_15th December, 1775._
Countersign—_Adams_.
Parole—_Connecticut_.
The General having in vain offered the most favorable terms of
accommodation to the Governor and having taken every possible step to
prevail on the inhabitants to desist from seconding him in his wild
scheme of defence, nothing remains but to pursue vigorous measures for
the speedy reduction of the only hold possessed by the Ministerial
troops in the Province. The troops flushed with continual success,
confident of the justice of their cause and relying on that Providence
which has uniformly protected them will advance to the attack of works
incapable of being defended by the wretched garrison posted behind
them, consisting of sailors unacquainted with the use of arms, of
citizens incapable of the soldier’s duty and a few miserable
emigrants. The General is confident a vigorous and spirited attack
must be attended with success. The troops shall have the effects of
the Governor, garrison, and of such as have been acting in misleading
the inhabitants and distressing the friends of liberty, to be equally
divided among them, each to have the one hundredth share out of the
whole, which shall be at the disposal of the General and given to such
soldiers as distinguished themselves by their activity and bravery,
and sold at public auction. The whole to be conducted as soon as the
city is in our hands and the inhabitants disarmed.
The General at Headquarters,
FERD. WEISENFELS,
_Major of Brigade_.
The division which was to attack Pres-de-Ville assembled at 2 o’clock A.
M. of the 31st December, at Montgomery’s headquarters, Holland House
(now the property of Frank Ross, Esq.), and headed by Montgomery,
marched across the Plains of Abraham and descended into the beach path,
now Champlain street. Those who were to make the attack by the suburbs
of St. Roch, headed by Arnold, were about 800 strong. The plan was that
Montgomery and Arnold were to meet at the foot of Mountain Hill and
storm the Upper Town.
A heavy northeast snowstorm was raging at 4 o’clock that dark morning
when Montgomery had descended the cliff and advanced along the narrow
beach path, a ledge flanked to the left by the perpendicular cliffs of
Cape Diamond and to the right by a precipitous descent at whose base
flowed the tide of the St. Lawrence.
The Pres-de-Ville barricade and the blockhouse at the narrowest part of
the road was defended by Captain Chabot, Lieut. Picard, 30 Canadian
militiamen, Captain Barnesfare and 15 seamen, Sergeant Hugh McQuarters,
of the Royal Artillery, with several small guns, and Mr. John Coffin, 50
in all. The garrison was alert and saw the head of the column approach
and halt some fifty yards from the barricade, when a man approached to
reconnoitre, and on his return the column continued its advance, when it
was fired on by cannon and musketry, whose first discharge killed
Montgomery, his aides Macpherson and Cheeseman, and 10 men. Thereupon
the rest of the 700 men turned and fled, pursued by the bullets of the
Canadians till there was nothing more to fire at. None behind the
leading sections knew what happened, and the slain, left as they fell,
were buried by the drifting snow, whence their frozen bodies were dug
out later in the day.
Arnold’s column carried the barricade across Sous-le-Cap street,
situated beneath the Half-Moon battery, and were stopped at the second
barricade at the end of that narrow street (quite close to where is now
Molsons Bank), defended by Major Nairne, Dambourges and others, who held
them in check until Captain Laws’ strong party, coming from Palace Gate,
took them in rear and caused their surrender, 427 in all, thus
completing the victory of that morning. Arnold was put out of action
early in the fight by a ball[1] from the ramparts near Palace Gate, when
passing with the leading sections, and was carried to the General
Hospital.
* * * * *
The late Governor-General, Lord Minto, took great interest in the
tablets, and approved of the inscriptions which were submitted for his
consideration.
These tablets, in shield form, are of statuary bronze, with the
lettering cast in relief.
The large one on the rock under Cape Diamond measures six feet three
inches by five feet nine inches, and is thus inscribed:
_Here Stood
The Undaunted Fifty
Safeguarding
Canada
Defeating Montgomery
At the Pres-de-Ville Barricade
On the Last Day of
1775
Guy Carleton
Commanding at
Quebec_
That on Molsons Bank measures two feet ten inches by two feet six
inches, and its legend relates:
_Here Stood
Her Old and New Defenders
Uniting, Guarding, Saving
Canada
Defeating Arnold
At the Sault-au-Matelot Barricade
On the Last Day of
1775
Guy Carleton
Commanding at
Quebec_
[Illustration: [Fleuron]]