American Revolution Part 4 Invasion of Quebec

In this week's episode, we take a look at the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the invasion of the Quebec region of Canada by colonial forces.

Transcript

Hello, everyone and welcome back to another episode of The History desk, thank you for tuning in. Before we get started with this week’s topic, I wanted to take a moment to talk about a great place for all things history lover. The History list which can be found at thehisotylist.com. Their goal is to connect people to historical sites and events, reenactments, exhibits, walks, tours, lectures, and more in their community and across the country. They can also be found on Facebook by searching the history list. They have some of the greatest products for the history lover including my favorite historical documents such as the declaration of independence printed on a historical press. For the next two weeks you can get free shipping except for overnight with the discount code history-desk and I will leave a link to their website and store in the show notes along with the discount code. They are the perfect place to shop for history lovers or that history lover in your life and their cause to help people access historical information and sites around the country is a worthy cause so please give them a visit take a look at what they have to offer. Now let’s get into this week’s topic. Last week we discussed the Boston campaign that centered around the opening conflicts around the besieged city of Boston ending with George Washington taking command of the continental army and the placing of guns from Fort Ticonderoga overlooking Boston forcing the British to Evacuate the city ending the siege. In this week’s episode we will discuss the taking of Fort Ticonderoga by colonial forces which made those guns available and the campaign to invade the Quebec territory of British controlled Canada. 

                Even before the events of Lexington and Concord colonial forces had taken notice of Fort Ticonderoga and the guns that were stationed there. Benedict Arnold, yes that Benedict Arnold, he is not a traitor yet and that is a more interesting story than is taught but that is for another time, had traveled the area quit often and was knowledgeable of the area, and the defenses of the fort. On his way to Boston after the events of Lexington and Concord he mentioned the conditions at the Fort to militia members and the Connecticut committee of Correspondence decided to act on the information given to them by Arnold. They borrowed money from the provincial treasury and recruiters were sent out to recruit in the area to build a force to attack the fort. American spies in the area mainly John Brown has told officials that the fort should be taken as soon as any hostilities with the British started. When Arnold eventually arrived in the Boston area the city was already under siege, but he relayed the information he had on the fort to the Mass Committee of safety about the cannons and other military equipment at the lightly defended fort. On May 3rd Arnold was given a col. Commission and was given orders to command a secret mission to capture the fort. He was given 100 British pound, gun powder, and ammunition and was instructed to recruit up to 400 men from the troops around Boston and ship back anything useful he was able to acquire at the fort. 

                After receiving his orders Arnold immediately accompanied by two Captains Eleazer Oswald and Jonathan Brown who were tasked with recruiting the men needed for the missions. By May 6th Arnold’s party reached the border of Mass and learned of the recruitment efforts of the Conn committee and that Ethan Allan and his Green Mountain Boys militia were already heading north towards the fort. Riding hard and through the night to the point of killing his horse Arnold was able to reach Allen’s Headquarters at Benington the next day. Arnold was told that Allen was in Castleton 50 miles to the north waiting for more men and supplies. He was also told that though the Green Mountain Boys militia under Allen had no official orders the men were unlikely to serve anyone but Allen. Arnold arrived in Castleton just in time to join the war council and he made his case to lead the expedition based on the idea in which he had formal orders to attack the fort from the Mass Safety Comm. The force under Allen was about 100 Green Mountain Boys, about 40 men raised by James Easton and John Brown at Pittsfield and about another 20 from Connecticut. Allen had been elected the col. With Easton and Seth Warner his Lts. Samuel Herrick had already been sent ahead to Swedesboro and Asa Douglas to Panton with men to secure some boats. Captain Noah Phelps has investigated the fort dressed as a peddler and saw that the fort walls were in disrepair and learned from the Garrison’s commander that their gun powder was wert and they were expecting reinforcement at any time. This information was passed to Allen and with this information they planned a dawn raid of the fort.  Many of the Green Mountain Boys objected to the idea of Arnolds command of them and stated they would rather go home then serve under anyone other than Allen. Allen is said to have worked out an agreement but there is no documentation of said agreement, so its details are unknown. Arnold is stated as saying they were to command the attack jointly, but some accounts also say the agreement was only to allow Arnold the right to march next to Allen and his men. 

