On
September 10 Wolfe chose Anse-aux-Foulons
as a landing spot. Anse-aux-Foulons was
at the bottom of the 53-metre high cliff
on which Quebec sits, and was protected
by cannons above. However, it was not
the landing site Montcalm expected, and
was much less well-defended than the other
possible sites. Wolfe had French-speaking
soldiers reply to the sentries on the
shore, making the French believe the landing
craft were actually a convoy of supply
boats from upstream. Montcalm had 13,390
troops and militia available in Quebec
City and Beauport a few kilometres away,
as well as 200 cavalry, 200 artillery,
300 natives (among which were upper Great
Lakes Outaouais warriors following Charles
de Langlade), and 140 Acadian volunteers.
This was about one quarter of the entire
population of New France, but a significant
portion of these forces was made up of
inexperienced militia, whereas most of
the British force had fought in the American
colonies earlier in the Seven Years' War.
About
100 Canadian militia defended the top
of the cliff above Anse au Folon, but
385 British troops were able to scale
the cliff and capture the cannons and
the militia's camp. By the September 13
almost 5,000 British had made it up the
cliff to the plains. Throughout the length
of the siege the British had suffered
270 deaths and 1,220 wounded; French casualties
prior to the battle are unknown, but the
British bombardment of the town, from
ships and batteries set at Sainte-Petronille
and Lévis, had been severe. On
the morning of the 13th, Wolfe assembled
4,800 of his men on the Plains of Abraham
outside Quebec City while Saunders massed
the fleet near Beauport. Montcalm could
have refused to meet them on the field
(as his advisers suggested), and his decision
to leave the fortified town and engage
the British on the battlefield is often
viewed as a mistake; his fear was that
of British entrenchment. He
also did not bring out the entire force,
but only about 4,000 men, slightly less
than the British strength, leaving the
other half of his army on the Beauport
shoreline, under the orders of his frequent
rival the Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal,
Governor General of New France, in case
the attack on the Plains of Abraham turned
out to be a diversion.
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