General Richard Montgomery and the American Revolution by Hal T. Shelton

Author:Hal T. Shelton [Shelton, Hal T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, Revolutionary Period (1775-1800)
ISBN: 9780814739648
Publisher: NYU Press
Published: 1994-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Attack on Quebec

The situation of his army pressed dispatch; snows and frost only quickened his motions. He hoped by one successful stroke, before the arrival of succours to the garrison, to complete his plan.1

But yet, what-reck, he at Quebec, Montgomery-like did fa’, man, Wi’ sword in hand, before his band, Amang his en’mies a’, man.2

Thus fell our worthy and brave General. Weep America! for thou hast lost one of thy most virtuous and dearest sons.3

After receiving no satisfaction in his attempts to arrange a peaceful capitulation of Quebec, Montgomery turned to an artillery cannonade of the city. Erecting batteries with the guns he had brought from Montreal, he emplaced five small mortars behind protective buildings in St. Roch, a few hundred yards from the walls of Quebec. Shelling of the city commenced on December 9 to provide a postscript to the unanswered messages of conciliation that Montgomery had sent to the inhabitants.

Several days of sustained firing, however, failed to make a serious impact on the garrison or civilian population. Capt. Thomas Ainslie of the British militia crowed, “Their shot had no more effect upon our walls, than pease wou’d have against a plank.” “Before they gave us a sample of their savoir faire in the bombarding way,” Ainslie remarked, “the towns people had conceived that every shell wou’d inevitably kill a dozen or two of people, & knock down some two or three houses . . . but after they saw that their bombettes as they called them, did no harm, women and children walked the streets laughing at their former fears.”4

The ineffectiveness of Montgomery’s six-, nine-, and twelve-pounders was due largely to their light weight and limited range. It soon became apparent to the Americans that their batteries were not in a position to compete with the thirty-two-pounders in the fortress. This British fire superiority manifested itself in the casualties and damage suffered by the Americans from counterartillery fire. A hostile cannon barrage drove Arnold from his headquarters in St. Roch when his house was riddled with shot. Carleton’s cannoneers nearly killed Montgomery when a shell decapitated his horse and demolished his sleigh a few minutes after he had alighted to confer with his aides.5

Despite the disadvantages from which the American artillery endured, Montgomery ordered the emplacement of another battery that hopefully could give a better account of itself. The Plains of Abraham offered the most advantageous firing location, but it offered little natural cover from outranging counterbattery shelling. In addition, the hard frozen ground would not permit digging or the construction of earthworks to protect the guns or gunners. Nevertheless, the Americans accepted the challenge and risk. Captain Lamb chose a site on the Plains about seven hundred yards from St. John’s Gate. Working by night in the biting cold, his men prepared the new position. It took the name of the “ice battery,” because its breastworks were constructed with snow that had been wetted down with water and allowed to form into walls of ice. On

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