Battle of Sainte-Foy
Who Fought
History & Significance
The Battle of Sainte-Foy (French: Bataille de Sainte-Foy) sometimes called the Battle of Quebec (French: Bataille du Quebec), was fought on April 28, 1760, near the British-held town of Quebec in the French province of Canada during the Seven Years' War (called the French and Indian War in the United States). It was a victory for the French under the Chevalier de Lévis over the British army under General Murray. The battle was notably bloodier than the Battle of the Plains of Abraham of the previous September, with 833 French casualties to 1,124 British casualties.
At first the British had some success, but the advance masked their artillery, while the infantry became bogged down in the mud and melting snowdrifts of the late spring. The battle turned into a two-hour fight at close range; eventually, as more French soldiers joined the fray, the French turned the British flanks, forcing Murray to realize his mistake and to recall the British back to Quebec without their guns, which Lévis then turned on the city.
New France had suffered significant setbacks in the 1758 campaigns of the French and Indian War. Its fortress at Louisbourg was lost in a siege by British forces, and Fort Duquesne was abandoned to another advancing British army. The situation got worse in 1759 when Fort Carillon and Fort Niagara were taken by the British, and the key city of Quebec fell after a prolonged siege and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham of September 13, 1759. The French army regrouped in Montreal under General Chevalier de Lévis. Meanwhile, the British army, left behind in Quebec after the fleet sailed at the end of October 1759, suffered from hunger, scurvy and the difficulties of living in a city that they had largely destroyed in the siege.
In April 1760, Lévis returned to Quebec with an army of over 7,000 men, including Canadien militia. He hoped to besiege Quebec and force its surrender in the spring, when he expected a French fleet to arrive in his support
General James Murray, left in command at Quebec, believed that his army was too small to adequately defend the walls of Quebec, which had not been improved since the British capture of the town. He therefore moved some 3,800 men into the field, all he could muster, along with over twenty cannon, to the same position that Montcalm had occupied for the 1759 battle. Rather than wait for the French to advance, however, he took the gamble of going on the offensive.
Lévis commanded 6,910 soldiers, including 3,889 in eight regular battalions. Compagnies Franches de la Marine comprised two more battalions. The remainder of his army was made up of Canadien militia. Of this force, approximately 5,000 and only three cannons were present on the field of Sainte-Foy.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Sainte-Foy lies on Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation And South Wales Middle Coal Measures Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Moscovian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.
- * Colony of Canada: 193 killed; 640 wounded
- 259 killed; 829 wounded; 20 guns lost
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