In September of 1759, two armies faced each other on a plateau outside Quebec City, on land that belonged to a farmer named Abraham Martin. History remembers it as the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
James Wolfe, the young British general already dying of illness, gambled everything on a nighttime landing and a climb up a cliff the French thought was impassable. By dawn, four thousand redcoats stood ready. Montcalm, the French commander, chose to attack immediately rather than wait for reinforcements.
The French fired too soon. The British waited, then unleashed a crushing volley at close range. Within minutes the French line collapsed. Wolfe was shot three times and died hearing of his victory. Montcalm was mortally wounded and died the next day.
The battle lasted less than an hour, but it ended French Canada, gave Britain control of the St. Lawrence, and set the colonies on the road toward revolution.
