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

The Siege of Fort St. Jean by the American invasion force into Canada had taken so long, that by the time the fort fell, the American army was worn out, devastated by disease and dwindling supplies; a foreshadow of the doomed effort by the American rebellion to claim the 14th colony.

Fort St. Jean, or St. John, was one of several French forts built in the early and mid-1700’s along the St. Lawrence River, the Richelieu River which drains Lake Champlain into the St. Lawrence, and south to southern Lake Champlain – this to guard French Canada against British incursion. After the Seven Years War, French and Indian War in America, the forts were occupied by the British; St. Jean also recognized as St. John. By late summer, 1775, a two-prong American invasion of Canada was organized. One Continental force advanced up Lake Champlain to the Richelieu River, encountering Fort St. Jean on the west bank.

Instead of easily pushing past the fort, the Americans faced an entrenched and well-supplied British garrison. What was to be a simple day’s action, no more than a week, lasted over six weeks, from September 17^th to November 3, 1775. Scholars believe the siege of the fort was an important factor that stalled the invasion. The delay in advancing past Fort St. Jean towards Montreal and ultimately down the St. Lawrence River to Quebec City stretched both American supplies and wore down rebel troops. By December, much of the American army had been decimated from disease and exhaustion. With the onslaught of winter and ending enlistments, desperation forced an attack on the fortress at Quebec City on December 31, 1775, ending in total defeat.   

Colonel Benedict Arnold Spearheads Control of Lake Champlain from British

Early in the American Revolution, the possibility of a Canadian invasion became a reality with the May 10, 1775 fall of British held Fort Ticonderoga, on southern Lake Champlain. The small American force of 100 militiamen was jointly led by Major Benedict Arnold (who held a Massachusetts commission) and the rough and tumble Ethan Allan of the Green Mountain Boys (commissioned by Connecticut). The British offered no resistance as the commander was unaware that war had begun between England and the colonists. Soon after, they shot north about ten miles to Crown Point. The fort, partially destroyed by a devastating fire in 1773, was lightly garrisoned and easily taken.

Arnold was not through. He headed south to Skenesborough (present day Whitehall). He seized loyalist Philip Skene’s schooner Katherine, the first vessel to be captured in the war and the first designated warship of the rebellious colonies. Renamed Liberty, Arnold assumed command and immediately set sail for St. John’s, Canada, on the northern end of the lake. He surprised and captured the King’s sloop Betsy. Arnold renamed the sloop Enterprise and confidently reported, “At present, we are Masters of the Lake.”

One more excursion was on Arnold’s agenda. He got word that Ethan Allen was enroute north to raid British forts along the Richelieu River; mainly in pursuit of rum and supplies he could sell. Arnold immediately carried on further north to Fort St. Jean. There he arrived on May 18^th , beating Allen. He raided the poorly defended fort of its supplies and proceeded back to Lake Champlain. American forces on Lake Champlain were in complete control of a water highway that led directly into the heart of Quebec. This left only around 700 British regulars in Quebec Province to guard a series of small forts and redoubts. The door to Canada was basically left open. To capitalize on their strategic advantage, the Americans made immediate plans to invade Canada.

Second Congress Decides to Invade Canada

By late summer, 1775, the American Second Congress was determined to bring Canada, the British 14^th colony in America, into the fold of rebellion along with the other thirteen colonies. Two small American armies would advance into Canada. The larger, commanded first by Major General Phillip Schuyler and later by General Richard Montgomery, would push up Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River into Canada. They would quickly capture Montreal. Then head northeast, down the St. Lawrence River to join the other American force approaching Quebec through Maine, led by Colonel Benedict Arnold. Together, the two factions would claim the crown of the Canadian colony; Quebec City’s Citadel.

However, it took time to organize, equip, and assemble the American forces. By the time Schuyler’s and Montgomery’s Continentals marched north in the early fall of 1775, the door to invasion was no longer wide open. British Governor General Sir Guy Carlson had reinforced the forts along the Richelieu River with British regulars. So too he recruited Canadian loyalists, many hardened veterans from the French and Indian War, as well as Native American allies. Ample supplies and munitions were shipped downriver to the garrisons along the Richelieu; most particularly St. Jean.

