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MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Vol. XI APRIL 1884 No. 4 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 
 
 ON the last day of the year preceding that of our Declaration of 
 Independence there fell one of the noblest martyrs to liberty — 
 Major -General Richard Montgomery — whose death was 
 mourned by friends and foes, and whose memory, after the lapse of a 
 century, still lives in the grateful hearts of the millions of freemen of this 
 giant Republic, whose foundation was sprinkled with his blood. 
 
 Richard Montgomery, the third son of an Irish baronet, was born De- 
 cember 2, 1738, at Convoy House, his father's country seat, near Raphoe, 
 in the north of Ireland. The genealogy of the Montgomery family, orig- 
 inally from Neustria, goes beyond A.D. 912, when Rollo was made first 
 Duke of Normandy ; and later to that Comte de Montgomerie, who mor- 
 tally wounded Henry II. of France, July 10, 1559, in a tournament in 
 honor of the marriage of his daughter. Though, on his death-bed, the 
 king forgave the Count, the queen-mother Catherine de Medicis did not, 
 but pursued the brave Huguenot with implacable vengeance till she 
 brought him to the scaffold. May 27, 1576. 
 
 After receiving a liberal education at Dublin College, Montgomery, in 
 his eighteenth year, September 21, 1756, entered the British Army, as an 
 Ensign of the Seventeenth Infantry, being soon after called to the field. 
 Fortunately for America his career opened here, and not in the Seven 
 Years War of Prussia. In 1757 his regiment was ordered to Halifax, and 
 the next year took part, under the immediate command of General Wolfe, 
 in the capture of Louisburg, the American Gibraltar, guarding the en- 
 trance to the St. Lawrence from the Atlantic. During the investment and 
 siege of this great fortress — one of the most noted monuments of French 
 power on this continent — young Montgomery showed such heroism and 
 military capacity that he was promoted to be a Lieutenant, July 10, 1758. 
 
 The news of Montcalm's bloody repulse of the British attack upon 
 
 Vol. XI. -No. 4-19 
 
/A/ 
 
 2/4 
 
 iMAJOR-GENEKAI, RICHARD MONTGOMERY 
 
 
 ^ 
 
m.\J()R-(;i;nf,kai. kkiiari) mox icomkrv 275 
 
 Ticondcro^a, July S, 175S, havint;- reached General Amherst at Cape Bre- 
 ton, he, after leaving proper garrisons both at Louishurg and Halifax, 
 without orders, hastened to the relief of the defeated Abercrombie with 
 five of his most efficient regiments, including the seventeenth. Landing at 
 Boston, September 13, Amherst marched for fourteen days through an 
 almost trackless wilderness to Fort William Henry, at the head of Lake 
 George ; and, in November following, was appointed to supersede Aber- 
 crombie in the chief command of the British forces in America. 
 
 The next year England, anxious to profit by the advantage acquired 
 by the capture of Cape Breton, decided upon a vigorous campaign, by 
 sending Stanwix to complete the occupation of the posts connecting 
 Lake Erie with the Ohio; Prideaux to reduce Fort Niagara; Amherst to 
 move upon Montreal by Lake Champlain ; and Wolfe, with a large force 
 supported by a fleet, to attack Quebec, 
 
 Leaving Fort Edward, at the head of the Hudson, June 21, 1759, 
 Amherst, with eleven thousand men, including iMontgomery's regiment, 
 without a blow, took possession of Ticonderoga, July 26, and of Crown 
 Point, August 4 — both posts having been abandoned by the French. 
 These strong works, the keys to the defense of Lakes George and Cham- 
 plain, which had been the bone of contention in several campaigns, thus 
 fell into British possession, the banner of the Bourbons never again float- 
 ing over them. The road to Montreal by the Sorel couid now have been 
 easily opened ; but Amherst was a mediocre general, without fertility of 
 resource or the daring enterprise of Wolfe, who, in nobly accomplishing 
 his part of the campaign, fell in the arms of victory, September 13, 1759, 
 before Quebec. 
 
 Though Amherst's operations were unproductive of great results, it 
 gave Montgomery the opportunity of surveying with his quick military 
 eye the field of his after glory in a nobler cause. We have assumed that 
 Montgomery was with his regiment, which formed a part of Amherst's 
 army, though many authorities to this day assert that he was at Quebec. 
 It is barely possible that he was detached from his regiment, as he was a 
 favorite with Wolfe, for whom he had done such gallant service at 
 Louisburg; but we think it almost certain that he was with the seven- 
 teenth, under Amherst, and that he has been confounded with some one 
 of the thirteen officers of the same name then in the British army, two of 
 whom — George, an Ensign in the fifteenth, and the barbarous Alexander,* 
 Captain of the forty-third — were at the capture of Quebec. 
 
 * Some years since, tlie Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, published an Extract from a 
 Manuscript Journal relating to the Uiierations before Quebec in 1759, kept by Colonel Malcolm 
 
2-(i 
 
 MAJUR-CKM.RAI. RICH A III) MOX TCJUMHRV 
 
 Authorities cquall}' differ as to Montgomery's position in the next 
 campaign, of 1760, of which Montreal was the objective point of the 
 three Hritish armies by which Canada was subjugated : the first, under 
 Amherst, making an absurd and dangerous flank march of 400 miles by 
 the circuitous route to Oswego and down Lake (Jntario and the St. Law- 
 rence ; the second, under Haviland, by the true strategic line of the Sorel, 
 of less than 50 miles; and the third, under Murray, up the St. Lawrence 
 from Quebec. As Montgomery became the Adjutant of his regiment in 
 the spring of this year, May 15, 1760, we have little doubt that he then 
 was, and had been present with it since its departure from Louisburg, and 
 in this campaign accompanied Colonel Haviland over the ground made 
 memorable by his after invasion of Canada in 1775, which we shall soon 
 detail. 
 
