MONTGOMERY BEFORE QUEBEC—HIS PLAN OF OPERATIONS—A SUMMONS TO SURRENDER—A
FLAG INSULTED—THE TOWN BESIEGED—PLAN OF AN ESCALADE—ATTACK OF THE LOWER
TOWN—MONTGOMERY IN THE ADVANCE—HIS DEATH—RETREAT OF COL. CAMPBELL—ATTACK
BY ARNOLD—DEFENCE OF THE LOWER TOWN—ARNOLD WOUNDED—RETREAT OF THE
AMERICANS—GALLANT RESOLVE OF ARNOLD.
From amid surrounding perplexities, Washington still turned a hopeful
eye to Canada. He expected daily to receive tidings that Montgomery and
Arnold were within the walls of Quebec, and he had even written to the
former to forward as much as could be spared of the large quantities of
arms, blankets, clothing and other military stores, said to be deposited
there; the army before Boston being in great need of such supplies.
On the 18th of January came despatches to him from General Schuyler,
containing withering tidings. The following is the purport. Montgomery,
on the 2d of December, the day after his arrival at Point aux Trembles,
set off in face of a driving snow storm for Quebec, and arrived before
it on the 5th. The works, from their great extent, appeared to him
incapable of being defended by the actual garrison; made up, as he said,
of “Maclean’s banditti,” the sailors from the frigates and other
vessels, together with the citizens obliged to take up arms; most of
whom were impatient of the fatigues of a siege, and wished to see
matters accommodated amicably. “I propose,” added he, “amusing Mr.
Carleton with a formal attack, erecting batteries, &c., but mean to
assault the works, I believe towards the lower town, which is the
weakest part.”
According to his own account, his whole force did not exceed nine
hundred effective men, three hundred of whom he had brought with him;
the rest he found with Colonel Arnold. The latter he pronounced an
exceeding fine corps, inured to fatigue, and well accustomed to a cannon
shot, having served at Cambridge. “There is a style of discipline among
them,” adds he, “much superior to what I have been used to see in this
campaign. He, himself (Arnold), is active, intelligent and enterprising.
Fortune often baffles the sanguine expectations of poor mortals. I am
not intoxicated with her favors, but I do think there is a fair prospect
of success.”[43]
On the day of his arrival, he sent a flag with a summons to surrender.
It was fired upon, and obliged to retire. Exasperated at this outrage,
which, it is thought, was committed by the veteran Maclean, Montgomery
wrote an indignant, reproachful, and even menacing letter to Carleton,
reiterating the demand, magnifying the number of his troops, and warning
him against the consequences of an assault. Finding it was rejected from
the walls, it was conveyed in by a woman, together with letters
addressed to the principal merchants, promising great indulgence in case
of immediate submission. By Carleton’s orders, the messenger was sent to
prison for a few days, and then drummed out of town.
Montgomery now prepared for an attack. The ground was frozen to a great
depth, and covered with snow; he was scantily provided with intrenching
tools, and had only a field train of artillery, and a few mortars. By
dint of excessive labor a breastwork was thrown up, four hundred yards
distant from the walls and opposite to the gate of St. Louis, which is
nearly in the centre. It was formed of gabions, ranged side by side, and
filled with snow, over which water was thrown until thoroughly frozen.
Here Captain Lamb mounted five light pieces and a howitzer. Several
mortars were placed in the suburbs of St. Roque, which extends on the
left of the promontory, below the heights, and nearly on a level with
the river.
From the “Ice Battery” Captain Lamb opened a well-sustained and
well-directed fire upon the walls, but his field-pieces were too light
to be effective. With his howitzer he threw shells into the town and set
it on fire in several places. For five days and nights the garrison was
kept on the alert by the teasing fire of this battery. The object of
Montgomery was to harass the town, and increase the dissatisfaction of
the inhabitants. His flag of truce being still fired upon, he caused the
Indians in his camp to shoot arrows into the town, having letters
attached to them, addressed to the inhabitants, representing Carleton’s
refusal to treat, and advising them to rise in a body, and compel him.
It was all in vain; whatever might have been the disposition of the
inhabitants, they were completely under the control of the military.
