PROJECTS FOR THE INVASION OF CANADA.
We must interrupt our narrative of the siege of Boston to give an
account of events in other quarters, requiring the superintending care
of Washington as commander-in-chief. Letters from General Schuyler,
received in the course of July, had awakened apprehensions of danger
from the interior. The Johnsons were said to be stirring up the
Indians in the western parts of New York to hostility, and preparing
to join the British forces in Canada.
Great rivalry, since the exploits of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold,
at Ticonderoga and on Lake Champlain, had arisen between these doughty
leaders. Allen claimed command at Ticonderoga, on the authority of the
committee from the Connecticut Assembly, which had originated the
enterprise. Arnold claimed it on the strength of his instructions from
the Massachusetts committee of safety. The public bodies themselves
seemed perplexed what to do with the prize, so bravely seized upon by
these bold men. The Continental Congress at length legitimated the
exploit, and as it were accepted the captured fortress. [The custody
of it was committed to New York, with the power to call on the New
England colonies for aid. The call was made, and one thousand troops
under Colonel Hinman were sent forward by the governor of
Connecticut.]
It had been the idea of the Continental Congress to have those posts
dismantled, and the cannon and stores removed to the south end of Lake
George, where a strong post was to be established. But both Allen and
Arnold exclaimed against such a measure; vaunting, and with reason,
the importance of those forts. Both were ambitious of further laurels.
Both were anxious to lead an expedition into Canada; and Ticonderoga
and Crown Point would open the way to it. "The Key is ours," writes
Allen to the New York Congress. "If the colonies would suddenly push
an army of two or three thousand men into Canada, they might make an
easy conquest of all that would oppose them in the extensive province
of Quebec, except a reinforcement from England should prevent it. Such
a diversion would weaken Gage and insure us Canada."
A letter to the same purport was written by Allen to Trumbull, the
governor of Connecticut. Arnold urged the same project upon the
attention of the Continental Congress. His letter was dated from Crown
Point, where he had a little squadron, composed of the sloop captured
at St. Johns, a schooner, and a flotilla of bateaux. All these he had
equipped, armed, maimed, and officered; and his crews were devoted to
him.
Within a few days after the date of this letter, Colonel Hinman with
the Connecticut troops arrived. The greater part of the Green Mountain
Boys now returned home, their term of enlistment having expired. Ethan
Allen and his brother in arms, Seth Warner, repaired to Congress to
get pay for their men, and authority to raise a new regiment. They
were received with distinguished honor by that body. As to Arnold,
difficulties instantly took place between him and Colonel Hinman.
Arnold refused to give up to him the command of either post, claiming
on the strength of his instructions from the committee of safety of
Massachusetts, a right to the command of all the posts and fortresses
at the south end of Lake Champlain and Lake George. At this juncture
arrived a committee of three members of the Congress of Massachusetts,
sent by that body to inquire into the manner in which he had executed
his instructions; complaints having been made of his arrogant and
undue assumption of command. Arnold, thunderstruck at being subjected
to inquiry, when he had expected an ovation, disbanded his men and
threw up his commission. Quite a scene ensued. His men became
turbulent; some refused to serve under any other leader; others
clamored for their pay, which was in arrears. The storm was allayed by
the interference of several of the officers, and the assurances of the
committee that every man should be paid.
The project of an invasion of Canada had at first met with no favor
with the Continental Congress. Intelligence subsequently received
induced it to change its plans. Sir Guy Carleton was said to be
strengthening the fortifications and garrison at St. Johns, and
preparing to launch vessels on the lake wherewith to regain command of
it, and retake the captured posts. Powerful reinforcements were coming
from England and elsewhere. Guy Johnson was holding councils with the
fierce Cayugas and Senecas, and stirring up the Six Nations to
hostility. On the other hand, Canada was full of religious and
political dissensions. The late exploits of the Americans on Lake
Champlain, had produced a favorable effect on the Canadians, who would
flock to the patriot standard if unfurled among them by an imposing
force. Now was the time to strike a blow to paralyze all hostility
from this quarter; now, while Carleton's regular force was weak, and
before the arrival of additional troops. Influenced by these
considerations, Congress now determined to extend the revolution into
Canada, but it was an enterprise too important to be entrusted to any
but discreet hands. General Schuyler, then in New York, was
accordingly ordered, on the 27th of June, to proceed to Ticonderoga,
and "should he find it practicable, and not disagreeable to the
Canadians, immediately to take possession of St. Johns and Montreal,
and pursue such other measures in Canada as might have a tendency to
promote the peace and security of these provinces."
Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga on the 18th of July. Colonel Hinman,
it will be recollected, was in temporary command at Ticonderoga. The
garrison was about twelve hundred strong; the greater part Connecticut
men, brought by himself; some were New York troops, and some few Green
Mountain Boys. Schuyler, on taking command, despatched a confidential
agent into Canada, Major John Brown, an American, who resided on the
Sorel River, and was popular among the Canadians. He was to collect
information as to the British forces and fortifications, and to
ascertain how an invasion and an attack on St. Johns would be
considered by the people of the province; in the meantime, Schuyler
set diligently to work to build boats and prepare for the enterprise,
should it ultimately be ordered by Congress.
Schuyler was excessively annoyed by the confusion and negligence
prevalent around him, and the difficulties and delays thereby
occasioned. He chafed in spirit at the disregard of discipline among
his yeoman soldiery, and their opposition to all system and
regularity. This was especially the case with the troops from
Connecticut, officered generally by their own neighbors and familiar
companions, and unwilling to acknowledge the authority of a commander
from a different province.
He had calculated on being joined by this time by the regiment of
Green Mountain Boys which Ethan Allen and Seth Warner had undertaken
to raise in the New Hampshire Grants. Unfortunately a quarrel had
arisen between those brothers in arms, which filled the Green
Mountains with discord and party feuds. The election of officers took
place on the 27th of July. It was made by committees from the
different townships. Ethan Allen was entirely passed by, and Seth
Warner nominated as Lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. Allen was
thunderstruck at finding himself thus suddenly dismounted. His
patriotism and love of adventure, however, were not quelled: and he
forthwith repaired to the army at Ticonderoga to offer himself as a
volunteer.
Schuyler was on the alert with respect to the expedition against
Canada. From his agent, Major Brown, and from other sources, he had
learnt that there were about seven hundred king's troops in that
province; three hundred of them at St. Johns, about fifty at Quebec,
the remainder at Montreal, Chamblee, and the upper posts. Colonel Guy
Johnson was at Montreal with three hundred men, mostly his tenants,
and with a number of Indians. Two batteries had been finished at St.
Johns, mounting nine guns each: other works were intrenched and
picketed. Two large row galleys were on the stocks, and would soon be
finished. Now was the time, according to his informants, to carry
Canada. It might be done with great ease and little cost. The
Canadians were disaffected to British rule, and would join the
Americans, and so would many of the Indians. "I am prepared," writes
he to Washington, "to move against the enemy, unless your Excellency
and Congress should direct otherwise."
While awaiting orders on this head, he repaired to Albany, to hold a
conference and negotiate a treaty with the Caughnawagas, and the
warriors of the Six Nations, whom, as one of the commissioners of
Indian affairs, he had invited to meet him at that place. General
Richard Montgomery was to remain in command at Ticonderoga, during his
absence, and to urge forward the military preparations. The subsequent
fortunes of this gallant officer are inseparably connected with the
Canadian campaign, and have endeared his name to Americans.{1}
{Footnote 1: [Richard Montgomery was born in the north of Ireland in
1736. He entered the army at eighteen years of age; served in the
French war with gallantry; afterward returned to England. About three
years before the Revolution he sold his commission and emigrated to
New York, where he married a daughter of Judge Robert R. Livingston.]}
While these things were occurring at Ticonderoga, several Indian
chiefs made their appearance in the camp at Cambridge. They came in
savage state and costume, as ambassadors from their respective tribes,
to have a talk about the impending invasion of Canada. One was chief
of the Caughnawaga tribe, whose residence was on the banks of the St.
