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On the twelfth of November, Montgomery reached the open city of Montreal; and the larger of the two Canadian expeditions reached its proposed destination. But before the month of November closed, the American force “wasted away,” until only about eight hundred men remained. Expiration of enlistments was at hand. Men refused to re-enlist. Even the “Green Mountain Boys” returned home. This was not the total loss to Montgomery. Officers and men were all alike fractious, dictatorial, and self-willed. They claimed the right to do just as they pleased, and to obey such orders only as their judgment approved. General Carleton escaped from the city in disguise, and reached Quebec on the nineteenth. There was no possibility of following him; and the work laid but for Montgomery, had been done, although at great cost and delay.

Prof. Charles G. D. Roberts, of King’s College, Nova Scotia, in his “History of Canada” (1897),^[2] uses this language: “General Carleton fled in disguise to Quebec, narrowly escaping capture, and there made ready for his last stand. In Quebec he weeded out all those citizens who sympathized with the rebels, expelling them from the city. With sixteen hundred men at his back, a small force indeed, but to be trusted, he awaited the struggle.”