On the evening of the fifth day, Montgomery paid a visit to the ice
battery. The heavy artillery from the wall had repaid its ineffectual
fire with ample usury. The brittle ramparts had been shivered like
glass; several of the guns had been rendered useless. Just as they
arrived at the battery, a shot from the fortress dismounted one of the
guns, and disabled many of the men. A second shot immediately following,
was almost as destructive. “This is warm work, sir,” said Montgomery to
Captain Lamb. “It is indeed, and certainly no place for you, sir.” “Why
so, captain?” “Because there are enough of us here to be killed, without
the loss of you, which would be irreparable.”
The general saw the insufficiency of the battery, and, on retiring, gave
Captain Lamb permission to leave it whenever he thought proper. The
veteran waited until after dark, when, securing all the guns, he
abandoned the ruined redoubt. The general in this visit was attended by
Aaron Burr, whom he had appointed his aide-de-camp. Lamb wondered that
he should encumber himself with such a boy. The perfect coolness and
self-possession with which the youth mingled in this dangerous scene,
and the fire which sparkled in his eye, soon convinced Lamb, according
to his own account, that “the young volunteer was no ordinary man.”[44]
Nearly three weeks had been consumed in these futile operations. The
army, ill-clothed, and ill-provided, was becoming impatient of the
rigors of a Canadian winter; the term for which part of the troops had
enlisted would expire with the year, and they already talked of
returning home. Montgomery was sadly conscious of the insufficiency of
his means; still he could not endure the thoughts of retiring from
before the place without striking a blow. He knew that much was expected
from him, in consequence of his late achievements, and that the eyes of
the public were fixed upon this Canadian enterprise. He determined,
therefore, to attempt to carry the place by _escalade_. One third of his
men were to set fire to the houses and stockades of the suburb of St.
Roque, and force the barriers of the lower town; while the main body
should scale the bastion of Cape Diamond.
It was a hazardous, almost a desperate project, yet it has met with the
approbation of military men. He calculated upon the devotion and daring
spirit of his men; upon the discontent which prevailed among the
Canadians, and upon the incompetency of the garrison for the defence of
such extensive works.
In regard to the devotion of his men, he was threatened with
disappointment. When the plan of assault was submitted to a council of
war, three of the captains in Arnold’s division, the terms of whose
companies were near expiring, declined to serve, unless they and their
men could be transferred to another command. This almost mutinous
movement, it is supposed, was fomented by Arnold’s old adversary, Major
Brown, and it was with infinite difficulty Montgomery succeeded in
overcoming it.
The ladders were now provided for the _escalade_, and Montgomery waited
with impatience for a favorable night to put it into execution. Smallpox
and desertion had reduced his little army to seven hundred and fifty
men. From certain movements of the enemy, it was surmised that the
deserters had revealed his plan. He changed, therefore, the arrangement.
Colonel Livingston was to make a false attack on the gate of St. Johns
and set fire to it; Major Brown, with another detachment, was to menace
the bastion of Cape Diamond. Arnold, with three hundred and fifty of the
hardy fellows who had followed him through the wilderness, strengthened
by Captain Lamb and forty of his company, was to assault the suburbs and
batteries of St. Roque; while Montgomery, with the residue of his
forces, was to pass below the bastion at Cape Diamond, defile along the
river, carry the defences at Drummond’s Wharf, and thus enter the lower
town on one side, while Arnold forced his way into it on the other.
These movements were all to be made at the same time, on the discharge
of signal rockets, thus distracting the enemy, and calling their
attention to four several points.
On the 31st of December, at two o’clock in the morning, the troops
repaired to their several destinations, under cover of a violent snow
storm. By some accident or mistake, such as is apt to occur in
complicated plans of attack, the signal rockets were let off before the
lower divisions had time to get to their fighting ground. They were
descried by one of Maclean’s Highland officers, who gave the alarm.
Livingston, also, failed to make the false attack on the gate of St.
Johns, which was to have caused a diversion favorable to Arnold’s attack
on the suburb below.
