Montcalm, Marquis de, << mont KAHM or mawn KAHLM, mahr KEE duh >> (1712-1759), a French general, was killed in one of the last great battles between the French and British in America. Montcalm was wounded on the Plains of Abraham in the battle for the city of Quebec. He died in the city the next day. The British commander, General James Wolfe, also died in the action.
Montcalm defeated the British in the first part of the French and Indian War (1754-1763). He captured Oswego and Fort William Henry on Lake George, and successfully defended Ticonderoga. But lack of support from the French government handicapped him.
As the war progressed, Montcalm realized that a decisive battle would be fought between the French and British at Quebec. He gathered his main forces to defend the city, and threw back the first British attacks. But Wolfe appeared with his whole force on the Plains of Abraham on Sept. 13, 1759. Montcalm led the French attack, but his troops broke under the heavy fire of the British. The American historian Francis Parkman described Montcalm’s death in the dramatic climax of his book Montcalm and Wolfe (1884).
Louis Joseph de Montcalm-Gorzon was born on Feb. 28, 1712, in France, near Nimes. He joined the French army at the age of 12, and became a captain at 17. By 1756, he had become commander of the French troops in America. Montcalm died on Sept. 14, 1759.
See also French and Indian wars (The French and Indian War) ; Quebec, Battle of ; Wolfe, James .
