which Wolfe erected; and the main work, although besieged by an inequality of forces of nearly five to one, held out for two months, and even then surrendered through the fears and petitions of the non-combatant inhabitants, and not because it had received any material injury from the besiegers.  The defence, however, had been continued long enough to prevent, for that campaign, any further operations against Canada.  The whole number of the English land forces in this campaign was computed at fifty thousand men, of which more than forty thousand were in the field.  The first division, of nine thousand men, was directed against Fort Du Quesne, whose garrison did not exceed as many hundred.  The second division, of sixteen thousand effective troops, proceeded against Ticonderoga and Crown Point; while a detachment of three thousand men captured Fort Frontenac, then garrisoned by only one hundred and ten men.  The whole force of the French amounted to only five thousand; the English attempted to drive them from their works by storm, but were repulsed with a loss of near two thousand men, while their opponents were scarcely injured.  The third division acted, as has just been stated, in concert with the naval force against Louisburg.

In 1759, the western division of the English army, consisting of a strong body of Indians, and five thousand troops, wasted the whole season in reducing Fort Niagara, which was garrisoned by only six hundred men.  The central column of thirteen thousand men was sufficiently successful to enable it to winter at Crown Point.  The eastern division of eight thousand men under Wolfe ascended the St. Lawrence with a fleet of twenty-two ships, thirteen frigates, and fourteen sloops, and smaller vessels, carrying one thousand nine hundred and ninety guns, and five thousand five hundred and ninety seamen.  The naval defence of Quebec consisted of eight frigates, carrying two hundred and ten guns; the land forces numbered about nine thousand, and the fortifications were armed with ninety-four guns and five mortars, only a part of which could be brought to bear upon the anchorage ground.  Several attempts were made by the combined forces to carry these works, but they proved equally unsuccessful.  Although the English fleet carried twenty times as many guns as the forts, their inability to reduce these works was acknowledged.  The siege had continued for two months, and still the fortifications were uninjured.  General Wolfe himself distinctly stated, that, in any further attempt to carry the place, the “guns of the shipping could not be of much use;” and the chief engineer of the expedition gave it as his opinion, that “the ships would receive great damage from the shot and bombs of the upper batteries, without making the least impression upon them.”  Under these circumstances it was finally determined to endeavor to decoy Montcalm from his works, and make him risk a battle in the open field.  In an evil hour, the French consented to forego the advantages of their fortifications, and the contest was finally decided on the plains of Abraham, with forces nearly equal in number.  Both Wolfe and Montcalm fell in this battle, but the former on the field of victory; and five days afterwards the inhabitants of Quebec, weakened and dispirited by their losses, surrendered the town, although its fortifications were still unharmed.