The Battle of Sainte-Foy

Quebec fell in 1759, but holding it through a Canadian winter nearly destroyed the British army that took it. Two hundred miles upriver, the French rebuilt and prepared to march down and take the capital back.

Rather than defend Quebec’s weak walls, Murray marched his sick garrison out to fight in the open, on the very ground where the city had been won. He pushed down into the snow, bogged his guns, and lost the bloodiest battle of the war.

Lévis had won the battle but had no siege train to take the city. The whole campaign came down to which navy reached the thawing river first. It was the wrong one, and a magnificent French last stand on the water could not change it.