The Invasion of Canada—Arnold’s March through the Maine Woods—Its Hardships—The Siege of Quebec—Its Failure—Canada Saved to England.
LATER in the year 1775 both the leaders in the expedition against Ticonderoga were concerned in another expedition, one for the conquest of Canada. Congress had learned that the British in Canada intended to march southward, and attack points in northern New York. To prevent this action General Montgomery was sent, by way of Lake Champlain, to carry the war into Canada, and, if possible, to take it from its British holders.
Meanwhile Arnold and Allen had made an expedition from Ticonderoga, with the purpose of seizing the town of St. John’s, at the head of Lake Champlain. They failed in this, and returned to their stronghold. On September 25 Ethan Allen made a rash attack on Montreal with far too few men for its capture. He was taken himself, and taken in chains to England, where he was held prisoner till 1778. There the Green Mountain champion attracted much attention as a new specimen of mankind.
While Allen was engaged against Montreal, Arnold was on his way to Canada by another route. He had been sent by Washington with a force of 1,200 men to reinforce Montgomery, and aid him in the capture of Quebec. The route he was to follow was northward through the unbroken wilderness of Maine, and the journey proved one of such hardship and courage in struggling against the obstacles of primeval nature that it is well worth describing. No greater example of the successful overcoming of difficulties has ever been seen in this country.
On September 20, Arnold and his men entered the Kennebec River, and began their journey in boats up that rapid stream. But oars were inadequate against the swift current, and, for the greater part of the way, progress could be made only by the men dragging the boats up the stream, often wading in water up to their waists. The frontier settlements were passed early in October, and the adventurers plunged into the wilderness, an almost trackless forest bordering the river, along which they slowly made their way. The stream grew more difficult as they advanced. It shallowed, and rapids and falls broke its course. Around these the boats had to be carried, over rough ground or through morasses, with infinite labor.
At length the ridge between the Kennebec and the Dead Rivers was reached. The route now lay up the latter, and a party was sent out to trace the shortest passage through the intervening wilderness. The ridge was thickly covered with forest trees, embracing several varieties of evergreens, and through those the boats had to be carried. Part of the way was occupied by a mossy and bushy swamp, in whose surface of wet turf the men often sank to their knees.
The Dead River reached, with immense toil and trouble, its course was followed for eighty-three miles. The winter of that northern latitude was now at hand. The mountain tops had been snow clad since September, and the climate became daily more cold and bleak. On October 27 the watershed of the streams that flowed north to the St. Lawrence was reached, and had to be crossed with wearying toil, that the boats might be launched on those new waters. The suffering of the men had now become great, and daily grew more severe. Some of them walked barefoot for days. Their clothes were torn by thorns till they were half naked. At night their only beds were branches of evergreens, their only covering similar branches. For days and nights together they were drenched with cold rains. The streams they had to cross were often swollen into torrents. Provisions failed. So great became their need that they were forced to eat even the dogs that had followed them through the forest. Many died from cold and exhaustion. Some invalids had to be left behind, with soldiers to watch and feed them till dead, and then to hasten on to the camp.
During the expedition the boats were hauled up streams for 180 miles, and carried through 40 miles of woodland and swamp, a work of vast labor in that unbroken wilderness. Still they pushed on, tho starving and disheartened. The spirit of Arnold was unconquerable, and his courage animated his men to superhuman exertions. Embarking on the Chaudiere, they met with a severe loss. Three of the boats laden with stores and ammunition, which they had brought this far with such suffering and hardship, were overturned, and their precious contents lost. On November 2 the expedition met a number of French Canadians, with two horses and five oxen. The sight, as may be naturally supposed, set the exhausted men nearly frantic with delight. They were coming into a land of plenty again. On the 4th they saw the first house on which their eyes had rested for thirty-one days.
While Arnold and his resolute band had thus been struggling through the forest, Montgomery had made himself master of St. John’s and Montreal, and was preparing to march against Quebec. Arnold soon reached the vicinity of that rock-seated stronghold, and in the early morning of November 14, landed at Wolf’s Cove, and led his men to the plains of Abraham by the same cliff path which General Wolf had traversed years before.
But the garrison of Quebec had learned a lesson from the defeat of Montcalm. They refused to leave their walls, and as Arnold was much too weak to take them by assault, he was forced to withdraw. On the 5th of December Montgomery appeared, and the two commanders joined forces. So great had been their losses that they had now in all less than a thousand effective men. Behind the walls lay twice this number, while the city was defended with over 200 cannon. For three weeks they tried the effect of siege, and then determined if possible to take the city by storm.
On the last day of the year the desperate effort was made. The snow was falling thickly, and great blocks of ice bordered the stream. Onward the soldiers pressed and stumbled, until at length a blockhouse appeared through the blinding flakes. Montgomery rushed boldly to its assault, but at the first fire from the walls he fell dead. His men, disheartened, fled. Arnold, in the meantime, had assailed the city on the other side. He fought his way onward bravely till disabled by a severe wound. While he was being borne to the rear, Morgan, his successor, pressed on. But the whole force within9the city was now massed against him, and, overwhelmed by the great odds, and at length unable either to advance or retreat, he was forced to surrender to the foe.
Thus ended in disaster an expedition which, if successful, might have made Canada part of the great American republic. The remnant of the army blockaded the city till spring. But British reinforcements came with the opening of the spring, and they were forced to retreat, leaving Canada an English colony.