<P> The boats, however, had drifted slightly off course: instead of landing at the base of the road, many soldiers found themselves at the base of a slope . A group of 24 volunteers led by Colonel William Howe with fixed bayonets were sent to clear the picket along the road, and climbed the slope, a manoeuvre that allowed them to come up behind Vergor's camp and capture it quickly . Wolfe followed an hour later when he could use an easy access road to climb to the plain . Thus, by the time the sun rose over the Plains of Abraham, Wolfe's army had a solid foothold at the top of the cliffs . </P> <P> The plateau was undefended save for Vergor's camp, as Vaudreuil had ordered one of the French regiments to relocate to the east of the city not long before the landing . Had the immediate defenders been more numerous, the British might have been unable to deploy or even been pushed back . An officer who would normally have patrolled the cliffs regularly through the night was unable to on the night of the 12th because one of his horses had been stolen and his two others were lame . The first notice of the landing came from a runner who had fled from Vergor's camp, but one of Montcalm's aides felt the man was mad and sent him away, then went back to bed . Saunders had staged a diversionary action off Montmorency, firing on the shore emplacements through the night and loading boats with troops, many of them taken from field hospitals; this preoccupied Montcalm . </P> <P> Montcalm was taken aback to learn of the British deployment, and his response has been regarded as precipitate . Though he might have awaited reinforcement by Bougainville's column (allowing simultaneous frontal and rear attacks on the British position) or avoided battle while he concentrated his forces, or even yielded the city to Wolfe, he instead elected to confront Wolfe's force directly . Had he waited, the British would have been entirely cut off--they had nowhere to go but back down the Foulon, and would have been under fire the entire way . To an artillery officer named Montbelliard, Montcalm explained his decision thus: "We cannot avoid action; the enemy is entrenching, he already has two pieces of cannon . If we give him time to establish himself, we shall never be able to attack him with the troops we have ." </P> <P> In total, Montcalm had 13,390 regular troops, Troupes de la Marine, and militia available in Quebec City and along the Beauport shore, as well as 200 cavalry, 200 artillery (including the guns of Quebec), 300 native warriors (including many Odawa under Charles de Langlade), and 140 Acadian volunteers, but most of these troops did not participate in the action . Many of the militia were inexperienced; the Acadian, Canadian, and indigenous irregulars were more used to guerilla warfare . By contrast, the British 7,700 troops were almost all regulars . </P>

What was the purpose of the battle of the plains of abraham