USA > New York > Essex County > The military and civil history of the county of Essex, New York : and a general survey of its physical geography, its mines and minerals, and industrial pursuits, embracing an account of the northern wilderness > Part 13
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come this popular feeling, but with little definite success. The indefatigable efforts of Carleton embraced other expe- dients. By the influence of large bounties, and the assu- rances of peculiar privileges and immunities in the affairs of the colony, he succeeded in gathering a few recruits, who were enrolled as the corps of the Royal Highland Emi- grants.
The royal agents effected more favorable results by their overtures to the savage tribes. In July, Guy Johnson, the intendent of Indian affairs, arrived at Montreal, accompa- nied by a large band of Iroquois chiefs and warriors, and among them Brant, the Mohawk chieftain. A solemn council was held, and these representatives of the powerful confederacy swore in their barbarian forms fealty to Eng- land, pledging its support to the cause of the king against the insurgent colonies. Thus originated the employment of the Indian in this contest, and to this action may be traced the ruthless scenes of blood and rapine that marked the progress of the war.1 The American commanders conceived a demonstration against the fort at St. Johns expedient, in order to secure an impressive effect to the proclamation which had been issued. They advanced from the island with only one thousand effective men, and re- pulsed on their march a spirited attack by the Indians. A slight breastwork was erected near the fort, but without the power of assailing works, which were found to be quite formidable. Schuyler determined to fall back with the view of protecting his original position. By the erec- tion of a cheveau de frize in the Sorel river, he effectually obstructed all access to the lake, by the vessels which Carleton was actively employed in constructing at St. Johns. Schuyler was recalled to Albany by public affairs, and while detained there was attacked by a severe and pro- tracted sickness, that prevented his return to the army. The command of the expedition devolved on General
1 Stone's Life of Brant.
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Montgomery, and it could have been confided to no more competent or illustrious leader.
Montgomery was a native of Ireland, and born to high social position. His mind, endowed by eminent native qualities, was adorned by culture, refined by habits, and elevated and expanded by military experience. He served under Wolfe at Louisburg with much distinction, was promoted and attached to the army of Amherst, in which he acted as adjutant of the 17th Regiment of foot. He accompanied his regiment to the West Indies, and retired from the army with the rank of captain in 1772. Soon after his resignation, he married a daughter of Robert R. Livingstone, and, settling upon the banks of the Hudson, devoted himself to the pursuits of peace. Here, in 1775, he was dwelling in elegant repose, surrounded by all the refined blandishments of society and the joys of domestic felicity. His adopted country summoned him from these happy scenes, demanding, in her impending struggle, the influence of his character and the aid of his genius and acquirements. He freely consecrated all to the cause of liberty and independence ..
The early arrival of reenforcements and artillery enabled Montgomery to pursue aggressive measures, and he again advanced and formed the regular investment of St. Johns. That fortress, situated on the Sorel, was now considered the key to Canada. It was occupied by a garrison of seven hundred men commanded by Major Preston, and its strong works were impregnable to the ordnance of Mont- gomery, who was alike deficient in guns and ammunition. Fortunately, the fort at Chambly, a short distance below, upon the same river, was held by a small body of troops. and guarded without prudence or vigilance. Montgomery promptly resolved to avail himself of these circumstances, and a party led by majors Livingstone and Brown, de- scended the river in silence and in the obscurity of a dark night, attacked and captured the fort after a feeble defense. This successful enterprise relieved the great embarrass- ment of Montgomery, and furnished him with several heavy
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pieces of cannon, a hundred and twenty-four barrels of powder, and a large quantity of stores and provisions. The colors captured' at the fort were transmitted to congress, with imposing forms, as the first testimonials of success.