 America, north of the St. Lawrence and the Lakes, having changed 
 masters, a large British force was no longer required there ; hence detach- 
 ments from it were sent against the French and Spanish West India 
 Islands of Martinique and Cuba, the former of wliich surrendered, Feb- 
 ruary 13, 1762, to Monckton and Rodney, and a portion of the latter, 
 including Havana and Morro Castle, August 12, 1762, to Albemarle and 
 Pococ!:e — two events which doubtless hastened the Treaty of Versailles, 
 February 10, 1763, and confirmed Britain's possession of an empire in 
 North i^merica. In these two campaigns of 1761 and 1762, in the deadly 
 climate of the West Indies, Montgomery had his full share of toil and 
 danger, reaped fresh laurels as a brave and accomplished soldier, and won 
 his promotion. May 6, 1762, to a full captaincy in his regiment. 
 
 Soon after the official announcement of peace, the Seventeenth Infant- 
 ry returned to New York, and Montgomery obtained permission to revisit 
 
 Frazer. then Lieutenant of the 78th (Frazer's Highlanders), and serving in that campaign. Under 
 date of August 23d, 1759, '^ recorded in the Journal : " We were reinforced by a party of about 
 140 Light Infantry, and a company of Rangers, under the command of Captain Montgomery, of 
 Kennedy'^ or 43d Regiment, who likewise took command of our detachment, and we all marched to 
 attack the village to the west of St. Joachim, which was occupied by a Party of the enemy to the 
 number of about 200, as we sujiposed, Canadians and Indians. . . . There were several of the 
 enemy killed and wounded, and a few prisoners taken, all of whom the barbarous Captain Mont- 
 gomery, who commanded us, ordered to be butchered in the most inhuman and crue! manner." The 
 Editor of the publication, not content to let the Journal speak for itself, appended a note stating 
 that the Captain Montgomery here spoken of was " The Leader of the forlorn hope who fell at 
 Pres de VilU, "^ist December, 1775," thus falling into the grave error of confounding the noble 
 Lieutenant Richard Montgomery of the 17th with the brutal Captain Alexander Montgomery of 
 the 43d. Doubtless this unfortunate note, published under the sanction of an Historical Society, 
 on the very spot where these events transpired, has done much to perpetuate a mistake now almost 
 crystallized into history as a truth. 
 
MA|iik-(;i:Ni;R.\i, km iiakI' mon rcoMi.KV 
 
 •// 
 
 **v- ' r rT"" ' 
 
 MONTC.OMF.RV I'l.ACE ON THR HIDSON. 
 Ihiilt 1775-1776. 
 
 Kurope, where he remained for the next nine years, selling out his com- 
 mission, April 6, 1772, because a favorite had superseded him in the pur- 
 chase of a commission of major, to which Montgomery's services entitled 
 him. Of his occupation during this period of military inactivity wc have 
 few details. But we know that he was an earnest lover of liberty, and 
 was intimate in England with the brilliant Burke, the fascinating Fox, 
 and the bold Barre, his fellow British soldier wounded at Quebec, all of 
 whom, in Parliament, were the ardent advocates of America in her severe 
 struggle against the oppression of the mother country. Doubtless the 
 influence of this distinguished trio gave fornj and pressure to a mind 
 already in sympathy with the colonists, with whom he had stood shoulder 
 to shoulder in five eventful campaigns. 
 
 Montgomery, no longer in the British service, returned to America 
 early in 1773; purchased a farm of sixty-seven acres at King's Bridge, 
 near New York, upon which Fort Independence was subsequently built ; 
 
278 
 
 MAjok-GKNKRAL RICHARD M( )Nn;().Mi;KY 
 
 n:Ti\irM> iu'kke. 
 {After I'n^rai'ing. by U'at;<f:it/. of /nihitiiii: /iv Sir yos/nta Ke)iiMs.\ 
 
 soon after married Janet, the eldest child of Judge Robert R. Livingston* 
 and then moved to Rhinebeck, on the Hudson, where he followed his 
 
 * Montgomery, while still a captain in the British army, had met Janet Livingston at Clermont, 
 her father's country place on the Hudson, he having stopped th';re on his way to a distant post. 
 When Montgomery returned to America, he renewed his acquaintance with the lady and married 
 her in July, 1773. 
 
maj()R-(;enkrai. ri(Iiar[) M()NT(;omerv 
 
 2-9 
 
 new vocation of agriculture with that /.cal and intelligence which charac- 
 terized all his actions. Here, though a foreigner, In? cjuickly gained the 
 confidence of his neighbors, and so proved himself ecjual to the exigencies 
 of the times that, in April, 1775, he was elected a delegate from Dutchess 
 Count)' to the first Provincial Convention held in New York, of which he 
 was a useful, modest and taciturn member, not having accjuu-ed the mc.'d- 
 ern mania for speech-making, liut the forum was not liis sphere, and 
 fortunately he was called to a higher and more congenial field of action. 
 
 RIGir J HOS. CIIARI.ES JAMES FOX. 
 
 The Cr-«tincntal Congress having resolved on armed resistance to the 
 oppression of the mother country, elected, June 15, 1775, George Wash- 
 ington commander-in-chief of all the colonial forces, and Horatio Gates, 
 adjutant-general; on the 17th, Ward, Lee, Putnam and Schuyler, major- 
 generals; and on the 22d, Pomeroy, Montgomery, Wooster, Heath, Spen- 
 cer, Thomas, Sullivan and Greene, brigadiers. Gf the three selected from 
 those who had been officers in the British army, Montgomery, though 
 perhaps inferior to Charles Lee in quickness of mind, was much superior 
 to both him and Gates in all the great qualities which adorn the soldier. 
 
2«0 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 
 
■'■t> 
 
 
 general in their service, is an event which must put an end for a while, 
 perhaps forever, to the quiet scheme of life I had prescribed for myself : 
 for, though entirely unexpected and undesired by me, the will of an 
 oppressed people, compelled to choose between liberty and slavery, vinst be 
 obeyed.'' From that hour he was no longer a Briton, but, with heart and 
 soul, devoted himself to the service and glory of the land of his adoption. 
 On his departure to Canada, Judge Livingston said to him : " Take care 
 of your life." " Of my honor, you would say," quickly responded Mont- 
 gomer)-. 
 
