six o'clock
Webb 's regiment formed the reserve , the 3d battalion of Royal Americans were left to guard the landing , and Howe 's light infantry occupied a wood , far in the rear of the force , to check Bougainville should he approach from that direction . Wolfe , with his three brigadiers , commanded the main body , which , when all the troops had arrived , numbered less than three thousand five hundred men . Quebec was less than a mile distant from the spot where the troops were posted , in order of battle , but an intervening ridge hid it from the sight of the troops . At six o'clock , the white uniforms of the battalion of Guienne , which had marched up in hot haste from their camp on the Saint Charles , made their appearance on the ridge , and halted there , awaiting reinforcements . Shortly afterwards , there was an outbreak of hot firing in the rear , where the light troops , under Colonel Howe , repulsed a detachment of Bougainville 's command , which came up and attacked them . Montcalm had been on the alert all night . The guns of Saunders ' fleet thundered unceasingly , opposite Beauport , and its boats hovered near the shore , threatening a landing .