Invasion of Canada ( 1775 ) The Invasion of Canada in 1775 was the first major military initiative by the newly formed Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War . The objective of the campaign was to gain military control of the British Province of Quebec , and convince the French - speaking Canadien s to join the revolution on the side of the Thirteen Colonies . One expedition left Fort Ticonderoga under Richard Montgomery , besieged and captured Fort St . Johns , and very nearly captured British General Guy Carleton when taking Montreal . The other expedition left Cambridge , Massachusetts under Benedict Arnold , and traveled with great difficulty through the wilderness of Maine to Quebec City . The two forces joined there , but were defeated at the Battle of Quebec in December 1775 . Montgomery ' s expedition set out from Fort Ticonderoga in late August , and began besieging Fort St . Johns , the main defensive point south of Montreal , in mid - September . After the fort was captured in November , Carleton abandoned Montreal , fleeing to Quebec City , and Montgomery took control of the city before heading for Quebec with an army much reduced in size by expiring enlistments . There he joined Arnold , who had left Cambridge in early September on an arduous trek through the wilderness that left his surviving troops starving and lacking in many supplies and equipment . These forces joined before Quebec City in December , where they assaulted the city in a snowstorm on the last day of the year . The battle was a disastrous defeat for the Americans ; Montgomery was killed and Arnold wounded , and the city ' s defenders suffered few casualties . Arnold then conducted an ineffectual siege on the city , during which Loyalist sentiments were boosted by successful propaganda campaigns , and General David Wooster ' s blunt administration of Montreal served to annoy both supporters and detractors of the Americans . The British sent several thousand troops , including General John Burgoyne and Hessian mercenaries , to reinforce those in the province in May 1776 . General Carleton then launched a counter - offensive , ultimately driving the smallpox - weakened and disorganized American forces back to Fort Ticonderoga . The Americans , under Arnold ' s command , were able to hinder the British advance sufficiently that an attack could not be mounted on Fort Ticonderoga in 1776 . The end of the campaign set the stage for Burgoyne ' s campaign of 1777 to gain control of the Hudson River valley . Naming . The objective of the American military campaign , control of the British province of Quebec , was frequently referred to as " Canada " in 1775 . For example , the authorization by the Second Continental Congress to General Philip Schuyler for the campaign included language that , if it was " not disagreeable to the Canadians " , to " immediately take possession of St . John ' s , Montreal , and any other parts of the Country " , and to " pursue any other measures in Canada " that might " promote peace and security " of the colonies . Even relatively modern history books covering the campaign in detail refer to it as Canada in their titles ( see references ) . The territory that Britain called Quebec was in large part the French province of Canada until 1763 , when France ceded it to Britain in the 1763 Treaty of Paris , which formally ended the French and Indian War . ( French leaders had surrendered the province to the British military in 1760 . ) The name " Quebec " is used in this article , except in quotations that specifically mention " Canada " , to avoid confusion between this historic usage , and usage with respect to the modern nation of Canada . Background . In the spring of 1775 , the American Revolutionary War began with the Battle of Lexington and Concord . The conflict was then at a standstill , with the British Army surrounded by colonial militia in the siege of Boston . In May 1775 , aware of the light defenses and presence of heavy weapons at the British Fort Ticonderoga , Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen led a force of colonial militia that captured Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Crown Point , and raided Fort St . Johns , all of which were only lightly defended at the time . Ticonderoga and Crown Point were garrisoned by 1 , 000 Connecticut militia under the command of Benjamin Hinman in June . Congressional authorization . The First Continental Congress , meeting in 1774 , had previously invited the French - Canadians to join in a second meeting of the Congress to be held in May 1775 , in a public letter dated October 26 , 1774 . The Second Continental Congress sent a second such letter in May 1775 , but there was no substantive response to either one . Following the capture of Ticonderoga , Arnold and Allen noted that it was necessary to hold Ticonderoga as a defense against