MONTCALM, LOUIS-JOSEPH DE MONTCALM GOZON, MARQUIS DE (1712-1759), French general, born near Nimes, on Feb. 29, 1712. He was strictly brought up under the tutorship of a kinsman, Louis Dumas, becoming a good classical scholar and the master of a vivid and nervous, though unconventional French style. At the age of 15 he received a commission in the regiment at Hainaut. He first saw active service on the Rhine in the War of the Polish Succession. In 1735 he succeeded to his father's titles and property, and in the following year married Angelique-Louise Talon du Boulay, by whom he had ten children. In 1743, during the War of the Austrian Succession, he became colonel of the regiment of Auxer rois, and three years later he distinguished himself at the battle of Piacenza, where he was wounded five times and taken prisoner. In 1747 he was raised to the rank of brigadier, and at the end of the war given the command of a cavalry regiment. The next few years he spent with his family at Candiac ; but early in 1756 he was chosen to command the French regular troops in Canada, with the rank of major-general. He reached Quebec on May 13.
Montcalm's commission gave him no authority over the greater part of the military resources of Canada, and he was in all re spects subordinate to the governor-general, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, who from the first was jealous, suspicious and criticaL The tempers of the two were wholly incompatible, and the prospects of the colony were gravely prejudiced by their ever increasing animosity towards each other. Montcalm was also embarrassed by the corrupt practices of a gang of government officials, headed by the intendant, Francois Bigot. Nevertheless, he enjoyed three years of striking success. If it was Vaudreuil who suggested the undertaking, it was Montcalm who, with great judgment and energy, forced the surrender of the English post at Oswego in the summer of 1756, thus restoring to France the undisputed control of Lake Ontario. Next year he took the offensive towards the south, and on August 9, after a siege of but five days, captured Fort William Henry, at the head of Lake George, with its garrison of 2,000 men. His victory was marred by the slaughter of many of the prisoners by his Indian allies— a catastrophe which he deplored and strove at the risk of his life to arrest, but which he might have prevented by taking a few obvious precautions.
Montcalm's greatest feat was achieved on July 8, 1758, when with about 3,80o men he repulsed the attack of Abercromby's 15,000 on the breastwork and abbatis which the French had hastily constructed at Ticonderoga. The victory, however, was
due to Abercromby's stupidity as much as to Montcalm's skill; and Vaudreuil was not altogether unreasonable in criticizing him for making no attempt to exploit his success. The French had now definitely lost the initiative, and in 1759 Montcalm had to defend Quebec itself against Wolfe. As his army, though superior in numbers, was inferior in quality to his opponent's, Montcalm remained strictly on the defensive in his entrenched lines be tween the St. Charles and Montmorency rivers. For more than two months he baffled the besiegers, and on July 31 beat off an ill-considered attack on his works near the Montmorency Falls. In the end, however, he was outwitted, though it is fair to say that, but for Vaudreuil's interference, he would have greatly strengthened the guard near the point where the British scaled the Heights of Abraham. In the battle which followed, Montcalm behaved with conspicuous gallantry, and was mortally wounded while trying to rally his broken army. He died in Quebec next day, Sept. 14, and was buried in the chapel of the Ursuline convent.
Montcalm was a devout Catholic. He was a good husband and father, and, judged by the contemporary standards of his class, his private life was remarkably upright and honourable. His impetuous temper and hasty speech gained him many enemies, yet his personal charm and integrity usually won the affection of his associates and subordinates. His devotion to his country is beyond dispute.
See F. Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, 2 vol. (1899) ; A. G. Doughty and G. W. Parmelee, The Siege of Quebec and Battle of the Plains of Abraham, 6 vol. (1901-02) ; H. R. Casgrain, Montcalm et Levis, 2 vol. (1898), Wolfe and Montcalm (Makers of Canada Series, 1905) ; W. Wood, The Fight for Canada (19o5) ; M. Santai, Montcalm au combat de Carillon (1909) T. Chapais, Le Marquis de Montcalm (19"). (W. T. W.) a town of east-central France, in the department of Saline-et-Loire, 14 m. S. by W. of Le Creusot on the P.L.M. railway. Pop. (1931) 10,502. It is the centre of the Blanzy coal basin, on the Canal du Centre, connected with the coalfield by numerous lines of railway. There are spinning, weav ing and hosiery factories, iron and copper foundries and engineer ing shops making textile machinery.