good woodsmen of your own detachment, or by Canadians who are trusty.

I must recommend not only to you, Sir, but every officer under your command, the strictest attention to good order, that our friends may not suffer in their property; that you cultivate the friendship of the Canadians by all manner of means, and should any person sustain damage, that you make him ample satisfaction.

You will not fail to procure the best accommodation for your Troops your situation admits, with respect to lodging, medicines, and refreshments. Some rum also will be necessary, if to be had.

If possible, you will endeavour to establish a correspondence at Montreal. If any of our friends in Canada will furnish you with the cash necessary to carry on the service, your orders upon me in their favour shall be duly honoured.

[No. 3.]

An Account of the Manœuvres and Movements of the Army
in CANADA, under General MONTGOMERY.

September 10, 1775.

A detachment from Colonels Hinman, Waterbury, McDougall, and Van Schaick’s, Regiments, amounting to about eight hundred men, under the command of Brigadier-General Montgomery, embarked at Isle-aux-Nuix, proceeded towards St. John’s, and landed, at nine in the evening, about three miles from that place, at a breastwork thrown up by the Troops who had been there before. From this place, five hundred men of those Regiments, besides officers, under the command of Lieut. Col. Ritzema, marched to take post on the other side of St. John’s. After they had been gone about a quarter of an hour, a noise was heard, and a report prevailed that they were returning. In a few minutes after, two or three of McDougalls men, who were in the rear, came to the breastwork, and said they had been waylaid by a party of Regulars and Indians, and that the whole detachment were retreating. The same story was told by several stragglers from the other Regiments, though at this time not a gun had been fired, except one by a man of the detachment. The officers remaining in the breastwork endeavoured to rally the Troops who had fled, and with some effect; but they could not prevent others from flying, who, in order to escape being sent back, fled through the woods to the breastwork, and avoided the shore, (the way in which they first marched out.) On searching into the cause of this strange affair, it appeared that one of the parties, who flanked the advanced guard, being unable from the thickness of the woods to keep within it, and apprehensive of being separated from the main body, had come in towards it, and fell in just at the rear of Hinman’s, who led, and front of Waterbury. The noise they made in the woods threw a panick on this part of the men, which, quickly spreading to the rest, occasioned the flight. On the return of Colonel Ritzema, who declared the Troops had all left him, General Montgomery determined to try whether, upon an explanation of the matter, they would march again. They were accordingly paraded, and exhorted by the General to do their duty, who mentioned every motive which could induce them to act like men. They then marched in the same order as before, till they came near another breastwork which had been thrown up before, when they were fired upon by one or two swivels from the river. In this intrenchment there was a small house, in which they found a few people, who fired one musket and then attempted to escape, in doing which a Canadian and an Indian were killed. Our Troops took possession of the work, and Colonel Ritzema ordered them to parade, that they might proceed; but found he had not above fifty men. In a little time they increased to about two hundred, and the rest having retired to the other breastwork, the General ordered these two hundred thither likewise, where they arrived about three in the morning, and determined to make another attempt at daylight. September 11th, at the request of some of the officers, the General called a council of war, at which Col. Waterbury and Col. Ritzema, Majors Elmore, Zediwitz, and Dimon, Captains Starr, Smith, Bearsley, Reed, Brown, Weisenfels, Willet, Motte, Lyon, Yates, McCrackin, and Livingston, assisted, and it was unanimously agreed that the detachment should proceed as before ordered, and that the remainder should take post at the other breastwork, in order to divert the attention of the enemy, but that the Troops should declare whether they were willing to march. On being asked, they all declared they were, and accordingly orders were given to embark; the remainder to proceed as advised by the council of war. Before this, Lieutenant Lockwood had been ordered down the river to reconnoitre, and just now returned with intelligence that the armed vessel of the enemy was lying at a point about a mile and a half below, completely equipped. This information rendered it necessary to remove the boats up the river for security, and the opinion of the same council (at the request of some of the officers) was asked, as to the expediency of marching the detachment, seeing the boats must be taken to the Isle-aux-Noix. The majority of voices was for embarking the whole, and returning to that island. On the way the General ordered the boats to stop at a point eight miles from St. John’s, to try the temper of the Troops, and know whether they would march from thence; but here the opinion of the majority of the council of war was against the measure, and the whole detachment returned to isle-aux-Noix, without any molestation, except the throwing a few shells, on our leaving the breastwork, which they continued for an hour and a half, without doing any damage. When the halt was made at the point, the General and Captains, with a few for guards, disembarked, and on cry by one of the men that the boats were coming, the Troops were with difficulty restrained from pushing off without their officers.

[No. 4.]

After General Orders.

Camp at Isle-aux-Noix, September 13, 1775.

The artillery to be embarked to-morrow. The guns and mortars on board batteaus, and the carriages in the row-galleys. The Army will move down the river on the day following. Thirty-six barrels of pork and thirty-six of flour to be put on board the two periaugers. The axes and other intrenching tools to be also put on board those periaugers. The schooner will proceed with the Army. Captain Douglass and Lieutenant Lockwood will choose out determined volunteer crews and good rowers for the galleys.

[No. 5.]

Wednesday, September 6, 1775.

Set out from Isle-aux-Noix on the 8th instant; arrived at Chambly; found the Canadians in that vicinity friendly; they guarded me under arms night and day, escorted me through the woods as I desired, and showed me every courtesy I could wish for. The news of my being in this place excited many Captains of the Militia and respectable gentlemen of the Canadians to visit and converse with me, as I gave out I was sent by General Schuyler to manifest his friendly intentions towards them, and delivered the General’s written manifesto to them to the same purpose. I likewise sent a messenger to the chiefs of the Caughnawaga Indians, demanding the cause why sundry of the Indians had taken up arms against the United Colonies; they sent two of their chiefs to me, who plead that it was contrary to the will and orders of their chiefs. The King’s Troops gave them rum, and inveigled them to fight General Schuyler; that they had sent their runners, and ordered them to depart from St. John’s, averring their friendship to the Colonies. Meanwhile, the sachems held a General Council, sent two of their Captains, and some beads and a wampun belt, as a lasting testimony of their friendship; and that they would not take up arms on either side. These tokens of friendship were delivered to me, agreeable to their ceremony, in a solemn manner, in the presence of a large auditory of Canadians, who approved of the league, and manifested friendship to the Colonies, and testified their good will on account of the advance of the Army into Canada. Their fears (as they said) were, that our Army was too weak to protect them against the severity of the English Government, as a defeat on our part would expose our friends in Canada to it. In this dilemma, our friends expressed anxiety of mind. It furthermore appeared to me that many of the Canadians were watching the scale of power, whose attraction attracted them. In fine, our friends in Canada earnestly urged that General Schuyler should

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