On the same day that Arnold made this retreat, Governor Carleton arrived at Quebec. He had escaped in the night from the British fleet, which was stopped by the American batteries at Sorel, and thence passed in a small armed vessel down the river. By an official return at Point-aux-Trembles, the entire force of the detachment, officers and privates, consisted of six hundred and seventy-five men, being somewhat more than half the number that marched from Cambridge. Arnold despatched a messenger to General Montgomery, then at Montreal, describing his necessitous condition for want of clothing, and a full supply was immediately forwarded to him. By the capture of the small fleet at Sorel under General Prescott, the Americans had gained command of the river above Quebec; and as all the British posts in Canada had been taken, except the capital, this was now the grand object to be attained. Montgomery made all haste to join Arnold for that purpose; and, leaving a small garrison at Montreal, he embarked about three hundred men, several mortars, and Captain Lamb's company of artillery, on board some of the armed vessels taken at Sorel, and went down the river to Point-aux-Trembles. The command now devolved on General Montgomery, and the two detachments marched immediately to the Heights of Abraham, where they arrived on the 4th of December. Although the effective force of the Americans was less than a thousand men, and the number bearing arms in the city, including British, militia, and Canadians, amounted to eighteen hundred, yet it was resolved to hazard an assault.
Colonel Arnold had written to General Washington from Point-aux-Trembles, that it would require twenty-five hundred men to reduce Quebec. Calmly viewed through the medium of historical evidence, with a full knowledge of collateral facts and subsequent events, a resolution for an immediate assault may now seem rash and ill advised. But General Montgomery relied on the lukewarmness of the inhabitants, and their readiness to abandon the British standard whenever they should see a reasonable hope of protection from the assailants. He likewise believed, that the large extent of the works rendered them incapable of being defended at all points, and that in this respect the seeming strength of the enemy was in reality an element of weakness. He moreover derived a renovated confidence from the disposition of his officers and troops, who seconded with promptness and zeal the views of their leader. Notwithstanding the weight of these motives, and of others that might have had their influence, it must ever be lamented, that a spirit so elevated and generous, fraught with the noblest principles of honor and chivalrous feeling, was doomed to be sacrificed in a conflict so utterly unequal and hopeless of success. Leonidas died not a braver death, nor with a self-devotion more worthy to place him among the first of heroes and of patriots.
But we are not now concerned with the history of events, any farther than to sketch very briefly the part acted in them by the subject of the present narrative. General Montgomery found Arnold, as he said, "active, intelligent, and enterprising." A quarrel happened between Arnold and one of his captains, which drew three companies into a mutinous combination; but the danger was checked by the decision and firmness of the commander, who discovered the captain to be in the wrong, and maintained subordination. Several attempts were made to send a summons into the town; but Governor Carleton forbade all communication, and no flag was suffered to approach the walls. Meantime preparations for an attack were carried on. A battery was opened, from which five cannon and a howitzer were brought to bear upon the town, but with very little effect. There were slight skirmishes in the suburbs, houses were burnt, and a few men killed.
Different plans of attack had been meditated, and it was at last resolved to make a general assault upon the lower town. Montgomery was to proceed with one division of the army along the margin of the St. Lawrence around the base of Cape Diamond, and Arnold with his detachment by the way of St. Roque. Each commander was to act according to circumstances, and both parties were to unite if possible at the eastern extremity of the town. At five o'clock in the morning of the 31st of December they began their march. Arnold had already passed through the suburb of St. Roque, and approached unperceived a picketed two-gun battery or barrier across the street. It was attacked by Captain Lamb's artillery, but was bravely defended for about an hour, when it was carried, and the Americans pushed forward in the midst of a violent snow-storm, till they arrived at a second barrier. Several lives had been lost at the first barrier. Arnold was shot through the leg. The bone was fractured, and he was obliged to be taken to the general hospital; where he learned that Montgomery had been killed in forcing a barrier at Cape Diamond, and that his troops had retreated. A very severe contest was kept up by his own party at the second barrier for three hours, without being able to force their way beyond it. While yet in the heat of action, they were surrounded by a party, that issued from one of the gates of the city in their rear, by which their retreat was cut off, and between three and four hundred were taken prisoners. The killed and wounded were about sixty.
This affair being thus unhappily terminated, the command fell again upon Colonel Arnold. By an exact return two days after the action, the whole number of troops under him was a little short of eight hundred, including Colonel Livingston's regiment of Canadians, which amounted to about two hundred. With this mere shadow of an army he resolved to maintain a blockade of the city, till reinforcements should arrive. The winter had now set in with its usual-severity, and a scene of long and dismal suffering from cold and privations appeared in prospect. "Many of the troops are dejected," he said in a letter to General Wooster, "and anxious to get home, and some have actually set off; but I shall endeavour to continue the blockade, while there are any hopes of success." Fortunately the besieged were nowise inclined to make excursions beyond the walls, being contented to wait the opening of spring for a relief from England, which might then certainly be expected. Nor was the investiture at any time so complete, as not to admit occasional intercourse with the country, by which the most pressing want, that of wood, was supplied. Pickets and guards, it is true, were stationed in every direction; but, with a force so feeble and scattered, little more could be done, than to keep up the formality of a blockade. Why the enemy did not sally, and attack the American camp, has never been explained. It is probable the governor did not think it prudent to put the loyalty of the inhabitants to a test, which the contingencies of events might turn to a disadvantage, especially as he felt secure in remaining quiet.
As soon as the news of the storming of Quebec reached Congress, they promoted Arnold to the rank of brigadier-general, as a reward not less of his gallant conduct on that occasion, than of his extraordinary enterprise and military address in conducting his army through the wilderness. Additional troops were likewise immediately ordered to Canada. During the winter a few companies, and fragments of companies, from New-Hampshire and Massachusetts, and part of Warner's regiment from Vermont, arrived at the encampment, having walked on snow-shoes, carried their own provisions, and braved all the perils of frost and exposure incident to such a march in so rigorous a climate.
With these means the Americans kept their ground, undisturbed by the enemy, till spring. Breastworks and fortifications were constructed of snow, which, by being rolled into a mass and saturated with water, immediately congealed into solid ramparts of ice. The prisoners within the city were kindly treated by Governor Carleton. He sent out Major Meigs for their clothes and baggage, allowed them to be supplied with money and other conveniences by their friends, and, after they were released, they bore a unanimous testimony to the humanity and good usage extended to them by the British commander. The remains of General Montgomery were interred with suitable marks of respect. * In a journal kept by an English officer during the siege, it is said that ninety-four of the prisoners were Europeans, who petitioned in a body to join a regiment of Royal Emigrants in the British service.
* When General Montgomery was killed, he had in his pocket a watch, which Mrs. Montgomery was very desirous to obtain. This was made known to General Arnold, and he applied to Governor Carleton, offering any price for the watch, which he might choose to demand. Carleton immediately sent it out, but would suffer nothing to be received in return.
After several of them had deserted, by leaping from the walls and sliding down the precipice on the surface of the snow, the remainder were put in confinement and retained as prisoners. *