ARNOLD AND MONTGOMERY AT QUEBEC

The last day of December, 1904, was the 128th anniversary of the unsuccessful attack on Quebec in 1775, and by a coincidence on almost that very day the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec erected two bronze tablets to commemorate the event. We are indebted to Mr. F. C. Würtele, the Secretary of the Society, for the photographs from which our two illustrations are made—they thus appearing in our pages in advance even of Canadian journals.

From the newspaper accounts furnished us, we condense:

When the Canadian Government erected monuments on the battlefields of 1812, the invasion of 1775 seemed to have been forgotten, and no memorials were placed in Quebec to commemorate the signal defeat of the Continental invaders on the 31st of December, 1775, at the hands of General Guy Carleton, the savior of Canada to the British Crown.

However, that brave defence has not been forgotten by Quebec’s citizens, and some time ago at a meeting of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, it was resolved, “That the time has come for the erection of historic tablets at Pres-de-Ville and the Sault-au-Matelot, in the lower town of Quebec, relating to the events of 31st of December, 1775, so important to the destiny of Canada; and as it is within the province of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec to erect such memorials, a committee is hereby appointed on the subject.”

As such memorials would be battlefield monuments, the Federal Government was petitioned by the society for means to erect suitable historic tablets at these places. The request was graciously responded to and splendid memorials in statuary bronze have been erected, one bolted to the rock where at its base Montgomery was defeated and killed, and the other on the St. James street gable of the Molsons Bank, as near as possible to the site of the Sault-au-Matelot barricade, where Arnold was defeated, and over 400 of his men made prisoners, both events taking place in the early morning of that memorable last day of December, 1775. As these bronzes have been placed in position for the anniversary of that event, a short historic retrospect may be interesting:

One hundred and twenty-nine years have passed since a force under Montgomery was sent by Lake Champlain to attack Montreal, and another under Arnold marched from Cambridge, Mass., via the Voyageur trail up the Kennebec river and across to the source of the river Chaudiere, to St. Marie and thence by road to Levis opposite Quebec, where, after considerable hardships throughout the whole journey it arrived, and crossing the St. Lawrence appeared on the present Cove Fields, on the 14th, was fired on and soon retired to Pointe aux Trembles, where the arrival of Montgomery from Montreal was waited.

Montgomery carried all before him, taking Sorel, Montreal and Three Rivers. General Carleton, who was in Montreal, knowing the importance of Quebec, and that for divers reasons Montreal could not then be defended, destroyed the government stores and arrived at Quebec on the 19th of November, where Colonel MacLean, who had preceded him, was preparing for its defence.

The defences were strengthened and barricades erected and armed in the Lower Town, in Sault-au-Matelot street, and the present Sous-le-Cap, also at Pres-de-Ville, where is now the Allan Steamship Company’s property.

Montgomery arrived on the 1st of December with his army, and Arnold’s 800 raised the attacking force to 2000 men, who proceeded to take possession of St. Roch’s and erected batteries on the high ground, Montgomery issued general orders on the 15th December, which were sent into the town, and a copy is now to be found in the Dominion Archives at Ottawa:

(Q. 12. Page 30.)

Headquarters Holland House, near Quebec.

15th December, 1775.

Countersign—Adams.

Parole—Connecticut.

The General having in vain offered the most favorable terms of accommodation to the Governor and having taken every possible step to prevail on the inhabitants to desist from seconding him in his wild scheme of defence, nothing remains but to pursue vigorous measures for the speedy reduction of the only hold possessed by the Ministerial troops in the Province. The troops flushed with continual success, confident of the justice of their cause and relying on that Providence which has uniformly protected them will advance to the attack of works incapable of being defended by the wretched garrison posted behind them, consisting of sailors unacquainted with the use of arms, of citizens incapable of the soldier’s duty and a few miserable emigrants. The General is confident a vigorous and spirited attack must be attended with success. The troops shall have the effects of the Governor, garrison, and of such as have been acting in misleading the inhabitants and distressing the friends of liberty, to be equally divided among them, each to have the one hundredth share out of the whole, which shall be at the disposal of the General and given to such soldiers as distinguished themselves by their activity and bravery, and sold at public auction. The whole to be conducted as soon as the city is in our hands and the inhabitants disarmed.

The General at Headquarters,

Ferd. Weisenfels,

Major of Brigade.

The division which was to attack Pres-de-Ville assembled at 2 o’clock A. M. of the 31st December, at Montgomery’s headquarters, Holland House (now the property of Frank Ross, Esq.), and headed by Montgomery, marched across the Plains of Abraham and descended into the beach path, now Champlain street. Those who were to make the attack by the suburbs of St. Roch, headed by Arnold, were about 800 strong. The plan was that Montgomery and Arnold were to meet at the foot of Mountain Hill and storm the Upper Town.

A heavy northeast snowstorm was raging at 4 o’clock that dark morning when Montgomery had descended the cliff and advanced along the narrow beach path, a ledge flanked to the left by the perpendicular cliffs of Cape Diamond and to the right by a precipitous descent at whose base flowed the tide of the St. Lawrence.

The Pres-de-Ville barricade and the blockhouse at the narrowest part of the road was defended by Captain Chabot, Lieut. Picard, 30 Canadian militiamen, Captain Barnesfare and 15 seamen, Sergeant Hugh McQuarters, of the Royal Artillery, with several small guns, and Mr. John Coffin, 50 in all. The garrison was alert and saw the head of the column approach and halt some fifty yards from the barricade, when a man approached to reconnoitre, and on his return the column continued its advance, when it was fired on by cannon and musketry, whose first discharge killed Montgomery, his aides Macpherson and Cheeseman, and 10 men. Thereupon the rest of the 700 men turned and fled, pursued by the bullets of the Canadians till there was nothing more to fire at. None behind the leading sections knew what happened, and the slain, left as they fell, were buried by the drifting snow, whence their frozen bodies were dug out later in the day.

Arnold’s column carried the barricade across Sous-le-Cap street, situated beneath the Half-Moon battery, and were stopped at the second barricade at the end of that narrow street (quite close to where is now Molsons Bank), defended by Major Nairne, Dambourges and others, who held them in check until Captain Laws’ strong party, coming from Palace Gate, took them in rear and caused their surrender, 427 in all, thus completing the victory of that morning. Arnold was put out of action early in the fight by a ball [^[1]] from the ramparts near Palace Gate, when passing with the leading sections, and was carried to the General Hospital.

The late Governor-General, Lord Minto, took great interest in the tablets, and approved of the inscriptions which were submitted for his consideration.

These tablets, in shield form, are of statuary bronze, with the lettering cast in relief.

The large one on the rock under Cape Diamond measures six feet three inches by five feet nine inches, and is thus inscribed:

Here Stood

The Undaunted Fifty

Safeguarding

Canada

Defeating Montgomery

At the Pres-de-Ville Barricade

On the Last Day of

1775

Guy Carleton

Commanding at

Quebec

That on Molsons Bank measures two feet ten inches by two feet six inches, and its legend relates:

Here Stood

Her Old and New Defenders

Uniting, Guarding, Saving