The Liberation of Canada: 1776


The Liberation of Canada: 1776 ____________________________________________________________________________________

	The British forces defending Quebec and the insurgent forces which had tried to besiege it were left in a quandry after the failure of the New Year's Eve attack. The Crown forces were too small and the weather too inclement for them to attempt to raise the siege and chase the defeated rebels up the St. Lawrence to Montreal. The insurgent forces were too weak to attempt a second storming of the City, no less continue the siege in an effective manner. In practice, both sides settled into an uneasy stand off, the Crown forces waiting for the early arrival of the Royal Navy with military reinforcements, and the rebel forces waiting for the early arrival of a relief column from Montreal. Meanwhile, in London, the British cabinet was faced with an unprecedented dilemma. Lord George Germain was eager to suppress the American insurgency with an overwhelming show of military force. However, he would first have to provide sufficient reinforcements for Carleton to clear Canada of rebel insurgents and to reinforce General William Howe at Boston with sufficient forces to seize the City of New York before Howe could take the field to defeat the main rebel army under Washington. Virtually every available regiment in England, Scotland and Ireland was ordered to North America, including a composite battalion composed of men from the Foot Guards Regiments and several regiments of Scots highlanders. However, the numbers of reinforcements available from British sources were still insufficient. Overtures were made to the Empress Catherine of Russia for the hiring of 20,000 Russian soldiers. The Russians were thought to be particularly well suited to service in Canada, but in any event Catherine apparently followed her liberal conscience and declined Britain's request. In place of the Russians, contracts were entered with the rulers of Hesse Cassel, Brunswick, Hesse Hanau and Waldeck for the hiring of 18,150 German soldiers. The larger problem facing Germain was the transportation of these armies to North America. Howe himself had wanted to abandon Boston and change his base of operations to New York in 1775, but insufficient shipping was available to allow him to move his whole army in one lift. Now, with massive reinforcements for Carleton in Canada and Howe in Boston in addition to the regular shipping needs of the supply services and a severe shortage of trained seaman as a result of the sudden mobilization of the Royal Navy, the shipping problem was acute. Germain managed to send a small flotilla of warships and transports to the mouth of the St. Lawrence with orders to dare the pack ice of the River in order to relieve besieged Quebec. This fleet, with one infantry regiment on board, left England on 22 February. While this flotilla was intended to relieve Carleton's immediate needs, Germain had larger plans for Canada. In December, 1775, he requested transportation for eight British infantry regiments of approximately 500 men each and 5,000 Brunswick soldiers for Canada. Shortly thereafter, he also requested transportation for 4,500 British soldiers and 12,000 Hessian soldiers to reinforce Howe. Amazingly, the unprecedented shipping requirements to carry these numbers across the Atlantic were satisfied. Germain has had few apologists, but no one can doubt the efficiency with which he reinforced the British forces in North America during the winter of 1775 to 1776. In the race between Congress sending reinforcements to the insurgent army in Canada and Germain sending reinforcements to Carleton, the British won. The HMS Surprise, a Royal Navy frigate which had pushed through ice flows in her effort to reach the City, arrived in early May in the basin below the City with escorting sloops and a flotilla of troop transports. The transports made for the harbour in the Lower Town, and the Surprise sailed past Point Levis and Cape Diamond to bombard the rebel camp to the west of the fortifications in the Upper Town. Carleton and MacLean were ready. They pressed the newly arrived British forces through the City and, accompanied by the victorious army which had defended it during the siege, the column sallied out of the fortifications. The rebels fled, leaving their tents, artillery, munitions and personal effects behind. As the British column pressed westwards, it found the road to Montreal "...strew'd with arms, cartridges, cloaths (sic), bread, pork" in the words of Captain Thomas Ainslie, an officer in the British militia who had survived the siege to witness the rout. As the rebel army fell back towards Montreal, Carleton launched a sortie on 22 May, 1776 towards the town of Trois Rivieres with the 29th and 47th Regiments of Foot. On 1 June, however, Carleton returned