attempts by the British to militarily divide the colonies , and also noted that Quebec was poorly defended . They each separately proposed expeditions against Quebec , suggesting that a force as small as 1200 – 1500 men would be sufficient to drive the British military from the province . Congress at first ordered the forts to be abandoned , prompting New York and Connecticut to provide troops and material for purposes that were essentially defensive in nature . Public outcries from across New England and New York challenged the Congress to change its position . When it became clear that Guy Carleton , the governor of Quebec , was fortifying Fort St . Johns , and was also attempting to involve the Iroquois in upstate New York in the conflict , Congress decided that a more active position was needed . On June 27 , 1775 , Congress authorized General Philip Schuyler to investigate , and , if it seemed appropriate , begin an invasion . Benedict Arnold , passed over for its command , went to Boston and convinced General George Washington to send a supporting force to Quebec City under his command . Defensive preparations . Following the raid on Fort St . Johns , General Carleton was keenly aware of the danger of invasion from the south , and requested , without immediate relief , reinforcements from General Thomas Gage in Boston . He set about raising local militias to aid in the defense of Montreal and Quebec City , which met with only limited success . In response to the capture of Ticonderoga and the raid on Fort St . Johns , he sent 700 troops to hold that fort on the Richelieu River south of Montreal , ordered construction of vessels for use on Lake Champlain , and recruited about one hundred Mohawk to assist in its defense . He himself oversaw the defense of Montreal , leading only 150 regulars , since he relied on Fort St . Johns for the main defense . The defense of Quebec City he left under the command of Lieutenant - Governor Cramahé . Negotiations for Indian support . Guy Johnson , a Loyalist and British Indian agent living in the Mohawk Valley in New York , was on quite friendly terms with the Iroquois of New York , and was concerned for the safety of himself and his family after it became clear that Patriot sentiment had taken hold in New York . Apparently convinced that he could no longer safely conduct Crown business , he left his estate in New York with about 200 Loyalist and Mohawk supporters . He first went to Fort Ontario , where , on June 17 , he extracted from Indian tribal leaders ( mostly Iroquois and Huron ) promises to assist in keeping supply and communication lines open in the area , and to support the British in " the annoyance of the enemy " . From there he went to Montreal , where , in a meeting with General Carleton and more than 1 , 500 Indians , negotiated similar agreements , and delivered war belts " to be held ready for service " . However , most of those involved in these agreements were Mohawks ; the other tribes in the Iroquois Confederacy largely avoided these conferences , seeking to stay neutral . Many of the Mohawks remained in the Montreal area after the conference ; however , when it seemed uncertain whether the Americans would actually launch an invasion in 1775 , most of them had returned home by the middle of August . The Continental Congress sought to keep the Six Nations out of the war . In July 1775 , Samuel Kirkland , a missionary who was influential with the Oneidas , brought to them a statement from Congress that " we desire you to remain at home , and not join either side , but to keep the hatchet buried deep . " While the Oneidas and Tuscarora s remained formally neutral , many individual Oneidas expressed sympathy with the rebels . News of Johnson ' s Montreal meeting prompted General Schuyler , who also had influence with the Oneidas , to call for a conference in Albany , to be held in mid - August . Attended by about 400 Indians ( primarily Oneidas and Tuscaroras , and only a few Mohawk ) , Schuyler and other Indian commissioners explained the issues dividing the colonies from Britain , emphasizing that the colonists were at war to preserve their rights , and were not attempting conquest . The assembled chiefs agreed to remain neutral , with one Mohawk chief saying , " It is a family affair " and that they would " sit still and see you fight . . . out " . They did , however , extract concessions from the Americans , including promises to address ongoing grievances like the encroachment of white settlers on their lands . Montgomery ' s expedition . The primary thrust of the invasion was to be led by General Schuyler , going up Lake Champlain to assault Montreal and then Quebec City . The expedition was to be composed of forces from New York , Connecticut , and New Hampshire , as well as the Green Mountain Boys under Seth Warner , with provisions supplied by New York . However , Schuyler was overly cautious , and by mid - August the colonists were receiving reports that General Carleton was fortifying defensive positions outside Montreal , and that some Native tribes had joined with the British . Approach to St . Johns . On August 25 , while Schuyler was at the Indian conference , Montgomery received word that ships under construction at Fort St . Johns were nearing completion . Montgomery , taking advantage of Schuyler ' s absence ( and in the absence of orders authorizing movement ) , led 1 , 200 troops that had mustered at Ticonderoga up to a forward position at Île aux Noix in the Richelieu River , arriving September 4 . Schuyler , who was falling ill , caught up with the troops en route . He dispatched a letter to James Livingston , a Canadian prepared to raise local militia forces in support of the American effort , to circulate in the area south of Montreal . The next day , the forces went down the river to Fort St . Johns , where , after seeing the defenses and a brief skirmish in which both sides suffered casualties , they withdrew to Île aux Noix . The skirmish , which involved mostly Indians on the British side , was not supported from the fort , prompting the Indians to withdraw from the conflict . Any additional Indian support for the British was further halted by the timely arrival of Oneidas in the area , who intercepted a Mohawk war party on the move from Caughnawaga toward St . John ' s . The Oneidas convinced the party to return to their village , where Guy Johnson , Daniel Claus , and Joseph Brant had arrived in an attempt to gain the Mohawks ' assistance . Refusing to meet directly with Johnson and Claus , the Oneidas explained to Brant and the Mohawks the terms of the Albany agreement . Brant and the British agents left without any promises of support . ( In a more formal snub of the British , the war belt that Guy Johnson gave to the Iroquois in July was turned over to the American Indian commissioners in December 1775 . ) Following this first skirmish , General Schuyler became too ill to continue , so he turned command over to Montgomery . Schuyler left for Fort Ticonderoga several days later . After another false start , and the arrival of another 800 – 1000 men from Connecticut , New Hampshire , and New York , as well as some of the Green Mountain Boys , Montgomery finally began besieging Fort St . Johns on September 17 , cutting off its communications with Montreal and capturing supplies intended for the fort . Ethan Allen was captured the following week in the Battle of Longue - Pointe , when , overstepping instructions to merely raise local militia , he attempted to take Montreal with a small force of men . This event resulted in a brief upturn in militia support for the British ; but the effects were relatively short - lived , with many deserting again in the following days . After an attempt by General Carleton to relieve the siege failed on October 30 , the fort finally surrendered on November 3 . Occupation of Montreal begins . Montgomery then led his troops north and occupied Saint Paul ' s Island in the Saint Lawrence River on November 8 , crossing to Pointe - Saint - Charles on the following day , where he was greeted as a liberator . Montreal fell without any significant fighting on November 13 , as Carleton , deciding that the city was indefensible ( and having suffered significant militia desertion upon the news of the fall of St . Johns ) , withdrew . He barely escaped capture , as some Americans had crossed the river downstream of the city , and winds prevented his fleet from departing right away . When his fleet neared Sorel , it was approached by a boat carrying a truce flag . The boat carried a demand for surrender , claiming that gun batteries downstream would otherwise destroy the convoy . Based on uncertain knowledge of how real these batteries were , Carleton elected to sneak off the ship , after ordering the dumping of powder and ammunition if surrender was deemed necessary . ( There were batteries in place , but not nearly as powerful as those claimed . ) On November 19 , the British fleet surrendered ; Carleton , disguised as a common man , made his way to Quebec City . The captured ships included prisoners that the British had taken ; among these was Moses Hazen , a Massachusetts - born expatriate with property near Fort St . Johns whose poor treatment by the British turned him against them . Hazen , who had combat experience in the French and Indian War and went on to lead the 2nd Canadian Regiment throughout the war , joined Montgomery ' s army . Before departing Montreal for Quebec City , Montgomery published messages to the inhabitants that the Congress wanted Quebec to join them , and entered into discussions with American sympathizers with the aim of holding a provincial convention for the purpose of electing delegates to Congress . He also wrote to