page_title: William Phips
section_title: Quebec expedition
hierarchical_section_title: William Phips / Major General / Quebec expedition
context_page_description: Sir William Phips was born in Maine in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was of humble origin, uneducated, and fatherless from a young age but rapidly advanced from shepherd boy, to shipwright, ship's captain and treasure hunter, the first New England native to be knighted, and the first royally appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Phips was famous in his lifetime for recovering a large treasure from a sunken Spanish galleon, but is perhaps best remembered today for establishing the court associated with the infamous Salem Witch Trials, which he grew unhappy with, and forced to prematurely disband after five months.
context_section_description: In the wake of the success, the Massachusetts provisional government agreed to organize an expedition on a larger scale against Quebec, the capital of New France, and gave its command to Phips. Originally intending to coordinate with a simultaneous overland attack on Montreal launched from Albany, New York, the expedition's departure was delayed in the vain hope that needed munitions would arrive from England. The expedition, counting 34 ships and more than 2,000 soldiers, finally sailed on August 20. It was short on ammunition, had no pilots familiar with the Saint Lawrence River, and carried what would turn out to be inadequate provisions.
  Because of contrary winds and the difficulty in navigating the Saint Lawrence, the expedition took eight weeks to reach Quebec. The late arrival (wintry conditions were already setting in on the river) and the long voyage meant that it would be impossible to conduct a lengthy siege. Phips sent a message into the citadel demanding its surrender. Governor General Louis de Buade de Frontenac declared that his only response would be from "the mouths of my cannons". Phips then held a war council, which decided to make a combined land assault and naval bombardment. Both failed. The landing force, 1,200 men led by Major John Walley, were unable to cross the well-defended Saint-Charles River, and the naval bombardment failed because the New Englanders' guns were unable to reach the high battlements of the city, and they furthermore soon ran out of ammunition. The fighting, according to Phips, cost the expedition 30 deaths and one field cannon, as well as numerous wounded; disease and disaster took an additional toll. Smallpox ravaged the troops, and two transports were lost to accidents; another 200 men were lost to these causes.
  The expedition cost the colony £50,000 to mount, for which it issued paper currency, a first in the English colonies. Many of the expedition's participants and creditors were unhappy at being paid this way, and Phips generously purchased some of the depreciated paper with hard currency, incurring financial losses in the process.  At this same time, Governor Meneval petitioned for the return of minor valuables (silverware and other small items) that Phips had taken. Phips was outraged when the General Council heard Meneval's case. He returned to England in February 1691 to seek support for another expedition against Quebec.
caption: Frontenac receiving the envoy of Sir William Phipps demanding the surrender of Quebec, 1690.
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