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greatest alarm. Quebec had but two hundred regular CHAPTER troops. There was a good deal of discontent among the inhabitants. Could Arnold have crossed at once, he 1775. might, perhaps, in the absence of Carleton, have got possession of the city. But, on some intimation of his approach, the boats had all been removed or destroyed, and some days elapsed before he could collect birch-bark canoes in which to cross. Meanwhile Carleton made is appearance, having escaped down the river from Montreal. He sent all the non-combatants out of the city; organized the traders and others into military companies; landed the sailors; and, with his force thus increased to near twelve hundred men, put the town into a complete state of defense. Two armed vessels were stationed in the river to intercept Arnold; but he crossed in the night; and, ascending the same rugged precipices which Wolfe had climbed before him, drew up his forces on the Plains of Abraham. His little army, hardly six Nov. 14 hundred and fifty effective men, approached the city; but the garrison did not come out to meet him; and, as he had no means to undertake a siege, he retired some twenty miles up the river to wait for Montgomery, to whom he sent Burr, serving with him as a volunteer.

Leaving Wooster in command at Montreal, Montgomery advanced down the river; but all his Connecticut troops became entitled to their discharge on the tenth of December, and his ranks were so thinned by desertions and the detachments he was obliged to leave behind him, that, when he joined Arnold, their united force did not Dec. 3 exceed a thousand men. They returned, however, to Quebec, and opened batteries against it; but their artillery, only a few field pieces, was too light to take any effect. The works were extensive; some weak point might perhaps be found; an assault was resolved upon

CHAPTER as the last desperate chance. While a snow-storm was XXXII. waited for to cover the movement, deserters carried intc

1775. the town information of what was intended. To dis. tract the enemy's attention, two feints were made against the upper town. It was against two opposite sides of the lower town that the real attacks were directed, the one led by Montgomery, the other by Arnold. Some rockets, thrown up as a signal, being seen by the enemy, Dec. 31. prevented a surprise. As the New York troops approach

ed the first barrier, the enemy fled, first discharging a cannon, which swept away the head of the American column, the general himself falling dead into the arms. of the youthful Burr, whom he had appointed one of his aids. Discouraged by the loss of their leader, this division abandoned the attack. Arnold, on his side, pushed through the northern suburb, and approached a two-gun battery, the advanced post of the enemy in that direction. While cheering on his men, the bone of his leg was shattered by a musket ball. He was borne from the field; but Morgan, at the head of his riflemen, made a rush at the battery, carried it, and took the guard prisoners Morgan had no guide; the morning was dark; totally ignorant of the situation of the town, he came to a halt. He was joined by some fragments of other companies, and, when the day dawned, found himself at the head of some two hundred men, who eagerly demanded to be led against the second barrier, a few paces in front, but concealed from sight by a turn in the street. Morgan gave the order, and his men advanced and planted their ladders; but those who mounted saw on the other side a double hedge of bayonets ready to receive them, while a fire, at the same time, was opened by parties of the enemy relieved from duty elsewhere by the failure of the other attack, and sent out of the gates to take them in

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the rear. Exposed in a narrow street to an incessant CHAPTER fire, Morgan's ranks were soon thinned. His men threw themselves into the store-houses on each side of the way; 1775. but, overpowered by numbers, benumbed with cold, their muskets rendered unserviceable by the snow, they were obliged to surrender. Not less than four hundred men were lost in this unlucky assault, of whom three hundred became prisoners. Arnold retired with the remnant of his troops three miles up the river, and, covering his camp with ramparts of frozen snow, kept up the blockade of Quebec through the winter.

While these operations were carried on in Canada, the term of service of the troops before Boston was rapidly approaching its termination. The time of the Connecticut and Rhode Island regiments expired early in December. None of the troops were engaged for a longer period than the first of April.

October

18-22.

A committee from Philadelphia had visited the camp, and, in consultation with Washington, and with committees from the New England colonies, had agreed upon a plan, presently sanctioned by Congress, for the reorgan- Nov. 4 ization of the besieging army. It was to consist, according to this plan, of twenty-six regiments, besides riflemen and artillery: Massachusetts to furnish sixteen, Connecticut five, New Hampshire three, and Rhode Island two-in all, about twenty thousand men; the officers to be selected by Washington out of those already in service, willing and qualified to act. But this was a business much easier to plan than to execute. The selection of officers was a most delicate and embarrassing matter, in which not qualifications only, but provincial and personal prejudices had to be consulted, for not a man would enlist till he knew the officers under whom he was to serve. Even then, enlistments,

CHAPTER though only for a year, were obtained with difficulty XXXII. The first effervescence of patriotism was over. The 1775. barracks were cold and comfortless, and the supply of fuel scanty. A short experience of military life had damped the ardor of many.

All the new' recruits required a furlough to visit their families. Those who did not re-enlist refused to serve a moment beyond their time. One or two of the Connecticut regiments marched off some days beforehand. The camp was in danger of being left bare, and, to supply the deficiency in the Continental regiments, five thousand militia had to be called. in, who answered much better than Washington had feared.

Surrounded with difficulties, the commander-in-chief exhibited a fortitude, assiduity, discrimination, and patience absolutely essential for the station which he held, and amply vindicating the judgment of Congress. In his private correspondence he could not wholly suppress his feelings. He complained bitterly of "an egregious want of public spirit," and of "fertility in all the low arts of obtaining advantage."

Yet at least one striking instance of disinterestedness was displayed. In arranging the new regiments, Colonel Asa Whitcombe, an officer of merit, who had served in the late French war, was left out on account of his advanced age. His men took offense at it, and refused to re-enlist, when the colonel set them an example by himself enlisting as a private soldier. Such magnanimity did not pass unacknowledged. One of the other colonels gave up his regiment, to which Whitcombe was appointed, and Washington noticed his conduct with particular approbation in general orders.

Age, in a measure, disqualified Gridley, who had hitherto commanded the artillery. That arm was in a

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very defective state. An equivalent for Gridley's half CHAPTER pay on the British establishment was secured to him by Congress, and the command of the artillery, with the 1775. ank of colonel, was given to Knox, late a Boston bookbinder, who visited Ticonderoga, selected cannon there, and, with the help of the pieces captured by Manly, soon placed that department on a better footing.

According to an arrangement recommended by a committee of Congress sent to consult with Schuyler, the northern army was to consist of nine, increased presently to eleven battalions, two to be recruited out of the troops already in that service, two to be enlisted in Canada, two from Pennsylvania, and one each from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.

Besides the regiments included in these two armies, Congress had already taken into colonial pay the three regiments of South Carolina, presently increased to five, the three regiments of North Carolina, to which three more were soon afterward added, and the two regiments of Virginia, increased first to six, and then to nine. Virginia and Maryland had been called upon for additional riflemen, sufficient to make up a regiment. Delaware had been called upon for one regiment, Pennsylvania for six, New Jersey for two, New York for four, and Georgia for one. Two of the regiments from Pennsylvania, one from New Jersey, and three from New York, were to serve in Schuyler's army. Among the Pennsylvania colonels were Magaw, who commanded the battalion of riflemen, St. Clair, Irving, Wayne, and De Haas. A third New Jersey regiment, and two others presently raised in Rhode Island for local defense, were subsequently taken into Continental pay.

A proclamation having been issued in the name of

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