User:Grimhelm/Battle of Quebec (1690)

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Did you know ...that at the 1690 Battle of Québec, a group of French paddled a canoe up to the English flagship, and under a hail of musket shots managed to return its ensign to the city unscathed?

The Battle of Québec was fought in October, 1690 between the colonies of New France and Massachusetts, at the time subordinate to England and France respectively. It was the first time the city's defences had been tested.

Following the capture of Port Royal in Acadia, during King William's War, the New Englanders hoped to seize Montréal and Québec itself, the capital of New France. The loss of the Acadian fort shocked the Canadians, and Governor-General Louis de Buade de Frontenac ordered the immediate preparation of the city for siege. When the envoys delivered the terms of surrender, the Governor-General famously declared his only reply was by "the mouth of my cannons". Sir William Phips led the invading army and they landed at Beauport in the Basin of Québec. However, the militia on the shore were constantly harassed by Canadian militia until their spontaneous retreat, while the ships were nearly destroyed by cannon volleys from the top of the city.

Both sides learned from the battle. The French improved the city's defences, while the New Englanders realised they needed more artillery and better support from England to take the city.

Background
The colony of New France covered the largest area and was the best fortified in North America, although it was numerically inferior to the neighbouring New England. By 1689, there were only about 14,000 settlers in New France, yet unlike New England, they built elaborate forts to defend their towns.

In 1690, Phips was appointed major-general by Massachusetts to command an expedition against French Acadia. He sailed with seven vessels carrying a 450 strong militia "Foot Regiment", and Port-Royal surrendured on 21 May. Its governor, Louis-Alexandre Des Friches de Meneval, had only about 70 men, and no guns mounted, and would have been unable to resist. On 22 May, Phips records "We cut down the cross, rifled the Church, pulled down the High-Altar, breaking their images"; and on 23 May, "kept gathering Plunder both by land and water, and also under ground in their Gardens".

This shocked the Québécois, who feared that their city would be the next target. Québec did not have extensive fortifications in 1690, and the whole landward side of the city to the north and west was exposed, particularly at the Plains of Abraham. Count Frotenac returned to Canada for a second term as Governor-General, and ordered the construction of a wooden palisade to enclose the city from the fort at the Château Saint-Louis to the St Charles River. Town Major Provost oversaw the construction of 11 small stone redoubts in this enceinte, which would have protected against cannon. Facing the plains on the west side was the stong point of the landward defences - a windmill called Mont-Carmel where a three-gun battery was in place. The palisade line ended on the east side of the city, near the hospital.

The batteries facing the river were also improved, with eight guns mounted beside the Château and six 18-pounders at the docksides. Temporary obstacles had also been put in place on the street leading up to the upper city.

Arrival of Phips
While the New England colonies and New York dispatched a force overland against Montréal, which accomplished virtually nothing, Massachusetts launched its own expedition against Québec. The whole operation had been financed by issuing paper bonds set against the expected booty to be taken from the city. Phips was to command the expedition of about 32 ships (only 4 of which were of any size) and over 2,300 Massachusetts militiamen, but these had been delayed until unduly late in the summer because supplies from England never came. Consequently, when Phips's expedition set out from Hull on 20 August, by way of the Saint Lawrence River, it was inadequately supplied with ammunition. Bad weather, contrary winds, and lack of a St Lawrence pilot hampered progress, and Phips did not anchor in the Québec basin until 16 October. Frontenac, a shrewd and experienced officer, reached Québec from Montréal on 14 October. When all the militia whom he had summoned arrived, he had nearly 3,000 men to defend the place. The New Englanders had been "quite confident that the cowardly and effete French would be no match for their hardy men", but in fact the opposite was the case. Frontenac had reason for confidence, as he possessed a force of three battalions of colonial regulars that were certainly superior to Phips's amateur soldiery. Furthermore, the city was "sited on the strongest natural position they [the English officers] had likely ever seen." Not only did it have impressive cliffs and Cape Diamond, but the eastern shore was so shallow that ships could not approach and landing craft would be needed.

On 16 October, Phips sent Major Thomas Savage as an envoy to deliver a summons of surrender to Frontenac. The battle has been described as an application of psychological warfare. Before the fighting Frontenac led Phip's envoys blindfolded through roaring mobs in the streets of Quebec in order to mask his numerical inferiority. Then, in the Château Saint-Louis, Frontenac and many of his officers in their best dress listened to the envoy as he demanded the city's surrender. There the New Englander told them they had one hour to comply, and then pulled out his watch. The proud and temperamental Frontenac was so enraged that he wanted to have the envoy hanged before the full view of the English fleet, and it was only because of the Bishop of Quebec, François de Laval, that he was calmed. Frontenac shot back: Non, je n'ai point de réponse à faire à votre général que par la bouche de mes canons et de mes fusils.

