General Murray was next sent with twelve hundred men, above the town, to destroy the French ships and open communication with General Amherst. They learned that Niagara had surrendered and that Ticonderoga and Crown Point had been abandoned. But General Wolfe looked in vain for General Amherst. The commander-in-chief, opposed by no more than three thousand men, was loitering at Crown Point; nor was even a messenger received from him. The heroic Wolfe was left to struggle alone against odds and difficulties which every hour made more appalling. Everyone able to bear arms was in the field fighting for their homes, their language, and their religion. Old men of seventy and boys of fifteen fired at the English detachments from the edges of the woods. The feeble frame of General Wolfe, disabled by fever, began to sink under the fearful strain. He laid before his chief officers three desperate methods of attacking Montcalm, all of which they opposed, but proposed to convey five thousand men above the town, and thus draw Montcalm from his intrenchments. General Wolfe acquiesced and prepared to carry it into effect. On the 5th and 6th of September he marched the army from Point Levi, and embarked in transports, resolving to land at the point that ever since has borne his name, and take the enemy by surprise. Every officer knew his appointed duty, when at one o'clock on the morning of the 13th, about half the army glided down with the tide. When the cove was reached, General Wolfe and the troops with him leaped ashore, and clambered up the steep hill, holding by the roots and boughs of the maple, spruce and ash trees, that covered the declivity, and with but little difficulty dispersed the picket which guarded the height. At daybreak General Wolfe, with his battalions, stood on the plains of Abraham. When the news was carried to Montcalm, he said, "They have at last got to the weak side of this miserable garrison; we must give battle, and crush them before mid-day." Before ten o'clock the two opposing armies were ranged in each other's presence. The English, five thousand strong, were all regulars, perfect in discipline, terrible in their fearless enthusiasm, and commanded by a man whom they obeyed with confidence and admiration. Montcalm had but five weak battalions of two thousand men, mingled with disorderly peasantry. The French with three and the English with two small pieces of artillery cannonaded each other for nearly an hour.