The British were now alerted and with Corbet a prisoner, command fell to the next senior-most British commander was the 24-year-old Major Francis Peirson (in command of the troops at Saint Peter's Barracks). The British troops and militia assembled on the Mont ès Pendus (now called Westmount), to the west of the town. Peirson soon had 2,000 men at his disposal, with which he resolved to descend the hill and attack into the town. The French, who were camped in the market, had seized the town's cannons and had placed them at the different openings to the market to fire on the British troops if they approached. The French did not find the howitzers. The British learned through several people who had been spying on the French troops, that the French number did not exceed 800 or 900 men.