The Campaign of 1760 in Canada | Page 7

hands of a generous enemy. De
Vauquelin had already made himself known to the English by his
undaunted courage at the siege of Louisburg. His intrepidity so

delighted the English Admiral, that he begged him to tell him freely
how he could serve him. He answered the Admiral, "that what he
wished for of all things was to have his liberty and permission to return
to France." The Admiral had so great a consideration for him, that he
caused a vessel to be immediately fitted out to carry him to Europe,
ordering the English captain to obey De Vauquelin and land him in any
French port he might ask for, leaving him at the same time to choose
what French passengers would accompany him. This noble and
generous behaviour of the English did honor to their nation, by
rendering justice to, and discerning the merit of, an enemy, far beyond
what De Vauquelin met with from Berryer, the Secretary of the Navy,
on his arrival in France.
The unhappy situation of the colony was now past remedy, and may be
compared to a man in the agonies of death, to whom the physician
continues to administer cordials, not from hopes of his recovery, but to
allay and soften the violence of his sufferings. All that could now be
expected was to obtain an honorable capitulation, favorable to its
inhabitants, the colony being at its last gasp.
M. de Levis left two thousand men at Jacques Cartier, with orders to
retire slowly according as the English advanced from Quebec, and to
avoid an engagement with them, without losing sight of them. This
retarded their march, and put off the evil hour as long as possible. He
went with the rest of his army to Montreal. As there was no provision
in that town to be able to keep his army assembled, he was obliged to
disperse them, sending them back to their winter quarters, where each
inhabitant was obliged to board a soldier at a very low rate, which was
paid by the munitionary general.
M. de Bougainville was sent in the spring to command at Isle aux Noix,
with eleven hundred men, of which number were the Regiment of
Guienne and Berry. This island is situated in the River Chambly
(Richelieu), about eight leagues in a straight line from Montreal, and
two miles distant from Lake Champlain.
M. Bourlamarque, an officer of great knowledge in all the branches of
his profession, decided upon that position for his retreat the year before,

when he evacuated Ticonderoga, having been forced to abandon to the
English that lake. He fortified this island as well as was possible in a
sandy ground, in order to serve as a frontier on that side of Canada, and
hinder the English from coming down by the River Richelieu into the
River St. Lawrence, by which means in a very short time they might
have been in possession of Montreal and Three Rivers,--a much easier
way than by Lake Ontario, which is much longer and full of chicares (?)
by the rapids in the St. Lawrence, and prolong their operations;--a very
great advantage in a country where there are violent frosts during seven
months of the year. This island is about twelve hundred fathoms long,
and from a hundred to two hundred broad. The entrenchments traced
and conducted by M. Bourlamarque are regular, and a proof of his
superior knowledge in fortifications. He barred the two branches of the
river which formed the island with staccados, or chains of big trees,
linked to one another at their ends by strong rings and circles of iron.
This prevented the English boats from Lake Champlain to pass the
island in the night, to reach Montreal. But for the staccados the island
must have been taken by them before they could proceed any further.
Some Iroquois, of the Five Nations, informed M. de Vaudreuil at
Montreal, that General Amherst was marching to invade Canada with a
very considerable army by the rapids and Lake Ontario, whilst General
Murray had orders to come up the river with his army from Quebec,
and join Gen. Amherst at Montreal. But they had no knowledge of a
third body of troops, about four thousand men, that came by Lake
Champlain, in the month of July, five weeks before the arrival of the
other two armies at Montreal, and besieged Isle aux Noix with a very
considerable train of artillery, cannon, mortars, &c., in profusion.
They erected five batteries of guns on the south side of the river, with a
bomb battery, which rendered our trenches useless, as they had a sight
of us everywhere, back, face and sideways, and so near us that at the
south staccado they killed several of our soldiers by their musket shots.