One of several, Montcalm had a really bad morning!!! My reading of the Canadian Museum Site is that those historians feel that Montcalm's attack and leaving the high ground was a huge mistake.
My thoughts: Hold the high ground, quickly get the artillery formed up on the high ground, construct a strong defensive position on the high ground, and let the "flying column" of Levis, that was outside the city to the west, return and make life miserable for Wolfe. Although successfully on the Plateau, the British position would have been nearly surrounded by the French with their backs to the River. In that situation, the Canadian miltia roaming the woods would have been deadly to the British. Supplying the army on the "plateau" for any extented period of time would have been a nightmare for Wolfe, especially with the severe change in tides and a steep cliff to climb to reach the plateau. Wolfe's relation with his senior staff was so poor that the blame game would probably have made the situation even worse. The down side is the British would likely have intensified their bombardment of the city.
Wolfe's big problem would have been the weather. It was mid-September by the time he reached the plateau. Any hard ice on the river would have destroyed the British Fleet, so both the Army and Navy would have been force to leave soon ...... The height of fall colors in that part of the world is the first weekend in October. You need to be in winter quartes no later than November 1.