Generals Schuyler and Montgomery Advance up Lake Champlain

In August, 1775, while General Schuyler was meeting with representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy, hoping to keep them neutral, Montgomery was left in command at Ft. Ticonderoga. He learned that the British were constructing two gunboats at the northern end of Lake Champlain. Without waiting for approval, he ordered 1,200 men north on the two ships captured by Arnold; the schooner Liberty, and the sloop, Enterprise. When Schuyler returned to Ticonderoga on August 30^th, he ordered 800 men to reinforce Montgomery. Though Schuyler was ill, he set sail to join Montgomery and reached the general on September 4^th on Isle La Motte (meaning an island mound surrounded by a fortified stronghold), seven miles long, two miles wide, and about twenty miles south of the Canadian border.

Schuyler assumed command and ordered a large detachment to advance into Canada. They arrived at a small island, Ile aux Noix (meaning island with nuts), on the Richelieu River. Montgomery was familiar with this region during his campaigns in the French and Indian War. From there, on Sept. 6^th, Montgomery led an expedition force through wetlands and swamps towards the British Fort St. Jean, only ten miles north of Ile aux Noix. Outside the fort they were attacked by over a hundred Native Americans allied to the British. Montgomery’s untested Continentals held their ground at first. They retreated after the heated exchange that left Americans 8 dead and 9 wounded, with Native American suffering 4 dead and 5 wounded. Montgomery’s men constructed a breastwork by their boats, but when it was fired upon by the fort’s cannon, they retreated by boat a mile upriver and constructed another earthwork. The Native Americans, frustrated by the British not sortieing to give them aid, halted pursuit and returned to their village.

It is believed that shortly after this, Moses Hazen, local Canadian who served in the last war and presently a British officer on half pay, met with Schuyler. He painted a bleak picture for the Americans. He said the fort was strongly defended by the 26^th regiment and one hundred Native Americans. He went on to describe the defenses and that the fort was well stocked for a long siege. He also stated quite accurately that the local population, while friendly to the invaders, were unlikely to help in both supplies and manpower. That would only change if the prospect for victory looked good, which presently did not. Schuyler held a war council on the 7^th and decided the fort was too strong and ordered Montgomery’s men to withdraw to the Ile aux Noix where the Americans had established a strong camp. Schuyler’s health continued to decline and Montgomery assumed command of the army’s daily functions.

Fort St. Jean Had Become Strongly Garrisoned since Arnold’s Raid in May

The garrison at Fort St. Jean was nothing like what Arnold discovered on May 18^th. In the four months since, the British had been busy preparing for an expected American invasion. As soon as word reached Montreal of Arnold’s raid, one hundred and forty men under Major Charles Preston were instantly dispatched to hold the fort. Another fifty Canadian militia were raised on the 19^th and soon after reported to the fort. Moses Hazen, a Canadian and British officer on half pay from the last war, whose loyalties he shared between both sides of the conflict, bore the news of Arnold’s raid to British Governor General Sir Guy Carlton in Quebec City. Carleton immediately ordered British regulars garrisoned at Trois-Rivieres (Three Rivers) to St. Jean. Carlton soon after followed, arriving at Montreal on May 26^th to personally supervise defensive measures in the region. He decided to concentrate his strategy on Fort St. Jean.

By early September, the fort was garrisoned by about 750 men under the command of Major Charles Preston. Most were veteran British troops of the 7^th and 26^th Regiments of Foot and Royal Artillery. Ninety were locally raised militia including twenty from Colonel Allen Maclean’s Royal Highland Emigrants who had seen extensive service during the French and Indian War. Approximately 100 Native Americans (presumably the Caughnawaga from a nearby village) patrolled the region under Claude de Lorimier. Lastly, the Richelieu River was patrolled by the armed schooner Royal Savage, under the command of Lieutenant William Hunter. 

Fort St. Jean was constructed in 1743 by M. de Lery  under orders from Governor la Galissonniere.  Located on the west bank of the Richelieu River, it consisted of two earthen redoubts, about six hundred feet apart. The entire fort was surrounded by a ditch seven feet wide and eight feet deep and lined with chevaux de frise (pointed stakes driven in the earth against an assault). The southern redoubt was around 250 by 200 feet, containing six buildings that included the fort’s magazine and storage houses. The northern redoubt, slightly larger, enclosed a two-story stone house that served as barracks.  A ‘killing field’ was of leveled trees and cleared brush stretched away from the fort for several hundred yards. A wooden palisade was constructed to the west of the fort along with a dug trench connecting to the two redoubts for communication purposes. All in all, it would not be a simple matter in assaulting the works.