General Schuyler , requesting that a Congressional delegation be sent to take up diplomatic activities . Much of Montgomery ' s army departed due to expiring enlistments after the fall of Montreal . He then used some of the captured boats to move towards Quebec City with about 300 troops on November 28 , leaving about 200 in Montreal under the command of General David Wooster . Along the way , he picked up James Livingston ' s newly created 1st Canadian Regiment of about 200 men . Arnold ' s expedition . Benedict Arnold , who had been rejected for leadership of the Champlain Valley expedition , returned to Cambridge , Massachusetts , and approached George Washington with the idea of a supporting eastern invasion force aimed at Quebec City . Washington approved the idea , and gave Arnold 1 , 100 men , including Daniel Morgan ' s riflemen , for the effort . Arnold ' s force sailed from Newburyport , MA to the mouth of the Kennebec River and then upriver to Fort Western ( present day Augusta , Maine ) . Arnold ' s expedition was a success in that he was able to bring a body of troops to the gates of Quebec City . However , the expedition was beset by troubles as soon as it left the last significant outposts of civilization in present - day Maine . There were numerous difficult portage s as the troops moved up the Kennebec River , and the boats they were using frequently leaked , spoiling gunpowder and food supplies . The height of land between the Kennebec and the Chaudière River was a swampy tangle of lakes and streams , where the traversal was complicated by bad weather , resulting in one quarter of the troops turning back . The descent down the Chaudière resulted in the destruction of more boats and supplies as the inexperienced troops were unable to control the boats in its fast - moving waters . By the time Arnold reached the outskirts of civilization along the Saint Lawrence River in November , his force was reduced to 600 starving men . They had traveled almost 400 miles through untracked wilderness . When Arnold and his troops finally reached the Plains of Abraham on November 14 , Arnold sent a negotiator with a white flag to demand their surrender , but to no avail . The Americans , with no cannons , and barely fit for action , faced a fortified city . Arnold , after hearing of a planned sortie from the city , decided on November 19 to withdraw to Pointe - aux - Trembles to wait for Montgomery , who had recently captured Montreal . As he headed upriver , Carleton returned to Quebec by river following his defeat at Montreal . On December 2 , Montgomery finally came down the river from Montreal with 500 troops , bringing captured British supplies and winter clothing . The two forces united , and plans were made for an attack on the city . Three days later the Continental Army again stood on the Plains of Abraham and began to besiege the city of Quebec . Battle and siege of Quebec . While planning the attack on the city , Christophe Pélissier , a Frenchman living near Trois - Rivières , came to meet with Montgomery . Pélissier , who was politically supportive of the American cause , operated an ironworks at Saint - Maurice . Montgomery discussed the idea of holding the provincial convention with him . Pélissier recommended against holding a convention until after Quebec City had been taken , as the habitants would not feel free to act in that way until their security was better assured . The two did agree to have Pélissier ' s ironworks provide munitions for the siege , which he did until the Americans retreated in May 1776 ( at which time Pélissier also fled , eventually returning to France ) . Montgomery joined Arnold and James Livingston in an assault on Quebec City during a snowstorm on December 31 , 1775 . Outnumbered and lacking any sort of tactical advantage , the Americans were soundly defeated by Carleton . Montgomery was killed , Arnold was wounded , and many men were taken prisoner , including Daniel Morgan . Following the battle , Arnold sent Moses Hazen and Edward Antill , another expatriate American , to report the defeat and request support to Wooster in Montreal , and also to the Congress in Philadelphia . Carleton chose not to pursue the Americans , opting instead to stay within the fortifications of the city , and await reinforcements that might be expected to arrive when the river thawed in the spring . Arnold maintained a somewhat ineffectual siege over the city , until March 1776 , when he was ordered to Montreal and replaced by General Wooster . During these months , the besieging army suffered from difficult winter conditions , and smallpox began to travel more significantly through the camp . These losses were offset by the arrival each month of small companies of reinforcements . On March 14 , Jean - Baptiste Chasseur , a miller living downstream from the city , entered Quebec and informed Carleton that there