[Illustration:  BRADDOCK’S CAMPAIGN.]

[Sidenote:  Braddock’s expedition, 1755. Higginson, 152-154; Eggleston, 129-131; Source-book, 103-105.]

99.  Braddock’s Defeat, 1755.—­The English government now sent General Braddock with a small army of regular soldiers to Virginia.  Slowly and painfully Braddock marched westward.  Learning of his approach, the French and Indians left Fort Duquesne to draw him into ambush.  But the two forces came together before either party was prepared for battle.  For some time the contest was even, then the regulars broke and fled.  Braddock was fatally wounded.  With great skill, Washington saved the survivors,—­but not until four shots had pierced his coat and only thirty of his three companies of Virginians were left alive.

[Sidenote:  The French and Indian War.]

[Sidenote:  William Pitt, war minister, 1757.]

100.  The War to 1759.—­All the earlier French and Indian wars had begun in Europe and had spread to America.  This war began in America and soon spread to Europe.  At first affairs went very ill.  But in 1757 William Pitt became the British war minister, and the war began to be waged with vigor and success.  The old generals were called home, and new men placed in command.  In 1758 Amherst and Wolfe captured Louisburg, and Forbes, greatly aided by Washington, seized Fort Duquesne.  Bradstreet captured Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario.  There was only one bad failure, that of Abercrombie at Ticonderoga.  But the next year Amherst captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point and opened the way to Canada by Lake Champlain.

[Illustration:  WOLFE’S RAVINE.  This shows the gradual ascent of the path from the river to the top of the bluff.]

[Sidenote:  Capture of Quebec, 1759. Higginson, 154-156; Eggleston, 137-139; Source-Book, 105-107.]

[Sidenote:  Battle of Quebec.]

101.  Capture of Quebec, 1759.—­Of all the younger generals James Wolfe was foremost.  To him was given the task of capturing Quebec.  Seated on a high bluff, Quebec could not be captured from the river.  The only way to approach it was to gain the Plains of Abraham in its rear and besiege it on the land side.  Again and again Wolfe sent his men to storm the bluffs below the town.  Every time they failed.  Wolfe felt that he must give up the task, when he was told that a path led from the river to the top of the bluff above the town.  Putting his men into boats, they gained the path in the darkness of night.  There was a guard at the top of the bluff, but the officer in command was a coward and ran away.  In the morning the British army was drawn up on the Plains of Abraham.  The French now attacked the British, and a fierce battle took place.  The result was doubtful when Wolfe led a charge at the head of the Louisburg Grenadiers.  He was killed, but the French were beaten.  Five days later Quebec surrendered.  Montreal was captured in 1760, and in 1763 the war came to an end.