Editing James Wolfe (section)

====Siege====
[[File:NSRW Siege of Quebec.png|right|thumb|upright=1.6|Map of the Quebec City area showing disposition of French and British forces. The [[Plains of Abraham]] are located to the left.]]
The British army laid [[siege]] to the city for three months. During that time, Wolfe issued a written document, known as [[Wolfe's Manifesto]], to the French-Canadian civilians, as part of his strategy of psychological intimidation. In March 1759, prior to arriving at Quebec, Wolfe had written to Amherst: "If, by accident in the river, by the enemy's resistance, by sickness, or slaughter in the army, or, from any other cause, we find that Quebec is not likely to fall into our hands (persevering however to the last moment), I propose to set the town on fire with shells, to destroy the harvest, houses and cattle, both above and below, to send off as many Canadians as possible to Europe and to leave famine and desolation behind me; {{lang|fr|belle résolution & très chrétienne}}; but we must teach these scoundrels to make war in a more gentleman like manner." This manifesto has widely been regarded as counter-productive as it drove many neutrally-inclined inhabitants to actively resist the British, swelling the size of the militia defending to Quebec to as many as 10,000.

[[File:Battle of the Plains of Abraham 2.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|First phase of the battle]]

After an extensive yet inconclusive bombardment of the city, Wolfe initiated a failed attack north of Quebec at Beauport, where the French were securely entrenched. As the weeks wore on the chances of British success lessened, and Wolfe grew despondent. Amherst's large force advancing on Montreal had made very slow progress, ruling out the prospect of Wolfe receiving any help from him.