February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
It was one of the first significant victories in the early stages of the Revolutionary War and did much to lift the spirits of the colonists. But much of Canada remained under British military control and as such posed a serious military threat to the colonies. So Montgomery soon pressed on to take the strategic stronghold of Quebec City and there met his end, becoming one of the first fallen heroes of the war.
Richard Montgomery (1738-75) was born in Swords, Co. Dublin, the son of Thomas Montgomery, a baronet and member of the Irish Parliament. He joined the British army in Canada in 1756 and served for 16 years, fighting in the French and Indian War. He retired in 1772 and moved to New York, where he married into the prominent Livingston family. Opposed to British colonial policy, he served as a member of New York’s provisional congress in 1775. When hostilities broke out between colonists and British forces in Lexington and Concord that year, Montgomery was appointed brigadier general by the Continental Congress. Reluctant to leave his family and accept the commission at first, he eventually put duty ahead of personal concerns. “The will of the people,” he wrote, “must be respected.”
Montgomery was to serve as second in command under Major General Philip Schuyler. In late June 1775, they were ordered to invade Canada to seize the British cities of Montreal and Quebec. As the operation got under way, Montgomery was not impressed with the quality of the men under his command. They seemed an unruly collection of ill-disciplined and untrained men. Nonetheless, he drew upon his experience in the British army to mold them into a professional force as they marched into Canada.
When Schuyler became ill in September, top command of the invasion fell to Montgomery. On Oct. 19 he captured Fort Chambly not far from Montreal. “The troops are in high spirits,” he reported in a letter informing the Continental Congress of the victory. Days later they moved on Montreal and soon lay siege to the town. The inhabitants put up a nominal resistance and by the second week of November let it be known they were ready to discuss the terms of surrender. Montgomery bore no ill will toward the people of Montreal. He saw the current fight as one between the American colonists and the armed forces sent by the King. Accordingly, he drew up very lenient terms of capitulation which were accepted on Nov. 13.
“An Express last Night from General Montgomery,” wrote General George Washington in his journal on Nov. 28 while encamped near Boston, “brings the joyful tidings of the Surrender of the City of Montreal to the Continental Army.” Word of Montgomery’s victory lifted the spirits of the colonists back home and made him an early hero in the war. Unfortunately, Montgomery had little time to savor his victory, for soon after taking Montreal he combined forces with General Benedict Arnold (not yet a traitor) and joined the assault on Quebec City. Perched on a high elevation and strongly fortified, the city promised to be a far more difficult prize to capture than Montreal. At first Arnold and Montgomery settled in for a long siege (Dec. 4), but soon decided to attack the city. They believed they could win a stunning, surprise victory by attacking on New Year’s eve, a night when carousing British soldiers would likely have their guard down. A driving snowstorm that evening further added to the element of surprise.
Montgomery led the initial charge, shouting to his men, “Push on, brave boys, Quebec is ours!” But enough British soldiers were on hand to put up an effective defense. Montgomery was killed on Dec. 31, 1775 by canon fire at close range and Arnold was seriously wounded. In the ensuing confusion, the Americans were forced to retreat to Fort Ticonderoga in New York without Montgomery’s body, which had become lost in the snow. The British eventually found Montgomery and buried him with full military honors.
Informed of the general’s death, the Continental Congress ordered a marble monument erected in his honor at St. Paul’s chapel in Lower Manhattan. Other gestures in honor of the Revolutionary War’s first major casualty followed. Montgomery County Maryland, the scene of several of the recent sniper shootings, became in August 1776 the first of many counties to take the name of the Irish-born general. Counties in Illinois, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, New York, and 10 other states followed suit. The cities of Montgomery, Ala., (though, curiously, not surrounding Montgomery County — named for another general of the same name) and Montgomery, Vt., were also named in his honor.
Montgomery’s remains stayed in Canada for 43 years before British authorities in 1818 allowed their removal to New York and subsequent burial beneath the monument in New York.
HIBERNIAN HISTORY WEEK
Nov. 14, 1889: Nellie Cochrane Bly commences her sensational around-the-world journey.
Nov. 16, 1688: Ann “Goody” Glover, an Irish refugee from Cromwell’s invasion, is hanged on the Boston Common on suspicion of being a witch.
Nov. 19, 1798: The leader of the United Irishmen uprising, Theobald Wolfe Tone, commits suicide in his cell awaiting execution.
HIBERNIAN BIRTHDATES
Nov. 15, 1887: Artist Georgia O’Keefe is born in Sun Prairie, Wis.
Nov. 19, 1905: Orchestra leader Tommy Dorsey is born in Mahanoy Plane, Pa.
Nov. 19, 1935: Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, Jr., is born in Salem, Mass.