General Montgomery Has Another Go at Fort Jean

Just a day after Schuyler decided to withdraw all forces back to Ile aux Noix, American James Livingston changed his mind. Livingston portrayed a much better portrait of Canadians rising in mass to the American cause. Livingston had a sympathetic ear for he was a relative of Montgomery’s wife and son of a wealthy New York City family. He had settled in the region and established a mill at Fort Chambly to the north. To prove his point, Livingston had begun to raise a regiment of Canadian militia to fight with the Americans. Also helpful in Schuyler’s decision to reconsider attacking Fort St. Jean; reinforcements under Connecticut General David Wooster along with some artillery, began to arrive – eventually they would boost the rebel numbers by 800 men. Canadian Hazen would be arrested and held in suspicion and another attempt was launched at St. Jean.

On the night of September 10^th, Montgomery led a larger force of 1,700 men to their previous landing on the 6^th. Troops were sent forward in the dark through the swamps and tight growth that surrounded the fortification. The assault proved to be disastrous. Inexperienced detachments ran into each other, thinking each to be British. After some exchange of shot, they fled. The main assault ran into Native Americans skirmishers, followed by cannon grapeshot from the fort. This resulted in more panic and the raw troops ran back to the boats. With rumors that a large British force, supported by the British sloop Royal Savage, was advancing up the river, the panic-stricken New Englanders fled, leaving a fuming Montgomery to call off the attack.

A third attempt at the fort was planned for the 13^th, but poor weather conditions forced it to be called off. Meanwhile, the American army was beginning to experience the effect of the swampy, malaria infested region in and around Ile aux Noix. The makeshift hospital was beginning to fill with infirmary victims while the first onslaught of smallpox was felt. Another assault was set for the 16^th, but this too was scrapped.

Schuyler’s Health Worsened and Turned Command of the Invasion over to Montgomery

On the 16^th of September, General Schuyler, too sick to act as leader, departed for Fort Ticonderoga, leaving the invasion under General Montgomery’s command. Also, that day 250 Green Mountain Boys arrived. Seth Warner was their new leader after the incompetent braggard Ethan Allen was voted out by his men. This was a critical moment in the invasion. Had Montgomery succeeded in taking the fort quickly either on the 6^th or 10th, he could have massed his troops and captured Montreal shortly thereafter. Had he done so, he could have arrived outside Quebec while his troops were still fresh and the weather less severe. Instead, he would become bogged down in a near two-month siege while his troops languished in declining health in the wet, swampy conditions.

Siege of Ft. St. Jean Begins

On September 17^th, Montgomery ordered eighty men north of the fort, lead by John Brown (locally well known among Canadian locals) to block the road to Montreal in his first action in the fort’s siege. They were able to capture a supply wagon and with additional support, drive back a sortie sent out by the British. On the 18^th, Montgomery began entrenching his troops around the fort and constructed a mortar battery south of the fortification. He ordered Brown to establish a position at La Prairie, around twenty miles north of the fort and one of the ferry crossings of St. Lawrence River to Montreal.

A Sidetrack: Ethan Allen Blunders North and Gets Captured

Ethan Allen, spurred by his Green Mountain Boys, used his connections to General Schuyler to muscle his way back into the invasion. He was sent outside Montreal to gather recruits for Livingstone’s Canadian regiment and with the new recruits in tow, report to Longueuil, the other ferry crossing to Montreal. Allen, ruled by his pomposity and self-worth, took it upon himself to disregard orders and attempt to capture Montreal with the new militia and a small gathering of loyal followers. On September 24^th, he crossed the river and was promptly captured. He was shipped to England where he would spend the next several months languishing in British prisons. When he was finally exchanged, he returned to America and vanished from the war effort; returning home to northern Vermont and his true loyalties; bottles of spirits. Later, after the war, with help from his erudite brother Ira Allen, strummed-up publications of Ethan’s war escapades helped propel the backwoodsmen to legendary fame and heroism.

Siege Difficulties Mount

Over the next several weeks, the conditions for the Americans constructing the siege works became horrendous. The ground was swampy, and the trenches quickly became filled knee-deep in water. Montgomery described his army as “half-drowned rats crawling through a swamp.” Food and ammunition supplies were running out. While the British showed no sign of giving in despite the American mortars throwing shells into the fort. Disease began to have a sever effect. By mid-October, more than 900 men had been sent back to Ticonderoga due to illness. In the early days of the siege, the fort’s defenders were able to send shot into artillery trenches making life even more miserable for the suffering Americans. The fort’s defenders continued to make the best of their advantage. Not until the arrival of larger American cannon, would the stalemate finally tilt towards Montgomery’s troops.

