RETREAT OF GENERAL THOMAS—HIS DEATH—GENERAL SULLIVAN IN COMMAND—SCENE ON
THE SOREL—SANGUINE EXPECTATIONS OF SULLIVAN—WASHINGTON’S OPINION OF
SULLIVAN’S CHARACTER—GATES APPOINTED TO THE COMMAND IN
CANADA—REINFORCEMENTS OF THE ENEMY—REVERSES—THOMPSON CAPTURED—RETREAT OF
SULLIVAN—CLOSE OF THE INVASION OF CANADA.
Operations in Canada were drawing to a disastrous close. General Thomas,
finding it impossible to make a stand at Point Deschambault, had
continued his retreat to the mouth of the Sorel, where he found General
Thompson with part of the troops detached by Washington, from New York,
who were making some preparations for defence. Shortly after his
arrival, he was taken ill with the smallpox, and removed to Chamblee. He
had prohibited inoculation among his troops, because it put too many of
their scanty number on the sick list; he probably fell a victim to his
own prohibition, as he died of that malady on the 2d of June.
On his death, General Sullivan, who had recently arrived with the main
detachment of troops from New York, succeeded to the command; General
Wooster having been recalled. He advanced immediately with his brigade
to the mouth of the Sorel, where he found General Thompson with but very
few troops to defend that post, having detached Colonel St. Clair, with
six or seven hundred men, to Three Rivers, about fifty miles down the
St. Lawrence, to give check to an advanced corps of the enemy of about
eight hundred regulars and Canadians, under the veteran Scot, Colonel
Maclean. In the mean time General Thompson, who was left with but two
hundred men to defend his post, was sending off his sick and his heavy
baggage, to be prepared for a retreat, if necessary. “It really was
affecting,” writes Sullivan to Washington, “to see the banks of the
Sorel lined with men, women and children, leaping and clapping their
hands for joy, to see me arrive; it gave no less joy to General
Thompson, who seemed to be wholly forsaken, and left to fight against an
unequal force or retreat before them.”
Sullivan proceeded forthwith to complete the works on the Sorel; in the
mean time he detached General Thompson with additional troops to
overtake St. Clair, and assume command of the whole party, which would
then amount to two thousand men. He was by no means to attack the
encampment at Three Rivers, unless there was great prospect of success,
as his defeat might prove the total loss of Canada. “I have the highest
opinion of the bravery and resolution of the troops you command,” says
Sullivan in his instructions, “and doubt not but, under the direction of
a kind Providence, you will open the way for our recovering that ground
which former troops have so shamefully lost.”
Sullivan’s letter to Washington, written at the same time, is full of
sanguine anticipation. It was his fixed determination to gain post at
Deschambault, and fortify it so as to make it inaccessible. “The enemy’s
ships are now above that place,” writes he; “but if General Thompson
succeeds at Three Rivers, I will soon remove the ships below Richelieu
Falls, and after that, approach Quebec as fast as possible.”
“Our affairs here,” adds he, “have taken a strange turn since our
arrival. The Canadians are flocking by hundreds to take a part with us.
The only reason of their disaffection was, because our exertions were so
feeble that they doubted much of our success, and even of our ability to
protect them.
“I venture to assure you, and the Congress, that I can in a few days
reduce the army to order, and with the assistance of a kind Providence,
put a new face to our affairs here, which a few days since seemed almost
impossible.”
The letter of Sullivan gave Washington an unexpected gleam of sunshine.
“Before it came to hand,” writes he in reply, “I almost dreaded to hear
from Canada, as my advices seemed to promise nothing favorable, but
rather further misfortunes. But I now hope that our affairs, from the
confused, distracted, and almost forlorn state in which you found them,
will change, and assume an aspect of order and success.” Still his
sagacious mind perceived a motive for this favorable coloring of
affairs. Sullivan was aiming at the command in Canada; and Washington
soberly weighed his merits for the appointment, in a letter to the
President of Congress. “He is active, spirited, and zealously attached
to the cause. He has his wants, and he has his foibles. The latter are
manifested in his little tincture of vanity, and in an over-desire of
being popular, which now and then lead him into embarrassments. His
wants are common to us all. He wants experience to move upon a grand
scale; for the limited and contracted knowledge, which any of us have in
military matters, stands in very little stead.” This want was
overbalanced, on the part of General Sullivan, by sound judgment, some
acquaintance with men and books, and an enterprising genius.
“As the security of Canada is of the last importance to the well-being
of these colonies,” adds Washington, “I should like to know the
sentiments of Congress, respecting the nomination of any officer to that
command. The character I have drawn of General Sullivan is just,
according to my ideas of him. Congress will therefore determine upon the
propriety of continuing him in Canada, or sending another, as they shall
see fit.”[71]
Scarce had Washington despatched this letter, when he received one from
the President of Congress, dated the 18th of June, informing him that
Major-general Gates had been appointed to command the forces in Canada,
and requesting him to expedite his departure as soon as possible. The
appointment of Gates has been attributed to the influence of the Eastern
delegates, with whom he was a favorite; indeed, during his station at
Boston, he had been highly successful in cultivating the good graces of
the New England people. He departed for his command on the 26th of June,
vested with extraordinary powers for the regulation of affairs in that
“distant, dangerous, and shifting scene.” “I would fain hope,” writes
Washington, “his arrival there will give our affairs a complexion
different from what they have worn for a long time past, and that many
essential benefits will result from it.”