Lawrence, six miles above Montreal. Others were from St. Francis,
about forty-five leagues above Quebec, and were of a warlike tribe,
from which hostilities had been especially apprehended. Washington,
accustomed to deal with the red warriors of the wilderness, received
them with great ceremonial. They dined at head-quarters among his
officers, and it is observed that to some of the latter they might
have served as models; such was their grave dignity and decorum.
A council fire was held. The sachems all offered, on behalf of their
tribes, to take up the hatchet for the Americans, should the latter
invade Canada. The offer was embarrassing. Congress had publicly
resolved to seek nothing but neutrality from the Indian nations,
unless the ministerial agents should make an offensive alliance with
them. The chief of the St. Francis tribe declared that Governor
Carleton had endeavored to persuade him to take up the hatchet against
the Americans, but in vain.
Washington wished to be certain of the conduct of the enemy, before he
gave a reply to these Indian overtures. He wrote by express,
therefore, to General Schuyler, requesting him to ascertain the
intentions of the British governor with respect to the native tribes.
By the same express, he communicated a plan which had occupied his
thoughts for several days. As the contemplated movement of Schuyler
would probably cause all the British force in Canada to be
concentrated in the neighborhood of Montreal and St. Johns, he
proposed to send off an expedition of ten or twelve hundred men, to
penetrate to Quebec by the way of the Kennebec River.
The express found Schuyler in Albany, where he had been attending the
conference with the Six Nations. He had just received intelligence
which convinced him of the propriety of an expedition into Canada; had
sent word to General Montgomery to get everything ready for it, and
was on the point of departing for Ticonderoga to carry it into effect.
In reply to Washington, he declared his conviction, from various
accounts which he had received, that Carleton and his agents were
exciting the Indian tribes to hostility. "I should, therefore, not
hesitate one moment," adds he, "to employ any savages that might be
willing to join us." He expressed himself delighted with Washington's
project of sending off an expedition to Quebec, regretting only that
it had not been thought of earlier.
Having sent off these despatches, Schuyler hastened back to
Ticonderoga. Before he reached there, Montgomery had received
intelligence that Carleton had completed his armed vessels at St.
Johns, and was about to send them into Lake Champlain by the Sorel
River. No time, therefore, was to be lost in getting possession of the
Isle aux Noix, which commanded the entrance to that river. Montgomery
hastened, therefore, to embark with about a thousand men, which were
as many as the boats now ready could hold, taking with him two pieces
of artillery; with this force he set off down the lake. A letter to
General Schuyler explained the cause of his sudden departure, and
entreated him to follow on in a whale-boat, leaving the residue of the
artillery to come on as soon as conveyances could be procured.
Schuyler arrived at Ticonderoga on the night of the 30th of August,
but too ill of a bilious fever to push on in a whale-boat. He caused,
however, a bed to be prepared for him in a covered bateau, and, ill as
he was, continued forward on the following day. On the 4th of
September he overtook Montgomery at the Isle la Motte, where he had
been detained by contrary weather, and assuming command of the little
army, kept on the same day to the Isle aux Noix, about twelve miles
south of St. Johns.
The siege of Boston had been kept up for several weeks without any
remarkable occurrence. The British remained within their lines,
diligently strengthening them; the besiegers having received further
supplies of ammunition, were growing impatient of a state of
inactivity. Towards the latter part of August there were rumors from
Boston that the enemy were preparing for a sortie. Washington was
resolved to provoke it by a kind of challenge. He accordingly detached
fourteen hundred men to seize at night upon a height within musket
shot of the enemy's line on Charlestown Neck, presuming that the
latter would sally forth on the following day to dispute possession of
it, and thus be drawn into a general battle. The task was executed
with silence and celerity, and by daybreak the hill presented to the
astonished foe the aspect of a fortified post.
The challenge was not accepted. The British opened a heavy cannonade
from Bunker's Hill, but kept within their works. The Americans, scant
of ammunition, could only reply with a single nine-pounder; this
however sank one of the floating batteries which guarded the neck. The
evident unwillingness of the British to come forth was perplexing.