                By 11:30 pm on the night of May 9th the men were assembled at Hand’s Cove which is not Shoreham, Vermont and were ready to cross to the fort. The boats that were late in arriving and did not make it to the men until 1:30 am and were not large enough to carry the entire force at one time. 83 of the GMB made the first crossing with Arnold, Allen while Major Asa Douglas went back for the rest. As dawn was fast approaching Allen and Arnold were worried that they would lose the element of surprise and decided to attack with the forces they had with them. As the men approached the south gate the only sentry on duty fled when his musket misfired most likely due to the wet powder. The men then began to awaken a small number of men at gun point seize their weapons. Allen and Arnold began to charge up the stairs towards the officers’ quarters they were delayed by Lt. Jocelyn Feltham assistant to the captain in an attempt to give his commander time to get ready. Captain William Delaplace emerged from his champers fully clothed not as some have reported as having his pants in his hands and surrendered his sword.

                There were no killed in the battle and only on American was injured slightly by a sentry with a bayonet. Eventually almost 400 men arrived at the fort and started looting it for liquor and other goods. Arnold tried to stop the looting, but his authority was not recognized by the Green Mountain boys and was unable to do so. He penned a letter from the captain’s quarters to the Mass safety committee saying the plan to strip the fort of goods and send them to Boston was in peril because of the looting. The disputes between Arnold and Allen’s men were so severe that at times weapons were drawn over them. On May 12th Allen sent the captured British men to Connecticut’s Gov Jonathan Trumbull while Arnold began the task of cataloging the military supplies at the fort and of Fort Crown point which had been taken by Seth Warner around the 11th of May, a task that was made harder by the looting and that one wall of the fort has fallen on some of the weapons.

                Arnolds troops finally arrived at the fort after seizing Philip Skene’s schooner Katherine and several some sail less boats at Skenesboro. Arnold would rename the schooner the liberty. British captives had informed the men that the lone British warship was on Lake Champlain was at Fort Saint-Jean on the Richelieu River on the north end of the lake. Arnold who did not know if word of the capture of the southern forts has made it to Fort Saint-Jean planned to raid the fort and attempt to capture the ship. He outfitted the Liberty with guns and saith north with 50 of his men. Allen who did not want to see Arnold get all the glory set out north as well in the small boats, but Arnold’s ship was faster because of its use of sail. By May 17th Arnold’s boats were on the north side of the lake. Wanting to know the situation in the fort Arnold sent a scout to investigate, upon his return Arnold was informed that word of the southern forts capture had been received and British troops were on the move to reinforce Saint-Jean. This news made Arnold act immediately. Rowing the small boats they brought with them all night Arnold and 35 of his men got close to the fort and after a brief scouting effort were able to surprise the small garrison at the fort and seized the supplies there along with the HMS Royal George a seventy ton Sloop of war. Warned by the men captured at the fort that reinforcements were on the way from Chambly, the supplies and cannon were loaded on the George which Arnold would rename the Enterprise and any boats not able to be taken with them were burned as Arnold and his men’s not large fleet headed back south. A few miles out onto the lake Arnold came upon Allen’s men still rowing north where he opened up his supplies to them because they had been rowing over 100miles in small open boats with no supplies. Allen continued to head north thinking he could take and hold the fort as Arnold continued to sail back south. The vents at Fort Saint-Jean were witnessed by a retired British officer living nearby the fort named Moses Hazen. Hazen rode to Montreal to report the action to the military commander there and then to Quebec City where he reported the news to General Carleton on May 20th. Major Charles Preston was sent with 140 men from Montreal to Fort Saint-Jean because of this warning. Allen arrived at the fort on May 19th but was warned by a merchant moving ahead of the British troops that Preston’s forces were on the way. Allen penned a letter to the citizens of Montreal then retuned to Ticonderoga on May 21at leaving the fort just as the British forces began arriving. In his hast to leave 3 of Allen’s men were left behind, one was captures and two were able to make their way back south by land.

