Major Peirson detached the 78th Seaforth Highlanders under Captain Lumsdaine, and sent them to take possession of the Mont de la Ville hill (now the site of Fort Regent), to block any French retreat. Once Peirson believed that the 78th had reached their destination, he ordered his remaining troops to attack. The British were stopped at the edge of the town, where de Rullecourt sent Corbet to offer capitulation terms and to tell the British that if they did not sign, the French would ransack the town within half an hour. Peirson and Captain Campbell answered that the French had 20 minutes to surrender.