The soldiers in garrison, with the marines from the king’s frigates, that had been placed therein, and the armed militia, both French and English, did not amount to more than two thousand men when the army arrived from Montreal; but by the intrepidity of general Carleton, and the activity of his officers, they had prepared for defence with the spirit of veterans. They rejected with disdain a summons from Montgomery to surrender the town, to prevent the fatal consequences of its being taken by storm; fired on the flag that offered to convey letters with proposals for capitulation, obliged it to retire, and all communication was forbidden by the inflexible Carleton.
[265] General Montgomery after this, sent a second letter* by colonel Arnold and Mr. Macpherson, his aid-de-camp, to general Carleton. He upbraided him with personal ill-treatment, with the cruelty exercised towards the prisoners that had fallen into his hands, and with the unparallelled conduct, except among savages, of firing at a flag of truce. He warned him not to destroy either public or private stores, as he had done at Montreal, and kept up a tone of superiority as if sure of success. The messengers reached the walls of Quebec, but were ordered to decamp with speed, and informed that the governor would receive no letters or hold any intercourse with rebels.
Thus circumstanced, general Montgomery judged that immediate and decided action, was the only means of serving his country, and securing to himself that renown, which the lustre of his former conduct had acquired. Thus, depending too much on his own good fortune, and too little acquainted with the arrangement and vigor within the walls, he resolved on the dangerous and desperate measure of an effort to take the city by escalade. He made his dispositions accordingly, and under the cover of a violent snow-storm, his army in four separate divisions, [266] began the arduous work at the same moment, early on the morning of the thirty-first of December.
But the enemy had gained intelligence of his movements, the alarm had been given, and a signal made for a general engagement in the lower town, some time before Montgomery had reached it. He however pushed on through a narrow passage, with a hanging rock on the one side, and a dangerous precipice of the banks of the river on the other, and with a resolution becoming his character, he gained the first barrier. Warmed with the spirit of magnanimity and a thirst for glory, the inseparable companions of exalted minds, he met undaunted the fire of his enemies, and accompanied by some of his bravest officers, he rushed on to attack a well-defended barricade. But to the regret of the army, the grief of his country, and the inexpressible sorrow of his numerous friends, the valiant Montgomery, with the laurels fresh blooming on his brow, fell at the gates by a random shot from the frozen walls of Quebec.
Connected with one of the first families in New York,* happy in the highest enjoyment of domestic felicity, he was led by principle to quit the occupations of rural life; and animated with an ardent zeal for the cause of human nature, the liberties of mankind, and the glory of America, [267] both his active life, and his heroic death, verified his last expression to his amiable lady . . . “You shall never blush for your Montgomery.”†
His philosophic taste, his pleasing manners, his private virtues, and his military abilities, were acknowledged and revered even by his enemies, who cannot but pronounce the Canadian fields are marked with peculiar glory. It is there the choicest flowers of fame may be culled to crown the memory of a Wolfe and a Montgomery. Yet, while one of those illustrious names, written in characters of blood, reflects lustre on the glory of a British monarch, the other will announce to posterity, the efforts of virtue to resist the tyranny of his successor.
General Montgomery was justly considered as an early martyr in the cause of freedom, and the premature stroke that robbed his country of an officer of tried bravery and decided merit, was not only bewailed by his friends, but excited the tear of generous compassion from all those who were susceptible of the nobler feelings of the soul, among such as were opposed to him in political opinion. The animosities of war, and the enmities created by different sentiments, or rivalry in fame, should ever expire with the life of a hero. Yet the obsequies of this great [268] and amiable man, were not attended with those honorary marks of respect, usually paid to illustrious military characters, when victory has satiated resentment: his body was thrown into a sledge, and without even a coffin, conveyed to the place of burial. The manner of general Montgomery’s interment, was at first reported much more to the honor of governor Carleton; but the above account is from the testimony of several respectable American officers then in Quebec.* By the persuasion of a lady who afterwards married the lieutenant governor of Quebec, who had formerly served in the British army with general Montgomery, the body of this worthy officer was taken up, and again interred in a rough coffin, but without any particular marks of respect. The other officers who fell, were indiscriminately thrown with their clothes on, into the same grave with their soldiers.
The death of general Montgomery decided the fate of the day, though colonel Arnold and his party with great bravery kept up the attack; nor did they quit the field until after Arnold was obliged to retire, having received a dangerous wound. Notwithstanding this accident, added to the unspeakable loss of their brave commander, this small resolute party kept [269] their ground, until galled on every side, attacked in the rear, and their retreat cut off by a British party, who found means to secure a passage that prevented even the attempt, yet they kept up an obstinate defence for several hours, but at last were obliged to surrender themselves prisoners of war.†
Though the manes of their commander in chief had not been treated with that generosity which is usually the result of true magnanimity, yet general Carleton treated the prisoners that afterwards fell into his hands, with more humanity; their wounds were dressed, their wants relieved, and his own physicians sent to visit the sick. He also endeavoured to recal those, who, after the defeat, had taken shelter in the woods, or such as had been left sick or wounded on the way, after the retreat; and by proclamation, he promised liberty to all the unhappy stragglers, when they should be cured of their wounds and diseases.
After the death of Montgomery, the retreat of Arnold, and a surrender of a considerable [270] part of his troops, the broken forces collected and retired about three miles from the city. There they kept up a kind of blockade through the winter; and by the spirit of Arnold, on whom the command had devolved, and the vigilance of his party, they prevented in a great measure, additional recruits and supplies for the relief of the city. This there was every reason to expect would be attempted, not only from the difficulties of their situation within the city, but from the fickleness of the Canadians without, and their manifest disposition to enlist under the banner of success. From their local circumstances, this change of temper might from the beginning have been apprehended, from those pretended allies of the United States. Their neighbourhood and connexion with the savages, their long habit of oscillating between England and France, and their ignorance in general of the grounds of the dispute, must naturally render their fidelity to the states, under the jurisdiction of Congress, very uncertain.
But we leave the lakes, the wilderness, the savages, and their employers in that quarter, for the present, to observe for a time, the interesting movements on the borders of the Atlantic, and the disposition discovered by the ancient parent of the colonies, which soon produced consequences of the highest moment. It may, [271] however, be proper to observe here, that general Arnold extricated himself in a remarkable manner from his embarrassments in this quarter; and lived to be conspicuously distinguished through the American war, for his bravery and address, his activity, and his villany.