                Allen and his men eventually drifted away from Ticonderoga when the looting rain out and Arnold controlled the area from his base at Crown Point. He oversaw the outfitting of his two large ships eventually having to take command of the Enterprise because of a lack of able seamen. His men started rebuilding the barracks at Fort Ticonderoga and tried to recover any armaments from the rubble and build gun carriages for them to be moved. Connecticut sent 1000 men under Col. Benjamin Hinman to the forts and New York also began to raise forces to send to defend the areas from possible British attack from the north. When Hinman’s forces arrived in June there was another clash over leadership as none of the communications Arnold has received stated that he was to serve under Hinman. The Mass committee eventually send a delegation to the fort to solve the matter and when it arrived on June 22nd, it made it clear that Arnold was to serve under Hinman. After considering it for two days Arnold decided to disband his command and resign his commission go home having already spent 1000 pounds of his own money to capture the forts. 

                In Quebec, the news of the captures of the forts and the raid on Saint-Jean electrified the population. Col Dudley Templar who was in control of the garrison of Montreal called on May 19th to raise a militia to defend the city in case of an attack and requested that the Indian tribes in the area also help. Only 50 men would be raised in and around the city of Montreal and no Indians would come to help.  General Carleton ordered the fortification of Saint-Jean. Most of the troops in the Quebec area were sent to Saint-Jean but some were sent to points around the Saint Lawrence River as far west as Oswegatchie. He then moved his command to Montreal to oversee the defense of the are from there but before leaving her had the Bishop of Quebec issue a call for armed support of the defense of the province. 

                Though Fort Ticonderoga was not an important military post at the time of its capture it did have many favorable results for the colonials. Colonial control of the area meant that the British could no longer communicate by land between the forces in Quebec and those in the Boston area. Command of British forces who had before the capturer been under one command structure was now split into two commands with General Carleton was given command of forces in the Quebec region and after gen Gage was relived Gen Howe command of British forces along the coast in the colonies, though this arrangement had worked for the British in the French and Indian war it would cause problems in the battles to come with a lack of timely communication between forces. 

Invasion of Quebec (1775)

                When the First Continental Congress met in 1774, they had invited the French-Canadians to join them in the meeting in a public letter which was dated Oct 26th, 1774, and the Second Continental congress also sent a letter requesting them to join in May of 1775, but no response was given for either letter.  After the capture of the southern forts of Ticonderoga and Crown point Both Arnold and Allen said that it was necessary to hold the forts to protect against any British thrust south and they also noted how poorly defended the Quebec territory was defended. They both separately proposed expeditions into the area suggesting that a small force of around 1200 to 1500 men could drive the British from the province. Congress at first ordered the forts to be abandoned which prompted New York and Connecticut to provide troops and supplies on their own for the defense of the forts. Public opinion in the New England and New York area tried to get congress to change their opinion. When it was evident that Guy Carleton the Gov of Quebec was fortifying Fort St, Johns and was also attempting to get the support of the Iroquois living in upstate New York involved in the conflict Congress was forced to take a more active position. On June 27th, 1775, congress authorized General Philip Schuyler to investigate and if he deemed it appropriate to start an invasion of the area. Benedict Arnold who was passed over for the command went to Boston to try and convince General Washington to send a supporting force to Quebec City under his command. 

                The British following the raid on Fort St. Johns became aware of the danger from invasion from the south and requested reinforcements from Generals Gage in Boston. He also set about raising local militias to aid in the defense of both Montreal and Quebec City but was met with very limited success as we just discussed. Along with the troops that he had sent out to defend the St. Lawrence he also recruited 100 Mohawks to assist in defense and ordered ships to be built for use on Lake Champlain He would oversee the defense from Montreal with only 150 regulars under his command with the defense of Quebec City being left under the command of Lt. Gov. Cramache

                The British also looked to the Indians of the region for support as they had in past conflicts. Guy Johnson a loyalist and British Indian agent who was living in the Mohawk Valley in New York was friendly with the Indians there especially the Iroquois and were concerned about the safety of himself and his family when the patriot sentiment took hold in the area. Once he believed that it was no longer safe enough for him to conduct his business there, he took his family and left his estate in New York with about 200 loyalists and Mohawk supporters. His first stop was Fort Ontario where on about June 17th he was able to extract on indigenous tribes their promises in helping to keep supply and communication lines open and to harass the enemies of the crown. From there he went to Montreal to meet with Gen Carleton and more than 1500 indigenous people and got similar promises from them. Most of those involved in these meetings were Mohawks as many of the other tribes in the Iroquois Confederacy avoided them and wanted to stay neutral. Many of the Mohawks would remain in the Montreal area but when it looked uncertain if the Americans would launch an invasion they largely went home by the middle of August 1775.