 Ticonderoga and Crown Point had been captured by Colonel Ethan 
 Allen and Seth Warner, in May, 1775, thus giving us the command of 
 Lake Champlain, when Congress, aware that Canada was weakly defended 
 and had a large discontented French population, wisely resolved upon the 
 invasion of that province, thus to prevent its becoming a base of hostile 
 operations against us by the armies of Great Britain. According to the 
 plan of campaign devised by General Washington and Doctor Franklin, 
 Generals Schuyler and Montgomery, at the head of a body of New York 
 and New England troops,* were to seize Montreal, the approach to which 
 was barred by the strong fortifications of St. John's and Chambly, on the 
 Sorel, the outlet of Lake Champlain to the St. Lawrence; while Arnold 
 marched through the wilderness of Maine. 
 
 On the 26th of August the movement began down the placid waters of 
 the beautiful Champlain Lake, which, for nearly two centuries, had been 
 the scene of long campaigns and desperate battles. On the 6th of Septem- 
 ber the invading army appeared before the first of these barriers, effected 
 a landing, and defeated an Indian ambuscade; but Schuyler, deceived in 
 regard to the strength of the garrison of St. John's, and the disposition of 
 the Canadians and Indians, fell back to Isle aux Noix, which he com- 
 menced fortifying, and then hastened to Ticonderoga for reinforcements. 
 In reporting these transactions to Congress, General Schuyler says: "I 
 cannot estimate the obligations I lie under to General Montgomery for the 
 many important services he has done and daily does, and in which he has 
 
 * Among these troops was one Quackcnbosh, who invariably asked for a leave of absence when 
 any firing was heard, his courage, like Bob Acres', immediately oozing out. Montgomery remarked 
 to his captain : " I think this qttake-in-the-bush had better at once be discharged." 
 
282 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL RICHARD MOXTCIOMKRV 
 
 ^ tS ^ '4 '^. 4 
 
 I » « ♦ ^ ■! 
 
 ■<i « o ei w N 
 
 fc- t- s > N <i »> 
 
 Ni r V, 
 
 6 d UJ 1-3 S ' 
 
MAJOR-GENERAL RICHARD MONT(]OMERV 2H3 
 
 had little assistance from me, as I have not enjoyed a moment's health 
 since I left Fort George, and am now so low as not to be able to hold a 
 pen." 
 
 In consequence of this sickness Schuyler retired to Albany, the com- 
 mand of the whole invading force devolving upon Montgomery, who hesi- 
 tated not a moment, but abandoning his island intrenchments, was, on the 
 1 8th of September, again before St. John's, of which he began the invest- 
 ment and siege. Having accomplished the first as best he could, he began 
 the latter, but soon found his mortars defective, his artillery too light for 
 breaching, his ammunition scanty, his artillerists unpracticed, his engineer 
 incompetent, the ground too wet and swampy for trenches, the weather 
 cold and rainy, malaria producing much sickness, and his troops disaffected 
 and insubordinate.''' To escape these unfavorable circumstances, Mont- 
 gomery proposed to move to the north-west side of the fort, where the 
 ground was firm, and from there to make an assault ; but the troops re- 
 fused to second their leader, and to crown his embarrassment, the expedi- 
 tion of the restless Etiian Allen against Montreal had terminated, Sep- 
 tember 25th, in the capture of himself and many of his detachment. At 
 length, however, Montgomery, by his firmness and address, succeeded in 
 carrying out his views of moving his camp to the higher ground, and soon 
 after, October i8th, Colonel Bedel, with Majors Brown and Livingston, 
 captured Fort Chambly,t which being twelve miles lower down the Sorel, 
 had been left with a feeble garrison. This was an important event, as large 
 supplies of ammunition, artillery, and military stores fell into Montgomery's 
 hands, which enabled him to press the siege of St. John's. This strong 
 work, garrisoned by nearly all of the regular troops in Canada, capitulated 
 November 3d. after a vigorous defense of nearly seven weeks, all hope of 
 succor from Governor Carleton having been destroyed by his defeat, Octo- 
 ber 31st, at Longueil, by the detachment under Colonel Warner. 
 
 Immediately the Americans pressed on toward Montreal, which was 
 abandoned, November 12th, to the triumphal entry of Montgomery; but 
 Governor Carleton, disguised as a peasant, escaped in a canoe with muffled 
 paddles, passing on a dark night the American batteries and armed vessels 
 without observation, and reached Quebec on the 19th, to the great joy of 
 
 *" They are the worst stuff imaginable for soldiers," says Montgomery. " They are home- 
 sick ; their regiments are melting away, and yet not a man dead of any distemper amung them. 
 There is such an equality among them that the officers have no authority, and there are few among 
 them in whose spirit I have confidence ; the privates are all generals, but not soldiers. . . . 
 Would I were at my plow again." 
 
 t The colors of the Seventh British Fusileers, captured here, were the (irst taken in the Revo- 
 lution and sent to the Continental Congress. 
 
!S4 
 
 MAJOR-GEXERAI. RICHARD MONTCOMKKN 
 
 the <farrison, who placed every confidence in his well-known couraj^^e and 
 ability, and without whom Canada was lost. When tiie news of Mont- 
 {^^omcry's brilliant success reached Congress it passed a vote of thanks, and 
 he was promoted, December 9th, 1775, to be a major-'jencral ; but his un- 
 timely death prevented his ever receiving the just reward of his merits. 
 The vote of thanks by the Continental Congress was conveyed to Mont- 
 gomery in the following letter from its President: 
 
 " Philadelphia, \ovcml)er 30th, 1775. 
 
