On The
Opposite Side Of The River, At Hare Point, The Reader Will Notice On The
Plate, A Cross, Intended
To represent the one erected by Cartier's party
on the 3rd May, 1536, in honour of the festival of the
Holy Cross; at the
foot a number of Indians and some French in the old costume of the time of
Francis I. So much for Jacques Cartier and his winter quarters, in 1535-
36.
Two hundred and twenty-three years after this date we find this locality
again the arena of memorable events. In the disorderly retreat of the
French army on the 13th of September, 1759, from the heights of Abraham,
the panic-stricken squadrons came pouring down Cote d'Abraham and Cote a
Cotton, hotly pursued by the Highlanders and the 58th Regiment, hurrying
towards the bridge of boats and following the shores of the River St.
Charles until the fire of the hulks anchored in the river stopped the
pursuit. On the north side of the bridge of boats was a tete de
pont, redoubt or hornwork, a strong work of pentagonal shape, well
portrayed in Tiffeny's plan of the Siege Operations before Quebec. This
hornwork was-partly wood, defended by palisades, and towards Beauport, an
earthwork - covering about twelve acres, the remains (the round or ring
field), standing more than fifteen feet above the ground, may be seen to
this day surrounded by a ditch, three thousand [289] men at least must
have been required to construct, in a few weeks, this extensive
entrenchment.
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