Battle of Sainte-Foy

Battle of Sainte-Foy Part of the French and Indian War The Battle of Sainte-Foy by George B. Campion, watercolour. Date April 28, 1760 Location Quebec City, then in the French province of Canada Coordinates: 46°47′59″N 71°13′15″W / 46.79972°N 71.22083°W / 46.79972; -71.22083 Result French victory Belligerents France Great Britain Commanders François Gaston de Lévis James Murray Strength 2,600 regulars, 2,400 militia[1] 3,800 regulars 27 guns Casualties and losses 193 killed 640 wounded[2] 259 killed 829 wounded[2]

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The Battle of Sainte-Foy, sometimes called the Battle of Quebec, was fought on April 28, 1760 near the British-held town of Quebec in the French province of Canada during the Seven Years' War (called the French and Indian War in the United States). It was a victory for the French under the Chevalier de Lévis over the British army under General Murray. The battle was notably bloodier than the Battle of the Plains of Abraham of the previous September, with 833 French casualties to 1,124 British casualties. It was the last French victory of the French and Indian War.

Course of battle

After retreating from Quebec after the disaster of the Plains of Abraham on September 13, 1759, the French army regrouped in Montreal under General Lévis. Meanwhile the British army, left behind in Quebec after the fleet sailed at the end of October 1759, suffered from hunger, scurvy and the travails of living in a city largely destroyed by that same army during the Siege of Quebec.

In April 1760, Lévis returned to Quebec with an army of over seven thousand men, including Canadian militia and First Nations warriors. He hoped to besiege Quebec and force its surrender in the spring, when he expected a French fleet to arrive.

Murray felt that his army was too small to adequately defend the walls of Quebec, which had not been improved much since the British capture of the town. He therefore moved some 3,800 men into the field, all he could muster, along with over twenty cannon, to the same position that Montcalm had occupied on September 13, 1759. Rather than waiting for the French to advance, however, he took the gamble of going on the offensive. At first he had some success, but the advance masked his artillery, while the infantry became bogged down in the mud and melting snowdrifts of the late spring. The battle turned into a two-hour fight at close range; eventually, as more French soldiers joined the fray, the French turned the British flanks, forcing Murray to realize his mistake and to recall the British back to Quebec without their guns, which Lévis then turned on the city.

The Chevalier de Lévis rallies his army.

Casualties

The British army lost over eleven hundred, killed and wounded (three-quarters of the officers of the Fraser Highlanders were killed or wounded) and the French around eight hundred casualties, making the Battle of Sainte-Foy one of the bloodiest engagements ever fought on Canadian soil.

Aftermath

Lévis was, however, unable to retake Quebec. The British garrison withstood a feeble siege until the arrival of naval reinforcements in May. The French fleet never arrived, because France's naval hopes were smashed at Quiberon Bay the previous fall and the few supply ships sent from France were lost in the Bay of Chaleur in the Battle of Restigouche. When HMS Lowestoffe raised its flag as it neared Quebec, Lévis raised the siege and retreated to Montreal, where he surrendered in September to an overwhelming British force.

Notes

References

• Chartrand, Rene (2000). Canadian Military Heritage. Casemate Publishing. ISBN 2920718517. 

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