Montreal

MONTREAL. 25 September 1775. Ethan Allen's abortive attack. When Richard Montgomery started his siege of St. Johns (now St-Jean, Quebec), he sent Ethan Allen ahead to recruit Canadians along the Richelieu River for the American army. John Brown went toward La Prairie with the same purpose while Canadians James Livingston and Jeremy Duggan also started assembling men around Chambly and Pointe Olivier. Allen discovered widespread opposition among the farmers to Governor Guy Carleton's efforts to mobilize the Canadian militia; he decided to try taking Montréal, which was virtually undefended owing to the governor's decision to concentrate his regulars at the border. Although the colony's fate seemed to be hanging in the balance, Allen could not find enough men willing to attack immediately. He turned back briefly to join forces with Brown and Duggan and developed a plan to capture the city. Allen would cross the St. Lawrence with his 110 men (30 Americans and 80 Canadians) at Longueuil below Montreal while Brown with 200 crossed upstream at La Prairie; the two forces would then attack simultaneously.

Allen and Duggan began crossing at 10 p.m. on 24 September, but he had to shuttle the men over in canoes. By dawn on the next day, Allen's band was in the village of Longue-Pointe, but Brown had not been able to get across. Allen was immediately detected, and the inhabitants of the city shut its gates, buying time for the surprised Carleton to organize his defenses. Encouraged by the support he was receiving from the population, Carleton sallied out with a polyglot force: 34 regulars from the Twenty-Sixth Foot, 20 staff members of the Indian Department, 80 English-speaking Canadians, 120 French-speaking Canadians, and a half-dozen Indians. At the approach of this force, most of Allen's Canadians melted away. The dozen or so left, plus the Americans, tried to set up a defense at Ruisseau-des-Soeurs but were quickly overwhelmed. Carleton lost 3 killed and 2 wounded; Allen and 35 of his band were captured and 5 were killed.

This quixotic escapade had an impact far beyond the tiny numbers involved. It shored up British morale, encouraged the northern Indians, and kept most Canadians sitting on the fence. It also left Carleton free and gave Quebec City time to prepare its own defenses.

SEE ALSO Allen, Ethan; Brown, John; Canada Invasion; St. John's, Canada (5 September-2 November 1775).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lanctot, Gustave. Canada and the American Revolution, 1774–1783. Translated by Margaret M. Cameron. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967.

Stanley, George F. G. Canada Invaded, 1775–1776. Toronto: Hakkert, 1973.

                              revised by Robert K. Wright Jr.