[FN] Idem.
The fort at Chamblee fell into the hands of Montgomery, together with a large quantity of military stores, which were of great use; among them were three tons of powder. Montreal was next taken by the Provincials—General Carleton escaping in a boat with muffled oars to Three Rivers, from whence he hastened to Quebec. Montgomery, with his little army, was swift to follow him thither; where his arrival had been anticipated by Colonel Arnold, with upward of 700 New England infantry and riflemen, with whom he had performed the incredible service of traversing the unexplored forest, from the Kennebec to the mouth of the Chaudiere. Uniting the forces of Arnold with his own, Montgomery laid siege to Quebec on the 1st of December. His artillery, however, was too light to make any impression upon its walls, and it was at length determined, if possible, to carry the town by a combined assault from two directions—one division to be led by Montgomery and the other by Arnold. The enterprise was undertaken on the 31st of December, and the year closed by the repulse of both divisions and the fall of Montgomery.
The success which had marked the American arms in the early part of the Canadian campaign, made a strong impression upon the Caughnawaga Indians. The Canadians, generally, were exceedingly averse to engaging in the unnatural contest, [FN-1] and were strongly inclined to favor the cause of the Colonies; and, notwithstanding the descent of Brant and the Mohawks to Montreal, and the solicitations of Governor Carleton, the Caughnawagas sent a deputation to General Washington, at Cambridge, as early as the month of August, avowing their readiness to assist the Americans in the event of an expedition into Canada. [FN-2] This assurance was fulfilled. In a letter from Sir Guy Carleton to General Gage, written in August, which was intercepted, the Canadian Governor said—"Many of the Indians have gone over to them (the Americans), and large numbers of the Canadians are with them. . . . I had hopes of holding out for this year, though I seem abandoned by all the world, had the savages remained firm. I cannot blame these poor people for securing themselves, as they see multitudes of the enemy at hand, and no succour from any part, though it is now four months since their operations against us first began." [FN-3] The subsequent reverses of the Americans, however, changed the masters of those Indians, and they were ere long found warring in the ranks of the Crown.
[FN-1] Letter of Washington to the president of Congress, Aug. 4th, 1775.
[FN-2] Letter of Washington to Gen. Schuyler.
[FN-3] Sparks.
But all the Indians did not join the British standard. Notwithstanding that the Delawares had been engaged in the Cresap war, the year before, they refused the solicitations of the British emissaries and the Senecas to take up the hatchet with them in this contest. A meeting of Indians was held in Pittsburgh, to deliberate upon the question, at which a select deputation of the Senecas attended. Captain White Eyes, a sensible and spirited warrior of the Lenape, boldly declared that he would not embark in a war, to destroy a people born on the same soil with himself. The Americans, he said, were his friends and brothers, and no nation should dictate to him or his tribe the course they should pursue. [FN]