05/20/2026
Brenda and I hike Mt. Madison on Saturday and on the way down from the summit we met a guy going up and we stopped to chat. Turns out he was from Quebec City. Of course I had to tell him we were from Wolfeboro which of course was named for British general James Wolfe. His response was a gruff hrmmmf. Anyway, we had a nice chat then he went up to the summit and we continued on down. He knew about General Wolfe and many of you know about Wolfe and Quebec City, but for those that don’t here is an explanation of my obnoxiously pointing out our town was named for the general and his response. The short answer is Wolfe was of course the British commander who defeated the French in 1759 up in Quebec during the French and Indian War. What follows is the longer answer.
In 1754, George Washington started a world war that would culminate with the French being expelled from North America and the British gaining lots of Native American real estate. In 1759, the key to British success was deemed to be the capture of the St. Lawrence River. In those days the best way to travel was by water, and the St. Lawrence was a great highway. The problem for the British was the extremely strong French position at Quebec. After several months of bombarding the city and trashing the surrounding countryside on the night of 12 September 1759, the British finally were able to land troops just west of Quebec. This was something the French did not expect due to the high bluffs that limited where the British could attack the city. The resulting battle the next day, known as the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, was a resounding victory for the British, but General Wolfe paid for the victory with his life. His French counterpart, General Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm, also died as a result of the battle.
To honor the general whose victory would give control of most of the St. Lawrence to the British, the Portsmouth proprietors who were planning a new town decided to name the town Wolfeborough. Little did they know that the battle would end up having even more of an impact on world history. Without Wolfe’s victory, the French and Indian War might not have been a British victory and there would have been no Declaration of Independence in 1776.
The French and Indian War (in Europe the Seven Years War) led to the American Revolution for two reasons. The first being the French threat was gone so the colonists no longer needed the protection of the British military. The second was that the war, like all wars, was very expensive. The British treasury was empty so Parliament wanted the colonists to help replenish it, and that meant taxes. Starting with the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act a year later, colonists found themselves being taxed more than they had been. Even worse, these new laws were actually being enforced. The colonists had grown accustomed to doing what they wanted for 150 years and now Parliament wanted to enforce the laws to generate revenue. This of course led to cries of “no taxation without representation”, boycotts of goods coming from Britain, various protests, both peaceful and violent, and finally, fighting at Lexington and Concord in 1775. Independence was declared a little over a year later. This is why General Wolfe and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham were such a big deal.
This has been a very brief look at the General and the Plains of Abraham. For more in depth reading may I suggest the book Northern Armageddon: The Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the Making of the American Revolution by C. Peter MacLeod. It is a very readable book with British, French and colonial perspectives as well as the use of primary sources of the not so famous as well as the big names.
I will leave you with one last story from the book. Luck sometimes is the key to military success and the British sure had some luck on the night of 12 September when they crossed the St. Lawrence to attack Quebec. French forces were planning on resupplying Quebec from Montreal using boats to slip by the British on the night of the twelfth. French units along the northern bank of the river were told of the plan so they expected boats to pass by in the darkness. Trouble was the resupply mission was called off, but French forces along the river were not told of the change in plans. Due to the capture of some French soldiers the British knew of the original resupply plans. When the British boats were challenged by French soldiers on shore, a French speaking British soldier answered saying they were bringing in supplies. It worked. The British forces landed unmolested and won a great victory in the morning.
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to cheer for the general,
Mark
sources
MacLeod, D. Peter, Northern Armageddon: The Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the Making of the American Revolution, New York, Vintage Books, 2008/2015.
