1759_.]
The victors were fortifying themselves on the field of battle.
Like the French, they had lost two generals; for Monckton,
second in rank, was disabled by a musket-shot, and the command
had fallen upon Townshend at the moment when the enemy were in full
flight. He had recalled the pursuers, and formed them again in line
of battle, knowing that another foe was at hand. Bougainville, in
fact, appeared at noon from Cap-Rouge with about two thousand men;
but withdrew on seeing double that force prepared to receive him.
He had not heard till eight o'clock that the English were on the
Plains of Abraham; and the delay of his arrival was no doubt
due to his endeavors to collect as many as possible of his
detachments posted along the St. Lawrence for many miles
towards Jacques-Cartier.
Before midnight the English had made good progress in
their redoubts and intrenchments, had brought cannon up
the heights to defend them, planted a battery on the Cote
Ste.-Genevieve, descended into the meadows of the St. Charles,
and taken possession of the General Hospital, with its crowds
of sick and wounded. Their victory had cost them six hundred
and sixty-four of all ranks, killed, wounded, and missing. The
French loss is placed by Vaudreuil at about six hundred and forty,
and by the English official reports at about fifteen hundred.
Measured by the numbers engaged, the battle of Quebec was but a
heavy skirmish; measured by results, it was one of the great battles
of the world.
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