The Forgotten Ones
Here is some historical information to complement your experience and to explain some of the liberties we have taken to help connect our riddles to history.
General Background
The Siege of Québec refers to a period between May 1759 and 1760 during which the French and the English fought for control of Québec City. After many skirmishes and three battles, the British finally triumphed with the support of reinforcements from England in May 1760. The Museum of the Plains of Abraham is dedicated mainly to this period of Canadian history.
The siege was a decisive event in the War of the Conquest (1754-1760), the name used in Quebec for the North American theatre of the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in February 1763. During the treaty signing, the monarchs of Europe confirmed that Québec would henceforth be a British city.
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, fought on September 13, 1759, was the second battle of the Siege of Québec (following the Battle of Montmorency on July 31, 1759). It has captured the public’s imagination, since it lasted for only 30 minutes. The two generals in command of the troops, Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and James Wolfe, both died of injuries sustained in battle. The third and final battle of the siege was the Battle of Sainte-Foy (April 28, 1760).
The plaques you saw during the game give you a general idea of where part of the regiments fought in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on September 13, 1759. But that’s only half the story; the two armies extended over the whole cape, forming up in lines almost a kilometre long. Only the right flank of the French army and the left flank of the British army actually stood on the Plains of Abraham.
In 1759, the battlefield stretched to the north all the way to where René-Lévesque Boulevard runs now, and follows the route of present-day Salaberry Street in Upper Town. The battle of 1760 roughly follows Des Braves Avenue.
The main characters
George Garneau actually was the first Chair of the National Battlefields Commission.Garneau held the post from its founding in 1908 to 1939. The creation of the NBC coincides with Québec City’s 300th anniversary. Garneau was also Mayor of Québec during this time, and held the post from 1906 to 1910.
As far as we know, Garneau never conducted a secret investigation into his family or their role in the events of the Siege of Québec, even though the NBC’s mission was to protect and promote the battlefields of 1759 and 1760.
François Daine was born in 1695 in Saint-Rémi de Charlesville, in France. He became the Lieutenant General for Civil and Criminal Affairs of the Provost Court of Quebec. He participated in the attack at Pointe-Lévy on July 12th, and served as the head of Justice during the Siege of Québec. In this role, he was tasked with ensuring justice was respected and with supervising the punishments for criminals in the besieged city of Québec in 1759. He never launched an investigation like the one you uncovered.
Daine was never in charge of surveying the population of Québec after the fighting. Under French rule, the census was under the jurisdiction of the intendant, who asked for help from the seigneurs. The first British census was conducted by Governor Murray in 1765, probably with the help of the parish priests.
The Riddles
Riddle 1
THE FORGOTTEN ONE:
Louis Restaurant (sometimes Restoineau) de Fontbonne was buried on the day of the battle. His grave is probably directly on the battlefield with the other soldiers who died in battle. That means that he was not interred at the Hôpital-Général de Québec Cemetery. He lived a soldier’s life and never married. He was killed during the battle, supposedly in the first British volley.
PEOPLE OF INTEREST:
Laurent-François Lenoir, Marquis de Rouvray distinguished himself during the attack at Anse-aux-Foulons by the defence he commanded despite the capture of Captain de Vergor, his superior. He held the rank of ensign for the Regiment de la Sarre. He was injured during the siege. We have no evidence that he was good friends with Fontbonne.
Sister Sainte-Élisabeth, born Marie-Thérèse Adhémar de Lantagnac, directed a mobile aid post for those injured and made refugees by the Siege of Québec. Nothing suggests that she actually participated in the interment of Fontbonne or cared for Laurent-François, the Marquis de Rouvray.
The flags used in this riddle are the real flags of French regiments deployed in New France in 1759.
Riddle 2
THE FORGOTTEN ONE:
Marie-Françoise Bélanger was able to see her husband, Jean-Baptiste Fortin, after the war. He was likely imprisoned in England by the British until the end of the 1760s. He returned to L’Islet and was buried there around 1770. Oddly, with no news about her husband, Marie-Françoise had him declared dead and liquidated his assets in 1764 with the help of her eldest son.
The marriage certificate used in the activity is not real, but it is based on the type of marriage certificate that would have existed in that era. We have simplified it for the purposes of this game. The love letter is entirely fictional.
We are unable to identify the exact moment that Jean-Baptiste Fortin was captured by the British. We believe it was during the Siege of Québec, either when the British set fire to southern coast of the river or during one of the battles of 1759.
PERSON OF INTEREST:
Eleanor Job embalmed General Wolfe after his death on the Plains of Abraham. She was a civilian and a nurse. She did not take buttons from the uniforms of soldiers she could not save, nor did she take messages from patients she could heal. This is a liberty taken for the activity.
