Montreal
Montreal
MONTREAL. 13 November 1775. Occupied by Americans. The fall of St. Johns on 2 November left Montreal open to capture. Brigadier General Richard Montgomery sent an advance detachment of Americans and Canadians toward Sorel the next day, and they brushed aside light resistance; Montgomery followed with his main body two days later. The first of Montgomery's men crossed the St. Lawrence River and landed upstream from Montreal on 11 November. Governor Guy Carleton had only about a hundred troops and a few militia, so during the night of 12-13 November he spiked his cannon and embarked on a few small vessels; in the morning of 13 November the citizens opened the gates of the city to the Americans. The garrison's retreat was turned back twice by blocking positions set up at Sorel. Carleton escaped on 19 November by disguising himself as a Canadian and reached Quebec the next day on the armed scow Fell. Brigadier Richard Prescott and the bulk of the garrison surrendered on 20 November along with their collection of small vessels headed by the six-gun brig Gaspée.
SEE ALSO Canada Invasion; Quebec (Canada Invasion); St. John's, Canada (5 September-2 November 1775).
revised by Robert K. Wright Jr.