James Wolfe

British military leader

• Born: January 2, 1727
• Birthplace: Westerham, Kent, England
• Died: September 13, 1759
• Place of death: Quebec City, Quebec, New France (now in Canada)

Using a daring maneuver, Wolfe was largely responsible for the defeat of the French at Quebec in 1759, preparing the way for the subsequent French loss of Canada to‘ the British in the Seven Years’ War.

Early Life

James Wolfe’s mother, the former Henrietta Thompson, was the daughter of a Yorkshire squire; his father, Edward, was a third-generation soldier of Welsh-Irish stock. Edward reached the rank of colonel in the marines and had fought with the duke of Marlborough as a brigade major in Flanders during the War of the Spanish Succession. His sons were educated by private tutors in Westerham and in Greenwich, where the family moved in 1739.

For as long as he could remember, young Wolfe wanted to please his father and follow in his footsteps as a soldier. At the age of thirteen, he accompanied his father as a volunteer to the Isle of Wight to prepare for a military expedition against the Spanish colonies in the New World during the Anglo-Spanish conflict known as the War of Jenkins’s Ear. Because of ill health, Wolfe was sent back home. Within the next two years, however, he received a commission as a second lieutenant in his father’s regiment of marines. It is doubtful that he ever served in his father’s regiment, since he was shortly thereafter transferred to another regiment, the Twelfth Foot. In 1742, during the War of the Austrian Succession, Wolfe’s regiment was sent to Flanders, where, at the Battle of Dettingen, he first distinguished himself. He fought near the duke of Cumberland at the beginning of the battle, and the duke was greatly impressed with young Wolfe’s actions while under fire. Undoubtedly as a result of this association with the duke, in the next year George II appointed the sixteen-year-old Wolfe adjutant of his regiment and within a few days promoted him to the rank of lieutenant.

In 1745, Wolfe continued his successful career at the Battle of Culloden in Scotland, where the army of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, was defeated, thus ending the Jacobite hopes. Prince Charles, Bonnie Prince Charlie, was the grandson of James II and the last Stuart pretender to the English throne. Wolfe soon became commander of his new regiment, the Twentieth Foot, and settled down to garrison duty in Scotland. With Great Britain at peace and time on his hands, he determined to complete his education, studying subjects such as Latin and mathematics. Unhappy with the inactivity of peacetime, Wolfe nevertheless devoted himself to making his regiment one of the best drilled and best disciplined in the British army. Those qualities that made him a great leader were also being molded during these years: a strong sense of duty and purpose, an admirable physical and moral courage, and an ability to inspire confidence and devotion in his followers.

On the basis of physical appearance, Wolfe would never be judged to be a courageous and heroic military leader. He was tall and painfully thin, with a very awkward gait. His chin was woefully weak. He seldom wore the wigs which were in fashion, preferring to expose his bright red hair. As if these “maladies” were not enough, Wolfe suffered all of his life from rheumatism, and he eventually contracted tuberculosis. In addition to his somewhat unattractive appearance, Wolfe also lacked the social graces necessary for the model of the military officer to which he aspired, and he worked as diligently to remedy this weakness as he had to improve his military skills. Indeed, despite physical and personal shortcomings, he possessed admirable energy, strong spirit, and fierce determination, all of which helped him succeed in his chosen profession.

A devoted son, Wolfe faithfully wrote letters to his mother and even decided not to marry his one and only reputed love, Elizabeth Lawson, because of his parents’ disapproval. Perhaps this was only a halfhearted romance, since Wolfe had a reputation of being uncomfortable around women and appeared to be indifferent to their company.

Life’s Work

Events in the 1750’s in North America were to change Wolfe’s life and provide the opportunity for his greatest feat: Victory over the French in Quebec in 1759. Although he was very young and had never commanded an army, Wolfe had proven himself in battle, displaying great physical courage. He had also developed leadership skills through hard work and a single-minded devotion to duty. All he needed was a chance to display these skills, and the conflict with France in 1754 would give him his opportunity.

Desiring to expand their empire in Canada and link it with Louisiana, the French began to move into the Ohio Valley, where they clashed in 1754 with British colonists who also claimed these lands. Shots were fired, and the French and Indian War ensued between Great Britain and France, though war was not officially declared until 1756. In that year, the war expanded into Europe and beyond, where it became known as the Seven Years’ War. The conflict was a struggle for North America and a continuation of the rivalry between these two powerful nations, as they vied for needed raw materials and world markets.

