- Recent gift to Special Collections Contents: Letter from the Plains of Abraham (excerpt from the Daily Bulletin, University of Waterloo, September 14, 2000 Letter from Rear-Admiral Charles Holmes, with transcription Letter from the Plains of Abraham It was just a minor engagement in the Seven Years' War between England and France, a battle lasting a mere 15 minutes, but the outcome would bring a ...www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/discipline/SpecColl/archives/holmes/holmes.html