 "Sir : I am directed by the Congress to transmit you their Thanks lor your gr^ai and 
 signal services in the expedition committed to your command, against the Britisli tiooits 
 in tiie Province of Canada. The reduction of St. John's and Montreal they esteem of in- 
 expressible advantage to the i'nitcd Colonies, and the most mortitying contravention to 
 the ministerial system of enslaving the extensive territory of Canada. It cannot, therefore, 
 fail of retlecting singular luster on the character of the Oeneral so essentially instrumental 
 in preserving that liberty by the abolition of which a corrupt Parliament intended to anni- 
 hilate every appearance of freedom in America. Nor are the humanity and politeness 
 with which you have treated those in your power less illustrious instances of magnanimity 
 than the valour by which you reduced them to it. The Congress, utterly abhorrent from 
 every species of cruelty to prisoners, and determined to adhere to this benevolent maxim 
 till the conduct of their enemies renders a deviation from it indispensably necessary, will 
 ever applaud their officers for beautifully blending the Christian with the concjueror, and 
 never, in endeavouring to acquire the character of the hero, to lose that of the man. 
 
 "The victories already gained in Canada afford us a happy presage of the smiles of 
 Providence in the further designation of the Continental arms in the North, and will, in all 
 l^robability, greatly facilitate the entire reduction of the deluded malignanis in that i'rov- 
 ince to liberty. These, Sir, are exploits so glorious in their execution, and so extensive in 
 their consequences, that the memory of (leneral Monti^omcry will doubtless be c '^qual 
 duration with the remembrance of the benefits derived from his command. 
 
 "At the same time that the Congress rejoice with you in the success of their arms 
 under your immediate direction, they cannot avoid expressing their concern at the intima- 
 tion you give of your intention to retire from the service. They are sensible that the loss 
 of so brave and experienced an officer will be universally regretted, as a misforlune to all 
 America. But they still hope that, upon reconsidering the matter, the same generous and 
 patriotick motives which first induced you to take so capital a part in opposing the unpro- 
 voked hostilities of an unnatural enemy will prompt you to persevere in the cause, and to 
 continue gathering fresh laurels, till you find our oppressors reduced to reason, and 
 America restored to her constitutional liberties. 
 
 "I am, &c., 
 " John HanC(jck, President. 
 
 '• To General Montgomery." 
 
 Though now master of one of the most important keys to Canada, not 
 a moment was to be lost in gaining pos'^ession of the other, for, as Mont- 
 gomery wrote to Congress : " Till Quebec is taken, Canada is unconquered." 
 
MAJOR-GENERAL RICHARD MUXTGOMKRV 
 
 'S5 
 
 'Jotwithstandin^ the severity of the weather, the desertion of many troops, 
 he insubordination of officers, and a multitude of discouragements, he 
 ed on his band of three hundred patriots over frozen ground and drifting 
 nows, keeping alive their hopes, and cheering tiiem on to endure every 
 lardship, by his own noble example of self-sacrifice and heroic devotion 
 o his adopted country. Soon, November i/th, he learned that the advent- 
 irous Arnold had completed that memorable march — one of the most 
 wonderful on recoriJ — with his half starved, freezing army, through deej) 
 wamps, trackless forests, and tangled ravines, over craggy highlands and 
 
 PKKSCDi GATE, (.IIEIIEC. 
 
 iifficult portages, and down the rushing rapids of the Kennebec and the 
 Jhaudiere. After a brief delay before Quebec, Arnold marched up the St. 
 Lawrence to join Montgomery. On the 1st of December the two heroes 
 net at Pointc aux Troubles, twenty miles above the city, Montgomery 
 :aking command of the combined force, now only nine hundred effective 
 lien, with which, on the 4th, in the face of a driving snowstorm, he 
 narched on Quebec, and on the 5th, after a slow and excessively fatiguing 
 Tiarch, reached St. Foye, establishing his headquarters at Holland House. 
 He was now in sight of the goal of his ardent wishes, to reach which 
 
286 MAJOR-C.ENERAL RICHARD MONTOOMKRV 
 
 for three months he had endured every species of toil and suffering. In 
 his brief campaign, ahiiost insurmountable obstacles had been overcome, 
 and victory after victory had crowned his heroic efforts. Ticondcroga, 
 Crown Point, Forts St. John's and Chambly, Montreal, Sorel, and Three 
 Rivers had all been captured by less than an ordinary brigade of American 
 recruits, whose march seemed irresistible, and whose prowess spread terror 
 everywhere. The Canadian peasantry believed them invincible and ball- 
 proof ; by a curious mistake they being represented as "incased in plate- 
 iron " — vc'tiis en toll', instead of vctus en A^ /A'- -clothed in linen (the shirt 
 uniform of Morgan's riflemen).''*' 
 
 The Red Cross of St. George now floated solitary on the ramparts of 
 Quebec, for Levi, Sillery, St. Foye, Lorette, Charlesbourg, the Island of 
 Orleans, Beauport, and every inch of British territory around the city, were 
 in possession of the invaders. It was a proud moment for Montgomery 
 when he contemplated all this, and surveyed the historic grounds around 
 him— in front, the Plains of Abraham, where Wolfe and Montcalm had 
 joined, September 13, 1759, in their death struggle; on either side the 
 battle-field of St. Foye, where, six months later, April 28, i;6o, the vain- 
 glorious Murray had nearly lost all that British valor had won ; and beyond, 
 with its clustering associations of nearly two centuries, the fortress capital 
 of Canada, whose capture would perhaps crown him conquerer of British 
 
 America. 
 
 Quebec, at tlie confluence of the St. Lawrence and St. Qiarles rivers, 
 in 1775, was divided into the Upper and Lower Town, the former, occupy- 
 ing much the larger area, being perched upon the summit of a huge, high 
 rock, and mostly inclosed with formidable fortifications on the brow^ of its 
 precipitous sides, while the latter comprised a narrow, low fringe of land, 
 of unequal width, between the base of the rock and the banks of the two 
 rivers. This citadel of British power was provisioned for eight months, 
 was armed with two hundred pieces of heavy artillery, had a garrison of 
 1,800 regulars, militia and marines, and was commanded by the brave, 
 cautious and accomplished General Guy Carleton, afterward Lord Dor- 
 chester, who, as Governor of Canada, possessed almost absolute authority. 
 