were 200 men on the south side of the river ready to act against the Americans . These men and more were mobilized , but an advance force was defeated in the Battle of Saint - Pierre by a detachment of pro - American local militia that were stationed on the south side of the river . Congress , even before it learned of the defeat at Quebec , had authorized as many as 6 , 500 additional troops for service there . Throughout the winter , troops trickled into Montreal and the camp outside Quebec City . By the end of March , the besieging army had grown to almost 3 , 000 , although almost one quarter of these were unfit for service , mainly due to smallpox . Furthermore , James Livingston and Moses Hazen , commanding the 500 Canadians in the army , were pessimistic about the loyalty of their men and the cooperation of the population due to persistent Loyalist propaganda . Congress was conflicted about requests that Arnold made for a more experienced general officer to lead the siege effort . They first chose Charles Lee a major general with experience in the British Army , to lead the troops in Quebec in January . One week later , they retracted the step , and instead sent Lee into the southern states to direct efforts against an anticipated British attack there . ( The British attempt was thwarted in the June 1776 Battle of Sullivan ' s Island . ) They finally settled in March 1776 on Major General John Thomas , who had served in the army besieging Boston . Discontent in Montreal . When General Montgomery left Montreal for Quebec City , he left the administration of the city in the hands of Connecticut ' s Brigadier General David Wooster . While Wooster at first had decent relations with the community , he took a number of steps that caused the local population to come to dislike the American military presence . After promising American ideals to the population , he began arresting Loyalists and threatening arrest and punishment of anyone opposed to the American cause . He also disarmed several communities , and attempted to force local militia members to surrender their Crown commissions . Those who refused were arrested and imprisoned at Fort Chambly . These and similar acts , combined with the fact that the Americans were paying for supplies and services with paper money rather than coin , served to disillusion the local population about the entire American enterprise . On March 20 , Wooster left to take command of the forces at Quebec City , leaving Moses Hazen , who had raised the 2nd Canadian Regiment , in command of Montreal until Arnold arrived on April 19 . On April 29 , a delegation consisting of three members of the Continental Congress , along with a Catholic priest and a French printer from Philadelphia , arrived in Montreal . The Congress had assigned this delegation the task of assessing the situation in Quebec , and attempting to sway public opinion to their cause . This delegation , which included Benjamin Franklin , was largely unsuccessful in its efforts , as relations were already significantly damaged . The delegation had not brought any hard currency to alleviate debts to the population that were accumulating . Efforts to turn the Catholic clergy to their cause failed , as the local priests pointed out that the Quebec Act passed by the British Parliament had given them what they wanted . Fleury Mesplet , the printer , while he had set up his press , did not have time to produce anything before events began to overtake the delegation . Franklin and the priest left Montreal on May 11 , following news that the American forces at Quebec City were in panicked retreat , to return to Philadelphia . Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll , the other two delegates , analyzed the military situation in the area south and east of Montreal , finding it a good place to set up a defense . On May 27 , they wrote a report to Congress on the situation , and left for the south . The Cedars . Upriver from Montreal were a series of small British garrisons that the Americans had not concerned themselves with during the occupation . As spring approached , bands of Cayuga , Seneca , and Mississauga warriors began to gather at Oswegatchie , one of these garrisons , giving the commander there , Captain George Forster , a force with which to cause trouble for the Americans . Forster had recruited them on the recommendation of a Loyalist who had escaped from Montreal . Furthermore , while General Wooster , much to the annoyance of both Patriot and Loyalist merchants , had refused to permit trade with the Indians upriver out of fear that supplies sent in that direction would be used by the British forces there , the Congressional delegation reversed his decision and supplies began flowing out of the city up the river . In order to prevent the flow of supplies to the British forces upriver , and in response to rumors of Indians