Near the head of the rapids, a little below La Galette, stood Fort Levis, built the year before on an islet in mid-channel.  Amherst might have passed its batteries with slight loss, continuing his voyage without paying it the honor of a siege; and this was what the French commanders feared that he would do.  “We shall be fortunate,” Levis wrote to Bourlamaque, “if the enemy amuse themselves with capturing it.  My chief anxiety is lest Amherst should reach Montreal so soon that we may not have time to unite our forces to attack Haviland or Murray.”  If he had better known the English commander, Levis would have seen that he was not the man to leave a post of the enemy in his rear under any circumstances; and Amherst had also another reason for wishing to get the garrison into his hands, for he expected to find among them the pilots whom he needed to guide his boats down the rapids.  He therefore invested the fort, and, on the twenty-third, cannonaded it from his vessels, the mainland, and the neighboring islands.  It was commanded by Pouchot, the late commandant of Niagara, made prisoner in the last campaign, and since exchanged.  As the rocky islet had but little earth, the defences, though thick and strong, were chiefly of logs, which flew in splinters under the bombardment.  The French, however, made a brave resistance.  The firing lasted all day, was resumed in the morning, and continued two days more; when Pouchot, whose works were in ruins, surrendered himself and his garrison.  On this, Johnson’s Indians prepared to kill the prisoners; and, being compelled to desist, three fourths of them went home in a rage.[847]

[Footnote 847:  On the capture of Fort Levis, Amherst to Pitt, 26 Aug. 1760.  Amherst to Monckton, same date.  Pouchot, II. 264-282.  Knox, II. 405-413.  Mante, 303-306. All Canada in the Hands of the English (Boston, 1760). Journal of Colonel Nathaniel Woodhull.]

Now began the critical part of the expedition, the descent of the rapids.  The Galops, the Rapide Plat, the Long Saut, the Coteau du Lac were passed in succession, with little loss, till they reached the Cedars, the Buisson, and the Cascades, where the reckless surges dashed and bounded in the sun, beautiful and terrible as young tigers at play.  Boat after boat, borne on their foaming crests, rushed madly down the torrent.  Forty-six were totally wrecked, eighteen were damaged, and eighty-four men were drowned.[848] La Corne was watching the rapids with a considerable body of Canadians; and it is difficult to see why this bold and enterprising chief allowed the army to descend undisturbed through passes so dangerous.  At length the last rapid was left behind; and the flotilla, gliding in peace over the smooth breast of Lake St. Louis, landed at Isle Perrot, a few leagues from Montreal.  In the morning, September sixth, the troops embarked again, landed unopposed at La Chine, nine miles from the city, marched on without delay, and encamped before its walls.