Canada, and
Quebec in particular, owe much of their current state to Louis-Joseph
Marquis de
Montcalm. Montcalm was the general in charge of the
French army in
New France. His loss to the British on the
Plains of Abraham resulted in the British conquest of New France, which has evolved into
Quebec.
Montcalm was born in Candiac, France in 1712. He joined the army at age 9, and by 1756, at the age of 44, he was the top military officer in North America. In 1758, he became lieutenant-general, the second highest rank in the French army.
He commanded the French in the Seven Years' War between France and Britain. Both he and General James Wolfe, the British commander, were fatally wounded in the final battle on the Plains of Abraham where the British ultimately prevailed. When informed he was dying, Montcalm supposedly replied, "So much the better. I shall not live to see the English masters of Quebec."