In 1759, a British expedition, led by James Wolfe, had sailed up the St Lawrence River and laid siege to Quebec.

He initially hoped to lead his force back to recapture Quebec directly, but it became clear that such an immediate attack was impossible, and he decided to postpone any attempt until the following year.

In spite of his decision not to attack, rumours continued to circulate around Quebec throughout the winter that a major French assault was imminent.

French patrols continued to operate and a position was even set up at Saint-Augustin close to Quebec until it was captured in a surprise attack by the British using snow shoes.

[2] Some of the British expedition who had captured Quebec the previous autumn departed shortly afterwards with the fleet, leaving Murray with around 7,000 troops to defend the city.

He hoped Lévis would attack him, but it also allowed Murray time to withdraw his outposts of light infantry, some of them at Cap Rouge, who would otherwise have been cut off.

That was something of a gamble, which Murray justified by observing "that our little Army was in the habit of beating that Enemy" and because he feared the ability of his forces to withstand a siege.

[2] Murray had 3,800 troops in the field, virtually every soldier in Quebec fit to carry a musket, and Lévis had a similar number of men to hand although further forces were on their way.

[12] Seeing that there was no chance of salvaging the situation, Murray retreated his remaining forces back into the city and prepared to hold out in the hope that relief would arrive up the Saint Lawrence for the defenders.

Lévis had similar hopes although he was realistic about the chances of any French relief as he brought up the rest of his forces and began to prepare to lay siege to the city.

[1] Murray meanwhile drew up plans, if the city were to fall to the French, to withdraw to the Île d'Orléans to the east and wait for reinforcements to arrive.

[15] Nevertheless, the French siege works were soon being bombarded with considerable accuracy, and by May 1, order, subordination, hope, and almost confidence were completely restored in Murray's army.

[15] Concerned that a hostile population would add to his problems, Murray had tried to exhibit kindness to the local inhabitants if they disarmed and swore allegiance to George II.

Murray had expelled a number of inhabitants from the city suspected of supplying intelligence to the French and of encouraging British troops to desert.

The French hoped that if they won a major victory in Germany and occupied the Electorate of Hanover, they could negotiate the return of Canada in exchange for it when peace was agreed.

[15] In an effort to show the Canadians they had not been completely abandoned, a small group of supply ships were sent carrying 400 troops, well short of the sort of reinforcement that Lévis required and only one frigate could be spared as an escort.

Even that limited relief was weakened when blockading British forces captured three of the transports shortly after they had sailed from Bordeaux in early April.

[12] When the British fleet had sailed the previous year, Admiral Saunders had detached several ships to Halifax in Nova Scotia with orders to return to Quebec as soon as the ice melted.

[1] Murray had learned from Lowestoffe's captain that Colville's ships were soon navigating down the Saint Lawrence, already made easy by James Cook's mapping the previous year.

[21] Two days later at noon, the French batteries finally opened against the walls of Québec, which was not built to bear the brunt of heavy shot.

[19] Since taking the city, the British had built new embrasures within the walls which would enable the gunners to direct heavy counter battery fire on the French.

[30][31] After its failure to proceed up the St Lawrence, the French relief convoy had taken shelter in the Restigouche River, where there were still Acadian inhabitants loyal to France.

James Murray led the third prong of 4,000 men advancing from Quebec down the St Lawrence River and approaching the Island of Montreal from the east.

[34] Faced with such overwhelming numbers, Governor Marquis de Vaudreuil ordered Lévis, who had wanted to fight, to lay down his arms.

Also, further French colonies, particularly in the valuable West Indies, were lost, and it was agreed in the negotiations ahead of the Treaty of Paris that France would permanently cede Canada to the British in exchange for the return of Guadeloupe and Martinique.

The attack failed and the arrival of British ships down the St Lawrence the following spring forced the Americans to abandon their attempt, in a situation very similar to the relief of 1760.