oyal officers in the
field. They raised at Pitt's call twenty thousand men, and taxed
themselves heavily for their support. Three expeditions were
simultaneously directed against the French line--one to the Ohio valley,
one against Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, while a third under General
Amherst and Admiral Boscawen sailed to the mouth of the St. Lawrence.
The last was brilliantly successful. Louisburg, though defended by a
garrison of five thousand men, was taken with the fleet in its harbour,
and the whole province of Cape Breton reduced. The American militia
supported the British troops in a vigorous campaign against the forts;
and though Montcalm, with a far inferior force, was able to repulse
General Abercromby from Ticonderoga, a force from Philadelphia and
Virginia, guided and inspired by the courage of George Washington, made
itself master of Duquesne. The name of Pittsburg which was given to
their new conquest still commemorates the enthusiasm of the colonists
for the great Minister who first opened to them the West. The failure at
Ticonderoga only spurred Pitt to greater efforts. The colonists again
responded to his call with fresh supplies of troops, and Montcalm felt
that all was over. The disproportion indeed of strength was enormous. Of
regular French troops and Canadians alike he could muster only ten
thousand, while his enemies numbered fifty thousand men. The next year
(1759) saw Montcalm's previous victory rendered fruitless by the
evacuation of Ticonderoga before the advance of Amherst, and by the
capture of Fort Niagara after the defeat of an Indian force which
marched to its relief. The capture of the three forts was the close of
the French effort to bar the advance of the colonists to the valley of
the Mississippi, and to place in other than English hands the destinies
of North America.

[Sidenote: Conquest of Canada.]

But Pitt had resolved not merely to foil the designs of Montcalm, but to
destroy the French rule in America altogether; and while Amherst was
breaking through the line of forts, an expedition under General Wolfe
entered the St. Lawrence and anchored below Quebec. Wolfe was already a
veteran soldier, for he had fought at Dettingen, Fontenoy, and Laffeldt,
and had played the first part in the capture of Louisburg. Pitt had
discerned the genius and heroism which lay hidden beneath the awkward
manner and occasional gasconade of the young soldier of thirty-three
whom he chose for the