A more favorable disposition towards the Americans was disclosed among the Canadians, and large numbers joined the army, bringing with them supplies and ammuni- tion. With a view of fostering this spirit, by intercourse with the people and an exhibition of strength, as well as to procure supplies, Montgomery caused detachments of his troops to traverse the country in various directions. Allen and Brown, at the head of two of these parties, having approached Montreal, hastily concerted an attack on the island. The conception of crossing a wide and turbulent river, in the presence of a superior and vigilant enemy, was bold and extravagant; but heroic daring was the spirit of the times. Allen, securing boats at Longueil, crossed the river at night with one hundred men, many of whom were Canadians. Brown, who it was intended should cross above the river, and cooperate by a diversion with the other party, was unable to effect his part of the plan. Allen was thus left to meet the united strength of the garrison, and was assailed by an overwhelming force of regulars, Canadians, and savages. He made a gallant resistance, but was compelled to surrender with his entire party. Carleton, departing from the generous clemency that adorned his character, refused to recognize Allen as a prisoner of war, but, loaded with chains, he was trans- ported to England, and subjected on the passage to every barbarous indignity. In that country, he was transferred with capricious tyranny from one jail to another, and from prison castles to convict ships ; continually pursued by the same unrelenting persecution, but powerless to shake the stern devotion of his republican zeal. After an imprisonment of almost three years, he was exchanged and received by a grateful country, with every demon- stration of respect and interest. Allen had been su- perseded in the command of the Vermont troops by
10
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Warner, and in his connection with the army of Mont- gomery, held no distinct or formal official position.
Carleton, elated by this success, determined, in conjunc- tion with Colonel McLean, who was stationed with the corps of Royal Emigrants at the mouth of the Sorel, to effect the relief of the garrison at St. Johns. With a force 'of one thousand men, consisting principally of Canadians and Indians, he undertook to effect the passage of the river from Montreal to Longueil. Warner, however, in anticipation of the movement, had occupied the eastern bank, lying in concealment at Longueil with three hundred of the Green mountain boys, and fortifying his position by a few small pieces of artillery judiciously planted. As Carleton approached the shore, he was received by a sweeping shower of grape and musketry. His raw troops, unaccustomed to an ordeal so unexpected and severe, were at once repulsed and fled back precipitately to the island. McLean retreated to his former position, and having learnt by a letter, from Arnold to Schuyler, which had been intrusted to an Indian runner, and fell into the hands of McLean through treachery or accident, the astounding intelligence that an American army was descending the valley of the Chaudiere with the design of seizing Quebec, hastened with all the force he was able to collect to occupy that place. Montgomery immediately secured the pos- session of the important post evacuated by McLean, and by the erection of a commanding work at the junction of the Sorel with the St. Lawrence, sustained by floating batteries, obstructed the navigation of both streams. This energetic proceeding totally isolated Montreal, and the forts upon the upper waters of the river and lakes, from all communication with Quebec and the ocean.
Preston, having been apprised by Montgomery of these adverse circumstances, surrendered St. Johns, with its garrison, its armament of fifty guns, eight hundred stands of arms, and a large amount of munitions. This most valuable conquest being accomplished, Montgomery, with- out any delay, marched upon Montreal, and offering that city
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the most liberal and humane terms ; it capitulated without making any defense. Carleton, anticipating the arrival of Montgomery, relinquished the command of Montreal to Prescott, and repaired to the fleet, which he had as- sembled below the city. Its descent was, however, obstructed by the works that had been erected at the mouth of the Sorel, and which had already inflicted on the fleet a severe repulse. The capture of the go- vernor-general, an event that would have been almost de- cisive of the war in Canada, appeared inevitable, but he effected an escape in disguise, floating by the American batteries in a boat with muffled oars, and under the protec- tion of a dark night. Prescott, who subsequently attained such notoriety in his second capture on Rhode Island, on the thirteenth of November, surrendered the fleet and a large part of the garrison of Montreal which had sought refuge on the vessels, with many persons of both civil and mili- tary prominence.
