The English retreated in good order, after setting fire to the two
stranded vessels. Those of the grenadiers and Royal Americans who were
left alive rowed for the Point of Orleans; the fifteenth regiment rowed
for Point Levi; and the Highlanders, led by Wolfe himself, joined the
column from beyond the Montmorenci, placing themselves in its rear as it
slowly retired along the flats and across the ford, the Indians yelling
and the French shouting from the heights, while the British waved their
hats, daring them to come down and fight.
The grenadiers and the Royal Americans, who had borne the brunt of the
fray, bore also nearly all the loss; which, in proportion to their
numbers, was enormous. Knox reports it at four hundred and forty-three,
killed, wounded, and missing, including one colonel, eight captains,
twenty-one lieutenants, and three ensigns.
Vaudreuil, delighted, wrote to Bourlamaque an account of the affair. "I
have no more anxiety about Quebec. M. Wolfe, I can assure you, will make
no progress. Luckily for him, his prudence saved him from the
consequences of his mad enterprise, and he contented himself with losing
about five hundred of his best soldiers. Deserters say that he will try
us again in a few days. That is what we want; he'll find somebody to
talk to (_il trouvera a qui parler_)."
NOTE: Among the killed in this affair was Edward Botwood, sergeant in
the grenadiers of the forty-seventh, or Lascelles' regiment.
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