To face p. 112
Montgomery plans a night attack.
Montgomery’s army was too small in numbers, without the support of powerful artillery which he did not possess, to justify a direct assault upon the town walls, and a prolonged siege in the depth of winter meant severe strain on the American resources with no sure hope of ultimate success. Moreover, many of the men had enlisted only for a specified term, which expired at the end of the year. Before the year closed, therefore, the general determined to attempt a night surprise, and laid his plans not to attack the city from the plateau, but to storm the barricades which guarded the lower town by the water’s edge, and thence to rush the heights above.
The attack of December 31, 1775.
Before dawn on the morning of Sunday the 31st of December,[88] 1775, between the hours of two and seven, in darkness and driving snow, the attempt was made. From Montgomery’s batteries on the Heights of Abraham the guns opened fire on the town. At Arnold’s camp at St. Roch, troops placed themselves in evidence under arms; and, while this semblance of attack was made, the two leaders led two separate columns from opposite directions, intended to converge in the centre of the lower town, so that the combined parties might force the steep ascent from the port to the city on the cliff.
Repulse of Montgomery and his death.
About two in the morning Montgomery led his men, according to one account, 900 in number, down to the river side at Wolfe’s landing-place; and signalling with rockets to Arnold to begin his march, started about four o’clock along a rough pathway which skirted the river under Cape Diamond and led to the lower town. Unnoticed, it would seem, by an outpost on Cape Diamond, and by an advance picket, he came at the head of his force within thirty yards of a barricade, which had been constructed where the houses began at Prés de Ville. Up to this point the defenders had given no sign, but now every gun, large and small, blazed forth: the general fell dead with 12 of his following, and the whole column beat a hasty retreat.
Repulse of Arnold’s column.
Meanwhile, on the other side, in the angle between the St. Charles and the St. Lawrence, Arnold led forward 700 men, passing below Palace Gate, and fired at from the walls where the garrison were all on the alert, for Carleton had for some days past been warned of a coming attack. The Americans crossed a small projecting point, known as the Sault au Matelot, and reached one end of the narrow street which bore the same name. Here there was a barricade, a second barricade having been erected at the other end of the street. The first barrier was forced, but not until Arnold himself had been disabled by a wound; and led by the Virginian, Daniel Morgan, who was second in command, and who, later in the war, won the fight at Cowpens, the assailants pressed boldly on to take the second barricade and effect a junction with Montgomery. But Montgomery was no more; the garrison grew constantly stronger at the threatened point; the way of retreat was blocked; and caught in a trap, under fire from the houses, the attacking party surrendered to the number of 431, in addition to 30 killed, including those who fell with Montgomery. The day had hardly broken when all was over, the result being an unqualified success for the English, a crushing defeat for the American forces. Quebec was saved, and with Quebec, as events proved, the whole of Canada.
Continuance of the siege.