Montgomery, throughout the campaign, had been tried and oppressed by the character of the troops over whom he held a nominal command. Inspired by the loftiest heroism and enthusiasm, the army was composed of re- cruits without experience, hastily levied with only a brief term of enlistment. At home they had been accustomed to a social equality with their officers in the same pacific pur- suits and the unlimited exercise of opinion and the freedom of consultation. They carried these habits into camp, and asserted there the same privileges. The restraints and rules of obedience, usual to military service, were but slightly recognized. The native eloquence of their leader, his conciliatory spirit and wise deportment, strengthened by the high respect felt for his character and attainments, enabled Montgomery to mould this inchoate mass into the appearance of an army; but the period was too limited to impart the discipline and efficiency of which materials so intelligent and brave were susceptible. In addition to these embarrassments, the army imperfectly clothed already suf- fered from the rigors of the climate and all the evil conse-
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quences of the mistaken policy of short enlistments began to be disclosed. A large part of the troops were even then entitled to their discharges, and the expiration of the term of many others was rapidly approaching.
Montgomery distributed to the soldiers warm clothing, and by the most earnest importunities, and addresses to their soldierly spirit and patriotism, endeavored to prevail on them to remain until the close of a campaign which had opened with such brilliant presages. All these appeals were in the main unsuccessful. Montgomery had been educated in a strict school of military subordi- nation, and his spirit was galled and depressed by this laxity of discipline, and of the bonds that held together an army, upon the conduct of which depended his own success and fame, but over which he saw that he could exert little controlling power. An enthusiastic devotion to the cause to which he had pledged his service, alone restrained an immediate abandonment of the command ; but he announced to congress a fixed determination to resign, whenever the pending operations were terminated.
While these events were transpiring on the St. Lawrence, one of the most remarkable adventures of the age was in progress in another quarter. Washington, in the camp before Boston, had conceived the idea of a measure, so daring and terrible, that its execution seemed scarcely within the compass of human endurance. It was one of those conceptions, that occasionally burst through the Fabian policy, which circumstances imposed upon him, and proved that inherent impulses would have prompted him to measures of bold enterprise and vigorous action. He resolved to dispatch a body of one thousand men under the command of Arnold, who should proceed up the Ken- nebec river, and, surmounting the hideous wilderness where its fountains mingled with the waters of the St. Lawrence, and which had never been traversed save by the Indians and the mountaineer, should descend by the Chaudiere to Quebec. With a supreme knowledge of Canadian affairs, Washington wisely conceived, that wholly unsuspicious of
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danger from this direction all the available troops would be withdrawn by Carleton from the lower St. Law- rence to oppose Montgomery, that Quebec would be unguarded, and that the citizens, favorably disposed to the American occupation, would, with joy, capitulate. This plan would have been crowned by complete success, had not untoward delays been created by the insuperable obsta- cles that nature interposed. It is not within the range of our narrative to trace the details of this marvelous exploit, beyond its connection with the operations of Montgomery.
About the middle of September, Arnold commenced his wild and adventurous march, and did not reach the banks of the St. Lawrence until the 9th of November, more than three weeks later than the day designated in the original design. No band of heroes have ever sur- mounted equal perils and suffering with firmer constancy and resolution. Thirty-two days they were buried in this desolation of forests and mountains, of rivers, morasses and lakes. Their progress had been protracted by the most formidable impediments, struggling amid gloomy solitudes, cheered by no human countenance, and without a single aspect of civilization. When thirty miles from the first Canadian cabin, the last remnant of provision was exhausted. The pet dogs of the officers, which had lovingly followed their masters through these perils, had been eaten, with food still more loathsome and repulsive.1 When at length the expedition reached the settlements far up on the Chaudiere, it was received with cordiality and kindness, and the wants of the famishing troops relieved to the utmost extent permitted by the limited resources of the people. Here Arnold was constrained to indulge his army in a brief repose, while he awaited the gathering of the scattered detachments and dispersed the forcible and conciliatory proclamation of Washington. Colonel Enos, who conducted the rear division, consisting of one-third of the army, after reaching the sources of the
1 Sparks's Life of Arnold.
.
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Kennebec, was compelled to return by an utter destitution of subsistence for his troops.
When this array of unknown men, burst into their seclusion from the pathless wilderness, the simple minded habitans looked upon them in wonder, mingled with awe. It almost seemed to them
As if the yawning hills to heaven,
A subterranean host had given.
