American Revolution: The Invasion of Canada & Battle of Quebec, 1775-76

in 1775 British Authority is slowly

collapsing across the 13 colonies

but it's in New England where the

revolution has truly taken hold

the northeastern colonies have become

the center of the Rebellion against the

British parliament's attempts to to

dominate the colonies and Rebels have

won control of the militias courts the

press and assemblies

while the British army is besieged in

Boston Congress on the Continental Army

know that reinforcements from Europe

will strike against them the following

year in 1776.

Benedict Arnold a recently appointed

colonel in the Continental Army has

become a leading voice of the dangers

posed by British control of the Saint

Lawrence River and the province of

Quebec

he argues that if New York is seized

British armies could March from the

North and the South to cut off New

England and strangle the Rebellion from

both land and sea

many also hope that their Canadian

cousins will join them in Rising against

the British and that Quebec will become

the 14th colony to Rebel

Congress invites Quebec to join the

Continental Congress but this is ignored

and their calls to Arms fall on deaf

ears

French Canadians make up the majority in

the province and it's hoped they would

have no love for the British authorities

who only recently Incorporated Quebec

into the empire in 1763

although French Canadians may not be

loyal to their new king they equally do

not trust the colonial Protestants and

for the most part believe that their

rights are safer in British rather than

American hands

Congress has another reason to remove

the British presence from Quebec

agents of the crown had begun mobilizing

support among the Iroquois Confederacy

which constitutes the six nations of the

Mohawk the Oneida Onondaga Cayuga Seneca

and the Tuscarora

in July some 1600 Mohawks are rallied

for a raid into New England to keep the

accidental forces on the defensive and

out of Canada

but the British governor of Quebec guy

Carlton sends the Indians home out of

fear that their presence will tip local

opinion decisively in favor of the

revolution

fears in Congress of widespread Indian

support for the British are wrong and in

1775 the majority of the Iroquois

Confederacy leans towards neutrality in

what they see as a family affair heating

Continental pleas to bury the hatchet

deep

Governor Carlton does however maintain

active support from some tribes the

Mohawks in particular who provide

supplies harass Continental forces and

keep an eye on enemy movements

Governor Carlson has just 800 regulars

to defend Quebec Province and he seeks

to actively recruit local militia with

limited success

Colton also re-fortifies Fort St John's

which guards entry to The Province on

the Richelieu River and will act as the

main line of defense against an invasion

by June Congress has been convinced to

invade Canada a major general Philip

Schuyler is ordered North on an

expedition to liberate or conquer

at the same time Benedict Arnold

convinces the newly named

commander-in-chief of the Continental

Army George Washington to send him on a

second Expedition from Maine

following the Swift capture of Fort

Ticonderoga earlier in the year Arnold

confidently believes that after just 20

days his forces will be demanding the

surrender of Carlton in Quebec City

in August the invasion of Canada begins

as general Richard Montgomery Skyler's

second in command moves 1200 men up the

risholu river

before Quebec City they must first take

Montreal and its surrounding forts

Carlton conducts a passive defense and

does not actively use his Canadian

militia and Native allies to support the

besieged force at St John's with its 700

regulars and militia trapped inside

by early November without relief or

supplies the British Garrison surrenders

and as news reaches Montreal Lawless

militias evaporate

the remaining British forces are

captured as they attempt to withdraw

Carlton Slips Away dressed as a common

man making his way alone and defeated to

Quebec City

the Americans have successfully defeated

the bulk of the British Army in the

province but their liberation of

Montreal will soon prove unpopular with

the locals

Catholic churches are arbitrarily shut

down and taxes are imposed without

representation in Congress and are only

not lost on the Canadians

combined with anti-french an

anti-catholic sentiment in the American

ranks popular support for the cause soon

begins to waver

while Montgomery advances in Montreal

Benedict Arnold has been facing his own

battle against the elements

by September he has gathered some 1100

men including many frontiersmen from

Virginia and Pennsylvania and Provisions

for a journey of 180 miles but his maps

are wrong and then marched through the

Wilderness of Maine to Quebec city is in

fact closer to 350 miles

Arnold's Expedition starts well and with

High Spirits his men cuts across the

dense and inhospitable Landscape fishing

for food and carrying their boats where

the rivers become too rough or shallow

to pass but heavy rains lead to

dysentery which is soon followed by snow

and the route starts to take its toll on

Arnold's small army

increasingly desperate men heroically

push on despite the lack of winter

clothing shelter and even shoes

some men are forced to eat leather or in

one instance an officer's dog While

others vote to abandon the Expedition

altogether

by the time they reach the outskirts of

Quebec City in mid-november the elements

have thrown everything they can at the

Army and nothing now stands in the way

of Arnold's men and The Siege they

desperately crave

[Music]