 Investment of the place was out of the question, with only 800 Ameri- 
 cans to guard the numerous avenues leading to the enemy's extensive 
 works. Siege was equally impracticable, as there could be no sapping and 
 
 * In the early part of the Revolution part of the troops assumed the dress recommended by 
 Washington— a liuntinK shirt and long gaiter breeches— made of tow-cloth steeped in a tan vat 
 
 until it reached the color of a dry leaf. This was called the shirt uniform, or rifle dres^ and - 
 
 supposed to carry no small terror to the enemy as the insignia of a thorough marksman. 
 
 was 
 
MAJOR-GENERAL RICHARD M(3NTG0MERY 
 
 2S7 
 
 'c^^i^, 
 
288 MAJOR.CKNKRAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 
 
 mining in the hard frozen soil, covered with deep snow-drifts ; besides, 
 Montgomery had no skilled engiiieer, nor any breaching artillery. He had 
 ' ontemplatcd storming the fortifications from the first, for, writing to the 
 Hon. R. R. Livingston, from Montreal, Montgomery says : " If my force 
 be small, Carleton's is not great. The extensiveness of his works, which, in 
 case of invest, ent, would favor him, will, in the other case, favor us. 
 Masters of our secret, we may select a particuhxr time and place to attack, 
 and to repel this the garrison must be prepared at all t inns and places —^ 
 circumstance which will impose upon it incessant watching and labor by 
 day and by night ; which, in its undisciplined state, must breed discontents 
 that may compel Carleton to capitulate, or perhaps make an attempt to 
 drive us off. In this last idea there is a glimmering of hope. Wolfe's suc- 
 cess was a lucky hit, or rather a series of lucky hits. All sober and scien- 
 tific calculation was against him, until Montcalm, permitting his courage to 
 get the better of his discretion, gave up the advantages of his fortress and 
 came out to try his strength on the plain. Carleton, who was Wolfe's 
 quartermaster-general, understands this well, and, it is to be feared, will not 
 follow the Frenchman's example." 
 
 Preliminary, however, to a coup de main, it was necessary to know the 
 character and extent of the enemy's works, his means of introducing sup- 
 plies, the strength and composition of the garrison, and the disposition of 
 the inhabitants of the city and vicinage. These precautions consumed pre- 
 cious days of the midwinter of a boreal clime which was now upon our be- 
 numbed handful of besiegers, among whom mutiny and small-pox pre- 
 vailed, and whose enlistment would in a short time expire, Montgomery, 
 almost in despair, summoned the city to surrender, but received no re- 
 sponse ; he paraded his troops before the place, but Carleton was not to be 
 drawn from behind his defenses ; and the discontented Canadians of the 
 garrison dared not rebel in the presence of the British soldiery. Resorting 
 next to more active measures, Montgomery threw every night from thirty 
 to fifty shells from his five small mortars into the city ; but these doing 
 little damage, he erected, at 700 yards in front of St. John's Gate, a battery 
 for his five light guns and one howitzer, the platforms being cakes of ice, 
 and the epaulment made with gabions filled with compacted snow con- 
 gealed into a solid mass. This, too, owing to the distance and small caliber 
 of his guns, failed of success, the battery being soon demolished by the 
 enemy's superior artillery, which kept up an effective fire upon every point 
 where troops were to be seen. On one occasion, as Montgomery was recon- 
 noitering near the town, the horse which drew his cariole was killed by a 
 cannon ball. 
 
MAj()k-c;i-:.\i:RA[, ukiiari) monicom'.rv 
 
 2S9 
 
 .■,-,Vi.. . '*(''■:■ . . .. 
 
 •■•-I.AT-:' - 
 
 
 .■■SV'.-.'-i. <■■,'■■;-•.'■''' .'.•■''■j;'r®W '■•-..■'-'■■ . 
 
 
 ST. JOHN S r.ATF., (11 EIIF.C. 
 
 Weeks hud now been spent in unavailing efforts to capture the city, 
 biting cold and drifting snows paralyzed almost every movement, sickness 
 and privations were producing mutiny, and perils on every hand were 
 gathering around the undaunted leader in that terrible campaign ; but his 
 noble soul rose superior to every misfortune, and sustained him with the 
 same moral grandeur which inspired Marshal Ney till the last of the rear- 
 guard of Napoleon's Grand Army had escaped the pursuing foe and the 
 deadlier rigor of a Russian winter. 
 
 In a council of war, held December i6th, it was resolved, as the only re- 
 maining, though desperate alternative, to carry the place by storm. As the 
 time for assault drew near, three companies of Arnold's detachment muti- 
 nied ; but Montgomery's firmness and address soon brought them back to 
 a proper sense of their duty. Finally, at two o'clock on the morning of the 
 last day of the year, the whole command was paraded, in three columns, 
 for the last dread trial. The plan, essentially different from that first 
 adopted and abandoned when disclosed by a deserter, was for the first and 
 second divisions to assault the Lower Town, then to meet and unitedly force 
 their way into the city through the picketed passage at the foot of Moun- 
 tain Street, since 1797 know as the Prescott Gate ; while the third, under 
 
 Vol. XI. — No. 4 — 20 
 
290 
 
 m.\J()R-(;i:ni:kai, kk hard montc.omkkv 
 
 Livitii^ston and Brown, was, from tlic l^lains of Abraham, to alarm and dis- 
 tract the attention of the garrison by feigned attacks upon the Uj)i)er 
 'I'tjwn, in the neigiiborhijod of St. John's and St. Louis' Gates and Cape 
 Diamond bastion. The morning was dark and gloomy ; a violent pelting 
 storm of cutting hail almost blinded the men and the drifting snows ob- 
 literated all traces of highways. To recognize each other, tlie soldiers 
 wore hemlock sprigs or pieces of white paper in their caps, on which some 
 of them wrote : " Liiunrrv UR Death." A more daring attack than that 
 
 »,■ ■.'.•^'\:a'**""'''V. Vv>:-f.;<*'-;'^ :■*, 
 
 v«ii,H 
 
 
 I'ALACK CATK, QlEBEt. 
 
 which they were about to undertake is, perhaps, not on record upon the 
 page of history. 
 
