of them about to expire soon, when this little band of heroes would be greatly reduced.

Impressed with all these solemn realities, General Montgomery resolved to make an attempt on Quebec by storm ; and accordingly called a council of war to consult his officers, and concert measures for the desperate event.

At this council it became very difficult to overcome that weight of opinion which opposed the measure, until Colonel Morgan, with several other officers of distinction, united their efforts in support of the measure, and the general was gratified with almost an unanimous voice of the council. Before the day arrived for execution, the tidings reached the enemy by several deserters, and the general adopted the following plan, by, and with the advice of his officers. First to divide the army into four divisions. General Montgomery to lead the first division in person, and enter the lower town upon one side, and Colonel Arnold at the head of the second, to enter it upon the other side, whilst the other two divisions, under the command of Majors Livingston and Brown, should make two feints against the upper town, at St. Johns, and Cape Diamond, to divert the attention of the enemy.

On the morning of the 31st of December, 1775, precisely at 5, the rockets were shot into the air, as the sig nal agreed upon, and the attack commenced. The officers and troops, faithful to themselves and their country, moved with firmness amidst the gloom of the scene, and the cover of a driving snow storm, and the city was beset on all sides at once. But the enemy witnessed the discharge of the rockets, and accustomed to the use of such signals upon such occasions, caught the alarm and beat to arms. Thus alarmed, all hope of surprise was at an end; but the officers led on to the attack.

The brave Gen. Montgomery, at the head of the NewYork line, advanced along the shore of the St. Lawrence,

dispersed the guard, and carried the first battery, without much resistance; but before he could overcome the immense quantity of ice that obstructed his way, and double Cape Diamond, so as to avail himself of this first impres sion of terror in a fleeing enemy, it became necessary to pass through a narrow defile formed by projecting rocks under the impending precipice: here in this pass he assembled about 200 of his brave companions in arms, whose breasts had caught the kindred spirit that fired his own, and who were ready to support their general, and seize on the battery which had so lately been abandoned, and thus secure their entrance to conquest and glory; when one solitary soldier had dared to return to the battery, seize a match, and discharge one solitary gun, that involved in death the brave Montgomery, together with his aid-decamp M.Pherson; Captain Cheeseman; his orderly ser geant, and one private. With the discharge of this solitary gun, the soldier fled, and the fire was not repeated; but the brave Montgomery had fallen; M'Pherson and Cheeseman, his brave companions in arms, had fallen, and their spirits had fled to God who gave them, and with them all hopes of victory. The troops appalled at the loss of their general, retired from the defile, and abandoned the enter prise. Colonel Campbell led them back to a position more safe, where they rested in security, ignorant of the fate of the other division.

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Not so with Colonel Arnold; he entered the city at the place of destination, at the head of his little band, accompanied by Captian Lamb, with his company of artillery, and one field-piece mounted upon a sled. The main body followed close in the rear. Here were the same difficulties to be overcome which embarrassed the march of Gen. Montgomery: a narrow defile, obstructed with immense quantities of broken cakes of ice; and this defile was guarded by a battery of two twelve pounders, which raked the troops with an incessant fire of grape.

Fired with fresh zeal, as the dangers thickened upon him, Colonel Arnold led on his brave troops to storm this barrier, whilst his flanks were galled by showers of musketry, from the walls and pickets, and at the moment when he approached the battery, a musket ball pierced his leg; shattered the bone, and caused him to be removed from the attack, and carried to the hospital. Colonel Morgan succeeded to the cammand ; rushed forward amidst a shower of grape, and mounted the battery, at the head of his troops, whilst his riflemen fired into the ambrazures, and drove the enemy from their post. In this rencounter the captain of the guard, and several of his men, were taken by the Americans. Flushed with this success, Colonel Morgan pressed forward, in momentary expectation of learning the success of General Montgomery, and following the standard of his chief to conquest and to glory; but he soon found himself hard pressed in the street, galled on every side by the surrounding foe, in the midst of a dark tempestuous snow torm, without a guide, and unsupported by the main body; ignorant of his route, and of the situa tion of the points of defence. In this state of anxious suspense, they were soon joined by Colonel Green, and Majors Meigs and Bigelow, with such troops as they could collect, amounting in the whole to about 200. This was all the force that could be relied upon from such an undisciplined detachment as composed this expedition. When the light of day began to appear, this little band of heroes found themselves advanced to the distance of about forty paces from the second barrier, which lay concealed behind an angle of the street. When this barrier appeared in view, Colonel Morgan rushed to the contest at the head of this little phalanx, who bore their scaling ladders on their shoulders to mount the rampart, and dislodge the enemy. The captain of the post rushed out at VOL. III.

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the head of his guard to disperse the Americans, who was shot down in the attempt, and his men recoiled, and resumed their posts; the assailants, at the same time, were overwhelmed with a shower of musketry from the barrier, and adjoining buildings; but the column rushed forward, ascended their ladders, and mounted the barrier: here to their astonishment, they discovered a forest of bayonets, that bristled in array against them, and filled all the street. To advance, was death; to retreat, was dangerous; they therefore entered the adjacent houses, which were of stone, and kept up such an irregular fire upon the enemy as was practicable, considering how much their arms had suffered from the storm; it now appeared that not more than one tenth of their muskets were fit for duty, notwithstanding all their precautions to preserve them from the tempest. When this last resource failed, they began to concert measures for their own safety, by abandoning the enterprise, and making good their retreat; and Majors Meigs and Bigelow united their efforts to bring off the men; but even this had now become desperate; woru down with losses, fatigue, cold, and the driving tempest, the soldiers stuck to their shelters, and coverts in the houses, and could not be induced to appear again in the streets. By this time a detachment of the garrison, consisting of about 200 men, had taken post in their rear, with some field pieces, and entirely cut off their retreat.

Thus enclosed, they resolved to wait, with anxious hopes that some good tidings of the success of their general might relieve them from their embarrassment; but even this last hope failed them, and about ten o'clock in the morning they yielded to necessity, and surrendered to the enemy as prisoners of war. Thus, this desperate adventure failed, with the loss of the general, and about 400 men killed, wounded, and taken prisoners; but the loss of the enemy was trifling.

The death of General Montgomery was a serious loss to the American cause, and severly felt, as well as deeply lamented throughout the nation. As a man, he possessed all those amiable qualities that endeared him to his family, his friends, and society; as a hero, he had shewn himself worthy of command, by his active, and successful operations against the fortresses of St. Johns, Chamblee, the city of Montreal; the fleet of the enemy, and the conquest of all Lower Canada, excepting Quebec. As a partiot he had shewn himself ready to sacrifice every personal consideration, and even brave the winter's blasts in the cold and dreary regions of Canada, and support the toils and distresses of a winter's campaign, to humble the haughty foe, who had insulted the just rights of that country which now claimed him as her own, and which had become dear to him through the sympathies of those connubial ties which had entwined around his heart. With his last advice to the partner of his joys and the wife of his bosom, he exclaimed-" You shall never blush for your Montgomery." But he did not promise that her heart should not bleed for her Montgomery; this was a promise not at his command; this he left to God who rules the destinies of men; and sharp as his arrows often are, that pierce the tenderest heart, they are always the shafts of wisdom, directed in justice, and tempered with mercy; even under the keenest sensibilites of anguish and distress. Such was Montgomery's fall; such the wound it gave; and such the sympathy that felt the pain.

Impressed with the excellent worth of this distinguished martyr to the cause of America, Congress caused a monument to be erected with an inscription highly commemorative of his exalted worth.

We will now leave Colonel Arnold to continue the blockade of Quebec, and pursue the siege of Boston.