Lawrence are, as we have
seen, extremely high and steep. At a mile from the gorge of the cataract
there is, at high tide, a strand, about the eighth of a mile wide,
between the foot of these heights and the river; and beyond this strand
the receding tide lays bare a tract of mud nearly half a mile wide. At
the edge of the dry ground the French had built a redoubt mounted with
cannon, and there were other similar works on the strand a quarter of a
mile nearer the cataract. Wolfe could not see from the river that these
redoubts were commanded by the musketry of the intrenchments along the
brink of the heights above. These intrenchments were so constructed that
they swept with cross-fires the whole face of the declivity, which was
covered with grass, and was very steep. Wolfe hoped that, if he attacked
one of the redoubts, the French would come down to defend it, and so
bring on a general engagement; or, if they did not, that he should gain
an opportunity of reconnoitring the heights to find some point where
they could be stormed with a chance of success.
In front of the gorge of the Montmorenci there was a ford during several
hours of low tide, so that troops from the adjoining English camp might
cross to co-operate with their comrades landing in boats from Point Levi
and the Island of Orleans. On the morning of the thirty-first of July,
the tide then being at the flood, the French saw the ship "Centurion,"
of sixty-four guns, anchor near the Montmorenci and open fire on the
redoubts.
Pages:
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784