Perhaps they persuaded themselves that the American army, composed of
crude, half-disciplined levies from different and distant quarters,
would gradually fall asunder and disperse, or that its means of
subsistence would be exhausted.
In the meantime as it was evident the enemy did not intend to come
out, but were only strengthening their defences and preparing for
winter, Washington was enabled to turn his attention to the expedition
to be sent into Canada by the way of the Kennebec River. A detachment
of about eleven hundred men, chosen for the purpose, was soon encamped
on Cambridge Common. The proposed expedition was wild and perilous,
and required a hardy, skilful and intrepid leader. Such a one was at
hand. Benedict Arnold was at Cambridge, occupied in settling his
accounts with the Massachusetts committee of safety. Whatever faults
may have been found with his conduct in some particulars, his exploits
on Lake Champlain had atoned for them, for valor in time of war covers
a multitude of sins.
Washington had given him an honorable reception at head-quarters, and
now considered him the very man for the present enterprise. As he
would be intrusted with dangerous powers, Washington, beside a general
letter of instructions, addressed a special one to him individually,
full of cautious and considerate advice. He was furnished with
handbills for distribution in Canada, setting forth the friendly
objects of the present expedition, as well as of that under General
Schuyler; and calling on the Canadians to furnish necessaries and
accommodations of every kind; for which they were assured ample
compensation.
On the 13th of September, Arnold struck his tents and set out in high
spirits. Washington enjoined upon him to push forward, as rapidly as
possible, success depending upon celerity; and counted the days as
they elapsed after his departure, impatient to receive tidings of his
progress up the Kennebec, and expecting that the expedition would
reach Quebec about the middle of October. In the interim came letters
from General Schuyler, giving particulars of the main expedition.
In a preceding chapter we left the general and his little army at the
Isle aux Noix, near the Sorel River, the outlet of the lake. Thence,
on the 5th of September, he sent Colonel Ethan Allen and Major Brown
to reconnoitre the country between that river and the St. Lawrence, to
distribute friendly addresses among the people and ascertain their
feelings. This done, and having landed his baggage and provisions, the
general proceeded along the Sorel River the next day with his boats,
until within two miles of St. Johns, when a cannonade was opened from
the fort.
In the night the camp was visited secretly by a person who informed
General Schuyler of the state of the fort. The works were completed,
and furnished with cannon. A vessel pierced for sixteen guns was
launched, and would be ready to sail in three or four days. It was not
probable that any Canadians would join the army, being disposed to
remain neutral. This intelligence being discussed in a council of war
in the morning, it was determined that they had neither men nor
artillery sufficient to undertake a siege. They returned, therefore,
to the Isle aux Noix, cast up fortifications, and threw a boom across
the channel of the river to prevent the passage of the enemy's vessels
into the lake, and awaited the arrival of artillery and reinforcements
from Ticonderoga. In the course of a few days the expected
reinforcements arrived, and with them a small train of artillery.
Ethan Allen also returned from his reconnoitring expedition, of which
he made a most encouraging report.
Preparations were now made for the investment of St. Johns, by land
and water. Major Brown, who had already acted as a scout, was sent
with one hundred Americans and about thirty Canadians towards
Chamblee, to make friends in that quarter, and to join the army as
soon as it should arrive at St. Johns. To quiet the restless activity
of Ethan Allen, who had no command in the army, he was sent with an
escort of thirty men to retrace his steps, penetrate to La Prairie,
and beat up for recruits among the people whom he had recently
visited.
For some time past, General Schuyler had been struggling with a
complication of maladies, but exerting himself to the utmost in the
harassing business of the camp. When everything was nearly ready, he
was attacked in the night by a severe access of his disorder, which
confined him to his bed, and compelled him to surrender the conduct of
the expedition to General Montgomery. Since he could be of no further
use, therefore, in this quarter, he caused his bed, as before, to be
placed on board a covered bateau, and set off for Ticonderoga, to
hasten forward reinforcements and supplies.