Rumor spread with wild exaggeration, the report of the numbers of the invaders. They were represented as terri- ble in their powers of body, invincible in courage and cased in iron. These intrepid adventurers stood upon the shore of the St. Lawrence. Quebec, the prize that was to have rewarded all their toils and suffering, was in view, but beyond their grasp.
The letter which had been intercepted by McLean, com- municated to him the designs of Arnold. The alertness that secured the presence of the former at Quebec, and the vigor of his measures, saved the city from capitulation. Vigilant and experienced, he adopted every expedient to insure its safety. All the boats he could seize were re- moved from the eastern shore of the river; sailors to man the batteries were drawn from the ships in the harbor, and the defenses of the city generally were reorganized and strengthened. Had Arnold been able to effect the imme- diate passage of the St. Lawrence when he reached its shores, he would have found a universal consternation pre- vailing, Quebec undefended, and the people disposed to yield to him the possession of the city. The precautions of McLean frustrated this measure, the original plan of the campaign. The prevalence of an impetuous storm and the delay incident to the collection of means of transportation caused a detention of four days. Having succeeded in procuring thirty or forty frail birch canoes, by the assist- ance of the Canadians, Arnold crossed the river with five hundred men on the night of the 13th, although the Lizard frigate and a sloop were lying in front of the city, for the
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purpose of intercepting them, and their guard boats were continually patrolling the stream. The little flotilla had made three passages, and as the last party landed, the disco- very of the movement by one of these, made it unsafe to at- tempt the crossing of the rear division amounting to one hundred and fifty men, who remained in the occupation of Point Levi. Arnold ascended the precipitous cliffs that Wolfe had rendered memorable, and stood when the day dawned, with his little band on the plains of Abraham. The hope of seizing the city by a surprise was disappointed. The guard boat had communicated information of the crossing by the Americans; the city was alarmed, and McLean alert and prepared to meet an attack.
An assault of a fortified city, guarded by a garrison of eighteen hundred men with his small party, almost with- out ammunition, destitute of artillery and a large part of their guns rendered useless by the exposure of their march, Arnold saw would be a hopeless and a desperate sacrifice. The next day, with his usual audacity, he sent a flag sum- moning the city to surrender, but it was fired upon without permitting an approach to the walls. He occupied, during three days, lines in front of the place, and attempted by various devices to excite a cooperative movement by par- tisans within the works. These demonstrations secured no favorable results, and learning that a sortie by the garri- son was contemplated, while a body of two hundred troops, which had escaped from Montreal was approaching his rear, Arnold decided to fall back to Point au Tremble, twenty miles above, and there to await a junction with Montgomery.1
1 Much discrepancy will be discovered in the language of historians in reference to these events. Marshall states that Arnold crossed on the 14th, that McLean did not arrive at Quebec before Arnold reached the eastern shore of the St. Lawrence ; that the guard boat neglected to impart intelli- gence of the crossing, that no apprehension existed of an attack, and had Arnold been aware of these facts he might have marched through St. John's gate into the city, unopposed. Botta affirms that a council of naval officers refused to allow the sailors to land in support of the garrison.
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Arnold with deep chagrin, saw the vessel that conveyed Carleton to Quebec safely descending the river and to learn that on his arrival at Point au Tremble, that Carleton had landed there only an hour or two before.
The troops, whose period of service had terminated, resisted every appeal to their patriotism and duty urged by Montgomery, to induce them to remain, and by their per- sistent determination to assert their legal rights nearly dissolved his army. After leaving feeble garrisons to main- tain his different conquests, he joined Arnold on the 1st of December with a detachment of three hundred men. But he brought an ample supply of woolen apparel to clothe the suffering army of Arnold.
