Battle of Neuville

Battle of Neuville (Part of the Siege of Quebec)
Part of Seven Years' War
Pomone fighting two British frigates during the Battle of Neuville. Painting by Auguste Étienne François Mayer.
Date May 16, 1760 Location Saint Lawrence River, near Neuville, Nouvelle France Result British victory Relief of Quebec
Belligerents
Great Britain	France
Commanders and leaders
Robert Swanton	Jean Vauquelin  (POW)
Strength
Ship of the line 2 Frigates	2 Frigates 2 Schooners 2 armed ships
Casualties and losses
1 frigate damaged (later wrecked)	All sunk, captured or burnt

British victory

The Battle of Neuville was a naval and land engagement that took place on May 16, 1760 during the French and Indian War on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, near the village of Neuville in New France during the French siege of Quebec. A relief force of the British navy having forced a passage down the St Lawrence managed to destroy the French ships under Jean Vauquelin assisting in the siege. This British victory forced the French under Chevalier de Lévis to raise the siege.

After the capture of Quebec in 1759, the defeated French forces positioned themselves on the Jacques-Cartier River west of the city. Pack ice had closed the mouth of the river forcing the British Navy to leave the St. Lawrence shortly after. The Chevalier de Lévis, General Montcalm's successor as French commander, marched his 7,000 troops to Quebec and besieged it. James Murray, the British commander, had experienced a terrible winter, in which scurvy had reduced his garrison to only 4,000.

On 28 April 1760, Lévis' forces met and defeated the British at the Battle of Sainte-Foy, immediately west of the city, but the British were able to withdraw within the walls of Quebec. Combined with British improvements to the fortifications and the lack of heavy artillery and ammunition meant that the French were unable to take the city quickly. The success of the French army's offensive against Quebec in the spring of 1760 depended on the dispatch of a French armada, with fresh troops and supplies. The British too were anxious to get a fleet into the St Lawrence in the spring before supplies and reinforcements could arrive from France.

On 9 May, a ship arrived off Point Levis; the French shouted Vive Le Roi believing the ship to be theirs while the anxious British expected the worst. The ship however turned out to be HMS Lowestoffe detached from a squadron under Lord Colville who were just outside the Saint Lawrence ready to force the passage themselves. A twenty-one-gun salute and the hoisting of the Union flag turned British fears into sudden joy. Levis and the French were in despair and Quebec had to be bombarded into submission as quickly as possible before the main British force arrived. The bombardment was heavy causing damage to the city's walls but casualties were light and as it turned out this was mere frustration on Levis' part. Colville's ships were soon navigating down the Saint Lawrence already made easy by James Cook's mapping the previous year.

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