which were repeated on the succeeding nights. On the last of them a strong detachment under the command of General Thomas13 took possession of the heights, and labored with such persevering activity through the night, that the works were sufficiently advanced by the morning nearly to cover them.
It was necessary to dislodge the Americans or to evacuate the town, and General Howe determined to embrace the former part of the alternative. Three thousand chosen men commanded by Lord Percy, embarked, and fell down to the Castle, in order to proceed up the river to the intended scene of action, but were scattered by a furious storm. Before they could be again in readiness for the attack, the works were made so strong that the attempt to storm them was thought unadvisable, and the evacuation of the town became inevitable.
This determination was soon known to the Americans. A paper signed by some of the select-men, and brought out by a flag, communicated the fact. This paper was accompanied by propositions said to be made by General Howe, relative to the security of the town, and the peaceable embarkation of his army.
The advances of the American troops were discontinued, and considerable detachments were moved towards New York before the actual evacuation of Boston. That event took place on the 17th of March; and, in a few days, the whole fleet sailed out of Nantasket road, directing its course eastward; immediately after which the American army proceeded by divisions to New York, where it arrived on the 14th of April.
During the siege of Boston an altercation concerning prisoners took place between the commanders of the respective armies, which was viewed with great interest throughout America. The irritations General Gage14 had received as governor of Massachusetts, seemed to influence his conduct as commander-in-chief. He regarded the Americans as rebels, and viewed the great national resistance they were making, as the act of a few turbulent individuals who would soon be quelled. In this spirit he threw some distinguished gentlemen of Boston, and the American officers and soldiers who fell into his hands, into the common jail of felons, and treated them, not as prisoners, but as state criminals.
General Washington remonstrated very seriously against this unjustifiable measure, and declared his determination “to be regulated entirely towards the prisoners who should fall into his hands, by the treatment which those in the power of the British General should receive.” To this letter a haughty answer was returned, retorting the complaints concerning the treatment of prisoners, and affecting to consider it as an instance of clemency, that the cord was not applied to those whose imprisonment was complained of. To this answer, General Washington made a dignified reply, which was, he said, “to close their correspondence, perhaps forever;” and which concluded with saying, “if your officers, our prisoners, receive from me a treatment different from what I wished to show them, they and you will remember the occasion of it.”
On the recall of General Gage, the command devolved on General Howe; and this rigorous treatment of prisoners was relaxed.
Not long after this correspondence, Colonel Ethan Allen15 was captured in a rash attempt on Montreal. Under the pretext of his having acted without authority, he was put in irons and sent to England as a traitor. While he was in Canada, the commander-in-chief, at the request of Congress, addressed a letter to Sir William Howe, assuring him that General Prescot, who had been taken in Canada, and was understood to have contributed to the severities inflicted on Colonel Allen, should receive exactly the fate of that officer.
General Howe not holding any authority in Canada, declined entering into the subject, and Congress ordered General Prescot into close jail.
War in Canada and the North (June 1775 to November 1776)
Invasion of Canada.—Carleton defeated.—St. Johns taken.—Montreal capitulates.—Expedition of Arnold.—He arrives before Quebec.—Retires to Point aux Tremble.—Montgomery lays siege to Quebec.—Unsuccessful assault on that place.—Death of Montgomery.—Blockade of Quebec.—General Thomas takes command of the army.—The blockade raised.—General Sullivan takes the command.—Battle of the Three Rivers.—Canada evacuated.—General Carleton enters Lake Champlain.—Defeats the American Flotilla.—Takes possession of Crown Point.—Retires into winter quarters.
DURING THESE transactions, events of great interest were passing still farther north.
1775
The discontents which prevailed in Canada, and the removal of the troops destined for its defence, to Boston, inspired Congress with the daring design of taking possession of that province.
In June 1775, General Schuyler1 had been directed to repair to Ticonderoga, to secure the command of the lakes, to take possession of St. Johns and Montreal, if that measure should not be disagreeable to the Canadians, and to pursue such other steps as might conduce to the peace and security of the United Colonies.
Near three thousand men from New England and New York were designed for this service, and general Schuyler hastened to Ticonderoga.
Before the preparations were complete, or the soldiers assembled, the impatience expressed by the discontented in Canada, having rendered an immediate movement advisable, the troops then in readiness were ordered to the isle Aux Noix, at the junction of the Sorel with Lake Champlain, and the expected reinforcements were directed to meet at that place. General Schuyler having become dangerously sick, the command devolved on Montgomery,2 who, late in September, at the head of near two thousand men, laid siege to St. Johns.
Colonel M’Clean, with his regiment of royal Highland Emigrants and a few hundred Canadians, was posted near the junction of the Sorel with the St. Lawrence; and General Carleton3 had collected about a thousand men, chiefly Canadians, at Montreal. In attempting to effect a junction with M’Clean, he was encountered and entirely defeated at Longue isle, by a body of Americans under Colonel Warner. M’Clean, being immediately abandoned by his Canadians, and hearing that Arnold4 was approaching Point Levy, retreated to Quebec. On receiving this intelligence, St. Johns capitulated.
Oct. 1775
Nov. 1775
This first success was nearly rendered useless by the expiration of the terms for which the soldiers were engaged. Before the General could induce them to march against Montreal, he was under the necessity of stipulating that all who wished it should be discharged at that place. Having effected this compromise, he proceeded against Montreal, while his floating batteries under Colonel Easton advanced up the river. After stipulating for the rights of self-government, the town was surrendered; and Governor Carleton took refuge on board his flotilla. While preparations were making to attack the vessels, the Governor escaped in a dark night, in a boat with muffled oars, down the river to Quebec.
After garrisoning Montreal and the adjacent ports, Montgomery found the army which could follow him to Quebec, reduced to about three hundred men.
Foreseeing that the whole force of Canada would be concentrated about Montreal, General Washington had, in August, planned an expedition against Quebec, to be carried on by a detachment from his camp before Boston, which was to march by the way of Kennebec river; and passing through the then dreary wilderness lying between the settled parts of Maine and the St. Lawrence, to enter Canada about ninety miles below Montreal.
This arduous enterprise was entrusted to Colonel Arnold, and rather more than a thousand men were selected for the service. He commenced his march about the middle of September, and after encountering almost incredible hardships, arrived with two divisions of his army, on the 3d of November, at the first settlements on the Chaudiere, which empties itself into the St. Lawrence. The rear division had been compelled by the prospect