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From Magic City Morning Star Kenneth Tellis
How many of us ever think why North America could have become French-speaking rather than English-speaking and the reasons why this did not happen? These men that saved the day were everyday Colonial Americans who had come to defend their King and Country at Quebec City on that fateful day, a day to truly remember our sometimes forgotten American brethren and how many of them died in order that this continent of North America would forever be English-speaking. On the dawn of September 13, 1759, British Redcoats had gone into the woods on the outskirts of Quebec City, little knowing that hiding in those woods were Métis (Canadien) and some Indian allies of the French. When the unsuspecting British Redcoats entered the woods they were set upon by the Métis and Indians, who were able to discern even them in the early morning light by the Red Coats worn by the British Army, it was a slaughter and quite a few of the Redcoats died in the skirmish. But as the British were being slaughtered by the Métis and Indians, detachments of Rogers Rangers’ and Hazen’s Rangers arrived and immediately told the Redcoats to reverse their jackets, which they did and the battle soon became a route for the Métis and Indians who were now on the receiving end. In the meantime soldiers of the Royal American Regiment also arrived and the now battle became a bloodbath for the Métis and the Indians, because the cry went out: "Take no prisoners, remember Fort William Henry!" Rogers Rangers’ were headquartered at Fort Edward, northern New York, and knew of the massacres of the survivors at Fort Ontario the year before and Fort William Henry by the Métis and the Indian allies of France on August 9, 1758. While the battle lines were drawn the Plains of Abraham, no one was aware that the Métis and Indian allies of Montcalm were no longer able to help him fight the British as he had expected, because they were no longer in the British rear and had either been slaughtered or fled the woods. Thus, by sheer accident the American Colonial force of Rogers Rangers, Hazen’s Rangers and the Royal American Regiment had unknowingly come to the rescue of British General James Wolfe and helped defeat the French, the Métis and their Indian allies at the Plains of Abraham on that eventful September morning in 1959. The defeat of Major-General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm by the British and Colonial American forces brought an end to the threat that France would dominate North America and that French language would be paramount in this our continent. Thus, it is at times like these that we should doff our hats to our American brethren who not only gave their very lives, but made it possible for the English-language to become sovereign on the soil of North America. The lives of these Colonial American had protected our heritage and forever more made both Canada and the United States English-speaking NATIONS, and that their sacrifice has in no small way protected our common heritage and culture. These brave men came from the colonial provinces of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York Pennsylvania, Virginia, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Georgia and if today the English language is spoken in North America remember who made that possible and the price the they paid for it. Kenneth T. Tellis © Copyright 2002-2008 by Magic City Morning Star |