                The Continental Congress wanted to keep the six nations out of the war and in July of 1775 sent Samuel Kirkland who was a missionary who had influence with some of the tribe brought a message from congress saying they wished them to stay home and out of the coming conflict. When news of Johnson’s Montreal meeting was heard General Schuyler called for a conference in Albany and explained to the 400 indigenous attendees that the colonies were at war to preserve rights and were not attempting conquest. The chiefs agreed to stay out of the conflict but did extract concessions from the Americans including promises to address grievances such as the encroachment of white settlers onto their lands. 

                The main invasion force was to be led By Gen. Schuyler with the army going up Lake Champlain to attack Montreal and then Quebec City. The men would be made up of forces from New York, Connecticut, and New Hampshire including the Green Mountain Boys under Seth Warner, supplies would come from New York. Gen Schuyler was overly cautious and by August colonists were receiving reports of Gen. Carleton fortifying the positions outside Montreal and some native tribes had joined forces with the British.

                On August 25th while Schuyler was away at the conference in Albany General Richard Montgomery was told that ships were being built at Fort St Johns and they were almost complete. Montgomery who took advantage of Schuyler being away took the 1200 troops he had at Fort Ticonderoga to a forward position north at Ile aux Noix in the Richelieu River arriving there on September 4th. Schuyler who had fallen ill met up with his troops en route. Once he arrived, he dispatched a letter to James Livingston, a Canadian who was prepared to raise militias from the local population to fight on the side of the Americans to circulate in the area of Montreal. The following day the troops went up the river to Fort St John, took a look at its defenses and a brief skirmish took place between the two sides with minor casualties on both sides, American forces withdrew back to Ile aux Noix. The fighting had been mostly with Indian tribes in the area with no support from the fort, because of this the Indians decided to withdraw from the conflict. Any other Indian support was cut off when a group of Oneidas in the area intercepted a Mohawk war party moving towards the area. They were convinced to return to their village where Guy Johnson was still attempting to get more support from the tribe. The leaders of the Oneidas explained the decision that was made at t the Albany meeting and the British agents left without the support they were looking for. 

                After this first skirmish Gen Schuyler became to ill to continue and turned over command to Montgomery and returned to Ticonderoga in the coming days. After another slow start and the arrival of another 800-100 men from the colonies and some more Green Mountain boys, Montgomery finally started the siege of the fort on September 17th, including cutting off communications with Montreal and even capturing supplies meant for the fort. Ethan Allen was captured in the following week at the battle of Longue-Pointe when he overstepped his instruction to raise militia support and tried to take Montreal with a small group of men. This event made a small upturn in the militia support for the British, but it was short-lived and many of the men that were raised deserted in the following days. General Carleton tried to relieve the siege on Oct 30th, but his attempt failed, and the fort surrendered on November 3rd.

                After the fall of the Fort Montgomery took his troops north and occupied Saint Paul’s Island on November 8th crossing to Pointe-Saint-Charles on the following day. Upon the arrival of the American troops, they were greeted as liberators. Montreal fell without and fighting of significance on November 13th, Gen Carleton had decided the city was indefensible and had suffered significant militia desertion after the fall of Fort Saint John.               He was able to barely escape the city as some American forces crossed the river downstream from the city and winds were preventing his ships from leaving as planned. When his ships reached Sorel, it was approached by a small boat carrying a flag of truce and carried the demand of surrender of the ships claiming that upriver large guns had been placed that would destroy the ships if they continued on.  Without knowing if this was true Carleton decided to sneak off the ship giving orders to dump powder and ammunition of surrender was warranted. On Nov, 19th the British fleet surrendered Carleton was able to disguise himself as a common man and make it to Quebec city. In reality, there were batteries of guns placed up river but they were not large enough to do the damage suggested to the fleet. On the captured ships the American forces found prisoners taken by the British including among them was Moses Hazen who was a Mass born expatriate who had property near Fort St. John. Is treatment at the hands of the British turned him against them and since he had combat experience in the French and Indian war he would go on to lead the 2nd Canadian rifles throughout the war and would join Montgomery’s forces.