gathering , Moses Hazen detached Colonel Timothy Bedel and 390 men to a position upriver at Les Cèdres ( English : " The Cedars " ) , where they built a stockaded defense works . Colonel Forster was made aware of these movements by Indian spies and Loyalists , and on May 15 began to move downriver with a mixed force of about 250 Natives , militia , and regulars . In an odd series of encounters , Bedel ' s lieutenant Isaac Butterfield surrendered this entire force without a fight on the 18th , and another 100 men brought as reinforcements also surrendered after a brief skirmish on the 19th . Quinze - Chênes . On receiving news of Butterfield ' s capture , Arnold immediately began assembling a force to recover them , which he entrenched in a position at Lachine , just upriver from Montreal . Forster , who had left the captives in the stockade at Les Cèdres , moved closer to Montreal with a force now numbering around 500 , until May 24 when he received intelligence of Arnold ' s location , and that Arnold was expecting additional forces which would significantly outnumber his . Since his force was dwindling in size , he negotiated an agreement with his captives to exchange them for British prisoners taken during the siege of Fort St . Johns . After a brief exchange of cannon fire at Quinze - Chênes , Arnold also agreed to the exchange , which took place between May 27 and 30 . Reinforcements arrive at Quebec City . American troops . General John Thomas was unable to move north until late April , due to the icy conditions on Lake Champlain . Concerned about reports of troop readiness and sickness , he made requests to Washington for additional men to follow him while he waited for conditions to improve . Upon his arrival in Montreal , he learned that many men had promised to stay only until April 15 , and most of these were insistent on returning home . This was compounded by relatively low enrollments in regiments actually raised for service in Quebec . One regiment with an authorized strength of 750 , sailed north with but 75 men . These deficiencies prompted Congress to order Washington to send more troops north . In late April , Washington ordered ten regiments , led by Generals William Thompson and John Sullivan , to go north from New York . This significantly reduced Washington ' s forces that were preparing for a British attack there . This also exposed transport problems : there were insufficient sailing hands on Lakes George and Champlain to easily move all of these men . Furthermore , there was also a shortage of supplies in Quebec , and much of the shipping was needed to move provisions instead of men . As a result , Sullivan ' s men were held up at Ticonderoga , and Sullivan did not reach Sorel until the beginning of June . General Wooster arrived in the American camp outside Quebec City in early April with reinforcements . Reinforcements continued to arrive from the south in modest numbers , until General Thomas arrived at the end of April and assumed command of a force that was nominally over 2 , 000 strong , but in reality was significantly diminished by the effects of smallpox and the hardships of the Canadian winter . Rumors began circulating on May 2 that British ships were coming up the river . Thomas decided on May 5 to evacuate the sick to Trois - Rivières , with the rest of the forces to withdraw as soon as practical . Late on that day he received intelligence that 15 ships were 40 leagues below the city , awaiting favorable conditions to come up the river . The pace of camp evacuation took on a sense of urgency early the next day when ship ' s masts were spotted ; the wind had changed , and 3 ships of the fleet had reached the city . British troops . After news of Lexington and Concord reached London , the government of Lord North , realizing it would require the support of foreign troops to combat the rebellion , began negotiating with European allies for the use of their troops in North America . Requests to Catherine the Great for Russian troops were refused , but a number of German principalities were prepared to offer theirs . Of the 50 , 000 troops that Britain raised in 1776 , nearly one third came from a handful of these principalities ; the number of troops from Hesse - Cassel and Hesse - Hanau caused them to be widely referred to as Hessian s . Of these 50 , 000 , about 11 , 000 were destined for service in Quebec . Troops from Hesse - Hanau and Brunswick - Lüneburg sailed in February 1776 for Cork , where they joined a convoy carrying British troops that sailed in early April . Carleton , having been informed of pace of activity in the American camp , rapidly unloaded reinforcements from the arrived ships , and around noon marched with a force of about 900 troops to test the Americans . The American response was essentially panic ; a disorganized retreat began that might have ended even more disastrously