This is an excellent book about the Battle of the Plains of Abraham – the battle that basically won Quebec for the British.
Macleod’s descriptions of the Battle, in particular the Scots fighting, are particularly good. There’s this one old Scot who must have been descended from the Spartans because he keeps going and going while bits of him get blown off.
He is also even handed. His treatment of both Montcalm and Wolfe does not lionize either men. Montcalm does not come across as a put upon and out maneuvered Frenchman, but more of a general who is a situation that he does not wish to be in and with people he isn’t sure he can trust. Wolfe is not the romantic hero who has been lionized by British history. In some ways, both men got the fate they deserved.
The connection to the American Revolution could be a bit stronger, but the book does connect the battle to the coming revolt in the Colonies. What is particularly interesting is the amount of Americans who fought in Canada against the French. Much of the British army was actually from the colonies.
Macleod also includes lesser known stories about the battle – including issues with suppling the armies and what happened to a baker. He covers the English nurse who actually braved the battle to attend to the wounded. There are the nuns who tended the wounded and suffered during the bombing of the city.
Photos from the Plains (I took them last July)
