noon
From the unhappy moment that the general was deprived of his advice , neither order nor discipline was observed , and a strange kind of infatuation usurped the place of resolution . '' The loss of its gallant young general was , indeed , the destruction of an army of 15,000 men . Abercromby seemed paralysed by the stroke , and could do nothing , and the soldiers were needlessly kept under arms all night in the forest , and , in the morning , were ordered back to the landing place . At noon , however , Bradstreet was sent out to take possession of the sawmill , at the falls which Montcalm had abandoned the evening before . Bradstreet rebuilt the two bridges , which had been destroyed by the enemy , and the army then advanced , and in the evening occupied the deserted encampment of the French . Montcalm had , for some days , been indecisive as to his course . His force was little more than a fourth of that of the advancing foe .