Major General John Thomas

General John Thomas (November 9, 1724 – June 2, 1776), a medical doctor by trade, was the sixth commissioned major general in the continental army of the American Revolution; right after Major General Richard Montgomery. Ironically, like Montgomery, Thomas would die in the same 1775 – 1776 failed campaign that invaded Canada. In early spring, 1776, Thomas had taken over command of the American invading force of what was the 14^th colony in North America. This after the December 31, 1775 failed attempt to take Quebec by Benedict Arnold and commanding Major General Richard Montgomery, resulting in Montgomery’s death.

When Thomas arrived outside Quebec on May 1, 1776, he found a worn out, ill-supplied, and diseased army of less than a thousand troops fit for duty.  Facing fifteen English ships loaded with reinforcements, healthy and able-bodied British infantry, he had no choice but to begin pulling back towards Montreal with what was left of the American invasion. Unlike Montgomery, who was killed by cannon fire during the assault on Quebec, Thomas, after only a few weeks in command, was forced to relinquish control of the army due to small pox. A short time afterwards, on June 2^nd, he died and was buried at Fort Chambly on the Richelieu River.

Early Life

Thomas’ ancestors were of English descent and among the first settlers of the town of Marshfield, County Plymouth, Massachusetts. His grandfather and father were substantial farmers and leading men in their community. Son of John Thomas and Lydia Waterman, he was born on November 9, 1724 in Marshfield. His father supplied a good and early education for Thomas. There were no medical colleges in New England during this time. When of age, Thomas studied medicine under Dr. Cotton Tufts of Medford, Massachusetts, completing his studies in 1746, age 22. Upon finishing his studies, he set up a country practice near his home; however, shortly afterwards it was interrupted by war.

Two Colonial Wars

Thomas’ draw to the military must have been present while studying medicine for as soon as he finished and set up his practice, he left to serve as a regimental surgeon. His army experience would be unique: surgeon and ensign of infantry at 22, combat commander of a company at 31, and colonel of a regiment at 35. He would acquire experience in both combat and garrison duties, participate in one major and several minor skirmishes, and had been actively engaged in two sieges; serving in as many as eight campaigns in as many years. And throughout, his commands had been under the direct supervision of British regulars; attaining skilled, leadership qualities few colonists could boast.

King George’s War (May 3, 1744 – October 16, 1748) had been raging for nearly two years before Thomas joined in March, 1746. He was appointed by Governor William Shirley as assistant surgeon in Samuel Waldo’s regiment and soon after, departed for Nova Scotia. He served in the field under Lt. Colonel Arthur Noble as well as garrison duty at the Acadian settlement at Grand Pre. It is believed that this first experience did not involve combat at the Battle of Grand Pre, February 10 & 11, 1747. By January, 1748, the war for Thomas was over and he was back in Marshfield to practice medicine.

In 1748 he had started a diary which gave little more than the daily weather, medical visits in the region, and his hunting and fishing exploits, which often were without much success. It was filled with entries of mainly drawing a tooth, bleeding a patient, or setting a leg. That same year he was selected as an ensign in the local militia. In 1754, Thomas invested in an iron furnace at Halifax, Massachusetts, therefore was presumably prospering. He continued to lead the life of a busy country doctor. But in 1755, that came to a sudden end when the French and Indian War (Seven Years War) erupted (May 28, 1754 – February 10, 1763). He wrote in his diary that “I This Day Entered his majesties Servis to go an Expedition Against the French as Capt. Leiu. Of General Winslows Company and Assistant Surjon in his Rigement.”

Thomas’ position was unusual for he served with Colonel William Shirley’s regiment as both a surgeon and company commander of combat troops; however, some secondary sources write that he left the medical staff to be appointed a lieutenant in the same regiment. Soon afterwards, he marched to Nova Scotia and experienced his first combat in the action that captured the French Fort Beausejour, under British commander Robert Monckton. Thomas was then involved with the unpleasant job of relocating the Acadians from Nova Scotia. General Winslow was assigned the task and Thomas, as his officer, was ordered to burn Acadian villages after the townspeople were evicted.

