INVASION OF CANADA-RICHARD MONTGOMERY.

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mother country; if so, the British would be deprived of a CHAP. valuable recruiting station. Two expeditions against Canada were determined upon, one by way of Lake Cham- 1775. plain, the other by the rivers Kennebec and Chaudiere. The former under Schuyler; the latter was intrusted to Arnold, who was in the camp chafed and disappointed, but ready for any daring enterprise that promised distinction.

Operations were to commence by way of the lake, where were assembled the New York troops, and some from New England. Schuyler was ably seconded by Brigadier-general Richard Montgomery. Montgomery was a native of Ireland; had, when a youth, been the companion of Wolfe in the French war. He resigned the British service, and remaining in America, settled in New York, where he married. A man of education and refinement, his generous sentiments led him to espouse ardently the cause of popular rights.

5.

General Schuyler passed from Ticonderoga down the lake, and took possession of the Isle aux Noix, in the Sorel river. This position commanded the entrance into Lake Champlain. He then made an attempt on St. John's, Sept. but finding it more strongly garrisoned than had been represented, he retired to the Isle aux Noix, with the intention of fortifying that important post, but severe sickness compelled him to return to Albany. The command devolved upon Montgomery. Schuyler was soon able to send him supplies and ammunition, and also reinforcements under General Wooster.

24.

Ethan Allen, as usual, without orders, went on one of his rash expeditions. With only eighty-three men, he attempted to take Montreal, was overpowered, and taken Sept. prisoner with his men. He himself was sent in irons to England, to be tried as a rebel. tion of this daring leader of the with the war of the Revolution.

Here closed the connec-
Green Mountain Boys,
He was not tried, but

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CHAP. liberated; then returned home, but from some dissatisfaction took no further part in the struggle.

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Nov.

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Montgomery sent a detachment which took Fort Chambly, a few miles further down the river, thus placing troops between St. John's and Canada. Sir Guy Carleton, the governor of that province, made exertions, but without success, to raise a force for the relief of St. John's. But when on his way he was repulsed at the passage of the St. Lawrence by Colonel Seth Warner; another party going up the Sorel on the same errand was also driven back. The garrison at St. John's presently surrendered, and immediately the energetic Montgomery pushed on to Montreal, which submitted at the first summons, while Carleton with a few followers fled down the river to Quebec. This was a very seasonable capture for the Americans, as it supplied them with woollen clothes, of which necessaries they were in great need.

Montgomery made great exertions in the midst of discouragements, arising from insubordination, desertions, and the lateness of the season, to push on and join Arnold Sept before Quebec. Two months before this time, that leader

had left the camp before Boston with eleven hundred men, among whom were three companies of riflemen, under Morgan, to pass up the Kennebec, and thence across the wilderness to Quebec, there to unite with the force from New York. Aaron Burr, then a youth of twenty, accompanied this expedition as a volunteer. It was a perilous undertaking. The journey was one of intense suffering and incessant toil. Six weeks they spent in dragging their boats up the river, and carrying the baggage around rapids; they cut their way through thickets and briars, forded streams, climbed mountains, breasted storms, and were so much in want of food that they devoured their dogs, and even their moccasins. Their number was reduced to about six hundred effective men; one entire division had returned home with the sick and disabled. In a

QUEBEC BESIEGED.

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9.

forlorn condition the remainder suddenly appeared at CHAP. Point Levi, opposite Quebec. The inhabitants were astonished at the apparition, and could Arnold have crossed 1775. immediately, he might have taken the town; but he was unable to do so for want of boats. In a few days came Carleton from Montreal; he put the town in a state of defense, and increased his force to twelve hundred men, by enlisting traders, sailors, and others.

Although two armed vessels were on the watch, Arnold managed to cross the St. Lawrence, clambered up the Heights of Abraham, by the same rugged path that Wolfe had used, and boldly challenged the garrison to battle. The contest was declined. It was useless for him to attempt to besiege the town without cannon, so he moved twenty miles up the river, where he met Montgomery. The toilsome march through the wilderness nearly stripped Arnold's men of their clothes; the woollens obtained at Montreal were to them also an acceptable protection against the rigors of a Canada winter.

Their united force amounted to only nine hundred men. With these, Montgomery, who assumed the command, advanced to Quebec. The flag he sent to demand a surrender was fired upon. A battery must be built; the ordinary material was not at hand, but ingenuity supplied its place. Gabions were filled with snow and ice, over which water was poured, and a Canada winter soon rendered them solid, but no ingenuity could render the ice otherwise than brittle-every shot from the town shattered it in pieces. It was now found that their cannon were too small. They could not batter the walls, and it was as fruitless to attempt to scale them. Some other plan must be adopted.

It was determined to make a sudden attack on the lower town. Montgomery, with one division, was to advance upon the south side, while Arnold was to make an attempt upon the north. At the same time, feint move

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Dec. 31.

CHAP. ments were to be made against the upper town, and signal rockets fired from the different points to distract and 1775. divert the attention of the enemy. On the thirty-first of December a blinding snow-storm favored their enterprise. At two o'clock on the morning of that day they were on the march. The feint that was to cover the movement of Montgomery was successful. Undiscovered he descended from the Heights of Abraham, passing safely around Cape Diamond to the defile that led to the town. The pass, at all times difficult, was now obstructed by ice and drifting snow. It was defended by barriers guarded by Canadian militia. Taken by surprise, they fled from the picket. Montgomery passed the first barrier unopposed. As he stepped beyond it, sanguine and exultant with hope, he exclaimed "Push on, my brave boys; Quebec is ours!" Just then, a single gun loaded with grape-shot was fired from a battery; he fell, and by his side his aids and many others, who had answered to his cheering call. The soldiers, disheartened at the fall of their brave leader, were willing to abandon the town, under the lead of Quartermaster Campbell, leaving the bodies of the slain Montgomery, Cheeseman, and MacPherson where they fell.

By some neglect, no feint movement was made to cover the march of Arnold. He was harassed by a flanking fire as he pushed on to the entrance of the town. His leg being shattered by a ball, he was unable to lead his men against the battery. Morgan assumed the command, and with his riflemen stormed it, and captured the men. At daylight he reached the second battery, which was also carried; but now the forces of the British were concentrated at this point. Morgan's party made a brave resistance, but were overpowered by numbers, and compelled to surrender. He himself was the last to submit. When called upon by the British soldiers to deliver up his sword, he refused, planted himself against a wall, and defied them to take it. They threatened to shoot him; his men expos

MORGAN AND HIS MEN PRISONERS.

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tulated. At length he saw a man —a priest he knew him CHAP. to be from his dress; to him he gave it, saying: "I will give my sword to you, but not a scoundrel of those cow- 1775. ards shall take it out of my hands." The bravery of Morgan and his men was appreciated by Carleton; as prisoners, they were treated with special kindness.

Arnold now retired about three miles up the river, and there in a camp whose ramparts were formed of frozen snow and of ice, he blockaded Quebec through the winter. Here we leave him for the present.

Montgomery was at first buried at Quebec. When nearly half a century had passed away, New York remembered her adopted son. She transferred his remains to her metropolis, and with appropriate honors reinterred them 1819. in St. Paul's church-yard.