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9.

forlorn condition the remainder suddenly appeared at CHAP Point Levi, opposite Quebec. The inhabitants were astonished at the apparition, and could Arnold have crossed immediately, he might have taken the town; but he was unable to do so for want of boats. In a few days came Carleton from Montreal; he put the town in a state of defense, and increased his force to twelve hundred men, by enlisting traders, sailors, and others.

Although two armed vessels were on the watch, Arnold managed to cross the St. Lawrence, clambered up the Heights of Abraham, by the same rugged path that Wolfe had used, and boldly challenged the garrison to battle. The contest was declined. It was useless for him

to attempt to besiege the town without cannon, so he moved twenty miles up the river, where he met Montgomery. The toilsome march through the wilderness nearly stripped Arnold's men of their clothes; the woollens obtained at Montreal were to them also an acceptable protection against the rigors of a Canada winter.

Their united force amounted to only nine hundred men. With these, Montgomery, who assumed the command, advanced to Quebec. The flag he sent to demand a surrender was fired upon. A battery must be built; the ordinary material was not at hand, but ingenuity supplied its place. Gabions were filled with snow and ice, over which water was poured, and a Canada winter soon rendered them solid, but no ingenuity could render the ice otherwise than brittle-every shot from the town shattered it in pieces. It was now found that their cannon were too small. They could not batter the walls, and it was as fruitless to attempt to scale them. Some other plan must be adopted.

It was determined to make a sudden attack on the lower town. Montgomery, with one division, was to advance upon the south side, while Arnold was to make an attempt upon the north. At the same time, feint move

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Dec. 31.

CHAP. ments were to be made against the upper town, and signal rockets fired from the different points to distract and 1775. divert the attention of the enemy. On the thirty-first of December a blinding snow-storm favored their enterprise. At two o'clock on the morning of that day they were on the march. The feint that was to cover the movement of Montgomery was successful. Undiscovered he descended from the Heights of Abraham, passing safely around Cape Diamond to the defile that led to the town. The pass, at all times difficult, was now obstructed by ice and drifting snow. It was defended by barriers guarded by Canadian militia. Taken by surprise, they fled from the picket. Montgomery passed the first barrier unopposed. As he stepped beyond it, sanguine and exultant with hope, he exclaimed "Push on, my brave boys; Quebec is ours!" Just then, a single gun loaded with grape-shot was fired from a battery; he fell, and by his side his aids and many others, who had answered to his cheering call. The soldiers, disheartened at the fall of their brave leader, were willing to abandon the town, under the lead of Quartermaster Campbell, leaving the bodies of the slain Montgomery, Cheeseman, and MacPherson where they fell.

By some neglect, no feint movement was made to cover the march of Arnold. He was harassed by a flanking fire as he pushed on to the entrance of the town. His leg being shattered by a ball, he was unable to lead his men against the battery. Morgan assumed the command, and with his riflemen stormed it, and captured the men. At daylight he reached the second battery, which was also carried; but now the forces of the British were concentrated at this point. Morgan's party made a brave resistance, but were overpowered by numbers, and compelled to surrender. He himself was the last to submit. When called upon by the British soldiers to deliver up his sword, he refused, planted himself against a wall, and defied them to take it. They threatened to shoot him; his men expos

MORGAN AND HIS MEN PRISONERS.

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tulated. At length he saw a man- -a priest he knew him CHAP. to be from his dress; to him he gave it, saying: "I will give my sword to you, but not a scoundrel of those cowards shall take it out of my hands." The bravery of Morgan and his men was appreciated by Carleton; as prisoners, they were treated with special kindness.

Arnold now retired about three miles up the river, and there in a camp whose ramparts were formed of frozen snow and of ice, he blockaded Quebec through the winter. Here we leave him for the present.

Montgomery was at first buried at Quebec. When nearly half a century had passed away, New York remembered her adopted son. She transferred his remains to her metropolis, and with appropriate honors reinterred them 1818. in St. Paul's church-yard.

XXIX.

5.

Oct.

CHAPTER XXIX.

WAR OF THE REVOLUTION-CONTINUED.

Meeting of Congress; alarming Evils require its Attention.-British Cruis ers.-Portland burned.-Efforts to defend the Coast.-Congress acts with Energy.-Parliament resolves to crush the Rebels.-Henry Knox.Difficulties in the Army.-Provincial Prejudices.-Success of the Privateers.-British Theatricals.-The Union Flag.-Affairs in New York.Rivington's Gazette.-Governor Tryon.-General Lee in the City.-The Johnsons.-Dunmore's Measures in Virginia; Norfolk burned.-Defeat of North Carolina Tories.-Lee at the South.-Cannon and Powder obtained. Dorchester Heights fortified.-Boston Evacuated.-Washington in New York.—British and German Troops in Canada.-Numerous Disasters.-The Retreat from Canada.-Horatio Gates.-A British Fleet before Fort Moultrie.--Gloomy Prospects.

CHAP. WHEN the Continental Congress reassembled, delegates from Georgia took their seats, for the first time, and the 1775. style was assumed of THE THIRTEEN UNITED COLONIES. Sept. During the session, a delegate from beyond the mountains presented himself as the representative of the colony of Transylvania, the germ of the present State of Kentucky, (settled by those bold pioneers, Boone, Harrod, and Henderson), but the delegate of the fourteenth colony was rejected, on the ground that Virginia claimed the territory.

Alarming evils required the prompt attention of Congress. The army was almost destitute of ammunition and military stores; the coast, to a great extent, unprotected; British cruisers hovered on the shores of New England; demanded of the inhabitants supplies; burned

PORTLAND BURNED-PLANS OF DEFENCE.

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and pillaged the towns. The notorious Captain Wallace CHAP. was stationed in Narragansett Bay; Stonington and Bristol had been bombarded, and Newport was threatened 1775. with destruction. The British Admiral, Graves, it was said, had issued orders to burn all the rebel towns from: Halifax to Boston. This was no idle rumor. At Falmouth, now Portland, in Maine, the destruction began. This patriotic little town had, some time before, resolutely repulsed Lieutenant Mowatt of the British navy. One evening he appeared with several vessels in the harbor, prepared to mete out the punishment due for such rebellion. He informed the inhabitants of his intention, and allowed them two hours "to remove the human species out of the town." A further respite until nine o'clock next morning was with difficulty obtained. The people removed during the night; then, by means of bombs and carcasses, this flourishing village of three hundred houses was laid in ashes. The other towns assumed a posture of defence, and avoided a similar ruin.

The colonies separately took measures to defend their coasts against such attacks. Already Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina had appointed Naval Boards, and equipped armed vessels. The British ships had been driyen from the harbor at Charleston; a powder-ship had been captured by a South Carolina vessel. Washington had sent cruisers into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Massachusetts Bay, to intercept supplies intended for the enemy. One of these, the schooner Lee, commanded by Captain Manly, deserves particular mention. She did the country good service. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, now equipped a few small vessels. Although a few harbors were thus defended, the force that protected the coast was still insufficient.

Congress applied themselves vigorously to remedy these evils They forwarded some of the powder seized by