(I have no reply to make to your general other than from the mouths of my cannons and muskets.)

Battle
The New Englanders' saw that the the only possible place to crack the defences was on the city's northeastern side, where the walls were weakest. Their plan was to land their main force on the Beauport shore east of the Saint Charles River, and have it cross the river in the fleet's boats, along with the field guns. When the landing force was on the heights west of Québec, the fleet would attack the city and land a second force there. Frontenac had expected the land attack to come from Beauport, and the banks of the river had already been built up with fied fortifications on the southwestern side. He proposed to fight only a skirmishing action there, holding his regulars in reserve for a European-style battle on the open ground west of Québec.

However, this second battle never took place. The 1,200 strong English landing force under Major John Walley, Phips' second-in-command, never got across the Saint Charles. Frontenac had sent strong detachments of Canadian militiamen under Jacques Le Moyne de Sainte-Hélène, along with some Indians, into the wooded areas east of the river. When the English landed on 18 October, they were immediately harassed by Canadian militia, while the ships' boats mistakenly landed the field guns on the wrong side of the Saint Charles. Meanwhile, Phips's four large ships, quite contrary to the plan, anchored before Québec and began bombarding the city until the 19 October, at which point the English had shot away most of their ammunition. The French shore batteries had also proved to be much more than a match, and the ships were pounded until the rigging and hulls were badly damaged; the ensign of Phips' flagship the Six Friends was cut down and fell into the river, and under a hail of musket shots, a daring group of Canadians paddled a canoe up to the ships to capture it. They triumphantly brought the ensign back to the Governor unscathed.

During the bombardment, the land force under Walley remained inactive, suffering from cold and complaining of shortage of rum. After a couple of miserable days, they decided to carry the shore positions and try to overcome the French earthworks. They set out on 20 October "in the best European tradition, with drums beating and colors unfurled," but there was a skirmish at the edge of the woods. The New Englanders could not cope with the maintained heavy Canadian fire, and the brass field guns fired into the woods had no effect. Although Sainte-Hélène was mortally wounded, 150 of the attackers had been killed in action, and were utterly discouraged. They made a spontaneous retreat in a state of near panic on 22 October, even abandoning five field guns on the shore.

Aftermath
On 23 and 24 October, an exchange of prisoners was negotiated and effected, and the ships set sail for Boston. Although his own account of the expedition claims that his casualties did not exceed 30 men, smallpox and marine accident claimed about 1,000 more. James Lloyd of Boston wrote in the following January, "7 vessels yet wanting 3 more cast away & burnt." Cotton Mather tells how one brigantine was wrecked on Anticosti; her crew maintained themselves on the island through the winter and were apparently rescued the following summer by a ship from Boston. Phips' defeat was complete and disastrous, food was lacking to feed the the large force assembled to defend Québec in case of a prolonged siege. Phips himself had displayed no natural military talents to offset his lack of experience. It can be argued however that the absence of trained soldiers and adequate supplies had doomed the enterprise from the start. Jacques Le Moyne, who died soon after the battle, was mourned by the whole colony for his courtesy and valour. The Onondaga Iroquois sent a wampum collar as a token of sympathy, and released two captives to honour his memory. His brother, Charles Le Moyne, won fame for his part in the battle, and he later received an additional grant of land for his services and became the first Baron de Longueuil.

Both sides learned from the battle. The French victory showed that to take Quebec, the cannon of "Old England would have to be brought in". Similarly, Frontenac realised the defences needed significant improvement, and in 1692, he gave Ingénieur du Roi Josué Berthelot de Beaucours the task of designing a fortress that could withstand a European-style siege. This was delayed by the Canadian winter, and work commenced in the summer of 1693 on an earth rampart with large bastions to enclose the city, and pointed wooden stakes to top the walls. A complete shore battery, known as the "Royal battery", was built immediately after the siege. It was shaped like a small bastion, and featured 14 gun embrasures to cover both sides of the Saint Laurence and the river itself.

Although another expedition was launched against Québec during the Queen Anne's War, the city's improved defences would not tested until the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1760.