Battle of Beauport The Battle of Beauport , also known as the Battle of Montmorency , fought on 31 July 1759 , was an important confrontation between the British and French Armed Forces during the Seven Years ' War ( also known as the French and Indian War and the War of Conquest ) of the French province of Canada . The attack conducted by the British against the French defense line of Beauport , some five kilometres ( 3 . 1 mi ) east of Quebec was checked , and the British soldiers of General James Wolfe retreated with 443 casualties and losses . Background . The French and Indian War campaigns of 1758 were successful for the British , who had sent more than 40 , 000 men against New France and made key gains by capturing Louisbourg and destroying Fort Frontenac , although their primary thrust was stopped by French general Louis - Joseph de Montcalm in the Battle of Carillon . William Pitt continued the aggressive policy in 1759 , again organizing large campaigns aimed at the heartland of New France , the Canadian communities of Quebec and Montreal on the St . Lawrence River . For the campaign against Quebec , General James Wolfe was given command of an army of about 7 , 000 men . Beauport . When he arrived before Quebec on 26 June , Wolfe observed that the northern shore of the St . Lawrence River around Beauport ( the Beauport shore ) , the most favourable site for the landing of troops , was strongly defended by the French , who had built entrenchments on high ground , redoubt s and floating batteries . Wolfe consequently had to devise a plan involving a landing on some other location of the shore . The search for the best site kept him busy for weeks . Montmorency camp . On the night of 8 or 9 July , British forces landed on the north shore , some 1 . 2 km ( 1 mi ) east of the Montmorency Falls , east of where the French west - east defence line ended , at the mouth of the Montmorency River . Wolfe landed first , leading the Louisbourg grenadiers , who were followed by the brigade commanded by George Townshend . The landing met no opposition from the French . James Murray , at the head of a part of his brigade , joined Wolfe and Townshend on 10 July . A camp was set up near the landing site . Wolfe ordered the construction of a battery to defend the camp , as well as rafts and floating batteries in anticipation of an attack on the French line . Plan of attack . After establishing the Montmorency camp , Wolfe explored various plans of attack , and chose his plan on 28 July . The first plan which Wolfe mentioned in his journal and the correspondence with his officers is that of 16 July . In a letter to Brigadier Robert Monckton , Wolfe wrote that he hoped to capture one of the French redoubts , the second one counting from the east end of the Beauport line , in order to force the enemy out of their entrenchments . The plan involved an attack by the Navy , an important landing force transported from Île d ' Orléans , as well as a body of troops crossing the river Montmorency on rafts and marching westward to the battle site . At the same time , the brigade commanded by Monckton was to land on the French right , between the Saint - Charles River and Beauport . This plan was put on hold on 20 July , when an event of great import to the British occurred : the Royal Navy succeeded , on the night of 18 – 19 July , in passing seven ships , including the ship of the line " HMS Sutherland " and two frigates ( " HMS Diana " and " HMS Squirrel " ) , through the narrow passage between Quebec and Pointe - Lévy , thus opening the possibility of a landing west of Quebec . Batteries firing at the British flotilla from the Lower Town of Quebec , as well as the floating batteries pursuing it , were unable to prevent the crossing . The " Sutherland ' s " log records that the French cannonballs flew too high to cause serious damage . On 19 July Wolfe was at the Pointe - Lévy camp to reconnoitre the north shore west of Quebec . He moved further west the next day , near the mouth of the Chaudière River , to study the opposite shore between Sillery and Cap Rouge . Wolfe wrote to Monckton with orders for a plan of attack involving a landing near the village of Saint - Michel , something he had already considered in June . However , at 13 : 00 , Wolfe countermanded his orders to Monckton , ordering him instead to wait a few days and remain ready to act quickly , because of some " particular circumstances " . It is possible that the circumstance he alluded to was a French counteroffensive in which a newly built battery at Samos ( near Sillery ) damaged the " Squirrel " . Wolfe returned to the Montmorency camp on 26 July . Escorted by two battalions , he walked up the Montmorency river to reconnoitre the French lines . At about five kilometres ( 3 . 1 mi ) from the river ' s mouth , he observed a ford allowing the easy crossing from the west shore to the east shore . This discovery was followed by a solid skirmish between British soldiers , attempting to cross , and French soldiers entrenched on the other side . The British reported 45 killed and wounded . On 28 July , Wolfe wrote of an attack on the Beauport line to be executed on 30 July . However , poor winds did not allow for naval movements that day and the operations were postponed to the next day . The plan of attack then contemplated by Wolfe was a variation of the plan he had described to Monckton in his letter of 16 July . Unlike the earlier plan , there was no mention of a parallel landing on the French right ( west of Beauport ) . Battle . Dangers of plan exposed . On the morning of 31 July the war vessel " Centurion " positioned itself by the Montmorency Falls to attack the easternmost French batteries . General Wolfe went on board the " Russell " , one of the two armed transports ( the other being the " Three Sisters " ) that were meant for the attack on the redoubt . Wolfe , who was then in the heat of the action , had a better chance to reconnoitre the French position than he could from Île d ' Orléans . He immediately realized his mistake : the redoubt he hoped to seize to force the French out of their entrenchments was within range of enemy fire . The French soldiers could then very well shoot toward the redoubt without leaving their entrenchments on high ground . This fact changed everything and Wolfe ' s plan of attack consequently proved riskier than expected . In spite of this , General Wolfe decided to proceed with the attack already underway . In his journal , he stated that it was " the confusion and disorder " he observed on the enemy ' s side which incited him to action . Townshend , who commanded at Montmorency , and Monckton who was doing the same at Pointe - Lévy , received the order to prepare for the attack . Difficult landing . At around 11 : 00 , the transport ships ( " Russell " and " Three Sisters " ) reached the north shore where the body of troops mobilized to take the redoubt landed . Toward 12 : 30 , the boats transporting the main landing force left the Île d ' Orléans to rendezvous with Wolfe . An unforeseen difficulty caused the landing planned a little to the west of the Montmorency Falls to be suspended : the boats met with a shoal preventing them from reaching the shore . A significant amount of time was lost trying to find a suitable site for landing , which finally occurred at around 17 : 30 . By that time , the sky was covered by storm clouds . Confrontation . The first troops advancing toward French lines were the thirteen companies of grenadiers and some 200 soldiers of the Royal Americans . Fire from the Montreal militia stalled their advance up the hill to the entrenchments above . Shortly after the firing began , a summer storm broke out , causing gunpowder to become wet and rendering firearms unusable . When General Wolfe ordered the retreat , the troops marching from the Montmorency camp had not yet met up with the main force transported from the Île d ' Orléans camp . Consequences . The French had a heroic victory that day . General Wolfe recorded 443 losses ( 210 killed and 233 wounded ) , while the French counted 60 killed and wounded on their side ; losses which were attributed to the fire coming from the great battery of the Montmorency camp . The day after the battle , Wolfe wrote Monckton that the losses incurred in the battle were not great and that the defeat was no cause of discouragement . While the news of the victory was celebrated in the French camp , General Montcalm remained lucid , writing to Bourlamaque that in his opinion this attack was only a prelude to a more important one , which they could do nothing but patiently wait for . The attack did eventually arrive , when on 13 September the British landed west of Quebec and defeated the French on the Plains of Abraham in a battle that claimed the lives of both Montcalm and Wolfe .