|
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, Marquis de Montcalm, military officer (b at Candiac, France 28 Feb 1712; d at Québec City 14 Sept 1759). Montcalm entered the army at age 9 and served with distinction. In 1756 he was promoted maréchal de camp and replaced Baron Dieskau as commander of French troops in North America. He arrived in Québec 13 May 1756 under orders that he was subordinate to VAUDREUIL, the governor general of NEW FRANCE.
Vain and contemptuous of colonial authorities and their preference for guerrilla tactics, he developed open hostility to Vaudreuil and labelled the whole administration corrupt. He captured Fort William Henry (August 1757), and in July 1758 he conducted a successful defence against a British attack on Fort Carillon. His dispatches to France showed his own efforts to best effect and were critical of Vaudreuil. He was appointed 20 October 1758 lieutenant-general - the second-highest rank in the French army. In May 1759 Gen James WOLFE and Vice-Adm Charles Saunders appeared before Québec. In September a series of errors by the French allowed Wolfe to scale the riverbank and land some 4500 men on the PLAINS OF ABRAHAM, less than 2 km from the city. Wolfe's position was threatening but precarious and Montcalm chose the one course of action that could have brought defeat: on the morning of September 13 he hastily rushed his troops into battle. The French were routed and Montcalm received a mortal wound from which he died the next morning. Historians have long been at odds with the assessment on the plaque on the Plains of Abraham of the "gallant, good and great" man. He won some notable victories but suffered the greatest defeat in Canadian military history. See also SEVEN YEARS' WAR.
 Montcalm, Marquis deMontcalm, like British Commander James Wolfe, was killed at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759 (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-27665).
Author
IAN CASSELMAN
Suggested Reading
Guy Frégault, La Guerre de la conquête 1754-60 (1955, trans Canada: The War of the Conquest 1969); C.P. Stacey, Quebec, 1759 (1959).
Links to Other Sites
The Quebec History Encyclopedia
An extensive information source about Québec history. Features texts from encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, anthologies, and other references that were published at least 50 years ago. Some articles in French. Produced by Claude Bélanger, Marianopolis College.
The Plains of Abraham
Explore the history of Quebec City’s Battlefields Park (at the Plains of Abraham) at this National Battlefields Commission website.
Montcalm, Louis-Joseph de, Marquis de Montcalm
A biography of Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, Marquis de Montcalm from the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online."
General Montcalm Takes Oswego
A brief account of Montcalm's military operations against British fortificatons during the Seven Years' War. A Department of National Defence website.
Burial certificate of Louis-Joseph de Montcalm
A digitized copy of the burial certificate for French General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, who died in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. From the “New France, New Horizons” website.
Face to Face: The Canadian Personalities Hall
Face to Face presents outstanding Canadians – men and women whose ideas and contributions have transformed this country. From the website for the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
Glossary: Battle of the Plains of Abraham
A glossary of terminiology related to the siege of Québec and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Check this site for more information on this topic. From the Virtual Museum website "1759: From the Warpath to the Plains of Abraham."
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| David Thompson was an outsider, struggling to find a foothold in the empire that had consumed his country... |
|
| Pierre Elliott Trudeau, politician, writer, constitutional lawyer, prime minister of Canada 1968-79 and 1980-84 (b at ... |
|
|
| Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ... |
|
|
| Louis Riel, Métis leader, founder of Manitoba, central figure in the NORTH-WEST REBELLION (b at Red River ... |
|
|
| Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ... |
|
|
| Evangelical Christian Church, often called the Christian Church (Christian Disciples), is a denomination stemming from ... |
|
|
| The Group of Seven was founded in 1920 as an organization of self-proclaimed modern artists. The original members - ... |
|
|
| Sears Canada Inc, headquartered in Toronto, is a Canadian retailer incorporated in 1952. In 1953 operating under the ... |
|
|
| John Ware, "Nigger John," horseman, rancher (b near Georgetown, SC 1845; d near Brooks, Alta 11 Sept 1905). ... |
|
|
| Land claims are dealt with by a process established by the federal government to enable INDIANS, INUIT and ... |
|
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Illustrations, lively text, animations, sounds and games help make learning about Canadian history, art, geography, architecture and other topics entertaining as well as informative.
The ultimate test of your knowledge of Canada, trivial and otherwise. You can choose from more than 60 dynamic quizzes with visual or text clues. Your scores depend on the speed with which you answer and the number of clues you need. Results are sent to you by email and high scores are posted on the site.
This unique resource includes more than 6000 events from Canadian and world history. It can be searched by era, subject, keyword or date. To find out what happened on your birthday, select the month and day of your birth.
This selection of the 100 "greatest" events in Canadian history was made by editor in chief James H. Marsh to draw attention to events that have left an indelible memory in the minds of later generations.
| THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC IN CANADA |
|
| "Ca-na-da." A centennial song composed by Bobby Gimby as a children's marching song with English and French lyrics. Gimby composed the song on his own initiative and offered it to the advertising agency for Canada's ... |
|
|