Of the next years during the war, little is known. In 1756 he was promoted to captain. Nothing more in recorded until he was appointed by Gov. Thomas Pownall in March 1779 as colonel of his own regiment of Massachusetts provincials. He was in Boston in April, 1759, assembling his regiment and by mid-May, back in Nova Scotia where he remained for the rest of the winter. He and his regiment returned to Massachusetts briefly in late spring 1760. On June 1^st, with additional recruits, he marched his regiment to Crown Point under Sir Jeffry Amherst, commander of British Forces in America. Here, Thomas would see combat experience, his last major action of the war.  

At Crown Point, Thomas was the senior colonel in command of Massachusetts troops. On August 11, 1760, the French fort at Isle aux  Noix, in the Richelieu River, Canada, was invested. The siege lasted 12 days, falling on August 28^th. Thomas, along with 500 men were put in charge of destroying the fort. From there, Thomas advanced with the army to Montreal and joined the siege. On September 6^th, Montreal surrendered, basically ending the French and Indian War in America. At that, Thomas’ services in the military came to an end. He returned to his former life and remained a country doctor for many years to come. But when hostilities between the colonials and England erupted in 1775, Thomas was well remembered that he once led the troops of Massachusetts in battle, and he was once more in uniform.  

Home and  Marriage

Thomas returned home in the fall of 1760; he practiced medicine once more in the Marshfield region. The next year he married Hannah Thomas of Taunton,  Massachusetts. She was of considerable wealth, the daughter of Lt. Colonel Nathaniel Thomas of Plymouth, who had died at  Louisburg in 1745. He and Hannah would have two sons and a daughter. Soon after their marriage, Thomas moved to  Kingston, nine miles south along the coast, where he once again practiced medicine. There is little knowledge of Thomas’ activities during the years before the outbreak of the revolution nor if he had ever maintained a connection with the local militia. Besides a busy medical practice, he operated a farm and owned a ship; a coastwise packet. In  1770, he was appointed justice of the piece and otherwise lived a comfortable and quiet life.   

American Revolution Erupts outside Boston

With news of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775, Thomas dropped everything and was in Concord the next day, April 20^th . Finding colonial officers who had served with the British military was as hard as digging out the proverbial needle in a haystack. In the emergency that ensued, it was immediately agreed to send Thomas to Roxbury, near Boston’s Neck. There he was put in command of gathering militia positioned to cut off British soldiers from leaving the city. This established two major camps of militia; Thomas’ in the south at Roxbury, and Artemas Ward’s camp, further north at Cambridge. On May 18^th, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety took over formal control of the army. The next day, Thomas was commissioned a lieutenant general for Massachusetts. Thomas would remain in control of forces at Roxbury, guarding the British from exiting Boston by land.

From early June, 1775, when Congress took over what was then a Continental Army, until July 1^st, when Washington arrived outside Boston to assume command of the army, Thomas and Ward were the two generals serving separate commands. Congress appointed General Artemas Ward the first major general. Eight Continental brigadiers were soon appointed, with Thomas low on the list of seniority; preceded by men he had previously commanded.  Congress had decided that each colony could have but one commissioned major general; and Ward was chosen for Massachusetts over Thomas. Several of New England’s influential Whigs did not agree with Congress’ choice. James Warren, chairman of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, had written to John Adams on June 27^th that Thomas’ Roxbury camp was superior to Ward’s camp at Cambridge, whose conditions were “spiritless, sluggish, confused, and dirty.”

Deeply offended at being not only rejected at receiving a major general commission, but not even brigadier, Thomas gave thought to resigning and returning to his practice. Rumors flew, and by the later part of July, Thomas was receiving requests from major field officers not to resign. So too, Washington wrote to Thomas asking him to remain, as Congress was still determining raking of brigadiers’ commissions. Soon after, Congress appointed Thomas as senior brigadier in place of Seth Pomeroy. In that role, Thomas would remain at Roxbury, one of two brigadiers under Ward.

There was little activity at Roxbury throughout the winter of 1775-1776. In March, Thomas received a major break. He was given command of troops investing Dorchester Heights with cannon recently arrived from Fort Ticonderoga. Between March 4th and 5^th, Thomas saw to the placement of troops and cannon along the heights staring down upon Boston. With the American ability to rain shot down upon the city, British Commanding General William Howe knew he could not remain. The British soon after abandoned Boston for Halifax, Canada.