 At five o'clock the two assaulting columns of Montgomery and Ar- 
 nold began their march. Arnold's division, himself leading the advance 
 guard of 30 men, followed by Lamb's piece of artillery mounted on a 
 sledge, and the main body of about 500 infantry and riflemen, under Mor- 
 gan, moved through the suburb of St. Roch, by way of St. Charles street, 
 near the river. The advance guard approached a picketed two-gun bat- 
 terv defending a barrier across the road, without being discovered, but the 
 main body had scarcely reached the Palace Gate when " a horrid roar of 
 
MAJttK-tiKNKKAI. RK llAKI) .\InNT(,( )MI:KV 
 
 291 
 
 f ■' " . ■ .'i-r^ 'j i g ^ ^ff wa w w: -".i^'""* ^ ' "" ' '^ ■'^'^^ 
 
 
 cannon and a rin^nn^ of all the bells of the city" sounded the alarm. 
 Covering the locks of their guns with the lappets of their coats, to protect 
 them from the pelting storm, the infantry and rifiemen ran single file, in 
 very open order, as rapidly as the deep snow and the various obstacles 
 would permit, along the base of the high rock upon which th'- fJpper Town 
 was built. The files, though thirty or forty yards apart, we.e exposed to 
 a terrible fire from the ramparts, to which no reply could be mad<% as only 
 the flash of the enemy's guns was to be seen. Arnold's forlorn hope 
 attacked and carried the battery after a desperate resistance, in which he 
 was severely wounded, and had to be car- 
 ried to the hospital. Though encourag- 
 ing the men as he passed to the rear, the 
 ardor of the main body was much damp- 
 ened. Nevertheless they hurried forward 
 under the severe enfilading and plunging 
 f.re of the garrison, to the attack of the 
 first barrier, which was carried, the em- 
 brasure being entered " when the enemy 
 were discharging their guns." From the 
 first to the second barrier there was a 
 circular course of about 300 yards, partly 
 through Dog Lane, opening into the head 
 of Sault-au-Matelot street, where the sec- 
 ond barricade closed the space between 
 the foot of the rock and the river bank. 
 Here a terrible conflict took place, the 
 enemy having dry and superior arms ; in 
 front, a shot-proof cover twelve feet high ; 
 behind two tiers of musketeers, supported 
 by an elevated battery of artillery; on 
 either side houses, giving a plunging fire from their upper windows ; and 
 reinforcements continually arriving from the other parts of the town now 
 unexposed, for already Montgomery had fallen ; Campbell, his successor, was 
 in flight, and the " dastardly persons employed to make the false attacks " 
 had signally failed. Flfforts to scale the barrier were made in face of the 
 desolating fire of musketry and grape; the platform within was emptied by 
 our unerring riflemen ; Morgan, Arnold's successor in command, brave to 
 temerity, stormed and raged ; all that valor could do was essayed ; the killed 
 and wounded literally choked the defile ; but human efforts could not 
 prevail against such surpassing odds. Now it was that Morgan, seeing the 
 
 WKKHK Al;.Nt)I.lJ WAS WdVNDEl). 
 
Kj2 
 
 MAJOK-CIAKRAI. KhirAKD M( »N 1 ( ;< )M I'.RV 
 
.MAj<)k-(;i;.M,k.\i. kk hard mi ).%!{.( )M1,rv 
 
 293 
 
 Quixotism of this unequal haiul-to-haiul encounter, ordered tlic occupation 
 of the houses on our side of tlie barrier, that our men mi^'Iit be better 
 screened and maintain a more effective fire. It was already da)-li^!'t, and 
 many of the best officers and men had been killed or wounded ; hesitation 
 and doubt seized m.uiy of the survivors ; and the critical moment for the 
 'ast cast of fortune was allowed to pass, when Captain Laws, at the head 
 of ?oo of the jrarri.son, sortied from the I'alace Gate, cutting off the retreat 
 of !■-' Americans, nearly four hundred of whom were captured, the remain- 
 i!ig survivors having escaped across 
 the ice covering the Hay of St. 
 Charles. 
 
 At the same time that Arnold's 
 division began its march, Moiugom- 
 ery, who could not be persuaded that 
 the commander-in-chief should not 
 expose his life in the advance, de- 
 scended from the Plains of Abraham, 
 at the head of his column of less than 
 three hundred, to the cove where 
 Wolfe landed in 1759, and then, in 
 Indian file, cautiously led his forlorn 
 hope along the margin of the St. 
 Lawrence toward the very narrow 
 pass of Prcs dc J 'illc\ having a preci- 
 pice toward the river on one side, 
 and the scarped rock extending up 
 to Cape Diamond on the other. Here 
 all farther approach to the Lower 
 Town was intercepted by a barrier, 
 and the defile, only wide enough 
 for two or three abreast, was swept by a battery of thrce-pounders loaded 
 with grape, placed in a block-house. At daybreak P»Iontgomery's approach 
 was discovered by the guard and Captain Barnsfare's gunners, who had 
 been kept under arms awaiting the attack which they had reason to 
 expect, from reports of deserters ; and, as had been previously concerted, 
 the Americans were allowed to approach unmolested to within fifty yards. 
 Montgomery, while the rear of the column was coming up with the lad- 
 ders, halted to reconnoiter in the dim dawn darkened with the driving 
 north-east storm. Deceived by the silence of the enemy, who with port- 
 fires lighted, were eagerly watching for his approach, Montgomery cried 
 
 UHEUK MUNTGDMEKY KF.I.L. 
 
