In a letter to Montgomery on November 20, Arnold painted a bleak picture. He was down to 550 effectives, while his supplies included 600 pairs of coarse stockings, 300 milled caps, 300 dozen pairs of mittens and gloves, only 300 blankets and very little food. In a very candid postscript, he added that his ‘hard cash is nearly exhausted’ and that the French Canadians already held so many IOU’s that ‘I don’t think it prudent to offer…them at present.’ In addition, he estimated the number of men under Maclean and Carleton at 1,900, although he did not believe them to be of very high quality. On that same day, Arnold wrote General Washington that his army of 650 (a figure that included about 100 ill, not mentioned in the letter to Montgomery) was ‘almost naked and in want of every necessity.’

Finally, after leisurely reorganizing his army, Montgomery arrived at Point-Aux-Trembles on December 3. He had with him a paltry 350 men–just enough to replace those who had left with Colonel Enos, but hardly worth waiting for. Montgomery had judged it necessary to leave the rest behind as a garrison in Montréal. Another problem was looming for the luckless force–the enlistments of the men in the expedition were due to expire on New Year’s Eve. If Arnold’s army of barely 1,000 men was going to accomplish anything, it would have to be soon.

Fortunately, Montgomery and Arnold hit it off well and quickly devised a mutually agreeable plan. On December 5, Arnold wrote optimistically to Washington, telling him that the scheme was well underway. By that date, the colonists were once again encamped around Québec.

Montgomery tried to approach Québec under a white flag of truce to parley but was driven off by British cannons. Jemima Warner then dressed in a formal gown that someone had obtained from one of the local residences and marched 800 yards through deep snows to deliver Montgomery’s terms. She was admitted into the city and delivered the surrender demand to Carleton, but he promptly tore it up and imprisoned her. Five days later, he released her but made her march out the gate between two rows of drummers, a gesture to indicate that, as a rebel, she was being drummed out of the empire.

The siege continued. On December 11, the British guns managed to destroy a rebel artillery battery at St. Roch, killing a man and a woman. The latter was Jemima Warner, probably the first woman to die in combat for a country that still had yet to formally declare its independence.

Arnold and Montgomery were awaiting only a stretch of favorable weather to launch the attack. In this case, ‘favorable’ meant a blinding snowstorm through which some element of surprise might be obtained. The first apparent chance came on the evening of December 27. About 300 men were sent to feint against the riverside business district while the real attack would come from the Plains of Abraham, where the main force under Montgomery (who outranked Colonel Arnold) would scale the walls with ladders. Unfortunately for the Americans, the storm blew over before the attack was launched. Montgomery called it off, and the only rebel who got into the city was a deserter who promptly revealed as much as he knew. Montgomery and Arnold found it prudent to change their plan.

Still, they needed a snowstorm to hide their movements. It appeared that the weather was acting as if its own term of enlistment was up soon–for days it was quiet and uncooperative. Then, on the night of December 30, a fierce Canadian storm brewed up out of the northwest. The final chapter of the invasion was about to be played out.

At 2 a.m. on December 31, muster was called. Somewhat disgruntled, the men fell in. No one wanted to die on their last day in the army. Nonetheless, they followed the orders of their officers.

The plan for the evening was even simpler than that of four nights ago. Montgomery would lead his men along the river from the west while Arnold’s larger force would come in from the east. In the middle of the business district, the two columns would meet and turn north, heading out of Lower Town and up a winding road to Upper Town.

At the western edge of Lower Town, the British–forewarned by a deserter that the American attack would take place ‘on the first wild night’–had erected a feeble barricade manned by 50 British sailors and British and Canadian irregulars. The main armament consisted of a trio of 3-pounders, only one of which was kept loaded. Out of the swirling mist of snow the defenders spotted a body of men approaching cautiously from around Cape Diamond. Only 50 yards away the troops halted, and a few stepped forward to reconnoiter the position. A cry went out: ‘Men of New York, you will not fear to follow where your general leads! March on!’ These were Montgomery’s last words. At that point, a sergeant named Hugh McQuarters brought a dramatic and sudden end to the western attack. Under orders from his captain, he fired off his one round of grapeshot.

Horrified, the Americans watched as McQuarters’ gunnery wiped out their three-man advance party. Montgomery; his aide-de-camp, Captain John Macpherson; and a battalion commander, Captain Jacob Cheeseman–three of the top men in command–were killed. Ten privates were also killed and a sergeant wounded. The next in command, Lt. Col. Donald Campbell, turned back with his men and raced pell-mell to safety. Montgomery’s attack was over. Rarely, if ever, has a single cannon shot been more effective in altering the course of history. The panicky British continued to fire for 10 more minutes, not realizing there was nothing left to shoot at.

On the other side of Lower Town, Arnold had launched his attack as soon as he saw the three signal rockets Montgomery fired to let his compatriot know the western attack was beginning. Arnold had no way of knowing that only minutes later the brigadier would lie dead. He opened his attack as planned. He and his men struggled through the swiftly falling snow and toward another British barricade. The rebels’ single artillery piece had been abandoned in a snowdrift, and Arnold had no choice but to order a frontal assault. Like Montgomery, he was in the lead. And, like his counterpart, he fell. A musketball tore into his left leg, lodging in his heel. He tried to continue but soon gave up, allowing two of his men to carry him out of the fight and to a Catholic hospital outside Québec. Before leaving, however, he turned command over to the indomitable Daniel Morgan.

Leaping to the forefront, Morgan provided the impetus that got his Virginia riflemen moving. That in turn gave the cowering New Englanders courage, and together they stormed the position. After several long minutes of heavy fighting (Arnold later erroneously wrote that it was an entire hour), the barricade was taken. Another loomed ahead, but it was unmanned, and the troops poured over it. Morgan was ready to race up Mountain Street into Upper Town, but his subordinates cautioned that it would be wiser to wait for Montgomery. Morgan argued but was eventually forced to give in. Whatever momentum the attack may have had was now lost.

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