                Before leaving Montreal for Quebec City Montgomery posted messages to the citizens that the congress wanted them to join them and even entered into discussions with American allies there for the idea of electing delegates to send to congress. He also wrote Gen Schuyler asking that he have a congressional delegation send up to take up the diplomatic discussions. Much of Montgomery’s fore was depleted sue to expiring enlistments after the capture of Montreal. He would use the captured boats to move towards Quebec City with about 300 troops on November 28th leaving about 200 to stay in Montreal under the command of David Wooster.  Along the way he was joined by James Livingstons newly created 1st Canadian Regiment which was about 200 men as well. 

                Benedict Arnold after being rejected for the role of leading the Champlain Valley invasion was in Cambridge, Mass attempting to convince General Washington to allow him to a second invasion force east aimed at Quebec City. Washington, who would be a good friend to Arnold during the war approved of his plane and give him 1100 men from the army around Boston including Daniel Morgan’s riflemen for the invasion. Arnold’s force sailed off from Newburyport, Mass to the Kennebec River to Fort Western or modern-day Augusta, Maine. Arnold’s expedition was successful as it would bring troops to the gates of Quebec City but it was faced with troubles as soon as it left the last vestige of civilization. There were many places where the troops would have to carry their boats through very difficult terrain as they moved up the Kennebec River, because of this the boats they used would frequently leak spoiling both powder and food. The land between the Kennebec and Chaudière River was swampy and tangled with lakes and bad weather made the movement even harder, this resulted in a quarter of the troops turning back. Traveling down the Chaudière resulted in more destroyed boats as the inexperienced troops could not control them in the fast-moving waters. When Arnold finally reached the St. Lawrence River his force had been reduced to 600 nearly staving men who had traveled nearly 400 miles through the untracked wilderness. When his force made it to the Plains of Abraham on November 14th, Arnold sent a messenger under a white flag with orders to surrender but it was turned down. The American force had no cannon and was barely fit for action was at the doorstep to a heavily fortified city. After receiving news of a planned attack out from the city Arnold was forced to withdraw his men to Pointe-Aux-Trembles on November 19th and wait for Montgomery to reach him, as he was leaving Quebec City Gen Carleton was just entering the city after his defeat at Montreal.

                During their planning of the attack on Quebec City, a Frenchman who was living in the area named Christophe Pelissier came to meet Montgomery. He was politically supportive of the American cause and operated an ironworks. Montgomery discussed holding a provincial convention with him but Pelissier advised against it until Quebec City was taken because he believed that those who supported the cause might not feel safe to act before their security was certain. He did agree to have his ironworks provide ammunition for the troops and he would do so until the end of the campaign in May of 1776 at which time he returned to France. 

Montgomery would join Arnold and James Livingston to assault the city on December 31, 1775, during a snowstorm. The Americans did not have any tactical advantage because of this they were soundly defeated. During the battle, Montgomery was killed and Arnolds was wounded with many men including Daniel Morgan. After the battle Arnold send Moses Hazen and Edward Antill who was another expatriate American to report the request for support from Wooster in Montreal and report the defeat to congress in Philadelphia.

                General Carleton choose not to pursue the defeated American forces deciding rather too stay in the fortified city and await reinforcements he thought would come when the river thawed in spring. Because of this Arnold was able to maintain a somewhat ineffectual siege of the city until March 1776 when he was replaced once again with General Wooster and ordered to Montreal. During the time of the siege, the army suffered from many things including hard winter conditions and smallpox that was beginning to travel through the camp. Some of these losses were offset by the arrival of reinforcements each month of small companies.  On March 14th a miller living outside the city by the name of Jean-Baptiste Chasseur entered the city through the lines and told Gen Carleton that there were 200 men on the south side of the river ready to attack the Americans. These men and even more were mobilized but their advance party was defeated at the Battle of Saint-Pierre by a large detachment of Pro-American Militia which was unknowingly also stationed on the south side of the river. 