She likely accompanied her husband, a gunner in the Royal Artillery, during the Québec campaign. He was killed during the siege, leaving her a widow. She returned to England and died in 1823. At the time of the siege in 1759, we believe she was 46 years old.
The uniforms used in this game are real uniforms worn by the British troops stationed in Québec. The term “tricorn” was not used before the mid-19th century. At the time of the Siege of Québec, it was simply called a hat.
Riddle 3
THE FORGOTTEN ONE:
Pierre-Gervais Voyer was likely in the wrong place at the wrong time, and was doubtless killed by a Highlander pursuing the French army after the battle. Voyer’s remains were found by Joseph Trahan, a militia member, in the bakery Voyer built on the shore of the Saint-Charles River.
One of his sons, Charles Voyer, was the father of Catherine-Oliviette Voyer, who was the mother of Cecile Burroughs, the mother of George Garneau, the first Chair of the Commission and Mayor of Québec from 1906 to 1910.
PEOPLE OF INTEREST:
François Prosper, Chevalier de Douglas definitely existed, but he was never known to be interested in astronomy. The attack on Robert Monckton’s encampment at Pointe-Lévy did not take place on the night of September 12-13, but rather on the night of July 12-13, 1759, before the bombardment began.
Major Jean-Daniel Dumas commanded the July expedition against the encampment at Pointe-Lévy. The detachment commanded by Dumas included many students from the Seminary, and so the group was nicknamed the “Royal Syntax”.
The information on astronomy is inspired by real astronomical information known in the 18th century. The symbols associated with the planets are inspired by the symbols that have been used to identify for centuries.
George Garneau did not plan for a sundial or an observatory. Actually, astronomical observations have been made on the Plains since 1864, well before the creation of the park. The observatory operated until 1936 and was located near the Edwin-Bélanger Bandstand. From the early 1940s to 1962, a new observatory was located on the roof of Martello Tower 1. Finally, the sundial located on the Plains was inaugurated in 1987 to commemorate the history of scientific and astronomical research on the site.
Riddle 4
THE FORGOTTEN ONE:
Atiatonharongwen and his mother were adopted by the Mohawks of Kahnawake after a raid on their village when he was five years old. Officially, he was involved in the defence of Fort Duquesne (1755) and Carillon (1758), as well as the Battle of Sainte-Foy (1760). We do not know where he was in 1759.
His career was rather impressive. He took part in the American War of Independence and became the first Indigenous and African Lieutenant-Colonel in the Continental Army. From that point on, he was also known by the name of Joseph Louis Cook. He died at the age of 74 in the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, during the War of 1812.
The symbols of Atiatonharongwen’s brothers in arms were inspired by the signatures of the chiefs present at the signing of the Great Peace of Montréal in 1701. These symbols therefore represent the chiefs or representatives of many different Indigenous groups and nations. Atiatonharongwen was certainly not the only First Nations warrior present at the Siege of Québec. France had developed a complex network of alliances with more than 30 nations. This is a reference to the diversity of those nations.
Riddle 5
THE FORGOTTEN ONE:
Hunt Walsh would serve as Lieutenant-Colonel for the 28th Regiment, commonly nicknamed the Braggs, which held the right flank of the British army during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. He was killed at the age of 75 on February 28, 1795, having attained the rank of General in the British Army.
The name “Hume” on the monument is likely a typo. Hunt Walsh had a long military and political career. He won lot 11 on Prince Edward Island (during the land lottery of 1767), and he was a member of parliament in the Irish House of Commons.
PERSON OF INTEREST:
Gordon Skelly did not get to see Hunt Walsh’s promotion to the rank of general in 1793. He is known to have drowned in 1771 in Shields, Yorkshire, while commanding a ship of the Royal Navy. The idea of re-enacting battles and troop movements with a card game is a liberty taken for the game.
Skelly’s siege journal was bought at auction by a private collector in 2003. The buyer has remained anonymous. Aside from a few excerpts, no historian has been able to transcribe or analyse the text. As far as we know, Skelly did not participate in the battle, but he was involved in the nighttime landing at Anse-au-Foulon. Since his journal is not accessible to the public, we can only speculate about his exact words on the event.
Final riddle
The Garneau family tree is a simplified version of one part of his full family tree. Garneau is a real descendent of Voyer.
The bust of George Garneau was installed here on September 7, 1958, on the 50th anniversary of the NBC, to highlight his contribution to the development of the park as the first Chair. It is located on the battlefield and surrounded by Garneau Avenue.
