George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 4, 15th edition.

On the sixth of July, Montcalm called in all his parties, which amounted to no more than two thousand eight hundred French and four hundred and fifty Canadians. That day he employed the second battalion of Berry in strengthening his post. The next day, his whole army toiled incredibly; the officers giving the example, and planting the flags on the breastwork. In the evening, De Levi returned from an intended expedition against the Mohawks, bringing with him four hundred chosen men; and at night, all bivouacked along the intrenchment. On the morning of the eighth, the drums of the French beat to arms, that the troops, now thirty-six hundred and fifty in number, might know their stations, and then, without pausing to return the fire of musketry from English light troops on the declivities of the mountain, they resumed their work. The right of their defences rested on a hillock, from which the plain between the lines and the lake was to have been flanked by four pieces of cannon; but the battery could not be finished; the left extended to a scarp surmounted by an abattis. For a hundred yards in front of the intermediate breastwork, which consisted of piles of logs, the approach was obstructed by felled trees with their branches pointing outwards, stumps, and rubbish of all sorts.

The English army, obeying the orders of a commander who remained out of sight and far behind during the action, rushed forward with fixed bayonets to carry the lines, the regulars advancing through the openings between the provincial regiments, and taking the lead. Montcalm, who stood just within the