Murray began his advance on Montreal on July 14th and ascended the St. Lawrence with 2,200 men, convoyed by three frigates and twelve gunboats, carrying twenty-four 18 and 12-pounders. With the bateaux they amounted to thirty-five vessels. Later in the journey, these were joined by some thirteen hundred men under Lord Rollo, arriving from Louisbourg. On August 4th the fleet was in sight of Three Rivers. Beyond some skirmishes along the banks, the progress had been triumphant, notwithstanding the elaborate preparations made by de Lévis to prevent its advance. The habitants, previously warned, on July 13th, to remain quietly in their homes offered little resistance, but for the most part accepted the oath of allegiance or at least neutrality. This done, they gladly enough sold their eggs and farm produce. Three Rivers was passed on August 5th. No attack was made on the French garrison, "because," says Knox, the soldier historian, who was with Murray, "a delay here would be absurd, as that wretched place must share the fate of Montreal. Our fleet sailed this morning. The French troops, apparently two thousand, lined their different works and were, in general, clothed as regulars, except a very few Canadians and about fifty Picts, or savages, their bodies being painted of a reddish colour and their faces of different colours, which I plainly discerned with my glass.
"Their light cavalry, which paraded along shore, seemed to be well appointed, clothed in blue faced with scarlet, but their officers had white uniforms. In fine, their troops, batteries, fair-looking houses; their situation on the banks of a delightful river; our fleet sailing triumphantly before them, with our floating batteries drawn up in line of battle; the country on both sides interspersed with neat settlements, together with the verdure of the fields and trees and the clear, pleasant weather, afforded as agreeable a prospect as the most lively imagination can conceive." (Knox, II.)
As the fleet advanced among the Islands of St. Peter, the writer had new material for his picturesque pen. "I think nothing could equal the beauties of our navigation this morning; the meandering course of the narrow channel; the awfulness and solemnity of the dark forests with which these islands are covered; the fragrancy of the spontaneous fruits, shrubs and flowers; the verdure of the water by the reflection of the neighbouring woods; the wild chirping notes of the feathered inhabitants; the masts and sails of ships appearing as if among the trees, both ahead and astern, formed together an enchanting diversity."
On August 12th the British were before Sorel. Hither Bourlamaque had come and had intrenched two or three thousand troops and militia along the strand, while Dumas, with another body, was on the northern shore. His object, and that of de Lévis, was to prevent the juncture of Haviland's force, reported to be coming from Lake Champlain by the Richelieu River, at its mouth at Sorel, with Murray's force. The one hope of the French was to be able to attack, in detail, each of the three portions of the advancing army, for once these united, there was no hope of success. Murray fired on Sorel. It was quickly deserted, the inhabitants joining Bourlamaque. On landing Murray burned a settlement near Sorel as a lesson, following on his proclamation advising the habitants to remain quietly at home and not engage as combatants, for fear of retribution to follow. "I was under the cruel necessity of burning the greatest part of these poor unhappy people's houses," he wrote to Pitt on August 24, 1760. "I pray God this example may suffice, for my nature revolts when this becomes a necessary part of my duty." The effect was immediate, for, in spite of counter proclamations of Vaudreuil from Montreal, before the end of the month, half of Bourlamaque's army gave in their allegiance.
On the 24th of August Murray's fleet reached Contrecœur, about eighteen miles east of the Island of Montreal, and there he waited until he could communicate with Haviland and Amherst.
Meanwhile Haviland's force from Lake Champlain was advancing to Montreal with uninterrupted success. On August 16th he had left Crown Point with 3,400 regulars, provincials and Indians, convoyed by one brig, three sloops and four floating stages bearing the artillery. It had been hoped that there was a good chance to stop this advance and for this reason Bougainville, with 1,700 men, had been stationed at Ile aux Noix. By the 21st the English force had passed around the east of the island and had constructed batteries, from which shells were thrown into the defences. By the 26th Bougainville was compelled to realize that the port could not be held. Accordingly he left the garrison of fifty men, of wounded and invalids, with orders to surrender on the 28th. On the 27th he landed above the fort on the west bank unobserved, and passing through the woods, joined Roquemaure at St. Johns in safety, twelve miles below. Next day the surrender of Ile aux Noix took place. Haviland followed on to St. Johns and Chambly, driving Bougainville and Roquemaure to join Bourlamaque on the St. Lawrence. Now came fresh desertions from the Canadian ranks and new oaths of allegiance. Haviland desirous to get in touch with Murray's army sent Rogers, of the Rangers, to announce his arrival. But it was not until September 6th that Rogers was able to reach Colonel Haldimand at the head of the light infantry and grenadiers.
Meanwhile, Haldimand crossed the country to Longueuil, opposite Montreal, and encamped immediately opposite Murray's forces on September 6th.
The main body of the English army under Amherst, 10,170 strong, including 760 Indians under Sir William Johnson, had meanwhile proceeded by the Mohawk River and Oneida Lake to Oswego. The story of its descent to Montreal may be told by Parkman. [218]
"The army of Amherst had gathered at Oswego in July. On the 10th of August it was all afloat on Lake Ontario, to the number 10,147 men, besides about seven hundred Indians under Sir William Johnson. Before the 15th, the whole had reached 'La Présentation,' otherwise called Oswegatchie, or La Galette, the seat of Father Piquet's mission. Nearby was a French armed brig, the Ottawa, with ten cannon and a hundred men, threatening destruction to Amherst's bateaux and whaleboats. Five gunboats attacked and captured her. Then the army advanced again and were presently joined by two armed vessels of their own which had lingered behind, bewildered among the channels of the Thousand Islands.
"Near the head of the rapids, a little below La Galette, stood Fort Lévis, built the year before on an islet in midchannel. Amherst might have passed its batteries with slight loss, continuing his voyage without paying it the honour of a siege; and this is what the French commanders feared that he would do. 'We shall be fortunate,' Lévis wrote to Bourlamaque, 'if the enemy amuse themselves with capturing it. My chief anxiety is, lest Amherst should reach Montreal so soon, that we may not have time to unite our forces to attack Haviland or Murray.' If he had better known the English commander, Lévis would have seen that he was not the man to leave a post of the enemy in his rear under any circumstances; and Amherst had also another reason for wishing to get the garrison into his hands, for he expected to find among them the pilots whom he needed to guide his boats down the rapids. He therefore invested the fort, and on the 23d cannonaded it from his vessels, the mainland and the neighbouring islands. It was commanded by Pouchot, the late commandant of Niagara, made prisoner in the last campaign and since exchanged. As the rocky islet had but little earth, the defences, though thick and strong, were chiefly of logs, which flew in splinters under the bombardment. The French, however, made a brave resistance. The firing lasted all day, was resumed in the morning, and continued two days more, when Pouchot, whose works were in ruins, surrendered himself and his garrison. On this Johnson's Indians prepared to kill the prisoners, and being compelled to desist, three-fourths of them went home in a rage. [219]