Benedict Arnold has lost almost half his

army to the Expedition which now stands

at 600 outside of Quebec City

Montgomery soon arrives with an

additional 700 men along with all

important artillery pieces and The Joint

Force sets up camp outside the imposing

City walls

emissaries that are sent to demand a

British surrender or shot and letters

that do reach Carlton are burnt in front

of his men before being read the message

is clear this time there will be no

surrender or easy American victory

the British forces are led by the

recently arrived Carlton and a

battle-hardened Highlander Alan McLean

who'd once fought against the crown in

the Scottish Jacobite rebellion 30 years

earlier

Carlton and McLean are confident in

their defenses the walls of Quebec are

strong and they've marshaled an

assortment of 1800 troops including

local militia Scottish Highland

immigrants a handful of Marines and

large numbers of sailors drawn from

ships in the harbor

although Arnold remains confident of

Victory the Army has suffered

they are short on Provisions including

ammunition and many of their muskets

have become unusable from the March

to make matters worse a large number of

soldiers enlistments end on the 31st of

December and they will soon return home

despite the challenges the men of the

Continental Army doggedly set up

artillery batteries and begin the siege

of Quebec

in a speech on Christmas Day Montgomery

announces that they will soon assault

the city

he plans to envelop the weaker British

defenses in the lower town and then

scale the walls to force a British

surrender

they wait until December 30th for a

storm to cover their movements and

Montgomery gives the order to attack

in the early hours two diversionary

forces move forward to faint attacks

against Quebec's Western Wall and pinned

down and distract as much of the enemy

as they can

some of the men have written on their

clothing Liberty or death

as they Advance the storm turns into a

blizzard dampening musket powder and

making communication almost impossible

Arnold leads his men North while

Montgomery moves South around the main

wall

they are soon spotted by centuries

church bells ominously start to ring and

Loyalist militia arm themselves sensing

that time is of the essence while the

bulk of the Continental Force breaks

down wooden Palisades Montgomery takes

the initiative and moves with an

advanced party of 50 men through the

blizzard and into the streets of the

Lower Town

Canadian militiamen and sailors are

waiting for them barricaded inside a

makeshift block house bristly with

Cannon

Montgomery bravely on sheath's sword and

leads his men forward charging down the

street toward the Canadians

the Corvette militia opened fire and

Montgomery and the men around him are

struck down Dead with many more wounded

what remains of the force pulls back

including one Aaron Burr a future Vice

President of the United States

without proper leadership they decide

that further attack is suicide and elect

instead to fall back to the plains of

Abraham

Arnold's Force has also made it to the

Lower Town dodgy musket firing grenades

from the walls as they charge past the

first barricade is manned by 30

Canadians and as Arnold prepares to

charge it he is hitting the leg by a

musket ball

against his wishes he is carried from

the field back to American lines

Daniel Morgan takes command and

successfully charges the Canadians

taking them prisoner after a brief melee

they next run into a group of sailors

who demand Morgan's surrender

shooting their commander in the head

Morgan shouts Quebec is ours and the

sailors flee in panic

as they move further into the city

Scottish Highlanders and Canadian

militia are barricaded inside houses on

both sides of the street and they open

fire on the Continentals

Savage hand-to-hand combat follows with

bayonet against bayonets in the tightly

packed buildings

but Morgan's men are eventually repulsed

and they begin to fall back to a corner

of the city

fighting continues but the ragtag

British forces are now squeezing the

Americans into a corner who are starting

to run dangerously low on ammunition

reinforcements that tried to reach

Morgan's position are captured finally

making a breakout impossible

as day starts to break one by one unit

by unit be outnumbered and outgunned

Continentals are slowly forced to

surrender

by 10 AM the Battle Is Over British

forces have suffered only minor

casualties with 19 dead and wounded in

the struggle Continental losses are far

more significant with over 500 dead

wounded and captured almost half the

army

[Music]

British and Canadian morale is greatly

lifted following the Battle and

committees are soon established to deal

with local traitors that aided the

American cause

Governor Carlton however does not take

advantage of the precarious American

position and Sally out to complete the

victory

with plenty of supplies he has no reason

to roll the dice on an open battle as

the French had done in 1759 at the

Battle of the Plains of Abraham which

led to their defeat and the loss of

Canada

for the Continental Army the defeat is

an important lesson in logistics and

highlights the problem with short-term

enlistments for soldiers which had Force

the premature attack on Quebec

Arnold now in sole command has been left

in a difficult position

with just 600 men his requests for

reinforcements are initially ignored

with fears of a pro-british Uprising in

Montreal on a growing number of Iroquois

and other tribes joining the British

courts further south

[Music]

however by April 1776 reinforcements

have slowly trickled through and the

Continental Army Rises to 3 000 men

under fresh command

but eleven thousand British

reinforcements are also on their way to

Quebec and in early May shipmasts are

spotted down the river and American

forces conduct a panicked retreat

Carlson is once again idle and slowly

pursues the retreating Continentals

despite a string of minor victories as

they March South

Carlton imagines that his leniency in

battle will win rebels over and make

post-war reoccupation easier for the

British

Arnold's defenses around Montreal

although doomed are energetic and is

successful in slowing the British

advance until the start of winter

Carlson's passive Advance combined with

Arnold's spirited defense has prevented

a full-scale British counter-attack in

the summer of 1776 which may well have

changed the outcome of the war

American forces have courageously and

stubbornly marched into Canada but the

unforgiving environment and the high

walls of Quebec were too great a

challenge and for now there will be no

14th colony to join the Rebellion

the British Army in Canada now under the

command of General Burgoyne will have to

wait until the spring of 1777 to launch

their plans counter-offensive to end the

Rebellion once and for all

but in the meantime a few hundred miles

east another British force is on the

move and heading for New York City and a

confrontation with George Washington

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