* Several hundred of the militia, regardless of order, took the nearest route to their respective homes in New England and New York. About three hundred arrived in a body at Ticonderoga, and, flinging their heavy packs over their shoulders, crossed the lake on the ice, and traversed the wilderness through the deep snow to their homes in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. It was an undertaking quite as perilous as the siege of Quebec. The endearments of home were the goal of the one, military glory was that of the other. The choice, though not creditable to them as patriots, deserves our respectful homage.
Arrival at-Sorel.—Voyage down the St. Lawrence.—Morning View of Quebec.—The Walla ol Quebeo.
French engineer named Sorel built a fort there as early as 1665, and the present town occupies its site. Our boat tarried there an hour for passengers and freight, but it grew too dark to see much of the town. A motley group crowded the narrow wharf, and when we left, the forward deck was covered with cabbages, leeks, and onions for the Quebec market, which afforded perfume gratuitously for the whole boat.
Sorel was a place of considerable importance at the time of our Revolution. Standing at the mouth of a navigable river, and at the narrowest part of the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Quebec, its possession was important to both belligerents. When the Americans approached Canada in 1775, Colonel M'Lean, with a Scotch regiment of Royal Highlanders, went up from Quebec and took station there. When Carleton left Montreal to reenforce the garrison at St. John's, M'Lean was to join him near Longueuil; but the unexpected repulse of the former by the Green Mountain Boys, and the spreading of American detachments over the country east of the St. Lawrence, between it and the Puchelieu, so alarmed M'Lean, that he not only fell back precipitately to Sorel, but abandoned that post to Colonel Easton, and retired to Quebec. At Sorel, Colonel Easton did good service a few weeks later, when, with floating batteries and cannon on shore, he disputed the passage of the British fleet retreating from Montreal, and captured the whole flotilla, with General Prescott.
Leaving Sorel, we passed several islands, and then entered Lake St. Peter's, an expansion of the St. Lawrence about twenty-five miles long, and having an average width of nine miles. A half moon dimly lighted the sluggish waters, and defined an outline of the huge serpent of smoke which our vessel left trailing behind. The shores disappeared in the night shadows, and one after another of the passengers retired to bed, until the promenade deck was deserted, except by two young ladies, whose sweet voices charmed us for an hour with "Dearest May" and kindred melodies. It was near midnight when the nightingales ceased their warbling, and I sought the repose of my stateroom.
Three Rivers, St. Anne's, the Richelieu Rapids, Cape Rouge, Chaudière, Sillery Cove, and New Liverpool were all passed during our slumbers, but we were upon the deck in the morning in time to catch the first glimpse of Quebec in the distance. A forest of masts, above which loomed Cape Diamond crowned with the gray citadel and its threatening ordnance, were the first objects in view. But as our vessel made a graceful sweep toward Point Levi, and "rounded to" at the Queen's Wharf, I think I never saw a more picturesque scene.
It was just at sunrise, and the morning was cloudless. As the orb of day came up from the eastern hills, the city, spread out upon the steep acclivities and along the St. Charles, reflected back its bright rays from a thousand windows, and roofs of polished tin. All was a-glow with luster, except the dark walls and the shipping, and for the moment the creations of Aladdin's Lamp seemed before us. The enchantment was soon over, and was succeeded by the sober prose of travel, as we passed slowly to the upper town along the narrow and crooked Mountain Street, through Prescott Gate, closely jammed in a pigmy coach. We found comfortable quarters at the Albion, on Palace Street, one of the most respectable English hotels in the upper city. After breakfast we ordered a barouche, to visit the Falls of Montmorenci, the Plains of Abraham, and other places of note, and obtained a permit from the commandant to enter the citadel. Before making the interesting tour, let us turn to a map of the city, trace out its walls and gates and general topography, and consult the chronicle of its history; then we shall view its celebrities understandingly.