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Old Master by Steve Payne
 Author
says: what if the British General James Wolfe survived the Plains of
Abraham and twenty years later unleashed the same genocidal methods in the
thirteen colonies that he had planned for French Canadians? Please note that
the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of
the author(s).
July 2nd 2010,
on this day at the Bonhams auction house in London, an
unnamed Canadian collector paid $635,000 for Joseph Highmore's iconic
painting of Governor General James Wolfe, pictured at the defining moment of
his greatest triumph on the Plains of Abraham at Quebec with British North
America laying subdued at his feet.
The battle was famously won by leading his troops up the wooded cliffs at
night and catching his opposition unprepared. And yet the secret to his
success was ruthlessness rather than tactical genious. In a letter to Major
General Jeffrey Amherst titled "Wolfe's manifesto" he said ~
"If, by accident in the river, by the enemy's resistance, by sickness or
slaughter in the army, or, from any other cause, we find that Quebec is not
likely to fall into our hands (persevering however to the last moment), I
propose to set the town on fire with shells, to destroy the harvest, houses
and cattle, both above and below, to send off as many Canadians as possible
to Europe and to leave famine and desolation behind me. But we must teach
these scoundrels to make war in a more gentleman like manner".
It was a harsh lesson that Wolfe would teach the American rebels twenty
years later.
Author
says to view guest historian's comments on this post please visit the
Today in Alternate History web site.
Steve Payne, Editor of
Today in Alternate History, a Daily Updating Blog of Important Events In
History That Never Occurred Today. Follow us on
Facebook, Myspace and
Twitter.
Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit
differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items
explore that possibility. Possibilities such as America becoming a Marxist
superpower, aliens influencing human history in the 18th century and Teddy
Roosevelt winning his 3rd term as president abound in this interesting
fictional blog.
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