                Back in Congress even before word of the defeat had reached them had authorized up to 6500 additional troops for service in the Quebec region. Throughout the winter troops would slowly make their way to Montreal and to the camp outside Quebec City growing the besieging army to almost 3000 though more than a quarter of them were unfit for service mainly because of smallpox. James Livingston and Moses Hazen who commanded the 500 Canadians in the army were not sure about the loyalty of their men nor the cooperation of the population due to persistent loyalist propaganda. Congress was conflicted with the requests made by Gen Arnold after his removal from commander of having a more experienced officer lead the siege. They would first choose Charles Lee who had experience in the British Army to lead in Jan but one week later they would instead send Lee to the southern states to protect against an anticipated attack there. This attack would be thwarted in June of 1776 at the Battle of Sullivan’s Island. They would finally settle in March 0f 1776 on General John Tomas who had served in the siege of Boston. 
 
 

                During the events at Quebec City, there was unrest in Montreal. When Gen Montgomery had left the city, he had left General David Wooster on charge. At first, all went well between Wooster and the population of the city, but he would eventually take steps that would strain this relationship and cause them to dislike the American presence. After promising the ideals the Americans for fighting for to the people Wooster began arresting loyalists and threatened to arrest and punish those who opposed the American cause. He would also disarm many communities and attempt to force local militia members to surrender their crown commissions. Those who would refuse were arrested and to in prison at Fort Chambly. These and other acts would compound with the fact that the American forces were paying for supplies with paper currency and not hard coin would turn the local population against the American forces in the city. On March 20th Wooster left to take command of the forces near Quebec City and Moses Hazen was in command in Montreal until Arnold would arrive on April 19th.

                On April 29th a delegation which included Benjamin Franklin was sent by congress along with an American Jesuit Priest John Carroll and a French printer arrived in Montreal. The mission of the delegation was to assess the situation in the city and attempt to sway the opinion of the public to their cause. The delegation was largely unsuccessful as relations had already been strained beyond repair. To make matters worse the delegation had not brought any hard currency to help pay the large debts to the population that was accumulating. Franklin and Carroll left Montreal on May 11th when they heard the news of the retreat by American Forces from Quebec City. Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll who were also part of the delegation stayed to analyze the military situation south and east of Montreal found that it was a good place to set up a defense. On May 27th they wrote a report to congress and left the city as well returning south. 

                When the American forces took Montreal, they bypassed a series of small British garrisons upriver from the city as they thought them to be of no concern to the occupation. As the spring thaw approached bands of several Indian tribes began to gather at Oswegatchie which housed one of these garrisons giving the commander there, Captain George Foster, a larger force with which to harass the Americans. To prevent supplies reaching these upriver and because of the rumors of the gathering Indians in the region Moses Hazen had detached Colonel Timothy Bedel and 390 men to position themselves 40 miles upriver from the city at a place call the Cedars where they build a stockaded defense works. Foster was made aware of these movements by local Indians and loyalists and on May 15th moved down river with a force of about 250 Native, militia, and regulars to confront them in a series of battles that would be known as the battle of the Cedars which would see strange occurrences such as  Bedel’s Lt Isaac Butterfield surrendering entire force without a fight on the 18th  and another 100 men who were brought as reinforcements would also surrender after a very brief skirmish on the 19th. After receiving the news of Butterfield's surrender, Arnold began assembling a force to free them and he entrenched in a position at Lachine, upriver from Montreal. Foster left the captives at the stockade in The Cedars and moved closer to Montreal with a force which now was about 500 strong until he got word on May 24th of Arnold’s location and that Arnold was expecting more reinforcements soon. Foster knowing that his force would soon dwindle and that Arnold would also soon greatly outnumber him negotiated an agreement with his captives to exchange them for British prisoners taken during the siege of Fort St. John. After some cannon fire, Arnold also agreed to the exchange and it took place between May 27th-30th.