The feint by Major Brown, on the bastion of Cape Diamond, was
successful, and concealed the march of General Montgomery. That gallant
commander descended from the heights to Wolfe’s Cove, and led his
division along the shore of the St. Lawrence, round the beetling
promontory of Cape Diamond. The narrow approach to the lower town in
that direction was traversed by a picket or stockade, defended by
Canadian militia; beyond which was a second defence, a kind of block
house, forming a battery of small pieces, manned by Canadian militia,
and a few seamen, and commanded by the captain of a transport. The aim
of Montgomery was to come upon these barriers by surprise. The pass
which they defended is formidable at all times, having a swift river on
one side, and overhanging precipices on the other; but at this time was
rendered peculiarly difficult by drifting snow, and by great masses of
ice piled on each other at the foot of the cliffs.
The troops made their way painfully, in extended and straggling files,
along the narrow footway, and over the slippery piles of ice. Among the
foremost, were some of the first New York regiment, led on by Captain
Cheeseman. Montgomery, who was familiar with them, urged them on.
“Forward, men of New York!” cried he. “You are not the men to flinch
when your general leads you on!” In his eagerness, he threw himself far
in the advance, with his pioneers and a few officers, and made a dash at
the first barrier. The Canadians stationed there, taken by surprise,
made a few random shots, then threw down their muskets and fled.
Montgomery sprang forward, aided with his own hand to pluck down the
pickets, which the pioneers were sawing, and having made a breach
sufficiently wide to admit three or four men abreast, entered sword in
hand, followed by his staff, Captain Cheeseman, and some of his men. The
Canadians had fled from the picket to the battery or block house, but
seemed to have carried the panic with them, for the battery remained
silent. Montgomery felt for a moment as if the surprise had been
complete. He paused in the breach to rally on the troops, who were
stumbling along the difficult pass. “Push on, my brave boys,” cried he,
“Quebec is ours!”
He again dashed forward, but, when within forty paces of the battery, a
discharge of grape-shot from a single cannon, made deadly havoc.
Montgomery, and McPherson, one of his aides, were killed on the spot.
Captain Cheeseman, who was leading on his New Yorkers, received a
canister shot through the body; made an effort to rise and push forward,
but fell back a corpse; with him fell his orderly sergeant and several
of his men. This fearful slaughter, and the death of their general,
threw every thing in confusion. The officer next in lineal rank to the
general, was far in the rear; in this emergency, Colonel Campbell,
quarter-master-general, took the command, but, instead of rallying the
men, and endeavoring to effect the junction with Arnold, ordered a
retreat, and abandoned the half-won field, leaving behind him the bodies
of the slain.
While all this was occurring on the side of Cape Diamond, Arnold led his
division against the opposite side of the lower town along the suburb
and street of St. Roque. Like Montgomery, he took the advance at the
head of a forlorn hope of twenty-five men, accompanied by his secretary
Oswald, formerly one of his captains at Ticonderoga. Captain Lamb and
his artillery company came next, with a field-piece mounted on a sledge.
Then came a company with ladders and scaling implements, followed by
Morgan and his riflemen. In the rear of all these came the main body. A
battery on a wharf commanded the narrow pass by which they had to
advance. This was to be attacked with the field-piece, and then scaled
with ladders by the forlorn hope; while Captain Morgan with his
riflemen, was to pass round the wharf on the ice.
The false attack which was to have been made by Livingston on the gate
of St. Johns, by way of diversion, had not taken place; there was
nothing, therefore, to call off the attention of the enemy in this
quarter from the detachment. The troops, as they strangled along in
lengthened file through the drifting snow, were sadly galled by a
flanking fire on the right, from walls and pickets. The field-piece at
length became so deeply embedded in a snow-drift, that it could not be
moved. Lamb sent word to Arnold of the impediment; in the mean time, he
and his artillery company were brought to a halt. The company with the
scaling ladders would have halted also, having been told to keep in the
rear of the artillery; but they were urged on by Morgan with a
thundering oath, who pushed on after them with his riflemen, the
artillery company opening to the right and left to let them pass.
