Читать книгу Washington the Soldier онлайн

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But Arnold, on the sixteenth day of October, when, as he advised Washington, he expected to advance upon Quebec, was struggling with quagmires, swamps, fallen trees, rain and mud, snow and ice, about Deer river, and had not even reached Lake Megantic. Men waded in icy water to their armpits; some froze to death: others deserted. Enos, short of provisions, as he claimed, marched three hundred men back to Cambridge. And Arnold, himself, twenty-five days too late, stood upon Point Levi, in the midst of a furious tempest of wind, rain, and sleet, only to realize the substantial failure of his vaunted expedition. Most of his muskets were ruined, and but five rounds of ammunition remained for the few men that were with him in this hour of starvation and distress. Two vessels-of-war lay at anchor in the stream. And yet, such was his indomitable energy, with thirty birch-bark canoes he crossed the river, gained a position on the Heights of Abraham, and sent to the fortress an unnoticed demand for surrender. Then, retiring to Point Aux Trembles, he sent a messenger to Montgomery asking for artillery and two thousand men, for prosecution of a siege. Montgomery, leaving in command General Wooster, who arrived at Montreal late in November, started down the river with about three hundred men and a few pieces of artillery, and clothing for Arnold’s men; landing at Point Aux Trembles about December first, making the total American force only one thousand men. On the sixth day of December, a demand for surrender having been again unanswered, the little army advanced to its fate. Four assaulting columns were organized. All failed, and Montgomery fell in a gallant but desperate attempt to storm the citadel itself. Morgan and four hundred and twenty-six men, nearly half of the entire command, were taken prisoners. Only the grand nerve of Montgomery brought the army to the assault in this forlorn-hope affair,—for such it was. Three of Arnold’s captains refused to serve under him any longer; and mutiny, or the entire ruin of the army, was the alternative to the risks of ruin in battle. Arnold had a knee shattered by a bullet, and the remnants of the army fell back, harmless, to the garrison, and amid snow, ice, and proximate starvation, awaited future events.