for the Americans had Carleton pressed his advantage . Hoping to win over the rebels with a lenient attitude , he was content to send ships up the river to harass the Americans , and to possibly cut them off . He also captured a number of Americans , mostly sick and wounded , but also a detachment of troops that had been abandoned on the south side of the St . Lawrence . The Americans , in their hurry to get away , left numerous valuable military effects , including cannon and gunpowder , in their wake . They regrouped on the 7th at Deschambault , about 40 miles upriver from Quebec City . Thomas held a war council there , in which most of the leadership favored retreat . Thomas opted to retain 500 men at Deschambault while sending the rest to Sorel , and also sent word to Montreal for assistance , since many of the troops had little more than the clothes on their backs and a few days rations . The Congressional delegation in Montreal , upon hearing this news , determined that holding the Saint Lawrence would no longer be possible , and dispatched only a small number of troops toward Deschambault . Thomas , after waiting for six days for word from Montreal and hearing none , began to withdraw toward Trois - Rivières , but not before having to fight off skirmishers from forces landed from British ships on the river . They reached Trois - Rivières on May 15 , where they left the sick , and a detachment of New Jersey troops to defend them . By the 18th , the remaining troops joined reinforcements under General Thompson at Sorel , where on the 21st , a council was held with the Congressional delegates . Thomas contracted smallpox that same day , and died on June 2 . He was replaced by Thompson . Carleton ' s counteroffensive . Trois - Rivières . On May 6 , 1776 , a small squadron of British ships under Captain Charles Douglas had arrived to relieve Quebec with supplies and 3 , 000 troops , precipitating the Americans ' retreat to Sorel . However , General Carleton did not take significant offensive measures until May 22 , when he sailed to Trois - Rivières with the 47th and 29th regiments . While hearing news of Forster ' s success at Les Cèdres , instead of pushing ahead he returned to Quebec City , leaving Allen Maclean in command at Trois - Rivières . There he met Lieutenant General John Burgoyne , who had arrived on June 1 with a large force of mostly Irish recruits , Hessian mercenaries , and a warchest of money . The Americans at Sorel , on receiving word that a force of " only 300 men " was at Trois - Rivières , thought that they should be able to send a force from Sorel to take Trois - Rivières back . Unaware that major British reinforcements had arrived , and ignorant of the geography around the town , General Thompson led 2 , 000 men first into a swamp , and then into the teeth of a reinforced , entrenched British army . This disaster included the capture of Thompson and many of his senior officers , as well as 200 men and most of the ships used for the expedition , and forecast the end of the American occupation of Quebec . The American forces at Sorel , now under the command of General Sullivan , retreated . Carleton once again did not press his advantage , even going so far as to eventually return the captives to New York , in great comfort , in August . Retreat to Crown Point . Early on June 14 , Carleton finally sailed his army up the river to Sorel . Arriving late in the day , they discovered that the Americans had abandoned Sorel just that morning , and were retreating up the Richelieu River valley toward Chambly and St . Johns . Unlike the departure from Quebec City , the Americans left in a somewhat orderly manner , although some units were separated from the main force by the arrival of Carleton ' s fleet , and were forced to march to Montreal to join Arnold ' s forces . Carleton directed General Burgoyne and 4 , 000 troops to move up the Richelieu after the retreating Americans , while Carleton continued sailing toward Montreal . In Montreal , Arnold was ignorant of the events taking place downriver , having recently finished dealing with Forster . A messenger he sent downriver toward Sorel on June 15 for news from General Sullivan spotted Carleton ' s fleet , escaped to shore , and returned with the news to Montreal on a stolen horse . Within four hours , Arnold and the American forces garrisoned around Montreal had abandoned the city ( but not before trying to burn it down ) , leaving it in the hands of the local militia . Carleton ' s fleet arrived in Montreal on June 17 . Arnold ' s troops caught up with the main army near St . Johns on the 17th . Sullivan ' s army was in no condition to fight , and after a brief council , the decision was made to retreat to Crown Point . The army reportedly got away from St . Johns almost literally moments before the vanguard of Burgoyne ' s army arrived on the scene . The