Invasion of Canada Struggles

In June of 1775, Congress ordered the invasion of Canada. In the fall, Major General Richard Montgomery invaded Canada from Lake Champlain and Colonel Benedict Arnold through Maine. After both having pressed their troops through arduous conditions, they joined their depleted forces outside the important citadel at Quebec. With recruitments ending by the end of the year, they hastily organized and attacked on Dec. 31, 1775. Montgomery was killed and Arnold wounded. This left a small American force under Arnold at Quebec, and General David Wooster at Montreal. With worn out troops and little in ammunition and supplies, Arnold set up a siege in name only, waiting for spring and hoping for fresh American reinforcements to arrive before the British could do so. In this the Americans lost the race.

Wooster took over command of those troops outside Quebec. However, Arnold remained at his post for Wooster chose to stay in Montreal and command from there, 170 southwest along the St. Lawrence River. The feeble siege was continued. No supplies reached Arnold’s men, but by early February, around 1,000 reinforcements had arrived; a company of Green Mountain Boys under Seth Warner, and several western Massachusetts companies, along with some militia, led by Major Jeremiah Cady. By the early spring of 1776, the army was still critically short on cannon, food, and supplies. To make matters worse, by April, an outbreak of small pox had plagued the American soldiers, incapacitating many and beginning to rack up deaths.

Congress was still intent on capturing Canada and convincing residents of the fourteenth colony to join them in rebellion. They decided they needed a hands-on look of both military and political conditions. On February 15, 1776, three delegates of Congress were sent north on a harsh, winter trek to Montreal; Benjamin Franklin, John Carrol, and Samuel Chase. General Wooster’s continual demands for more troops had an effect and by mid-March, five regiments were ordered to assemble and begin their march north. But by early April, only a small portion of the advance troops reached Quebec with the bulk of the five regiments not expected until May or later. Congress also decided the invasion needed another fresh, competent commander to take control of the army stationed outside Quebec. In that Thomas finally received his commission as major general.

Thomas Takes Command in Canada

On March 6, 1776, Major General Thomas was ordered by Congress to take command in Canada. Thomas immediately left his post at Roxbury and by the end of March, he was in Albany. Thomas knew if there was any hope of taking Quebec, it would depend on the arrival of the five promised regiments. In May, the ice would break on the St. Lawrence allowing the passage of the reported British fleet crammed with reinforcements. It was a race the Americans would ultimately lose. Ice on Lake Champlain delayed his travel northward and he did not arrive Montreal until late April. Thomas departed the city on April 29^th and arrived at Quebec on May 1^st.

General Wooster, had taken personal command of forces around Quebec on April 1^st. Though bolstering troop spirits by speaking of a spring attack on the citadel, he realized the worst. and began preparations for a retreat. He had a sick, rag-tag army with little hope of American reinforcements reaching him before the British infantry would debark ships. On May 1^st, General Wooster relinquished command to Thomas and returned to Montreal; however, Arnold had previously taken over command of the city and would remain as such.

Thomas wrote to the Commissioners in Montreal, which had included Ben Franklin, giving them the dire news as to what had awaited him at Quebec. “Immediately upon the arrival at the camp before Quebec…I examined into the state of the army, and found by the returns, there were 1,900 men, only 1,000 of whom were fit for duty, including officers; the rest were invalids, chiefly with the small pox. Three hundred of those effective were soldiers whose enlistments will expire the 15^th…many of whom refused duty, and all were very importunate to return home. In all our magazines there were but about 150 pounds of powder and six days provisions.” He wrote that the men were posted between several key siege positions and that upon an attack on any one position, no more than 300 men could confront the enemy. Also, due to the French inhabitant’s disaffection, supplies of any kind were extremely difficult to obtain.

Thomas Orders a Retreat from Quebec

It did not take long for Thomas to agree with General Wooster’s assessment that a retreat from Quebec was inevitable. With the army’s morbid condition, and the report of a fleet of British reinforcements about to sail up the St. Lawrence, Thomas ordered an emergency evacuation of invalid troops and those in hospital.  On May 3^rd, hoping to delay the British advance, Thomas sent a fireship down the St. Lawrence to burn the Queen’s Wharf. Unfortunately, British artillery sank the ship before it could do damage. A council of war on May 5^th in which Thomas decided to initiate a full withdraw from Quebec to Three Rivers, upon there he hoped to establish a more defensible position.