In 1757, the British decided to strike at the French at Rochefort. Wolfe was appointed quartermaster general in the expedition, which was commanded by General John Mordaunt, Elizabeth Lawson’s uncle. The spirits of the thirty-year-old Wolfe were lifted as he busily prepared for the expedition. Unfortunately for the British, the expedition was a dismal failure, but the venture proved helpful to Wolfe’s career, as he was one of the two officers not criticized at the inquiry held following the expedition.

Following the Rochefort failure, Wolfe offered his services in North America to the ablest and most powerful minister in George II’s government, William Pitt the Elder. Pitt had decided to strike at the French Empire in North America by mounting a major expedition against Louisbourg, the French stronghold guarding the sea approach to Canada. Pitt ignored military custom and seniority in choosing leadership of this campaign; passing over more senior officers, he chose the younger and less experienced Jeffrey Amherst, a forty-year-old colonel, to command the expedition. Amherst was made a general, and Wolfe was appointed one of his three brigadiers.

Amherst selected Wolfe to carry out the main landing at a point about four miles west of Louisbourg, while another brigade landed farther west. Wolfe’s landing on June 8, 1758, was successful, and the French, threatened from both flanks, fled. Louisbourg was taken from the French, thus cutting the colony off from France and the main supply route.

Poor health forced Wolfe to return to Great Britain in October, although he expressed to Pitt his willingness to return to America. Pitt had been informed of Wolfe’s significant role in the capture of Louisbourg and selected the young soldier to command the expedition that was being planned against Quebec, the French stronghold on the St. Lawrence River. Pitt’s decision met with criticism from members of the government, undoubtedly as a result of Wolfe’s unorthodox military style and appearance, his youth and inexperience, and his somewhat brazen tendency to criticize his fellow officers and even his superiors. Perhaps, also, the talented and aggressive Wolfe was thought to be too ambitious.

Nevertheless, at the age of thirty-two, Wolfe was given the greatest challenge of his life. In June, 1759, Wolfe sailed with fewer than nine thousand men to oppose some sixteen thousand French soldiers at Quebec. More significant was that Quebec was seemingly impregnable; all approaches to the city were blocked. The powerful French guns would negate any approach by river; two smaller rivers barred the land approach from the east, and the western approach, above Quebec, was guarded by steep cliffs that led to the Plains of Abraham. Wolfe’s only hope was to lure the French into the open. To do this, he divided his forces and feinted attacks at different points on the river, which the wily French commander, Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, ignored as the weeks passed. Wolfe became ill and discouraged at his lack of success, but he never openly displayed his feelings.

The main British fleet under the command of Admiral Charles Saunders had won control of the St. Lawrence. Daily, the British ships sailed the river as Wolfe desperately sought a way to capture Quebec before the coming winter stopped operations. While observing the cliffs above Quebec one day, he noticed a path winding up the steep cliffs nearly a mile and a half above Quebec. He further noticed that the path was guarded by only a small picket at the top of the cliffs, since the French believed the cliff to be virtually inaccessible. Wolfe had found his solution.

On September 12, from his cabin on the Sutherland, Wolfe ordered the attack on Quebec. He ordered a squadron to sail upriver as if en route to Montreal. At sunset, Saunders and the main fleet simulated a landing at a point below Quebec and bombarded the banks there. This action convinced Montcalm to concentrate his troops below the city, miles away from the actual point of attack. Later that evening, under the cover of darkness, Wolfe led his men upriver. Ironically, before landing, Wolfe recited Thomas Gray’s Elegy in a Country Churchyard to a young sailor, with its fateful line, “The paths of glory lead but to the grave.” The troops quietly landed at what is now called Wolfe’s Cove, where they successfully made their way up the cliffs and overpowered the few French pickets at the top. Reinforcements joined the initial group, and eventually several thousand British troops gathered on the Plains of Abraham just west of Quebec on September 13, 1759. The surprised Montcalm accepted the challenge and concentrated his troops against the British. Wolfe’s men formed a single line and were ordered to hold their fire until the French were only forty yards away. Against the superior British musketry, the French were routed after two volleys. Wolfe, while personally leading a handpicked force of grenadiers, was shot twice. He died after ordering that the enemies’ retreat be stopped. Montcalm also was mortally wounded, dying the next day. Quebec surrendered on September 18. This brief battle paved the way for the collapse of the French control of Canada in September, 1760.

