4 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



from Quebec to St. Johns to help resist the invasion of Canada by- 

 Richard Montgomery and his force of 1500 Continentals. After 

 marching as far as Sorel Maclean took post there, but when the local 

 militia on whom he depended for support deserted, he sought refuge 

 with his troops aboard armed vessels in the harbor and returned to 

 the capital of the province, arriving just in time to render valuable 

 service in the defence of that place against the attacks of Benedict 

 Arnold.* 



If Quebec was saved from capture, Montreal was not, and remained 

 in possession of the Americans until the last week in June, 1776. On 

 the day following its re-occupation by the Canadians, Sir John Johnson 

 arrived there with about two hundred followers, having fled from his 

 patrimonial estate in the Mohawk Valley toward the close of the pre- 

 ceding month, t Sir John received a cordial welcome from Governor 

 Guy Carleton, and was at once commissioned to raise a battalion, to 

 be called the King's Royal Regiment of New York, from among his 

 companions and the distressed people he had left behind. In granting 

 this commission Carleton was acting under the express authority of 

 the home government in England, which had given its approval of the 

 formation of a corps by Sir John in the previous March. Î This shows 

 conclusively that the Imronet's military preparations at Johnstown 

 before his flight were part of a preconcerted plan that might have been 

 thwarted if General Philip Schuyler and his Continentals had taken Sir 

 John mto custody in January, 1776, instead of disarming and releasing 

 him at that time.* However, when the danger of arrest agam threatened 

 Johnson and his party escaped, departing by way of the Sacondaga, 

 thence taking a northwestwardly route to avoid Lake Champlain, 

 lest it might be in the possession of the Americans, and entering the 

 Province of Quebec probably east of the St. Lawrence by way of St. 

 Regis. The corps received frequent accessions from the colonies, the 

 first to be recorded being "parties, some with arms, who had come in 

 at Crown Point for refuge," and who joined the regiment in November.'' 

 The spirit of the new organization was warmly commended by Carleton 

 two months later. At the same time, provision was made for the care 

 of the unincorporated refugees with the regiment and for the adminis- 

 tration of the oath of allegiance to all who had thus far arrived. ' 



♦Can. Arch., 1890, State Papers, 65, 66 ; Sir John Johnson's Orderly Book, 55, n. ; 

 Flick, Loyalism in New York, 101, and the references there given. 



tCan. Arch., 1890, State Papers, 73; Second Report, Bureau of Archives, Ont., 

 Pt. I., 375, 376, 381, 382, 383, 384, 410, 411. 



JCan. Arch., 1885, 235. 



*Stone, Life of Brant, L, 142. 



•Can. Arch., 1890, State Papers, 78. 



•Can. Arch., 1885, 231, 252. 