                Back at Quebec City General John Thomas was not able to move north until late April because of the icy conditions on Lake Champlain. He was concerned by the reports of troop reediness and sickness, and he asked Washington for more men to follow him while he was waiting for conditions to improve. When he reached Montreal, he would learn that many of the men had only promised to stay until April 15th and most of these were insistent on leaving to return home. This problem was made worse by the very lost enrollment numbers in the regiments raised for service in the Quebec region. One regiment that was supposed to be raised with 750 men only sailed north with 75 men. This would prompt Congress to order Washington to send more troops north to support the effort. He would send 10 regiments under command of Generals William Thompson and John Sullivan to go north from New York. This would significantly reduce Washington's military power there while he was preparing for the British to attack him soon. There were also transport problems as there was a lack of experienced sailing hands on Lakes George and Champlain to move all these men. Furthermore, there was a shortage of supplies in Quebec, and the shipping that was there was needed to move provisions instead of men. Because of this Sullivan’s men were held up in Fort Ticonderoga and would not reach Sorel until June. Rumors started in early May that British ships were coming up the river. Thomas decided on May 5th to take the sick and move them to Three-Rivers and have the rest of his forces withdraw as soon as possible. Late in the day, he was told there were 15 ships about 40 leagues below the city waiting for the winds to be right to move in. The pace of the evacuation would move into high gear the next day when masts were spotted. The wind has changed, and 3 ships of the fleet had reached the city.

                Carleton having heard word of the speed at which the Americans were moving in the camp rapidly unloaded reinforcements and supplies from the ships and around noon marched out with around 900 men to test the Americans. The response was almost a panic a disorganized retreat began and would have been more disastrous for the Americans if Carleton has decided to press the advantage. It is said that he was hoping to win favor with the rebels with a lenient attitude he was content with sending ships up the river to harass the Americans and maybe cut them off. He captured a number of Americans, mostly sick and wounded but he did capture a detachment that was abandoned on the south side of the river. In the haste to retreat the Americans left valuable supplies behind including cannon and gunpowder. They would regroup on the 7th of May as Deschambault about 40 miles upriver from Quebec City. Once there Thomas held a war council and many of his leaders favored retreat, he decided to keep 500 men at Deschambault and send the rest to Sorel, also he would send work to Montreal for support since most of his troops only had what they were carrying and no other supplies. 

                The congressional delegation that was in Montreal upon hearing the news decided that holding The St Lawrence would no longer be possible, so they only dispatched a small number of reinforcements to Thomas. After waiting six days and hearing nothing from Montreal Thomas began to withdraw to Three rivers but not before fighting off some skirmishers landed by the British from ships on the river. They reached Three Rivers on May 15th where they would leave the sick and a detachment of troops from New Jersey to defend them. By May 19th all the remaining troops join the reinforcements under Gen Thompson at sorel where on the 21st council was held with the congressional delegates. Thomas contracted smallpox the same day and would die on June 2nd. He was replaced with Thompson.

                Though the siege had been broken when the ships under Captain Charles Douglas arrived in Quebec City on May 6th, 1776, Gen Carleton did not take significant offensive measures until May 22nd when he sailed to three rivers with the 47th and 29th regiments. When he heard the news of Foster’s success at The Cedars instead of pushing further he returned to Quebec city and left Allen Maclean in command at three rivers. Back in the city, he met with General John Burgoyne who arrived on June 1st with a large force of Irish recruits and Hessian allies along with a war chest of money. 

                The American forces at Sorel received false information that there were about 300 men at three rivers and thought they would send a force from Sorel to take it. Unaware of the British reinforcement and not familiar with the terrain General Thompson led 2000 men through a thick swamp and then right into the center of a reinforced and entrenched British army. The disaster that followed included the capture of Thompson and most of his senior officers and about 200 of his men and almost all of the boats used in the move, and this would sound the end of the American occupation in Quebec. The American forces now under the command of Gen Sullivan retreated again. Carleton once again did not press the attack and even went as far as returning the captives to New York in comfort in August.

                On June 14th, Carleton eventually sailed his army up the river to Sorel arriving late in the day, and discovered that the American forces had left Sorel just that morning and were moving back up the Richelieu River valley towards Chambly and St. Johns. Unlike in their retreat from Quebec City, the Americans would leave in a somewhat orderly manner, though some units were separated from the main body by the arrival of the British fleet and were forced to march to Montreal to join Arnold's forces there. Carleton ordered Gen. Burgoyne and 4000 troops to move up the river after the retreating Americans as he continued to sail to Montreal. 

