Hello and welcome to a history of the United States.

Episode 116. Anus Mirabellis Part 3. On Tuesday,

September 18th, 1759, Quebec formally surrendered to the British. Now the British had to keep it.

They were in a very weak position and so offered generous terms to keep the city friendly. The garrison was granted honourable surrender, the first time the British had allowed this, since Fort William Henry, and no member of the citizenry would be exiled.

This was necessary.

The French were already reorganising, trying to take the city back, while the British now

had to deal with the supply problems the French had suffered with.

The circumstances were dire, which help explains why the senior figures left,

Moncton returning to New York and Townsend to England. Junior Brigadier James Morrie was named

Governor of Quebec. One month later, on October 18th, Commander-in-Chief Geoffrey Amherst received word

that Quebec had fallen. He had been at Crown Point preparing to attack Boulomark,

but he called off the expedition with winter approaching. The men were growing unhappy as conditions worsened and

supply was low. Desertion started across the northern frontier and Amherst felt he had no choice

in November but to send the men home. The provincial troops may have been unhappy but the rest

of British America was delighted with the news of Quebec falling.

And then there was the reaction back in Britain.

For this to fully make sense, let's catch up on the rest of the war in 1759.

We left King Frederick resaged in Dresden at the end of 1758.

It had not been a good year for him.

He had suffered a string of Pyrrhic victories that had left him with a large Russian army,

which was defeated, but not destroyed, hovering in the east, while the Austrians had trapped him in Saxony.

During the winter, Frederick managed to hold on to Dresden and tried to rebuild his forces, but then his worst nightmare happened.

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