Battle of Quebec 30/31 December, 1775

TheAmericanRevolution.org ^ | accessed 31 Dec, 2017 | unattributed

[NonValueAdded]

The Battle of Quebec was an attempt on December 31, 1775, by American colonial forces to capture the city of Quebec, drive the British military from the Province of Quebec, and enlist French Canadian support for the American Revolutionary War. The British governor of Quebec, General Guy Carleton, could not get significant outside help because the St. Lawrence River was frozen, so he had to rely on a relatively small number of regulars along with local militia that had been raised in the city.

Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold led a force of about 1,200 American army forces and Canadian militia in a multi-pronged attack on the city, which, due to bad weather and bad timing, did not start well, and ended with Montgomery dead, Arnold wounded, and Daniel Morgan and more than 400 men captured. Following a somewhat ineffectual five-month siege, the American forces were driven to retreat by the arrival of ships from England carrying British troops in early May 1776. The battle was the first military defeat for the Continental Army.

In the battle and the following siege, French-speaking Canadiens participated on both sides of the conflict. American forces received supplies and logistical support from local residents, and the city's defenders included locally raised militia. Some of those that supported the American cause were subjected to a variety of punishments after the Americans retreated.

[NonValueAdded]

Date	12/31/1775
Weather	~31°F, Blizzard conditions
Location	Quebec City, Province of Quebec
	Great Britain	The US Colonies
Belligerents	Canadian Militia, Great Britain	1st Canadian Regiment, United States
Commanders	Captain William DeLaPlace, Sir Guy Carleton	Benedict Arnold, Daniel Morgan, Richard Montgomery
Casualties	Force: 1800 Killed: 5 Wounded: 14 Captured: 0	Force: 1200 Killed: 48 Wounded: 34 Captured: 431

[NonValueAdded]

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Recessional of the Sons of the American Revolution:

“Until we meet again, let us remember our obligations to our
forefathers who gave us our Constitution, the Bill of Rights,
an independent Supreme Court and a nation of free men.”

Dr. Benjamin Franklin, when asked if we had a republic or a monarchy, replied "A Republic, if you can keep it."
Can we???

[Bookshelf]

During the Revolutionary War, Aaron Burr took part in Colonel Benedict Arnold’s expedition to Quebec, an arduous trek of more than 300 miles (480 km) through the frontier of what is now Maine. Arnold was deeply impressed by Burr’s “great spirit and resolution” during the long march. When their forces reached the city of Quebec, he sent Burr up the Saint Lawrence River to contact General Richard Montgomery, who had taken Montreal, and escort him to Quebec. Montgomery then promoted Burr to captain and made him an aide-de-camp. Burr distinguished himself during the Battle of Quebec, where he was rumored to have attempted to recover Montgomery’s corpse after the General had been shot.

[Ciexyz]

Benefit Arnold didn’t make such a good show of himself, it seems.

[redfreedom]

I have a genealogical journal written in French that briefly discusses this battle. It appears my ancestors were on the British side as they made fun of the Americans. I’ve called distant relatives in Quebec a few times and I find it odd if they were British lovers that they never learned to speak English fluently.

[littleharbour]

If you ever get the opportunity to visit the historical gem Quebec City, you’ll understand the folly of the American attack. The lower town is a maze of narrow streets flanked by stone buildings, with the fortress looming on the heights above. Montgomery and Arnold led their troops into a trap.

[kearnyirish2]

The journey to reach Quebec was the most incredible part of the story to me; much of the ground was uninhabited, and the weather was brutal. The idea was to surprise them by attacking in a place no one would expect it at that time of year.

[Dixie Yooper]

I find it odd if they were British lovers that they never learned to speak English fluently.

The French Canadians who couldn't stomach the British, left Quebec after the 1st Battle of Quebec of the French Indian War.

[mairdie]

My fifth great grandfather, Edward Antill, was in Quebec when it was surrounded. His Society of the Cincinnati entry reads: "When General Montgomery appeared before Quebec in December, 1775, he left that city, and joining him, influenced him to change his plan of attack. He became his Chief-Engineer, constructing field works of ice, where earth was inaccessible, and was present with him when he fell. When leaving the camp at Lachine on the 5th of January, five days afterwards, he wrote to Colonel Burr:

'Dear Burr: ...The General - Wooster - has thought proper to send me to the Congress, where I shall have an opportunity of speaking of you as you deserve Yours, Edward Antill'"

Antill later became 2nd in command of Colonel Hazen's 2nd Canadian Regiment, known as "Congress' Own."