294 
 
 MAJOR-GENEKAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY 
 
 out to his little band, as soon as about sixty were assembled: " Men of 
 New York! you will not fear to follow where your general leads ! March on, 
 brave boys ! Quebec is ours ! " and then rushed boldly to charge the bat- 
 tery, over the drifted snow and blocks of ice, some of which he cleared 
 away with his own hands, to make room for his troops. The enemy, wait- 
 ing for this critical moment, discharged a shower of grape and musketry, 
 with deadly precision, into the very faces of the assailants. Montgomery, 
 pierced witli three balls, his Aide, Macpherson, the gallant Captain Chees- 
 man, and ten others, were instantly killed. For several hours after the re- 
 pulse of the American column Carleton was uncertain as to Montgomery's 
 fate ; but a field officer among the captured troops of Arnold's detachment 
 recognized among the thirteen frozen corpses, lying as they fell, \r\ their 
 winding sheets of snow, the Spartan leader of the heroic band.* Through 
 the courtesy of Carleton, the commanding-general of the British forces, the 
 body of Montgomery was privately interred, January 4, 1776, at the gorge 
 of St. Louis bastion. His short and light sword, of which he had thrown 
 away the scabbard, was found near him by James Thompson, overseer of 
 public works in the royal engineer department at Quebec, who dying at 
 the age of ninety-eight years, bequeathed it to his son, who in turn willed 
 it to his nephew, James Thompson Harrower, who has deposited "this 
 famous excalibur," for safe-keeping, in the museum of the Literary and 
 Historical Society, at Morrin College, Quebec. 
 
 * The oft-repeated story that Aaron Burr attempted to carry away the body of Montgomery, 
 has been handed down by Trumbull's pencil, and recently renewed with much exaggeration in Par- 
 ton's biography of him ; nevertheless, we believe it to be an error, and even doubt whether he was 
 with Montgomery's column, though his friend Matthew L. Davis, generally accurate in his state- 
 ments, says, " General Montgomery [when he fell] was within a few feet of Captain Hurr." 
 
 Burr, disguised as a Catholic priest, had been sent by Arnold to convey to Montgomery, when 
 at Montreal, the information of his near approach to Quebec. Pleased with Ikirr, MontgouKry 
 temporarily attached him to his staff, and had designed that he should lead, with forty men, an as- 
 sault upon Cape Diamond bastion. When this first plan was frustrated by its being disclosed to the 
 enemy by a deserter, Burr probably joined his old commander, believing more glory was to be gained 
 under the impetuous Arnold than under the brave but cautious Montgomery. In confirmation of 
 this is Arnold's own letter to General Wooster, written from the hospital where he lay wounded, 
 and while the assault of Quebec was yet in progress. He says : " At last accounts from my detach- 
 ment, about ten minutes ago, they were pushing toward the lower town, . . . The loss of 
 my detachment before I left it was about twenty men killed and wounded. Among the latter 
 is Major Ogden, who, with Captain Oswald, Caftain Burr, and the other volunteers, behaved 
 extremely well." This certainly implied that Burr was with Arnold's column, and not with Mont- 
 gomery's, which was a mile away. Possibly Burr assisted Arnold to the hospital, but certainly he 
 did not move Montgomery's body from where it fell and was found, " two paces from the brink of 
 the river, on the back, the arms extended," close to Cheesman and Macpherson, and two privates. 
 Burr was quite a small man, and not of sufficient strength to have carried off, if he had wished to 
 do so, the tall and heavy body of Montgomery. 
 
MAJ( )R-f;i:Ni:RAI. RK hard M(>M(.nMr.l;V 
 
 295 
 
 ■ 
 
 " ]\vk-\, iir.Lve, and };l()nous was liis youiij,' caircr,-- 
 llis mourners were two liosts—his friends and toes; 
 And fitly may the stranj^er, lin^erin^' here, 
 Pray for his gallant spirit's bright repose , 
 For he was Freedom's champion, one of lliose, 
 The few in number, who had not o'erstejn 
 The charter to chastise which she bestows 
 On such as wield her weapons ; he had kejit 
 The whiteness of his soul, and thus men o'er him wept." 
 
 Looking now upon the attack of Quebec simply as a problem of en- 
 gineering, it is questionable whether the false attacks should not have been 
 real, and the latter feints. By the plan adopted, Montgomery and Arnold 
 had each to force their way, for about a mile, through the Lower Town, 
 during a violent storm, by narrow, obstructed defiles, and amid dark, intri- 
 cate passages, among storehouses, boats, wharves and snowdrifts, being at 
 the same time harassed by a constant plunging fire of a continuous line 
 of fortifications, which couid not be silenced ; then to make a second attack 
 by either cscalading the walls or forcing one of the gates of the Upper 
 Town ; and perhaps even a third attack upon the redoubt which then occu- 
 pied the site of the present citadel— Mrrr extremely dif^cult and danger- 
 ous operations ; whereas, had Diamond bastion and the incomplete line of 
 defenses fronting the Plains of Abraham, between it and St. John's Gate, 
 been simultaneously assaulted, the Upper Town w )uld probably have been 
 carried, and then the Lower Town would have offered no resistance — o>ie 
 not extremely hpzardous operation, considering the state of the garrison 
 and the extent of the works to be defended against dashing, desperate 
 men. Doubtless it was expected that the storm and darkness would pre- 
 vent the discovery of the march of the columns, but the event proved 
 what ought to have been expected of a vigilant garrison, commanded by an 
 observant and thoughtful officer, who, in fact, knew of the intended attack 
 eight days before it was ma-' \ Soon after the troops were in motion their 
 approach was known by the sentries, and before they had reached the first 
 barrier every bell in the city was tolled, the drums beat to arms, the inhab- 
 itants were running to the market place, and every soldier was at his post, 
 ready with cannon and musket to repel the assailants. 
 
 The death of Montgomery made a profound impression, bccU In Europe 
 and America, for the excellency of his qualities and disposition had pro- 
 cured for him an uncommon .share of private affection, as hi.^. abilities had 
 of public esteem. The Continental Congress proclaimed for him " their 
 grateful remembrance, profound respect, and high veneration, and desiring 
 to transmit to future ages a truly worthy example of patriotism, conduct, 
 
2(p 
 
 .M.\J(iR-L,|-,.\KkAl, klCllAKl) .\1()M ,).ML;R\' 
 
 Mr': 
 
 I -^, ■^■ 
 
 
 ^•''■}. 
 
 liH- 
 
MAIOR-GKXHKAI. klClIAKD .Mn.\ K ;( )MI:r\ 
 
 ^or 
 
 boldness of cnterj^rise, insuperable per- 
 severance, and contempt of danger and 
 death," caused to be executed by 
 Caffit^^res, sculptor to Louis XVI,, a 
 monument of white marble, of the 
 most beautiful simjjlicity and graceful 
 proportions, with emblematic devices, 
 and a classical inscription written by 
 rVanklin, which, since 1789, has adorn- 
 ed the front of St. Paul's Church, in 
 the city of New York. Even in the 
 British Parliament the fallen hero was 
 eulogized by the most eloquent speak- 
 ers — Chatham, Burke, and Barre — as if 
 he had been the most dex'oted servant 
 of the Crown. Lord North, too, while 
 acknowledging his worth, concluded 
 by saying, " Curse on his virtues ; they 
 have undone his country." 
 
