page_title: Battle of Quebec (1775)
section_title: Arnold's arrival
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Quebec (1775) / Arnold's arrival
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a color mezzotint of American Revolutionary War General Benedict Arnold, captioned as follows: Colonel Arnold who commanded the Provincial Troops sent against Quebec, through the wilderness of Canada and was wounded in that city, under General Montgomery. London. Published as the Act directs 26 March 1776 by Thos. Hart.
context_page_description: The Battle of Quebec was fought on December 31, 1775, between American Continental Army forces and the British defenders of Quebec City early in the American Revolutionary War. The battle was the first major defeat of the war for the Americans, and it came with heavy losses. General Richard Montgomery was killed, Benedict Arnold was wounded, and Daniel Morgan and more than 400 men were taken prisoner. The city's garrison, a motley assortment of regular troops and militia led by Quebec's provincial governor, General Guy Carleton, suffered a small number of casualties.
  Montgomery's army had captured Montreal on November 13, and early in December they became one force that was led by Arnold, whose men had made an arduous trek through the wilderness of northern New England. Governor Carleton had escaped from Montreal to Quebec, the Americans' next objective, and last-minute reinforcements arrived to bolster the city's limited defenses before the attacking force's arrival. Concerned that expiring enlistments would reduce his force, Montgomery made the end-of-year attack in a blinding snowstorm to conceal his army's movements.
context_section_description: The British believed that the forbidding landscape of upper Massachusetts (modern Maine) was impassable to a military force, but General Washington felt that the upper Massachusetts could be crossed in about 20 days. Arnold called for 200 bateaux (boats) and for "active woodsmen, well acquainted with bateaux". After recruiting 1,050 volunteers, Arnold departed for Quebec City on 5 September 1775. The men Arnold chose for his expedition were volunteers drawn from New England companies serving in the Siege of Boston.  They were formed into two battalions for the expedition; a third battalion was composed of riflemen from Pennsylvania and Virginia under Captain Daniel Morgan's command. After landing in Georgetown on 20 September, Arnold began his voyage up the Kennebec river. Arnold thought it was only 180 miles to Quebec City, but actually the distance was 300 miles and the terrain was far more difficult than he expected.
  The trek through the wilderness of Maine was long and difficult with icy rains, dysentery caused by drinking unclean waters, and rivers full of drowned trees all presenting problems.  The conditions were wet and cold, and the journey took much longer than either Arnold or Washington had expected.  Bad weather and wrecked boats spoiled much of the expedition's food stores, and about 500 men of the original 1,100 turned back or died.  Those who turned back, including one of the New England battalions, took many of the remaining provisions with them.  The men who continued on were starving by the time they reached the first French settlements in early November. By the time they reached the Chaudière River, Arnold's men were eating their leather shoes and belts, and upon encountering the first habitant settlements on 2 November, they were overjoyed to be offered meals of beef, oatmeal and mutton, through they complained that the Canadiens charged too much for their food. On 3 November, the frigate HMS Lizard arrived in Quebec City with 100 men from Newfoundland. On 8 November, Arnold could see for the first time the walls of Quebec City towering over the St. Lawrence. On November 9, the 600 survivors of Arnold's march from Boston to Quebec arrived at Point Levis, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River opposite Quebec City.  Despite the condition of his troops, Arnold immediately began to gather boats to make a crossing. Arnold was prepared to do so on the night of November 10, but a storm delayed him for three days. An Indian chief greeted Arnold, and agreed to provide him with canoes to cross the St. Lawrence River together with some 50 men to serve as guides. On 12 November, MacLean with his Highlanders arrived in Quebec City. Starting about 9 pm on 13 November, the Americans crossed the St. Lawrence in canoes to land at Wolfe's Cove, and by 4 am, about 500 men had crossed over. Once on the other side of the St. Lawrence, Arnold moved his troops onto the Plains of Abraham, about 1.5 miles (2 km) from the city walls.
  The troops approaching Quebec's walls were significantly under-equipped. Arnold had no artillery, each of his men carried only five cartridges, more than 100 muskets were unserviceable, and the men's clothing had been reduced to rags.  Despite being outnumbered two to one, Arnold demanded the city's surrender. Both envoys sent were shot at by British cannons, ("killing the messenger" has historically been viewed as an unusual and very contradictory, if not rogue, breach of war protocol as emissaries were not supposed to be undertaking a suicide march but strictly deliver a message of demands or negotiations and come back to their leaders unmolested, with a reply; either a refusal or counter offer.) Their death clearly signified that the demand had been rebuked. At a council of war called by Cramahé on 16 November, MacLean as the most senior military officer present advocated for holding out. MacLean stated that Quebec City had a garrison of 1, 178 men and had enough food and firewood for both the garrison and the civilian population to last all through the winter. Arnold concluded that he 
caption: Benedict Arnold in 1776, mezzotint engraving by Thomas Hart
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