Another fifth great grandfather, Major Henry Livingston, was with Montgomery up until Montreal, leaving before Quebec was surrounded when his term of service was up. His diary describes the day by day progress of the American forces under Montgomery that met up with the other force. The experience was intense enough that Livingston named a son Sidney Montgomery, after his cousin's husband and his general.

He also wrote a "parody" of a poem about the death of General Wolfe, substituting Montgomery's name for Wolfe's. The melody for the poem appears in Livingston's music manuscript book, p.167. If you can play midi, this is the transcribed music. It's one of my favorite pieces from the book.

Janet Livingston, Montgomery's wife, never remarried and one of the color stories of the period describes her asking to be left alone on her veranda overlooking the Hudson River when her husband's remains were to be finally brought home. When she didn't reappear the family came looking for her and found her in a faint on the ground.

[LS]

Take time to look at “The Politically Incorrect Guide to the American Revolution,” by Dave Dougherty and myself. I think our sections on the Canadian war were especially good, mostly thanks to Dave.

https://www.amazon.com/Politically-Incorrect-American-Revolution-Guides/dp/1621576256/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514730967&sr=8-1&keywords=politically+incorrect+guide+to+the+american+revolution

[Jim W N]

If you read my comments, I’ve been urging my fellow patriots to see our goal as nothing less than the restoration of our Free Constitutional Republic.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Arnold’s March to Quebec through the Maine swamps with heavy bateau boats in freezing weather was absolutely astonishing. The best fictionalized account is Kenneth Roberts’ “Arundel” published in 1930. I highly recommend it.

That attack led to the amazing naval engagement on Lake Champlain, slowed the British effort to severe the colonies, and led to the victory at Saratoga NY. Arnold led all three.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

One of the leading causes for the American Revolution that isn't much talked about any more was the passing of the Quebec Act in 1774, by which the British restored French civil law in French Canada and gave Catholics Canadians freedom of worship, the latter of which was particularly annoying to a large swathe of the American population. The Quebec Act was listed as one of the Intolerable Acts.

John Jay led a faction of the Founding Fathers that sought to have Catholics disbarred from the rights guaranteed under the Constitution. I took a special interest in Concord, MA, having worked there for years, and in reading the declaration of rights made in many towns shortly prior to the Revolution, Concord included, was the usual assurance of loyalty to the king and the caveat that "Papists" would not considered to hold the rights of free citizens. Benedict Arnold was virulently anti-Catholic as well, so probably not the best choice to lead an expedition to bring the French-Canadians to our side after they were so recently granted rights by the Brits.

[NonValueAdded]

Thank you for that information and for keeping the record straight.

[BroJoeK]

LS: "Take time to look at “The Politically Incorrect Guide to the American Revolution,” by Dave Dougherty and myself."

Thanks for posting your book, I've bought others of yours and just now this one.
One of your opening paragraphs bears repeating:

"To listen to the leftist writers (the term "scholars" doesn't seem applicable) whose interpretations dominate the teaching of American history, the Revolution was contrived by the wealthy.
Howard Zinn asked, 'Did ordinary white farmers have the ame interest in the revolution as John Hancock... or the slaveholders or the bondholders?
Not really.'
Another Marxist writer, John Peterson, has praised the American Revolution, but only because 'the Americans carried through the bourgeois democratic revolution on a scale never before seen in history.'
A website called Knowledgenuts claims, 'America's Revolution Was Fought by the Poor, Not the Citizens.'

"Marxists can't seem to make up their minds: was the Revolution fought by the poor or by the wealthy landowners for their own interests?..."

On Free Republic, so far as I've seen, there are no self-confessed Marxists, but we do have a number of posters who seemingly schooled under Marxist professors and now just can't shake off their Marxist dialectic thinking processes.

Ahem, ahem...

For those whose minds were poisoned in school by radical Left teachers, LS's books are a great antidote.

[LS]

Thanks BroJoeK.

Most of these PIG books-—and I wrote a previous “Politically Incorrect Guide to the Presidents, from Washington to Taft”-—are easy reads, somewhat light and breezy with lots of jokes, “Did You Know?” and trivia, not that they don’t contain real substance.

But this one is extremely serious. It almost shouldn’t have the PIG name, as it would easily stand as a solid history of the Revolution on its own. That’s largely due to Dave, who is a far better student of the military aspects of the Revolution than I am. And after all, the Revolutionary War was 90% about the fighting.

[Jim W N]

As I recall, Arnold actually came out a hero in this. Before he turned coat, Arnold showed himself to be a courageous and effective fighter.