 P'orty-three years after Montgom- 
 ery's death his remains, of which the 
 skeleton was found nearly entire, by 
 " an Act of Honor" of the Legislature 
 of the State of New York, were re- 
 moved from Quebec, and buried, July 
 8tli, 18 1 8, with brilliant military cere- 
 monies, near the cenotaph ejected by 
 Congress to his memory. As the body was borne down the Hudson River, 
 the steamer, as directed by Governor Clinton, jiaused before " Montgomery 
 Place." "^ near Barrytown, where the widow of the hero resided, and who thus 
 describes the mournful pageant : "At length they came by with all that re- 
 mained of a beloved husband, who left me in the bloom of manhood, a perfect 
 being. Alas ! how did he return ? However gratifying to my heart, yet to my 
 feelings every pang I felt was renewed. The pomp with which it was con- 
 ducted added to my woe ; when the steamboat passed with slow and solemn 
 
 * When Moutgonu-ry left his Kingsbridge farm, he commenced erecting a house upon a place 
 (now called (Irasmere) near Rhineheck, which belonged to his wife, but the building was not com- 
 pleted till after the (ieneral's death. His widow resided here till the sjiring of 1776, when she 
 removed to Montgomery Place, named in honor of the (leneral and modeled after the house in Ire- 
 land belonging to \'iscount Raneleigh, who married Montgomery's only sister. Their son, Hon. 
 William Jones, superintendeil the construction of Montgomery Place. 
 
 .MI)NI(;ii\rKKN S IciMI'. 
 
2(jS 
 
 .MAIOR-CENF.RAL RICHARD MONTfiOMERY 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 <fi< jLem^ e. fy^JL,^ ^ei-*'^^ A'^^L. '^J^'^y^t^ 
 
 
 AN ORIGINAL LETTER. 
 MONTGOMERY TO COLONEL BEDEL, ST. JOHNS. 
 
 (/•r^w //if collection of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet.) 
 
 movement, stopping be- 
 fore my house, the troops 
 under arms, the Dead 
 March from the muffled 
 drums, the mournful mu- 
 sic, the splendid coffin, 
 canopied with crape and 
 crowned by plumes, you 
 may conceive my anguish. 
 I cannot describe it. Such 
 voluntary honors were 
 never before paid to an 
 individual by a republic, 
 and to Governor Clin- 
 ton's munificence much 
 is owing." 
 
 Of Washington's thir- 
 teen generals, elected by 
 the Continental Congress, 
 some were mere sabreurs, 
 many incompetent, and 
 several effete from sick- 
 ness or age : two only — 
 Schuyler and Greene — 
 could be compared to 
 Montgomery, and neither 
 of these was his superior 
 in character, attainments 
 or military experience. 
 Of such material as Mont- 
 gomery, Napoleon made 
 the marshals of his Em- 
 pire ; for he was as it\trcp- 
 id as Ney, as steadfast as 
 Macdonald, as fearless as 
 Massena, as prudent as 
 Soult, as resolute as Da- 
 voust, as self-poised as 
 Suchet, and as impetuous 
 as Lannes; ever ready to 
 
MAJOR-GENKRAL RRIIAKD M( )NT(i( )M KK\ 
 
 -99 
 
 lead in the forefront of battle to do or die for his country. It must be 
 ever lamented that a spirit so elevated and so devoted to the cause of 
 liberty should have been sacrificed, in the bloom of manhood, in a conflict 
 so unequal and so hopeless of success. Winkelried met not a more glorious 
 death, nor did Austrian pikes at Sempach pierce a braver heart than that 
 of the noble martyr of Pres de Ville, worthy to rank among the first heroes 
 and patriots. 
 
 Montgomery was the embodiment of the true gentleman and chival- 
 rous soldier; high-born, handsome in person and athletic in form, graceful 
 and simple in manners, modest and taciturn in speech, generous and frank 
 in disposition, loving to kindred and fond of his fireside, of sanguine 
 temperament tinged with melancholy, cultivated in taste and studious of 
 books, self-reliant and of sound judgment, faithful to duty and zealous in 
 its performance, just to all and guided by a high moral sense, firm of 
 will in carrying out his convictions, true to friends and generous to foes, 
 brave as a paladin and the soul of honor— he united every manly attri- 
 bute to the gentleness and affection of woman. 
 
 His letters to his wife, amid all his difficulties and sufferings, are those 
 of a knightly lover, sighing and longing to worship at the altar of his 
 household gods. Though a soldier from boyhood, he delighted in the calm 
 pursuit of agriculture, and reluctantly bade adieu to his " quiet scheme of 
 life " only because " the will of an oppressed people, compelled to choose 
 between liberty and slavery, must be obeyed." When he resumed his 
 sword in the cause of our independence, he shrank from no danger, 
 evaded no responsibility, energetically performed every duty, imparted his 
 own confidence and courage to all about him, won the love and esteem of 
 his soldiery, and tempering authority with kindness, checked insubordina- 
 tion, removed discontent, and converted a disorderly band of turbulent 
 freemen into a disciplined army of patriots. He was truly a '^servant of 
 humanity, enlisted in its corps of immortals," and his heroic end was the 
 amaranthine crown to his useful and unsullied career. 
 
 ' Death made no coiuiiiest of this conqueror, 
 For now he lives in fame, though not m life." 
 
 :!U/e^ ^^f'^f^'^^^^'^^^"^^