On the 5th of December, the combined forces, forming an aggregate of less than a thousand men, again appeared before Quebec and renewed the siege. A battery of six small guns was erected. The frozen ground resisted all . efforts to use it for that purpose, and Montgomery resorted to the novel expedient of substituting snow for earth, in the construction of the work, which, saturated with water and hardened by frost, acquired almost the consistency and firmness of marble. The guns, mounted on the battery, proved too lightfor effective service. Montgomery renewed the formal summons to surrender, but his flag was again fired upon and repelled. This unusual action was intended to interdict communication between the besiegers and citizens. At first a strong favorable disposition existed among the people towards the republican interests, but this feeling had been much modified by the policy of Carleton, and the alarm excited by an apprehension of the probable consequence to the town of a hostile occupation.
Darkness and gloom were gathering around the enter- prise, but the inflexible spirit of the leaders, sustained by the enthusiasm of the army, could be subdued by no com- mon obstacles. The sufferings of the troops in their exposed condition from the severity of the weather, and the unremitting toil and fatigue to which they were sub- jected, transcended all that had been imagined of distress
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and hardship. These calamitous circumstances were in- tensely aggravated by the appearance of the small-pox in the camp. This fell pestilence, then the most dreaded scourge to armies, raged with peculiar virulence and fatality, and pursued the troops with an unmitigated severity until their final return to Ticonderoga.
Montgomery knew that the loftiest expectations had been inspired by the early successes of the campaign, and the confidence in his genius and skill. A brilliant enter- prise, which should shed around a failure a blaze of glory, would prove less disastrous in its influence upon this popular enthusiasm, than an inglorious retreat without an effort. His own fame, and the reputation of the army demanded a great effort, and he resolved to risk a general assault upon the city. A council of war approved the design, and the army, which it was necessary to consult, after the disaffection of a part of Arnold's command, had been surmounted by the influence of Morgan, embraced it with extreme ardor. An assault, although in the high- est degree perilous and doubtful, was far from desperate. The very magnitude of the work, occupied by a feeble garrison, was an element of weakness. The Canadian levies were known to be disaffected, and the citizens with- out zeal towards the government. Audacity often wins where judgment hesitates and calculation fails.
The plan ultimately adopted by Montgomery, contem- plated two demonstrations against the upper town, by de- tachments chiefly composed of Canadian recruits and led by Livingstone and Brown, while the real attack should be made upon the lower town by Montgomery and Arnold,
assailing it at opposite points. The combined movements commenced at four o'clock in the morning of the 31st day of December, 1775. A driving snow storm, impelled by a fierce north-east gale, enveloped the scene in profound obscurity. Each commander at the head of the forlorn hope, led his own column. The vigilance of Carleton was unslumbering; the batteries were armed, the guns charged with grape and canister ready to offer the assailants a fear-
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ful reception. Yet, so skillfully had the measures of Montgomery been conducted, that Carleton knew not from what direction to expect the impending blow.1 The Americans advanced with caution and in silence, slowly groping their way, amid darkness and the tempest. Mont- gomery assumed to himself the dangerous duty of leading the column, which was intended to make the assault by a narrow and obscure pathway that passed between the base of Cape Diamond, a lofty and inaccessible precipice and the river St. Lawrence. This defile was defended by a strong block-house with palisades extending from the cliffs to the river. A picket had been constructed a short distance in advance, which was occupied by a few Canadian soldiers. At the approach of the assailing party, this guard fled in alarm and disorder, firing a harmless volley, and communi- cated their panic to the troops at the block-house, who also precipitately abandoned their post.
The advance of the Americans was impeded by an immense and nearly insurmountable barrier of ice, which at this point had been formed by the surging tide and where the drifting snow had accumulated. The troops, able only to advance in single file or individually, were slowly and with excessive difficulty surmounting these obstacles, while Montgomery was aiding with his own hands in removing the palisades. He halted sufficiently to be joined by about two hundred of his followers, and boldly advancing, shouted : "Men of New York, you will not fear to follow where your general leads." At this moment a single cannonier, tradition states a drunken sailor,2 returned to the battery, and, seizing an unextinguished match, discharged one of the pieces. The storm of grape swept along the narrow passage with frightful destruction. Every man in the advance, except a Canadian guide and Aaron Burr, a youth of nineteen who had joined Arnold as a volunteer, was stricken down.3 Montgomery, pierced by a ball through the head, and both legs lacerated by
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