To understand this amazing story, you must go back in time to the end of the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763), a war that plunged Canada into the British Empire.
England, heavily in debt at the end of this conflict, chose to impose heavy taxes on the population of the thirteen British colonies in America, which, incidentally, were the main beneficiaries of this victory over the French.
Since no one has been consulted about these new financial burdens, protests naturally come from all sides.
King George III Sensing a revolt, England and the British Parliament send armed troops to America to prevent a colonial revolt.
The anger of the colonial masters does not stop ringing.
They consider these taxes to be unjustified, mainly because they were elected by politicians based across the Atlantic and not by representatives of the people of the American colonies.
American anger takes shape under the motto: “No Taxation Without Representation”.
Despite numerous petitions and large-scale demonstrations, the British government is sticking to the taxation of products such as sugar, tea and paper.
In this most contentious context, in 1773, protesters threw crates of British tea into the sea, and the “Boston Tea Party” became a powerful symbol of escalating tensions between the colonies and power in London.
boycott
Dissatisfied, the American colonists begin boycotting British products. Then they band together and organize to form a united front against their metropolis. They even circulate political propaganda documents among us in the province of Quebec to persuade us to join their cause.
In the fall of 1774, the American Congress sent a first letter to the Canadians living in the St. Lawrence Valley.
In this letter, the American rebels talk about freedom, political equality and even allow themselves to teach us a little lesson in democratic law 101 .
This propaganda multiplies. They invite us to forge real bonds of friendship, work with them to drive out the British and even integrate their project of a new country.
Although some Anglo-Saxon Montrealers were enthusiastic about American intentions, these letters, translated into French, were generally coldly received by Canadians.
The rebellion took on a new form in the late spring of 1775 when the American Continental Army was formed. In the early summer of 1775, the Americans prepared their invasion of the province of Quebec, territory that had become British after the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763.
In early September, two military contingents advanced into the province.
A first armed contingent makes its way to Montreal via Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River. the second moves to Québec City. In response to this threat of invasion, the British authorities in Montreal and Quebec imposed martial law and attempted to set up a colonial militia.
reputation of the English
The Canadians didn’t really respond to the English call, probably because they felt the conflict was none of their business. For them it is a war between Englishmen of different allegiances.
With around 2,000 men, the American army took Fort Chambly on October 17, 1775.
Two weeks later she did it again in Saint-Jean. The army is advancing rapidly and is approaching Montreal.
Inside the Montreal fortifications, Quebec Governor Guy Carleton knows he cannot stop the invasion with his handful of soldiers.
He therefore signed the city’s instrument of surrender and fled across the river in a boat disguised as a peasant to thwart the American sentries, who multiplied from November.
British command abandons Montreal and retreats behind Quebec City walls.
This retreat is strategic: Carleton hopes for the arrival of reinforcements from the metropolis and hopes that the cold will slow down the American troops.
Ramezay Castle
On November 13, 1775, Montreal saw American Revolutionary troops parading through its streets. The Brigadier General even made Château Ramezay his headquarters.
At the beginning of the occupation, most Montrealers supported the American cause, but the situation deteriorated after American General Richard Montgomery’s departure for Quebec on November 28.
He leaves around 200 soldiers in Montreal, as well as a governor who administers the city, one Wooster, a very clumsy man who quickly angers Montreal sympathizers.
For example, Wooster banned the celebration of midnight mass on Christmas Eve 1775, he made constant arbitrary arrests, he banned the Canadian fur trade.
However, he tolerates and even encourages looting and assaults of all kinds by his troops. It is understandable that the people of Montreal are less inclined to follow in Wooster’s footsteps.
The second American contingent, led by Benedict Arnold, left Virginia and headed for Quebec City. After six weeks of a long march in rather difficult conditions, the soldiers of Arnold’s army, suffering and exhausted, are approaching Quebec.
They had to traverse swamps, carry heavy loads through mosquito-infested forests, and endure the damp cold of a North American winter. Many soldiers got sick.
Levi’s
In 46 days the troops have shrunk by half. Only 600 of the 1,200 soldiers remain at the destination. The survivors then settled in Lévis across from Québec and awaited the arrival of General Richard Montgomery’s troops before attacking.
Behind Quebec’s ramparts, the small garrison of 1,600 men prepares for confrontation.
Quebecois watched from atop the city walls as American soldiers took up positions, hoping for resistance to take advantage of the enemy’s numerical inferiority.
The American attack on Quebec was launched at 4 a.m. on December 31, 1775, in the middle of a snowstorm.
Despite the storm, the Americans attacked simultaneously from the upper and lower towns… We had to act quickly, also because the contracts for several American militiamen ended at midnight that day. After midnight, many militiamen may simply stop fighting and return home. In the shadow of Cap Diamant, the Canadian gunners opened fire.
Benedict Arnold’s troops fight in the Faubourg Saint-Roch, but the fortifications prove too strong to be taken.
Within hours, Carleton’s forces disabled more than 400 American militiamen.
There are even a hundred dead American soldiers frozen in the snow, including the remains of General Montgomery.
PhotoJohn Trumbull
Philippe Aubert de Gaspé tells in his memoirs that the remains of the American General Montgomery were transported within the walls of Quebec. The body remained there for more than 40 years until it was shipped to the United States in 1818.
Thanks to the reinforcements that the Americans will receive later, the siege will continue for some time.
Meanwhile, in Montreal, 70-year-old Benjamin Franklin and his men try again to persuade the Canadians to join their cause.
However, the arrival of British ships in early May 1776 forced the definitive withdrawal of American troops from the province of Quebec.
Thus, on the last day of the winter of 1775, Quebec nearly came into American possession.
Photo Henry Sandham Loyalists in New Brunswick
After the Treaty of Versailles in 1783, more than 80,000 Loyalists left the United States, almost half of whom settled in the Maritimes and Quebec.