Despatches just received from General Sullivan, had given a different
picture of affairs in Canada from that contained in his previous letter.
In fact, when he wrote that letter, he was ignorant of the actual force
of the enemy in Canada, which had recently been augmented to about
13,000 men; several regiments having arrived from Ireland, one from
England, another from General Howe, and a body of Brunswick troops under
the Baron Reidesel. Of these, the greater part were on the way up from
Quebec in divisions, by land and water, with Generals Carleton,
Burgoyne, Philips and Reidesel; while a considerable number under
General Frazer had arrived at Three Rivers, and others, under General
Nesbit, lay near them on board of transports.
Sullivan’s despatch, dated on the 8th of June, at the mouth of the
Sorel, began in his former sanguine vein, anticipating the success of
General Thompson’s expedition to Three Rivers. “He has proceeded in the
manner proposed, and made his attack at daylight, for at that time a
very heavy cannonading began, which lasted with some intervals to twelve
o’clock. It is now near one P. M.; the firing has ceased, except some
irregular firing with cannon, at a considerable distance of time one
from the other. At eight o’clock a very heavy firing of small arms was
heard even here, at the distance of forty-five miles. I am almost
certain that victory has declared in our favor, as the irregular firing
of the cannon for such a length of time after the small arms ceased,
shows that our men are in possession of the ground.”
The letter was kept open to give the particulars of this supposed
victory; it closed with a dismal reverse. General Thompson had coasted
in bateaux along the right bank of the river at that expanse called Lake
St. Pierre, and arrived at Nicolete, where he found St. Clair and his
detachment. He crossed the river in the night, and landed a few miles
above Three Rivers, intending to surprise the enemy before daylight; he
was not aware at the time that additional troops had arrived under
General Burgoyne.
After landing, he marched with rapidity toward Three Rivers, but was led
by treacherous guides into a morass, and obliged to return back nearly
two miles. Day broke, and he was discovered from the ships. A cannonade
was opened upon his men as they made their way slowly for an hour and a
half through a swamp. At length they arrived in sight of Three Rivers,
but it was to find a large force drawn up in battle array, under General
Frazer, by whom they were warmly attacked, and after a brief stand
thrown in confusion. Thompson attempted to rally his troops, and partly
succeeded, until a fire was opened upon them in rear by Nesbit, who had
landed from his ships. Their rout now was complete. General Thompson,
Colonel Irvine, and about two hundred men were captured, twenty-five
were slain, and the rest pursued for several miles through a deep swamp.
After great fatigues and sufferings, they were able to get on board of
their boats, which had been kept from falling into the hands of the
enemy. In these they made their way back to the Sorel, bringing General
Sullivan a sad explanation of all the firing he had heard, and the
alarming intelligence of the overpowering force that was coming up the
river.
“This, my dear general,” writes Sullivan, in the conclusion of his
letter, “is the state of this unfortunate enterprise. What you will next
hear I cannot say. I am every moment informed of the vast number of the
enemy which have arrived. I have only two thousand five hundred and
thirty-three rank and file. Most of the officers seem discouraged, and,
of course, their men. I am employed day and night in fortifying and
securing my camp, and am determined to hold it as long as a person will
stick by me.”
He had, indeed, made the desperate resolve to defend the mouth of the
Sorel, but was induced to abandon it by the unanimous opinion of his
officers, and the evident unwillingness of his troops. Dismantling his
batteries, therefore, he retreated with his artillery and stores, just
before the arrival of the enemy, and was followed, step by step along
the Sorel, by a strong column under General Burgoyne.
On the 18th of June, he was joined by General Arnold with three hundred
men, the garrison of Montreal, who had crossed at Longueil just in time
to escape a large detachment of the enemy. Thus reinforced, and the
evacuation of Canada being determined on in a council of war, Sullivan
succeeded in destroying every thing at Chamblee and St. Johns that he
could not carry away, breaking down bridges, and leaving forts and
vessels in flames, and continued his retreat to the Isle aux Noix, where
he made a halt for some days, until he should receive positive orders
from Washington or General Schuyler. In a letter to Washington, he
observes, “I am extremely sorry it was not in my power to fulfil your
Excellency’s wishes, by leading on our troops to victory.” After stating
the reason of his failure, he adds, “I think we shall secure all the
public stores and baggage of the army, and secure our retreat with very
little loss. Whether we shall have well men enough to carry them on, I
much doubt, if we don’t remove quickly; unless Heaven is pleased to
restore health to this wretched army, now, perhaps, the most pitiful one
that ever was formed.”
The low, unhealthy situation of the Isle aux Noix, obliged him soon to
remove his camp to the Isle la Motte, whence, on receiving orders to
that effect from General Schuyler, he ultimately embarked with his
forces, sick and well, for Crown Point.
Thus ended this famous invasion; an enterprise bold in its conceptions,
daring and hardy in its execution; full of ingenious expedients, and
hazardous exploits; and which, had not unforeseen circumstances
counteracted its well-devised plans, might have added all Canada to the
American confederacy.