ew days afterwards, in the beginning of August, General Amherst
obtained possession of the fort at Crown Point, it having also been
abandoned by the French. About the middle of the month General Amherst
received information at Crown Point that General Bourlamarque was
encamped at Isle aux Noix with 3,500 men and 100 cannon, and that the
French had four vessels on the lake under the command of the captain of
a man-of-war. He therefore judged it necessary to build a brigantine, a
radeau, and a sloop of 16 guns. Such a fleet could not be got ready
before the beginning of October; on the 11th of which month General
Amherst embarked in batteaux, under the convoy of armed vessels, and
proceeded down the lake; but encountering cold and stormy weather and
contrary winds, he resolved, on the 19th, to return to Crown Point and
go into winter quarters. No communications could be opened between the
armies of Amherst and Wolfe; but the withdrawal of a great part of the
French force from Quebec, to watch and counteract the movements of
General Amherst, doubtless contributed to General Wolfe's success. The
fleet under Sir Charles Saunders, and the army of five thousand men
under General Wolfe, arrived before Quebec the latter part of June, and
from that time to the 13th of September a series of daring but
unsuccessful attempts were made to get possession of the city. How
unyielding perseverance and heroic courage, against apparently
insurmountable obstacles, effected the capture of that Gibraltar of
America, with the fall of the leaders of both armies in the bloody
struggle, has often been vividly described and variously illustrated,
which I need not here repeat.

The British and colonial arms were completely successful this year.[246]
Bradstreet destroyed Fort Frontenac; Sir William Johnson captured
Niagara; Forbes, aided by Washington, retook Fort du Quesne, and named
it Pittsburg; Lord Amherst took possession of Ticonderaga and Crown
Point; and Wolfe became the conqueror of Quebec. In each of these
expeditions the provincial troops rendered essential service. The
several provinces were prompted to put forth their utmost efforts from
their impending perils by the successive victories of the French and
Indians the previous year, and encouraged by the appeal of the Prime
Minister, Pitt, who assured them of the strong forces by sea and land
from England, and that they would be compensated for the expense they
might incur.

The heart