[le moine] assault ON QUEBEC IN 1775 463 



"General Schuyler, in a letter to the President of Congress, dated 

 Albanj', January 13, 1776, six o'clock : 



' \Vithin this half hour INIr. Antill arrived with the unfortunate account in 

 the inclos^ed. ]My amiable and gallant friend General Montgomery is no more ; he 

 fell in an unsuccessful attack on Quebec on the oOth ultimo.' 



'•Peter Force, 'American Archives,' iv, p. 6io6. 



"From the 'Journal of Colonel Eodolphus Eitzema, of the First 

 New York Regiment, August 8th, 1775, to July 30th, 1778 ' (from the 

 original in the ' Collection of the New York Historical Society,' published 

 in the ' Magazine of American History,' vol. i, February, 1877, pp. 98-107). 

 The author is at Montreal at the time he writes : 



' January 3, 1776. — JNIr. Antill arrived here by express from Quebec, with 

 intelligence that General Montgomery, on the olst ultimo, between the hours of 

 six and seven in the morning (after a previous cUsj)osition of his small army), made 

 two attacks upon the lower town, under a feint, and upon the upper.' * * * * 



" In the series of Force's ' Archives,' vol. ix, p. 707, in a letter which 

 appeared in the 'New York Gazette' ; the author of the letter I do not 

 know^, as it is signed with pseudonym 'A Soldier,' who wrote from 

 Montreal : 



' As the public have no doubt received many contradictory accounts relative 

 to the unfortunate attempt against Quebec, on the 31st of December last, * * * 

 I have sent j'ou for publication the following sketch.' 



" James Melvin, an actor in the assault on Quebec, and taken prisoner 

 at Sault-au-Matelot, on 31st December, 1775, writes ('Melvin's Journal,' 

 p. 11) : 



' 31st December, Sunday. — About four in the morning we mustered in order 

 to storm the town. 



' 1st January, 177(5. — Prisoner in Quebec' 



" ' The Account of the Repulse our Ti'oops met with in their attempt 

 at Quebec, the 31st of December, 1775.' This report is dated January 

 24, and says : 



' The letters from Canada bring an account of an unsuccessful attempt made 

 to gain j)ossession of Quebec by storm on the 31st December last, between the hours 

 of two and seven in the morning.' 



" In a letter which Governor Tryon wrote to the Earl of Dartmouth, 

 dated ' Ship Dutchess of Gordon, off New York, 8th February, 1776 ' : 



' I am happy to have an opportunity to commiuiicate to your Lordship the 

 victory obtained by General Carleton over the rebel forces before Quebec on the 

 31st of December last, in which action the commander was slain.' 



" ' Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York,' edited 

 by O'Callaghan, vol. viii, p. 672. 



" The reply to this is given by Lord Germain in a letter to Governor 

 Tryon, dated Whitehall, 28th March, 1776 : 



' The severe check the rebels met with on the 31st December before the walls 

 of Quebec, of which fortunate event we received the first intelligence from you, 

 has, I trust, secured to lois Majesty the possession of that fortress,' etc. 



