*** The following is the inscription upon a silver plate on the coffin: "The state of New York, in honor of General Richard Montgomery, who fell gloriously fighting for the independence and liberty of the United States before the walls of Quebec, the 31st of December, 1775, caused these remains of the distinguished hero to be conveyed from Quebec, and deposited, on the 8th day of July (1818), in St.' Paul's Church, in the city of New York, near the monument erected to his memory by the United States."
*** General Montgomery left no children whom "the state, in gratitude toward their father, distinguished with every mark of kindness and protection," as Botla asserts. His widow survived him more than half a century. When at the house of his brother-in-law, the late Peter R. Livingston, at Rhinebeck, a few years ago, I saw an interesting memento of the lamented general. A day or two before he left home to join the army under Schuyler, he was walking on the lawn in the rear of his brother-in-law's mansion with the owner, and as they came near the house, Montgomery stuck a willow twig in the ground, and said, "Peter, let that grow to remember me by." It did grow, and is now a willow with a trunk at least ten feet in circumference.
Eminent Officers at Quebec.—Promotion of Arnold.—Blockade of Quebec.—Honor to the Memory of Montgomery.
as a skillful officer at Saratoga and other fields of the Revolution, and commanded the troops that captured York, in Upper Canada, in the spring of 1813. Meigs boldly attacked April 27 and destroyed shipping and stores at Sag Harbor, and of his regiment, and that of Febiger, were the forlorn hope at Stony Point. Greene's prowess and skill were well attested at Red Bank, on the Delaware. Thayer behaved nobly in defense of Fort Mifilin, opposite Red Bank. Lamb was distinguished at Compo, Fort Montgomery, and Yorktown. Oswald was at Compo, and fought bravely at Monmouth; and Poterfield was killed at Camden, in South Carolina, when Gates was so terribly defeated there. M'Pherson and Cheese-man, * Montgomery's aids, were brave and accomplished, and gave assurance of future renown; but they fell with their leader, and share with him the grateful reverence of posterity.
Colonel Arnold took command of the remnant of the patriot army after the death of Montgomery, and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. He could muster only about eight hundred men; and, feeling unsafe in his camp under the walls of the city, he retired about three miles from the town, intrenched himself as well as circumstances would allow, and assumed the attitude of a blockade, hoping, by cutting off supplies for the city from the country, to bring the enemy to terms. Carleton, feeling secure within the walls, and expecting re-enforcements from England as soon as the ice should move out of the St. Law-
* This officer had a presentiment that he should not survive the battle. When preparing to go forth on that stormy December morning, he dressed himself with more care than usual, and putting a considerable sum of money, in gold, in his pocket, remarked, with a smile, "This will insure me a decent burial." He was of the New York line. A sergeant and eleven men fell with him. He was not instantly killed, but arose to press forward to charge the battery. It was a feeble effort, and he fell back a corpse, in a winding-sheet of snow.
Small-pox in the Army.—Preparations to storm Quebec.—Arrival and Death of General Thomas.—Temperance Cross.
rence, remained quiet; and in this relative position the belligerents continued until the 1st of April, when General Wooster, who had remained inactive all winter in Montreal, came down, and, being superior in rank to Arnold, took the chief command. The force which he brought with him, and the small addition made by troops that reached the encampment from New England during the winter, and Canadian recruits, swelled the army to nearly three thousand, eight hundred of whom were sick with the small-pox, which raged terribly in the American camp.