The next day, May 6^th, five British ships carrying 200 regulars (van of the full invasion fleet) sailed up river. So too, arriving in Quebec City, were the frigates HMS Surprise and HMS Isis. On board was the 29^th Regiment of Foot. Including marines, Sir Guy Carlton now had the addition of 1,000 healthy, well-seasoned veteran infantry under his command. Thomas quickly finished loading invalids and the sick, as well as artillery onto bateaux. Later in a letter to Washington dated on the 8^th, he wrote that there was no aid from local inhabitants as they would neither supply teams nor assist in any way.

So too in his letter to Washington on the 8^th, he reported that at 1 PM on the 6^th, he was attacked by a body of troops estimated to be 1,000 strong. He only had 250 men and one field piece to confront the attack. He stated that his vastly outnumbered men were able to “come off in god order.” He also wrote then he ordered a full general retreat of the entire army and lamented that he had insignificant cannon to halt the enemy’s ships from closely pursuing.

Retreat Becomes a Panic-Stricken Mob

What General Thomas failed to mention in his June 8^th letter, perhaps since it would reflect on his ability as a commander, was the fact that instead of a retreat from the enemy, the American forces outside Quebec became a mob, consumed by a full-fledged, panic-stricken rout up river and along the banks. Though General Thomas described an organized retreat before a quick moving enemy, Arnold wrote to General Philip Schuyler, commanding general of the Northern American Army, from Montreal on May 10^th. He succinctly countered Thomas’ description of events.

Arnold wrote: “On May 6^th, a considerable body of the enemy attacked our encampment, where we were not able to collect a force sufficient to withstand them. Of course a most precipitate and confused retreat ensued with the loss of all our cannon, ammunition, &etc, &etc…store of provisions, and about 200 of the sick fell into the enemy’s hands.” Arnold could have elaborated further as in a panic, guns were abandoned, arms tossed aside, invalids left their hospital beds and stumbled into the woods, Canadian teamsters quit and fled as clothing, stores, provisions, and even orderly books were abandoned. Two tons of gunpowder and 100 barrels of flower and all hospital supplies were seized by a quick moving British force. Rather than an army, the Americans became a mob of hungry, muddy, tired men, wounded, sick with small pox, streaming westward while leaving the dead and dying in their wake.

On May 7^th, another council of war was called for and Thomas ordered that defenses at Three Rivers be abandoned. The army was to retreat across the large lake formed within the St. Lawrence to Sorrel, at the mouth of the St. Richelieu River that flowed north from the American border and drained Lake Champlain. There, defenses would be constructed to await the promised reinforcements now being led by Major General John Sullivan.

Situation of American Army Worsens and Thomas Is Stricken with Small Pox

Over the next week, the British secured their position at Three Rivers and awaited the arrival of strong reinforcements to arrive before pursuing the struggling Americans. At Sorrel, the American situation was dire. In frustration, Thomas wrote to the Commissioners in Montreal on May 20^th. “

In frustration and in ill health, Thomas wrote to the Commissioners in Montreal from Sorel on May 20^th: “I am unfortunately obliged to inform you that the army here now for two days has been entirely destitute of meat… [this is] a retreating army, disheartened… destitute of almost every necessary to render their lives comfortable, or even tolerable, sick and (as they think) wholly neglected, and no probable prospect of a speedy relief.” He continuedforcibly, “…unless some effectual spirited steps are immediately taken for our relief, it will not be possible to keep the army together, but we must unavoidably be obliged to abandon a country of infinite importance to the safety of the colonies.”

The day before he wrote to the commissioners, on May 19^th, Thomas was diagnosed with small pox. On May 15^th, John Carrol and Samuel Chase wrote to Thomas, (Franklin had departed for Philadelphia on the 11^th) requesting that he inoculate himself against small pox. It is reported that the advice was ignored even though a practicing surgeon, many doctors had adverse opinions towards inoculation. A few days later, on May 22^nd, Thomas’ condition had so rapidly decayed that he turned over command of the army once more to General Wooster. Thomas departed Sorel for the hospital facilities at Chambly – further south along the Richelieu River and closer to Lake Champlain.

