18 BULLETIN 16 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



came the difficulties incident to the lack of munitions and supplies, the 

 want of discipline among his troops, and suffering due to the in- 

 clement weather. During the latter part of 1775 he captured the 

 fortresses of St. Johns and Chambly ; the town of Montreal was next 

 taken, and early in December he effected a juncture of his own 

 forces with those commanded by Benedict Arnold before Quebec. 

 The situation of the besiegers was desperate, and the decision was 

 made to attempt to capture the city by storm. The assault was 

 made early in the morning of December 31, 1775, during a heavy 

 snowstorm, and Montgomery was killed by artillery fire while lead- 

 ing his men to the attack. Discouraged by his fall, his men retreated 

 and the attack resulted in the repulse of the American forces with 

 heavy losses. Montgomery was very popular both in America and 

 Great Britain, and his body was interred at Quebec with military 

 honors. Congress by a resolution of January 26, 1776, appropriated 

 funds for the erection of a monument to his memory. 



SWORD OWNED BY COL. JONAS JOHNSTON 



The National Museum collection contains two other swords of the 

 hanger type, which were used during the period of the Revolution 

 by officers of the American Army. One of these was carried by 

 Col. Jonas Johnston, of the North Carolina Militia. This sword * 

 has a short curved blade with a single deep narrow groove near the 

 back. The grip is made of wood decorated with narrow spiral 

 grooves, and the pommel bears a silver eagle's head belonging to a 

 later period. 



The owner of this sword was born in Southampton County, Va., 

 in 1740. He was a resident of North Carolina at the time of the 

 outbreak of the Revolution and was appointed major by the pro- 

 visional congress of that State in the spring of 1776. From this 

 time until his death he was prominent in both the military and civil 

 service of the State in which he resided. He was seriously wounded 

 at the battle of Stono Ferry, S. C, on June 20, 1779, and died about 

 a month later. His sword was lent to the National Museum in 1916 

 by Mrs. D. B. Sterrett. 



The other example ® of the hanger type carried during the Revolu- 

 tion was transferred to the National Museum in 1883 from the United 

 States Patent Office. 



The hanger was designed along very plain lines and seems to have 

 been the only type of English sword imitated by American makers. 

 The second type of English sword popular in the colonies was the 

 colichemarde, which came into general use in Europe early in the 



* Length, 82.5 cm. Blade, 69 cm. long, 3 cm. wide. 



6 Length, 80.5 cm. Blade, 66 cm. long, 3 cm. wide. PI. 1, fig. 3. 



