Battle of Quebec (1775)
- For the 1759 battle in the Seven Years' War, see the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
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The Battle of Quebec was an attempt on December 31, 1775, by American revolutionaries to capture the Canadian city of Quebec and enlist French Canadian support for the American Revolutionary War. Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery were the two primary American commanders in the assault, which failed. The battle was the climax of the American invasion of Canada and put an end to any hopes of French Canada rising in rebellion with the Americans.
Background
Seeking to draw Canada into the revolution, American commanders set to seize the city of Quebec, which was held by a small garrison of 100 British regulars under the command of Guy Carleton, the Governor of Canada, and Colonel Allen Maclean. The British were supported by hundreds of poorly-armed militia, using mostly muskets and a few bayonets; city fortifications were in disrepair and supplanted by wooden barricades erected within the urban districts.
Two expeditions were launched toward Quebec. Brigadier General Montgomery came up via Lake Champlain; Colonel Benedict Arnold took his armies through the backcountry of Maine. Meanwhile, General Washington maneuvered his armies to block the British from sending reinforcements north. In late October 1775, the American forces came within view of the city of Quebec. In November 1775, Arnold took his forces across the St. Lawrence River onto the Plains of Abraham, where he summoned the city's garrison to come out and fight. (During the Seven Years' War, Louis-Joseph de Montcalm had done so and was defeated.) Getting no response, Arnold decided to attack.
Battle
The attack began at 4:00 a.m. on December 31, 1775. Arnold divided his army into two attack columns. He led his own group, totalling 600 men, to attack the northern part around the walled city, while a second column, totaling 300 men led by Montgomery, attacked the southern part of the city. The two attack columns were to meet at the tip of the St. Lawrence river and move into the walled city itself. But the fortifications proved to be too strong to taken by force. Combined with a snowstorm that began before dawn, the attack was doomed from the start. Montgomery's column advanced along the river coastline under the Cape Diamond Bastion where they came to a blockhouse barricade at Près-de-Ville manned by about 30 Canadian militia. Opening fire, Montgomery was killed by the first volley and about a dozen more were also killed or injured. Unable to fire back with their muskets useless in the snowstorm, the Americans retreated back along the riverbank.
Unaware of Montgomery's death and his attack's failure, Arnold advanced with his main body towards the northern barricades where they were fired upon by British and local militia manning the wall of the city. Upon reaching a street barricade at a street called Sault au Matelot, Arnold was wounded in the left ankle by a musket ball and was taken to the rear. With Arnold out of action, his second-in-command, Daniel Morgan, took command and captured the first street barricade. But while awaiting further orders, the Americans were attacked in the street and surrounding row houses by hundreds of militia. A British counter-attack re-occupied the first barricade, trapping Morgan and his men within the narrow streets of the city. With no way of retreat and under heavy fire, all of Morgan's men surrendered. By 10:00, the battle was over with Morgan surrendering himself and the last pocket of American resistance in the city.
Of Arnold's command, over 30 of his men were killed, (20 more were later found after the spring thaw and several more drowned while fleeing across the frozen rivers) and 426 prisoners were taken along with Morgan. At least 12 more Americans were killed or wounded along with Montgomery on the southern riverbank after the attack. The British commander, Guy Carleton, reported his losses as one British naval officer and five French Canadian militia killed, with four British soldiers and 15 militia wounded.
Siege
Arnold refused to give up and—despite being outnumbered by three to one—lay siege to Quebec, despite the sub-freezing temperature of the winter and the mass desertions of his men after their enlistments expired on January 1, 1776. By March 1776, the first American reinforcements arrived which brought the total to 2,000 men. But unable to renew an assault on the city, the siege continued until over 8,000 British reinforcements arrived on May 6, 1776, which forced the American army to retreat south and back to the New York colony.
Aftermath
With the British victory at Quebec and the later retreat of the Americans from Canada, there was not another serious attempt to bring the Canadians into the American Revolution against the British.
References
- History of the British Army by Sir John Fortescue
- The War of the Revolution by Christopher Ward