                Arnold in Montreal was unaware of what was happening downriver, after recently dealing with Foster. He sent a messenger downriver to Sorel on June 15th for any word of Gen Sullivan after being spotted by Carleton’s fleet the messenger was able to escape to shore and return to Montreal on a stolen horse. Within hours of hearing this news, Arnold and his troops garrisoned around Montreal left the city, not before trying to burn it down, and left it in the hands of the local militia. Carleton’s fleet arrived in Montreal on June 17th. Arnold’s troops would catch up with the main body of the army near St. Johns on the 17th and found Sullivan’s troops were not in the condition to fight and after a brief war council, they came to a decision to retreat once again to Crown Point. The last parts of the army left St. Johns moments before the vanguard of Burgoyne’s forces arrived.

                The remnants of the American Army arrived at Crown Point in early July ending the American campaign to take the Quebec territory. Unfraternally for the Americans though their advance was over the British were still on the move.  During their retreat up the Richelieu and across Lake Champlain, the American forces decided to deny the British any significant shipping by burning or sinking any boats they could not take with them on the retreat. This caused the British to spend several months building ships and slowing their advance. When General Arnold and Ethan Allen took Fort Ticonderoga Arnold had formed a makeshift fleet and it was still patrolling Lake Champlin when the American forces retreated to Crown Point. While the British worked on the ships to counteract this fleet Carleton dealt with matters on Montreal. When the city of Quebec was still under siege, he had formed committees to find and arrest American sympathizers and he now did the same in Montreal. Carleton would not report his ships being ready until September 28th. 

                In early July General Horatio Gates was given command of the continental army’s northern forces and he decided to move the bulk of the men from Crown point to Ticonderoga leaving just under 300 at Crown Point. The army spent this time improving the defenses of Fort Ticonderoga while Arnold continues to build ships to help defend the lake from the British navy that was soon to be coming. During the summer reinforcements poured into Ticonderoga until the army grew to the size of approx 10,000 strong. Shipbuilders set up shop in Skenesboroug present-day Whitehall to help build ships for the defense. 

Carleton was finally able to move on October 7th and by the 9th the British fleet was in Lake Champlain. A naval battle was fought between the British fleet and Arnold's ragtag navy between Valcour Island and the western shore beginning on Oct 11th. Though the British fleet was able to cause massive damage to Arnold’s ships he was able to delay any further movement and escape with some of his ships to Crown Point. Feeling the defenses there were not good enough he took his remaining ships and men and withdrew to Ticonderoga. Carleton’s troops occupied Crown points on Oct 17th but they were only staying for two weeks, with winter coming on Nov 2nd he withdrew his forces back to Quebec for winter quarters. Some believe that if he would have started the campaign earlier, he might have been able to push further south before winter set in.

                The invasion of Quebec ended as a disaster for the Americans, all gains had been lost and they were back in Fort Ticonderoga where they had started. It is considered that Arnold's delaying actions both on the retreat from Montreal and Lake Champlain helped to delay a full-scale British thrust south until 1777. Carleton was criticized for is slow to act style of command by Burgoyne and for taking a more aggressive pursuit of the American forces retreating from Quebec. Due to this when the offensive did come in 1777 Burgoyne was given command instead with Carleton resigning his role of Gov of Quebec.

                After the campaign, a significant part of the forces at Fort Ticonderoga was sent south with Generals Gates and Arnold in November to help reinforce General Washington's army who was faltering in its defense of New Jersey. The conquering of Quebec would remain an objective on congress during the war but General Washington who was supportive of the original invasion thought another attempt would take too many men away from the battles in the 13 colonies and no other force was ever sent. Several hundred men of British and French descent recruited during the time in Canada stayed with the army during their retreat in 1776 and Under Livingston and Hazen they would serve in various theaters of the war including the siege of Yorktown. With the inability to retrieve the property they had given up fighting with the Americans many stayed in the army out of necessity and continued to ask congress to live up to their political and military financial pledges. After the war was over the Canadiens reunited with the women and children who were surviving during the war on rations in Albany and Fishkill New York and some accepted the opportunity to settle a part of northern New York which was designated for refugees of Canada and Nova Scotia.