On the 16th of September, the day after Schuyler's departure,
Montgomery proceeded to carry out the plans which had been concerted
between them. Landing on the 17th at the place where they had formerly
encamped, within a mile and a half of the fort, he detached a force of
five hundred men to take a position at the junction of two roads
leading to Montreal and Chamblee, so as to intercept relief from those
points. He now proceeded to invest St. Johns, which had a garrison of
five or six hundred regulars and two hundred Canadian militia. Its
commander, Major Preston, made a brave resistance. Montgomery had not
proper battering cannon; his mortars were defective; his artillerists
unpractised, and the engineer ignorant. The siege went on slowly,
until the arrival of an artillery company under Captain Lamb. Lamb,
who was an able officer, immediately bedded a thirteen-inch mortar,
and commenced a fire of shot and shells upon the fort. The distance,
however, was too great, and the positions of the batteries were ill
chosen.
A flourishing letter was received by the general from Colonel Ethan
Allen, giving hope of further reinforcement. "I am now," writes he,
"at the Parish of St. Ours, four leagues from Sorel to the south. I
have two hundred and fifty Canadians under arms. As I march, they
gather fast. You may rely on it that I shall join you in about three
days, with five hundred or more Canadian volunteers."
But when on his way towards St. Johns, when between Longueil and La
Prairie, Allen met Colonel Brown with his party of Americans and
Canadians. A conversation took place between them. Brown assured him
that the garrison at Montreal did not exceed thirty men, and might
easily be surprised. Allen's partisan spirit was instantly excited.
Here was a chance for another bold stroke equal to that at
Ticonderoga. A plan was forthwith agreed upon. Allen was to return to
Longueil, which is nearly opposite Montreal, and cross the St.
Lawrence in canoes in the night, so as to land a little below the
town. Brown, with two hundred men, was to cross above, and Montreal
was to be attacked simultaneously at opposite points.
All this was arranged and put in action without the consent or
knowledge of General Montgomery. Allen was again the partisan leader,
acting from individual impulse. The whole force with which he
undertook his part of this inconsiderate enterprise was thirty
Americans and eighty Canadians. With these he crossed the river on the
night of the 24th of September. Guards were stationed on the roads to
prevent any one passing and giving the alarm in Montreal. Day dawned,
but there was no signal of Major Brown having performed his part of
the scheme. The day advanced, but still no signal; it was evident
Major Brown had not crossed. Allen would gladly have recrossed the
river, but it was too late. An alarm had been given to the town, and
he soon found himself encountered by about forty regular soldiers and
a hasty levy of Canadians and Indians. A smart action ensued; most of
Allen's Canadian recruits gave way and fled, a number of Americans
were slain, and he at length surrendered. This reckless dash at
Montreal was viewed with concern by the American commander. "I am
apprehensive of disagreeable consequences arising from Mr. Allen's
imprudence," writes General Schuyler. The conduct of Allen was also
severely censured by Washington. "His misfortune," said he, "will, I
hope, teach a lesson of prudence and subordination to others."
Washington, who was full of solicitude about the fate of Arnold,
received a despatch from him, dated October 13th, from the great
portage or carrying-place between the Kennebec and Dead Rivers. The
toils of the expedition up the Kennebec River had been excessive. Part
of the men of each division managed the boats--part marched along the
banks. Those on board had to labor against swift currents; to unload
at rapids; transport the cargoes, and sometimes the boats themselves,
for some distance on their shoulders, and then to reload. Those on
land had to scramble over rocks and precipices, to struggle through
swamps and fenny streams; or cut their way through tangled thickets,
which reduced their clothes to rags. With all their efforts, their
progress was but from four to ten miles a day.
By the time they arrived at the place whence the letter was written,
fatigue, swamp fevers and desertion had reduced their numbers to about
nine hundred and fifty effective men. Arnold, however, wrote in good
heart. "The last division," said he, "is just arrived; three divisions
are over the first carrying-place, and as the men are in high spirits,
I make no doubt of reaching the river Chaudiere in eight or ten days,
the greatest difficulty being, I hope, already past."