Battle of Quebec (1775)

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For the 1759 battle in the Seven Years' War, see the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

{{Infobox Military Conflict |conflict= Battle of Quebec (1775) |image=Image:Canadian militiamen and British soldiers repulse the American assault at Sault-au-Matelot.jpg |caption=This illustration by Allan Daniel correctly depicts Arnold's men in summer uniforms. British are shown charging in heavy overcoats. |partof=the American Revolutionary War |date=December 30 - 31, 1775 |place=Quebec City, Canada |result= British victory|combatant1=United States |combatant2=Great Britain |commander1=Richard Montgomery †
Benedict Arnold |commander2=Sir Guy Carleton
Allen Maclean |strength1=900 regulars and militia |strength2=300 regulars
1,500 sailors, marines, and militia |casualties1=60 killed and wounded
426 captured |casualties2=6 dead
19 wounded }} Template:Campaignbox American Revolutionary War: Canada

The Battle of Quebec was an attempt on December 31, 1775 by American revolutionaries to capture the Canadian city of Quebec and enlist French-Canadian support for the Revolutionary War. Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery were the two primary American commanders in the assault, which failed. The battle was the climax of the American invasion of Canada, and put an end to any hopes of French Canada rising in rebellion with the Americans.

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Events

Seeking to draw Canada into the revolution, American commanders set to seize the city of Quebec, which was held by a small garrison of 100 British regulars under the command of Guy Carleton, the Governor of Canada, and Col. Allen Maclean. The British were supported by hundreds of poorly-armed militia, using mostly muskets and a few bayonets; city fortifications were in disrepair and supplanted by wooden barricades erected within the urban districts.

Two expeditions were launched toward Quebec. Brigadier General Montgomery came up via Lake Champlain; General Benedict Arnold took his armies through the backcountry of Maine. Meanwhile, General Washington maneuvered his armies to block the British from sending reinforcements north. In late October 1775, the American forces came within view of the City of Quebec. In November 1775, Arnold took his forces across the St. Lawrence River onto the Plains of Abraham, where he summoned the city's garrison to come out and fight. (During the Seven Years' War, Gen. Montcalm had done so, and was defeated.) Getting no response, Arnold decided to attack.

The attack began at 4:00 am on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1775. Arnold divided his army into two attack columns. He would lead his own group, totaling 600 men, to attack the northern part around the walled city, while a second column, totaling 300 men led by Montgomery, would attack the southern part of the city. The two attack columns would meet at the tip of the St. Lawrence river and move into the walled city itself. But the fortifications proved to be too strong to take by force. Combined with a sudden snowstorm that began before dawn, the attack was doomed from the start. Montgomery's column advanced along the river coastline under the Cape Diamond Bastion where they came to a blockhouse barricade at Pres de Ville manned by about 30 Canadian militia. Opening fire, Montgomery was killed by the first volley and about a dozen more were also killed or injured. Unable to fire back with their muskets useless in the snowstorm, the Americans retreated back along the riverbank.

Unaware of Montgomery's death and his attack's failure, Arnold advanced with his main body towards the northern barricades where they were fired upon by British and local militia manning the wall of the city. Upon reaching a street barricade at a street called Sault au Matelot, Arnold was wounded in the left ankle by a musket ball and was taken to the rear. With Arnold out of action, his second-in-command, Daniel Morgan, took command and captured the first street barricade. But while awaiting further orders, the Americans were attacked in the street and surrounding row houses by hundreds of militia. A British counter-attack re-occupied the first barricade, trapping Morgan and his men within the narrow streets of the city. With no way of retreat and under heavy fire, all of Morgan's men surrendered and by 10:00 the battle was over with Morgan surrendering himself and the last pocket of American resistance in the city.

Of Arnold's command, over 30 of his men were killed, (20 more were later found after the spring thaw and several more drowned while fleeing across the frozen rivers) and 426 prisoners were taken along with Morgan. At least 12 more Americans were killed or wounded along with Montgomery on the southern riverbank after the attack. The British commander, Guy Carleton, reported his losses as one British naval officer and five French Canadian militia killed, with four British soldiers and 15 militia wounded.

Arnold refused to give up and, despite now being outnumbered by three to one, lay siege to Quebec, despite the sub-freezing temperature of the winter and the mass desertions of his men after their enlistments expired on January 1, 1776. By March of 1776, the first American reinforcements arrived which brought the total to 2,000 men. But unable to renew an assault on the city, the siege continued until over 8,000 British reinforcements arrived on May 6, 1776, which forced the American army to retreat south and back to the New York colony.

With the British victory at Quebec and the later retreat of the Americans from Canada, there was never another serious attempt to bring the Canadians into the American Revolution against the British.

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