to Quebec to meet the main relief force under the command of General Sir John Burgoyne. Carleton's army now comprised the 9th, 20th, 21st, 24th, 29th, 47th, 53rd and 62nd Regiments of Foot and four companies of Royal Artillery from the British Army and several regiments of Brunswick infantry, including the Regiment Prinz von Ludwig, the Light Infantry Battalion von Barner, the Infantry Regiment von Rhetz, the Infantry Regiment von Specht, the Infantry Regiment von Riedesel, the Infantry Regiment Prinz Friedrich and the Infantry Regiment Erbprinz. The rebels, meanwhile, had withdrawn as far as Deschambault, a village upriver from Quebec. After arriving there on 7 May, an epidemic of smallpox added to the rebels privations. The army's new general, John Thomas, ordered it to withdraw to Sorel, leaving only a rearguard at Deschambault. Sorel stands at the mouth of the Richelieu River where it flows into the St. Lawrence. While these movements were underway, Thomas himself contracted and died from smallpox, and command past to the rebel general William Sullivan. With a total force in excess of 8,000 men, Carleton's situation could scarcely have been more improved. He send an advanced corps of eight battalions to Trois- Rivieres. The town was also the destination of an army under the rebel general William Thompson whom Sullivan had ordered to descend the St. Lawrence from Sorel on 6 June. The two armies met at Trois-Rivieres on 8 June. Thompson had followed the advice of a local guide who appears to have purposefully led the rebels into a swamp. Retracing their steps, the rebels found a Royal Navy flotilla offshore in position to contest their use of the riverfront road into the Town. Turning back yet again, the rebels entered the swamp a second time and emerged to find that a sizeable British force barred their further advance. In the ensuring fighting, approximately 70 men were killed and wounded, and 200 prisoners were captured, including General Thompson and his staff. The rest of Thompson's army fled back to Sorel. Carleton resumed his advance on 14 June, and arrived late that day at Sorel to find that Sullivan's garrison of approximately 2,500 men had withdrawn up the Richelieu that morning. The rebels arrived at Fort Chambly the next day. In abandoning Sorel, the rebel army had lost the main water route from Lake Champlain to the St. Lawrence. Meanwhile, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence across from Sorel, at Berthierville, the rebel garrison was surprised to find itself abandoned by Sullian and isolated in the face of Carleton's fleet and army. It immediately began to withdrew towards Montreal. Carleton now split his forces. A sizeable corps under Burgoyne's command was detached to ascend the Richelieu in pursuit of Sullivan's army. Carleton led the rest of the army to Montreal, the garrison of which was under the command of Benedict Arnold. Arnold was not aware that Sullivan had abandoned Sorel, and on 15 June tried to establish contact with him. For unknown reasons, the Berthierville garrison had failed to send word of Carleton's arrival. Arnold's envoy to Sullivan was surprised to confront the approaching British fleet bringing Carleton's army upriver to Montreal. Almost literally at the last moment, Arnold abandoned the City in a matter of hours, attempting to burn it down on his way. The loyal militia rallied to fight the fire, and took possession of Montreal in the name of King George III. When Carleton's army arrived on 17 June, they found Arnold gone and the King's militia guarding the City. Arnold's retreat had taken him along the 25 mile road from Montreal to St. John. He made good time, rendezvousing with Sullivan's army on 17 June. In a council-of-war, the rebel generals decided to fall back 20 miles to Ile-aux-Noix. This swampy, low-lying island lies in the middle of the Richelieu north of the modern border between the United States and Quebec. The rebel armies withdrew from St. John in good order, and Arnold himself was the last rebel-in-arms to leave the Fort as the advanced parties of Burgoyne's army arrived. Having failed to catch the rebel army at Sorel, Montreal, Chambly and St. John, the Crown forces planned one last attempt at Ile-aux-Noix. However, Sullivan and Arnold had arrived there to find the garrison suffering from an epidemic of smallpox and wisely decided to withdraw to healthier quarters at Crown Point 90 miles to the south. A detachment of natives and Quebec militia arrived at the island to find it abandoned. By 1 July, Arnold, Sullivan and the insurgent army had reached Crown Point. The invasion of Canada which had started ten months before and which had come within an ace of conquering Canada was over. Quebec City, the most-beseiged fortification in North America, had successfully withstood its last siege.

Above: General Sir John Burgoyne