They arrived in the advance, just as Arnold was leading on his forlorn
hope to attack the barrier. Before he reached it, a severe wound in the
right leg with a musket ball completely disabled him, and he had to be
borne from the field. Morgan instantly took the command. Just then Lamb
came up with his company, armed with muskets and bayonets, having
received orders to abandon the field-piece, and support the advance.
Oswald joined him with the forlorn hope. The battery which commanded the
defile mounted two pieces of cannon. There was a discharge of grape-shot
when the assailants were close under the muzzles of the guns, yet but
one man was killed. Before there could be a second discharge, the
battery was carried by assault, some firing into the embrasures; others
scaling the walls. The captain and thirty of his men were taken
prisoners.
The day was just dawning as Morgan led on to attack the second barrier,
and his men had to advance under a fire from the town walls on their
right, which incessantly thinned their ranks. The second barrier was
reached; they applied their scaling ladders to storm it. The defence was
brave and obstinate, but the defenders were at length driven from their
guns, and the battery was gained. At the last moment one of the gunners
ran back, linstock in hand, to give one more shot. Captain Lamb snapped
a fusee at him. It missed fire. The cannon was discharged, and a
grape-shot wounded Lamb in the head, carrying away part of the
cheek-bone. He was borne off senseless, to a neighboring shed.
The two barriers being now taken, the way on this side into the lower
town seemed open. Morgan prepared to enter it with the victorious
vanguard; first stationing Captain Dearborn and some provincials at
Palace Gate, which opened down into the defile from the upper town. By
this time, however, the death of Montgomery and retreat of Campbell, had
enabled the enemy to turn all their attention in this direction. A large
detachment sent by General Carleton, sallied out of Palace Gate after
Morgan had passed it, surprised and captured Dearborn and the guard, and
completely cut off the advanced party. The main body, informed of the
death of Montgomery, and giving up the game as lost, retreated to the
camp, leaving behind the field-piece which Lamb’s company had abandoned,
and the mortars in the battery of St. Roque.
Morgan and his men were now hemmed in on all sides, and obliged to take
refuge in a stone house, from the inveterate fire which assailed them.
From the windows of this house they kept up a desperate defence, until
cannon were brought to bear upon it. Then, hearing of the death of
Montgomery, and seeing that there was no prospect of relief, Morgan and
his gallant handful of followers were compelled to surrender themselves
prisoners of war.
Thus foiled at every point, the wrecks of the little army abandoned
their camp, and retreated about three miles from the town; where they
hastily fortified themselves, apprehending a pursuit by the garrison.
General Carleton, however, contented himself with having secured the
safety of the place, and remained cautiously passive until he should be
properly reinforced; distrusting the good faith of the motley
inhabitants. He is said to have treated the prisoners with a humanity
the more honorable, considering the “habitual military severity of his
temper;” their heroic daring, displayed in the assault upon the lower
town, having excited his admiration.
The remains of the gallant Montgomery received a soldier’s grave, within
the fortifications of Quebec, by the care of Cramahé, the
lieutenant-governor, who had formerly known him.
Arnold, wounded and disabled, had been assisted back to the camp,
dragging one foot after the other for nearly a mile in great agony, and
exposed continually to the musketry from the walls at fifty yards’
distance, which shot down several at his side.
He took temporary command of the shattered army, until General Wooster
should arrive from Montreal, to whom he sent an express, urging him to
bring on succor. “On this occasion,” says a contemporary writer, “he
discovered the utmost vigor of a determined mind, and a genius full of
resources. Defeated and wounded, as he was, he put his troops into such
a situation as to keep them still formidable.”[45]
With a mere handful of men, at one time not exceeding five hundred, he
maintained a blockade of the strong fortress from which he had just been
repulsed. “I have no thoughts,” writes he, “of leaving this proud town
until I enter it in triumph. _I am in the way of my duty, and I know no
fear!_”[46]
Happy for him had he fallen at this moment.—Happy for him had he found a
soldier’s and a patriot’s grave, beneath the rock-built walls of Quebec.
Those walls would have remained enduring monuments of his renown. His
name, like that of Montgomery, would have been treasured up among the
dearest though most mournful recollections of his country, and that
country would have been spared the single traitorous blot that dims the
bright page of its revolutionary history.