Brigadier James Wolfe
Brigadier James Wolfe
Among Louisbourg's English invaders was a thirty-one-year-old brigadier named James Wolfe.
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| James Wolfe was a frail, brave soldier who was obsessed with glory. (As portrayed by Robert Joy in Canada: A People's History) |
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He was frail, brave and obsessed with glory, and was beginning to gain a reputation as a daring gambler.
"All notions of peace are now at an end..." he wrote to his mother, days before war was declared. "We must, however, hope that fortune will favour us, since we do our best to deserve her smiles...your obedient and affectionate son, James Wolfe."
Wolfe was determined to avenge the French general the Marquis de Montcalm's North American victories, even willing to take heavy casualties. On the rocky shores of Île Royale where Louisbourg sat, Wolfe gained the first risky landing. At Cormorant Cove, a place so dangerous and rocky that the French didn't see any need to defend it, Wolfe got his first taste of glory and a reputation for recklessness that would grow.
"One boat in which were twenty grenadiers and an officer was stove and every one drowned.
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| Wolfe got the first British troops ashore at Louisbourg with a reckless assault at Cormorant Cove. (As portrayed in Canada: A People's History) |
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The difficulty of landing at this place was such that they thought the devil himself would not have attempted it," said one British soldier of the landing.
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