Beginning of the End the Siege

On October 6^th, one month since Montgomery’s first attempt to capture the fort, eagerly awaited siege cannon began to arrive. ‘Old Sow’, a massive, 5,000 weight 24-pound cannon from Ticonderoga was put into action. A slow and meticulous bombardment was begun. Another cannon arrived and though Montgomery planned to place the gun in a second battery to the northwest of the fort, his staff convinced him to position it on the eastern shore of the Richelieu. From there it would command the British shipyard where the Royal Savage was anchored. While this second battery was under construction, an armed row galley was sent from the fort to oppose the works. This delayed the completion of the battery until October 13^th. The 13-inch mortar opened fire the next day and it was not long before the Royal Savage lay in ruins before the fort; though British commander Preston was able to retrieve the ship’s supplies and armaments.

Fort Chambly, manned by only 82 British regulars from the 7^th Regiment of Foot, was just north of Fort St. Jean. James Livingston is credited in convincing Montgomery to take the fort, near where his militia was encamped. He rightfully proposed that the capture would disillusion the garrison at St. Jean. It would also lay claim to the fort’s supplies and ammunition; much needed by the Americans. Two nine-pounder guns were floated past Fort St. Jean. On October 16^th, the cannon began to bombard the fort. Chambly’s commander Major Joseph Stopford, after most of his garrison were seriously injured by the persistent cannonade, surrendered the fort on October 18^th. He had failed to destroy the fort’s supplies that were virtually intact when the Americans entered the fort. They quickly gathered up six tons of powder, 6,500 musket cartridges, 125 muskets, and most import for the low provisioned rebels; 80 barrels of flour and 272 barrels of other foodstuff.

Carleton Fails to Reinforce St Jean and Last Days of the Siege

As Livingston predicted, the loss of Fort Chambly dispirited the St. Jean’s garrison. Many of British Major Preston’s militia wanted to surrender. However, Preston was hopeful that Governor General Carlton would be able to send reinforcements so he continued to hold out. After Chambly’s capitulation, Montgomery perused his original intent to construct a battery northwest of the fort. By the end of October, these guns of both 24 and 9 pounders opened fire on the fort.

In Montreal, Carleton finally set in motion plans to aid the besieged garrison at St. Jean. He sent word to Colonel Allan Maclean in Quebec to ship more of his Royal Highland Emigrants and some militia forces to Sorel. The town and small garrison at Sorel was located where the Richelieu River converged with the St. Lawrence River. From Sorel, the reinforcements would advance upriver toward St. Jean. Carlton would lead a force across the St. Lawrence at Longueuil to join Maclean. 

By the time Maclean reached Sorel on October 14^th, he had just under five hundred men under his command. He began this trek up the Richelieu, expecting Carleton’s force to join him. The attempt to reinforce St. Jean failed when Carleton was thwarted from landing his force of one thousand militia at Longueuil. Green Mountain Boys’ new leader, Seth Warner, proved his worth, along with his men’s artful decision to oust Ethan Allen as their leader, when the Canadian boats were driven off by the Vermonters’ expert use of field artillery (captured from Fort Chambly) and accurate rifle fire. Even though he lost Carlton’s firepower, Maclean attempted to press forward. But his militia soon after began to desert, forcing him to retreat back to Sorel and eventually, Quebec City.

Fort St. Jean Surrenders

By late October, the American troop strength was boosted with the arrival of 500 men from New York and Connecticut. Also, the last of Brigadier General David Wooster’s men had arrived. With this, plus the new battery beginning to do serious damage, and the news of the failed relief expedition, added to the dwindling of supplies, Major Preston’s options to hold out dimmed with each passing day.  

On November 1^st, Montgomery sent a flag of truce, carried by a prisoner from Carleton’s failed relief effort. The letter was blunt in that no relief was to come and that the American General was willing to negotiate a surrender. Preston sent one of his captains to confer with Montgomery and issue a counteroffer of waiting four days to see if indeed, the relief would arrive. After the four days, the fort would surrender. Montgomery rejected this and allowed the British captain to interview another prison who confirmed that relief had been repelled. Montgomery then demanded immediate surrender of the fort. Terms were drawn and the fort capitulated the next day.

Preston marched his troops out of the fort on November 3rd; the regulars in full dress uniforms. Five hundred and thirty-six British officers and soldiers surrendered along with seventy-nine Canadian militiamen.  

Aftermath

Casualties during the siege for both sides was considered light. For the Americans, their loss in troop deduction throughout the long siege due to illness was great. With news of the surrender, Carleton began preparations to leave for Quebec City. On November 11^th, Carleton, along with supplies and American prisoners from Ethan Allen’s failed attempt to take the city, shipped out on the Gaspee along with an array of small boats.  Carleton’s fleet would narrowly escape destruction by an American battery at Sorel; however, several vessels were captured. Carleton sailed on to Quebec City where he immediately prepared the city’s defenses.

