The arrival of the news of this gallant exploit produced great sensation in England; the captured colours were presented to the King, and conducted by a splendid cavalcade from Kensington Palace to St. Paul's Cathedral. The meritorious conduct of the officers and soldiers of the expedition was rewarded with the approbation of their Sovereign and the thanks of Parliament. The FIFTEENTH were stationed at Louisburg during the remainder of the year. [Sidenote: 1759] From Louisburg the regiment sailed in the beginning of June, 1759, with the expedition against _Quebec_, under Major-General JAMES WOLFE; and was formed in brigade with the forty-third, forty-eighth, and seventy-eighth foot, under Brigadier-General Monckton. Towards the end of June, the army landed at Orleans,--a large, fertile, and well-cultivated island in the river St. Lawrence, below Quebec,--and commenced preparations for carrying on the object of the expedition. The French General, the Marquis of Montcalm, possessed a superiority of numbers over the invading force, and he had made excellent dispositions for the defence of the country: but the English Commander had complete reliance on the valour of his troops, whose confidence he possessed to an extraordinary degree. The FIFTEENTH foot, and three other regiments, were detached under Brigadier-General Monckton, against Point Levi, on the east shore of the river, from whence a body of the enemy was driven; at the same time a body of troops, under Colonel Carleton, took possession of the western point of the island of Orleans, and both these posts were fortified. Sixteen hundred of the enemy attempted to retake Point Levi, but were repulsed; and a mortar battery, constructed at that post, fired on Quebec, destroying the lower town, and damaging the upper town. Having finished the works on the island of Orleans, the army crossed the north channel of the river in boats, and landed below the splendid waterfalls of _Montmorenci_; and arrangements were made for attacking the enemy's position beyond the river Montmorenci, in which the FIFTEENTH regiment was ordered to co-operate. As the regiment was crossing the river in boats from Point Levi, the grenadiers effected a landing, and commenced the action prematurely, before their formation was completed and before the troops designed to sustain them had arrived; and they were repulsed. They reformed behind the corps from Point Levi, the FIFTEENTH and seventy-eighth; but the excess of ardour, without sufficient attention to discipline, occasioned the loss of five hundred officers and men, and the failure of the operation.[12]