
At length he consented. A party of twelve or fifteen hundred was made up
of armed burghers, Canadians from the camp, a few Indians, some pupils
of the Seminary, and about a hundred volunteers from the regulars.
Dumas, an experienced officer, took command of them; and, going up to
Sillery, they crossed the river on the night of the twelfth of July.
They had hardly climbed the heights of the south shore when they grew
exceedingly nervous, though the enemy was still three miles off. The
Seminary scholars fired on some of their own party, whom they mistook
for English; and the same mishap was repeated a second and a third time.
A panic seized the whole body, and Dumas could not control them. They
turned and made for their canoes, rolling over each other as they rushed
down the heights, and reappeared at Quebec at six in the morning,
overwhelmed with despair and shame.[716]
[Footnote 716: _Evenements de la Guerre en Canada_ (Hist. Soc. Quebec,
1861). _Memoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760. Vaudreuil au Ministre, 5 Oct.
1759. L'Abeille_, II. No. 14 (a publication of the Quebec Seminary).
_Journal du Siege de Quebec_ (Bibliotheque de Hartwell). Panet, _Journal
du Siege_. Foligny, _Journal memoratif. Memoirs of the Siege of Quebec,
by John Johnson, Clerk and Quartermaster-Sergeant to the Fifty-eighth
Regiment_.
Pages:
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770