The commissioners wrote to Congress that Thomas was in Chambly and ill with the small pox. They also reported that the army was in dire straits: “We went to the mouth of Sorel last week, where we found all things in confusion; there is little or no discipline among your troops… The army is in a distressed condition, and is in want of the most necessary articles – meat, bread, tents, shoes, stockings, shirts, &c..”  They described an army that abandoned stores, provisions, and armaments during their retreat. Also, the army was plundered by those whose enlistments were up and departed for home. They further pressed their concern: “We cannot find words strong enough to describe our miserable situation… an army broken and disheartened, half under inoculation and other diseases; soldiers without pay, without discipline, and reduced to live from hand to mouth…”

General Sullivan Arrives to Assume Command

General Thomas Sullivan, thirty-six-year-old lawyer from New Hampshire, arrived in Albany on May 10^th; however, he would not arrive on the scene in Canada until June 1^st. He was shocked by the army’s condition and immediately penned a letter to John Hancock, President of Congress, writing, “Sir I must beg Leave to Inform Congress that I arrived here Last Evening with my Brigade… upon my arrival I was Informed that General Thomas was Down with the Small Pox without the Least prospect of a Recovery…. I have done Every thing I possibly could in the time to get Information of the true State of affairs — and can in a word Inform you that no one thing is Right. Every thing is in the utmost Confusion & almost Every one Frightened at they know not what —… the Army with which this was to be done had Dwindled into a Mobb without Even the form of order or Regularity. The Consequence of which we have Experienced by the Infamous Retreat from Quebeck

The day Sullivan reported to Hancock, Thomas had already gone blind from the horrific effects of the disease. The next day, June 2, 1776, General John Thomas was dead. He was buried on the grounds of Fort Chambly in Quebec alongside many others who perished from the deadly disease. Because individual graves have been lost on the fort’s grounds, in 1925, a huge bolder with a metal marker was placed at the site by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Thomas has a cenotaph with his wife’s grave, which is in the family’s plot in Kingston.

Aftermath

General Wooster was to relieve command to General Sullivan soon after Thomas’ death. The five regiments finally arrived and conditions improved enough that within days of command, Sullivan called a council of war and determined to strike against the British at Three Rivers. The ensuing battle, on June 8^th proved a fiasco with the useless loss of troops worn out by marching through unending swamps, only to be routed by well-organized veteran British troops. This resulted in abandoning all defensive works at Sorrel as well as giving up Montreal. Ten days later, on June 18^th, there were no longer any American troops in Canada.

What was left of the invading army, whose ranks were greatly reduced by the small pox (over 2,000 were left behind in unmarked graves) repaired to Crown Point and Fort Ticonderoga to await the promised British invasion by Sir Guy Carlton. In the meantime, Benedict Arnold was able to build a small fleet of mainly gunboats and meet the British advance down Lake Champlain at the Battle of Valcour Island (October 11, 1776). Though Arnold lost, he had done enough damage to delay the British advance long enough for Carlton to decide to put off the invasion for the following year.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ MORE ON THE EARLY WAR IN NEW ENGLAND AND CANADA, CHECK OUT THESE GREAT BOOKS ON AMAZON

SIMILAR ARTICLES OF INTEREST ON REVOLUTIONARY WAR JOURNAL

Why Was America So Obsessed to Gain Canada, the 14th Colony?

Canada Invasion in 1775: General Richard Montgomery

Siege of Fort St. Jean, September 17 – November 3, 1775

Canada Lost: The American Retreat from Quebec January – June 1776

Battle of Three Rivers June 8, 1775

SOURCE

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Anderson, Mark R. The Battle for the Fourteenth Colony. 2013: United Press of New England, Lebanon, NH.

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Commager, Henry Steele & Morris, Richard B. editors. The Spirit of Seventy-Six, The Story of the American Revolution as told by Participants. 1958: Bobbs Merril, Indianapolis, IN, 1995: DeCapo Press, New York, NY.

Fenn, Elizabeth A. Pox Americana, The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-1783. 2001: Hill & Wang Publishing, New York, NY.

Force, Peter. American Archives Consisting of a Collection of Authentic Records…Volume IV, Series 6. 1844: Published by the author, Washington, DC.

Hamilton, Edward Pierce.  “General John Thomas”  Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Third Series, Vol. 84 (1972), pp 44-52. Published by the Massachusetts Historical Society

Jones, Charles Henry. History of the Campaign for the Conquest of Canada. 1881: Porter & Coates, Philadelphia, PA.

Sullivan, John & Edited by Otis J. Hammond. Letters and Papers of Major General John Sullivan Continental Army.  1930: New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, NH.