Montcalm's Crushing Blow by Rene Chartrand

Author:Rene Chartrand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Montcalm’s Crushing Blow: French and Indian Raids along New York’s Oswego River 1756
ISBN: 9781472803320
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

The French fleet of Lake Ontario, 1756. It was built and based at Fort Frontenac and included the Marquise de Vaudreuil, armed with 16 cannons and eight swivel guns (at left), the Huron with 12 cannons and six swivel guns, and two smaller vessels. (Detail from a contemporary map. Library Archives Canada, NMC 6333)

The Anglo-American fleet of Lake Ontario, 1756. Built and based at Oswego during 1755–56, these vessels were captured (and renamed) or destroyed by the French in July and August 1756. (Detail from a contemporary map. Library Archives Canada, NMC 6333)

Waging warfare in such a country would obviously be unlike anything seen in Europe. What was known about battling in the North American wilderness was that the skulking way of war was the key to vanquishing any enemy. Raids, surprise attacks, using the forest as cover, and moving swiftly were all elements of battle success, as had been shown at the Monongahela in July 1755, where General Braddock had been slain with many of his men as they attempted to form battle lines against unseen foes firing at them. Montcalm’s predecessor, General Dieskau, had insisted on deploying his army regulars like in Europe against well-covered American militiamen at Lake George, which resulted in a tactical fiasco and his own capture. Montcalm, who certainly thought of the fate of Braddock and Dieskau, simply had to do better for his own sake as much as that of his troops.

Most of the fleet gradually docked in Quebec City during the second week of May 1756. La Sarre mustered 515 enlisted men, Royal-Roussillon 519. Each had about 40 officers. The two battalions that arrived in Canada were not unscathed. Some 280 unfortunate officers and men that had come on the Léopard were very ill on arrival at Quebec. Commissary-General André Doreil noted that they formed nearly all of the 300 military patients at the hospital. Some sort of plague had broken out on the ship, and this caused considerable anxiety concerning the possible spread of an epidemic in the city. On the death of two grenadiers, Doreil ordered an autopsy of the bodies attended by all the medical officers in order to identify the illness. Whatever it was, the quick action of the medical staff administering “good treatment with infinite care” had a telling effect. The number of sick in the hospital had declined to 113 by June 20, and the 21 mortalities since the landing were considered a low figure. Thus, it could be said that the French army was in relative good health, thanks in large part to efficient medical services.

On May 1, 1756, Montcalm stayed a few days in Quebec City then headed for Montreal where on May 26 he met Governor General Vaudreuil. Historians agree that these two personalities did not really take to each other, and as time passed their relations worsened. However, this was just the beginning, and Montcalm now realized that Vaudreuil had already made all the strategic decisions for the ensuing season. The metropolitan

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