ere Montcalm commanded in person. This was
a severe repulse, in which the English lost in the neighborhood of 1,600
men. It was offset by the expulsion of the French from northwestern New
York and the capture of Fort Frontenac, on the present site of Kingston
in Canada.

[Illustration: MARTELLO TOWER ON THE HEIGHTS OF ABRAHAM, WHERE WOLFE WAS
KILLED.]

One wise step of Pitt was in winning the cordial support of the
provincials, as the colonists were called, to the British regulars. Our
ancestors thus gained a most valuable military training which served
them well in the great struggle for independence a few years later.

WOLFE'S GREAT VICTORY.

The year 1759 brought decisive success to the English. Knowing that they
intended to attack Quebec, Montcalm drew in his troops to defend that
city. It therefore was an easy matter for the English to capture
Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Fort Niagara, General Wolfe, one of the
very ablest of English leaders, left Louisburg with a fleet and sailed
up the St. Lawrence. He found the fortifications of Quebec at so great
an elevation that he could make no impression upon them. Three months
passed in idle waiting and the besiegers were almost disheartened. Wolfe
himself was so distressed by anxiety that he fell ill. The sagacious
Montcalm could not be induced to come out and give battle, and there
seemed no way of reaching him.

[Illustration: A DUTCH HOUSEHOLD.

As seen in the early days in New York.]

But the lion-hearted Wolfe would not be denied. He found a path leading
up to the Heights of Abraham, as the plain above was called, and,
selecting a mild night in September, his troops floated down the river
in their boats and landed at the foot of the cliff. All night long the
English soldiers were clambering up the steep path, dragging a few guns
with them, and, when the morning sun rose, it shone on the flashing
bayonets of the whole army drawn up in battle array before the walls of
Quebec.

The astonished Montcalm, instead of remaining within the city, marched
his army out and gave battle. In the fight both Wolfe and Montcalm were
fatally wounded. Wolfe lived long enough to learn that the French were
fleeing before his victorious troops. "Now, I can die happy," he said,
and shortly after expired. When Montcalm was told he must die, he
mournfully replied: "So much the better; I shall not live to see the
surrender of Quebec."

MOMENTOUS RESULTS OF THE WAR.

This bat