HISTORIC KINGSBRIDGE 163 



Richard Montgomery was born in Ireland December 2, 1736. 

 He entered the English army at the age of eighteen, and distin- 

 guished himself under Wolfe in his brilliant conquests in the 

 French wars. He fought with the colonists in five important cam- 

 paigns, and for valiant services he was promoted to the rank of 

 captain. 



He returned to England, but his claims for advancement be- 

 ing neglected, he sold his commission in 1772, and the following 

 year he repaired to this country. He purchased a farm of sixty- 

 seven acres at Kingsbridge, where he soon after won the hand of 

 Janet, daughter of Judge Robert R. Livingstone. In May, 1775, 

 he reluctantly yielded up his domestic happiness and consented to 

 act as delegate to the first Provincial Congress in New York City ; 

 and in June of the same year the Continental Congress made him 

 a brigadier-general in the Continental Army, the second on the 

 list of eight, and the only one not from New England. 



It was discovered that Carleton, the British Governor of 

 Canada was enlisting the French peasantry in an expedition to re- 

 cover Ticonderoga. The Continental Congress therefore decided 

 to occupy that province as an act of self-defense. The command 

 of the enterprise was assigned to General Schuyler, with Mont- 

 gomery second in command. 



Montgomery was regarded with pride and affection as, bidding 

 farewell to his lovely home and recently wedded joys, he turned 

 his face to the uninviting northern frontiers. His young wife, 

 who accompanied him to Saratoga, little thought that she was kiss- 

 ing good-bye for the last time this princely "soldier," — as she was 

 fond of calling him. 



Thru, the illness of the superior officer, the entire command 

 devolved upon Montgomery. With a force of 1,000 men he captured 

 the fort at Chamblee and the post of St. John on November 3, 

 took Montreal on the 13th, and pushed on to Quebec. 



Montgomery's letters display his noble enthusiasm, his con- 

 tempt for cowardice and his self-sacrificing patriotism. "The 

 other day," he wrote to his wife, November 24, 1775, "General 

 Prescott was so obliging as to surrender himself and fourteen or 

 fifteen land officers, with above one hundred men, besides sea of- 

 ficers and sailors, prisoners of war. I blush for His Majesty's 

 troops! Such an instance of base poltroonery I have never met 

 with ! And all because we had a half a dozen cannon on the bank 