remains of the American army arrived at Crown Point in early July , ending a campaign that was described as " a heterogeneal concatenation of the most peculiar and unparalleled rebuffs and sufferings that are perhaps to be found in the annals of any nation " , by Isaac Senter , a doctor who experienced much of the campaign . Unfortunately , the campaign was not quite ended , since the British were still on the move . Shipbuilding and politics . The Americans had been careful at every step of the retreat up the Richelieu and across Lake Champlain to deny the British of any significant shipping , burning or sinking any boats they did not take with them . This forced the British to spend several months building ships . Carleton reported to London on September 28 that " I expect our Fleet will soon sail with hopes of success should they come to action " . General Arnold , when he and Ethan Allen captured Fort Ticonderoga , had established a small navy that was still patrolling Lake Champlain . While the British assembled a navy to counteract Arnold ' s , Carleton dealt with matters in Montreal . Even before the Americans retreated from Quebec City , he formed committees to look into the roles played by local Patriot sympathizers , sending them out into the countryside to arrest active participants in the American action , including those who had detained Loyalists . When he arrived in Montreal , similar commissions were set up . Valcour Island . General Horatio Gates was given command of the Continental Army ' s northern forces in early July . He promptly moved the bulk of the army to Ticonderoga , leaving a force of about 300 at Crown Point . The army was busied improving the defenses at Ticonderoga , while Arnold was given the task of building up the American fleet at Crown Point . Throughout the summer , reinforcements poured into Ticonderoga , until the army was estimated to be 10 , 000 strong . A smaller army of shipwrights labored at Skenesborough ( present - day Whitehall ) to build the ships needed to defend the lake . Carleton began to move on October 7 . By the 9th , the British fleet was on Lake Champlain . In a naval action between Valcour Island and the western shore , beginning on October 11 , the British inflicted heavy damage to Arnold ' s fleet , forcing him to withdraw to Crown Point . Feeling that Crown Point would be inadequate protection against a sustained British attack , he then withdrew to Ticonderoga . British forces occupied Crown Point on October 17 . Carleton ' s troops remained at Crown Point for two weeks , with some troops advancing to within three miles of Ticonderoga , apparently in an attempt to draw Gates ' army out . On November 2 , they pulled out of Crown Point and withdrew to winter quarters in Quebec . Aftermath . The invasion of Quebec ended as a disaster for the Americans , but Arnold ' s actions on the retreat from Quebec and his improvised navy on Lake Champlain were widely credited with delaying a full - scale British counter thrust until 1777 . Carleton was heavily criticized by Burgoyne for not pursuing the American retreat from Quebec more aggressively . Due to these criticisms and the fact that Carleton was disliked by Lord George Germain , the British Secretary of State for the Colonies and the official in King George ' s government responsible for directing the war , command of the 1777 offensive was given to General Burgoyne instead ( an action that prompted Carleton to tender his resignation as Governor of Quebec ) . A significant portion of the Continental forces at Fort Ticonderoga were sent south with Generals Gates and Arnold in November to bolster Washington ' s faltering defense of New Jersey . ( He had already lost New York City , and by early December had crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania , leaving the British free to operate in New Jersey . ) Conquering Quebec and other British colonies remained an objective of Congress throughout the war . However , George Washington , who had supported this invasion , considered any further expeditions a low priority that would divert too many men and resources away from the main war in the Thirteen Colonies , so further attempts at expeditions to Quebec were never fully realized . During the Paris peace talks , the American negotiators unsuccessfully demanded all of Quebec as part of the war spoils . Benjamin Franklin , primarily interested in the Ohio Country , which had been made part of Quebec by the Quebec Act of 1774 , suggested in the peace talks that Quebec should be surrendered to America ; only the Ohio Country was ceded . In the War of 1812 the Americans launched another invasion of British North America , and again expected the local populace to support them . That failed invasion is now regarded as a significant event in Canadian history ; it has even been claimed as the birth of modern Canadian identity .