Significance

James Wolfe’s great victory and heroic death at Quebec won for him everlasting fame in the minds and hearts of the British. Every student has read of this battle in which Wolfe, upon being told of the outcome, uttered these famous words: “Now God be praised, I die happy.” There was, however, controversy surrounding his campaign at Quebec. Several of his brigadiers criticized him at the time for not attacking earlier and farther upriver, thereby shortening the war. Some historians contend that Quebec was not as impregnable as it was reputed to be and that the French could have recaptured the city with more effort, while others believe that Admiral Saunders should be given more credit, or that luck had much to do with the outcome. Chance indeed played a role at Quebec and in Wolfe’s career. Nevertheless, he displayed great daring and personal courage at Quebec and overcame overwhelming odds, as he had always overcome physical and personal obstacles in his life.

In this single campaign, Wolfe played an important part in Great Britain’s rise to a position of supreme political and economic power in the eighteenth century. His complete self-confidence, dogged determination, and strong competitive nature reflected those values and traits of character that were to make Great Britain a mighty empire that lasted for nearly two centuries. It is little wonder that Wolfe captured the imagination of the British people with his daring and courage.

Wolfe also altered the course of American history with this victory. With the fall of Quebec, the French were removed as a threat against the American colonies, thereby causing the colonists to resist taxes placed upon them by the British government to pay for British soldiers to defend them. To the Americans, the French had been their only enemy, and such a costly defense was no longer needed. Thus Wolfe has been credited with unwittingly laying the groundwork for the American Revolution, which ironically dismantled a part of the empire he had helped to protect.

Bibliography

Hibbert, Christopher. Wolfe at Quebec. New York: World, 1959. A scholarly and well-balanced work that discusses Wolfe objectively, exposing his flaws as well as his strengths. Contains an impressive and useful bibliography. Relies heavily upon primary sources.

Leach, Douglas E. Arms for Empire: A Military History of the British Colonies in North America, 1607-1763. New York: Macmillan, 1973. A scholarly account of warfare in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. An extensive bibliography is included as well as a helpful glossary of military and naval terms.

Liddell Hart, B. H. “The Battle That Won an Empire.” American Heritage 11 (December, 1959): 24-31, 105-108. An excellent, detailed military account of Wolfe at Quebec by an eminent military historian. The article was written in commemoration of the bicentennial of the 1759 victory at Quebec.

McLynn, Frank. 1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2004. Focuses on the fourth year of the Seven Years’ War, describing how Great Britain emerged triumphant against France. Includes an account of Wolfe’s campaigns, and also cites his military blunders.

McNairn, Alan. Behold the Hero: General Wolfe and the Arts in the Eighteenth Century. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1997. After his military victory and death in 1759, Wolfe, celebrated a hero, was represented in everything from mass-produced ceramics and popular songs to painting and literature. McNairn analyzes these representations and describes how Wolfe became the embodiment of British patriotism and the superiority of the English way of life.

Parkman, Francis. Montcalm and Wolfe. 2 vols. Boston: Little, Brown, 1903. A classic, though dated, account of Wolfe and Montcalm at Quebec. A very dramatic rendering of the struggle between Great Britain and France for dominion in North America. Argues that the victory was inevitable because Great Britain was a freer and more enlightened nation.

Peckham, Howard H. The Colonial Wars, 1689-1762. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964. Brings the various wars together in a coherent and interesting narrative. Includes a helpful annotated bibliography of suggested readings.

Reid, Stuart. Wolfe: The Career of General James Wolfe from Culloden to Quebec. Staplehurst, England: Spellmount, 2002. A biography of Wolfe, focusing on his military career. Reid traces Wolfe’s career from the Battle of Culloden to his celebrated, and fatal, victory at Quebec.

Reilly, David Robin. The Rest to Fortune: The Life of Major-General James Wolfe. London: Cassell, 1960. A scholarly work that deals with the conflicting evidence and unsettled questions surrounding Wolfe and his place in history. Discounts the criticisms of Wolfe and concludes that his leadership qualities, along with opportunity, led to his exalted place in history.

Whitton, Frederick Ernest. Wolfe and North America. Boston: Little, Brown, 1929. Reprint. New York: Kennikat Press, 1971. A sympathetic account that examines Wolfe against the backdrop of the wars in Europe and North America. No footnotes or bibliography.