Through ice and snow, Montgomery had quickly marched his small force north, capturing Montreal unopposed ten days later on the 13^th. From there, as the weather rapidly declined and turned severely colder, on November 28^th, he and only 300 men boarded captured British ships. If not for the drawn-out siege in the disease infest swampy region surrounding Fort St. Jean, Montgomery’s force would have been far stronger as well as his supplies far more adequate for the advance on Quebec City.

The sickly and poorly supplied army would arrive at Quebec City on December 2^nd. There Montgomery met what was left of Arnold’s men after their devastating trek through the Main wilderness. One ray of personal satisfaction that most likely did not reach Montgomery before his death; on December 9^th, Congress promoted him to Major General. Undeterred by circumstances, the two leaders began to plan a siege of the city. Though weak and poorly supplied, Montgomery’s small army faced another dilemma; the termination of most enlistments by the end of the year.  Montgomery therefore ordered a night attack on December 31^st. In blizzard conditions, the outnumbered and poorly equipped Americans suffered a total defeat, along with the death of Montgomery and wounding of Arnold. The following spring, 1776, would see the British reinforced. Carleton would turn on the small number of Americans still outside Quebec City and drive them, as well as additional American reinforcements back to Fort Ticonderoga, New York. A small fleet assembled by Benedict Arnold would attack Carlton’s invasion fleet south at the Battle of Valcour Bay, October 11, 1776. This action convinced Carlton that it was too late in the season for a concerted effort to invade, delaying any such action until the following year.

The Americans would be able to raise the Royal Savage, which had been sunk in shallow water. They renamed her Yankee; however, the name never stuck and she continued to called the Royal Savage. The ship would be briefly recaptured by the British during the Battle of Valcour Island, Oct. 11, 1776. Intense fire from American gunboats would cause the British to abandon her. But as they left, they set fire to the vessel and sunk her rather than let her once more fall into rebel hands.

As to the mammoth 5,000 pound 24-pounder ‘Old Sow’ cannon. It was hauled back to Ticonderoga where it would join other garrison cannon carted over ice and snow to Boston in the winter of 1775-1776. Old Sow would sit Dorchester Heights in the spring of 1776 and train its barrel down on Boston, helping to convince the British army that it was time to pull up and seek a safer harbor.

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SIMILAR ARTICLES OF INTEREST ON REVOLUTIONARY WAR JOURNAL

RESOURCE

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

Badeaux, Jean-Baptiste (Three Rivers Journal) & Goforth, Captain William (Letters), Edited by Mark R. Anderson.  Invasion of Canada by the Americans 1775-1776. 2016: State University of New York Press, Albany, NY.

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.

Cubbison, Douglas R. The American Northern Theater Army in 1776. The Ruin and Reconstruction of the Continental Force. 2010: McFarland Publishing, Jefferson, NC.

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.

Ford, Worthington Chauncey. British Officers Serving in America, 1774-1783. 1897: Brooklyn New York Historical Printing Club, New York, NY.

Garneau, Francois-Xavier, Translated by Andrew Bell.  History of Canada, From the Time of Discovery to the Union Year… in Three Volumes, Vol. II. 1860: Printed and Published by John Lovell, Montreal, Canada.

Gordon, William. The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the United States including an account of the late war… in Three Volumes. 1801: Printed for Samuel Campbell, New York, NY.

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

Ketchum, Richard M. Saratoga, Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War. 1997: Henry Holt and Company, New York, NY.

Lefkowitz, Arthur S. Benedict Arnold’s Army, The 1775 American Invasion of Canada During the Revolutionary War. 2008: Savas Beatie LLC, El Dorado Hills, CA.

“Rebellion Comes to the Champlain Valley”  Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Vergennes, Vermont.  https://www.lcmm.org/explore/lake-champlain-history/revolutionary-war-1775-1783/

Smith, William Henry. The St. Clair Papers: The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair, Soldier of the Revolutionary War etc… Vols. I & II., Arranged and annotated. 1882: Robert Clark and Co., Cincinnati, OH.

Thayer, Captain Simeon. The Invasion of Canada in 1775, Including the Journal of Captain Simeon Thayer. 1867: Knowles, Anthony & Company Printers, Digitized University of Virginia, 2007.

Ward, Christopher. The War of the Revolution. Original publication 1941, Reprint 2011: Skyhorse Publication, New York, NY.