man, and several other brave officers and men, gloriously fell in an unfortunate attack upon Quebeck; unfortunate, indeed; for, in addition to the loss we sustain in the death of the General, one of the bravest men of the age, the flower of our Army at Quebeck were either cut off or taken prisoners. I little expect, that with the troops who remain, to be able to continue the siege; in short, our situation in this country is, at present, and will be, till we can have relief from the Colonies, very critical and dangerous. We really have but very few men in the country, and many of those few not to be depended on, as we have too dearly proved.

Mr. Antill, a gentleman from Quebeck, who General Montgomery appointed an Engineer, I beg leave to recommend to you. He was with the General when he fell, and can give you particulars. He is well acquainted with this country; for which reason I have detailed him, to proceed on to you, and so to the Congress, knowing that he will be much better able to inform you and them than I can, concerning the state of this country, and what will be necessary to be done; unless we have a number of men thrown into this country, as soon as they can possibly get over the lakes on the ice, which, I apprehend, might be done with sleds, and, at the same time, forward some powder, as we have but four tons in the country, at the several posts. We have lost our Artillery company; it will, therefore, be necessary to supply us with another very soon, or we may, possibly, not only lose the footing we have got here, but, perhaps, be all sacrificed in the country. There is but little confidence to be placed in the Canadians; they are but a small remove from the savages, and are fond of being of the strongest party.

Give me leave, also, to remind you of what, I dare say, General Montgomery has done, that we are in the greatest need of cash; hard money we shall soon be in the greatest distress for want of, and, doubtless, the more so, since the check to our arms. Mr. Price has hitherto supplied us; indeed, I know not how we could have subsisted as an army, without him; he has already advanced for us about twenty thousand pounds, and has assisted us in every way possible. General Montgomery, in his last letter to me, begged that Price might be mentioned, in the strongest terms, to the Congress.

The necessity of immediate relief, I am sure, will strike your mind very forcibly, when I tell you that our enemies in the country are numerous; the Clergy almost universally refuse absolution to those who are our friends, and preach to the people that it is not now too late to take arms against us; that the Bostonians are but a handful of men; which, you know, is too true.

Suppose, sir, that General Washington should detach a thousand men from his Army, if there are no other troops, already raised, that can be better spared. Something must be done, and that speedily, or I greatly fear we are ruined. We have but five or six hundred men for the garrisons of this place, Chambly and St. John's. Many of the troops insist upon going home, their times of inlistment being out; some, indeed, have run away without a pass or dismission, expressly against orders. I have been just informed that a Captain Pratt, of the Second Battalion of Yorkers, has led off his company from St. John's. I have given orders to suffer no man to go out of the country, whether they will inlist or not; the necessity of the case, I believe, will justify my conduct. I shall not be able to spare any men to reinforce Colonel Arnold; this place must be secured for a retreat, if necessary. I called a council of my officers in this place, who were, to a man, agreed that I ought to remain here. I have, therefore, sent Colonel Clinton with Mr. Price, who, I think, may be of great service to him. God only knows what the event will be. This affair puts a very different face upon our interests in this country; however, we must make the best of it.

I have ordered General Montgomery's papers to be sent to me; when I receive them, I shall conform myself to his instructions. I expected you was at Congress, and had prepared to send this melancholy news to General Washington, as well as to you; but the post arriving last night, I find that you was at Albany, therefore, shall leave it to you. 1 most heartily condole with you, with General Montgomery's friends, and with the country, for so great and publick a loss.

I have the honour to be, your most obedient, and very humble servant,

DAVID WOOSTER.

To General Schuyler.

COLONEL DONALD CAMPBELL TO GENERAL WOOSTER.

Head-Quarters before Quebeck, January 2, 1776.

DEAR GENERAL: This covers one from Col. Arnold, by which, I understand, you will be particularly informed of the state of affairs here, which gives me much anxiety of mind, yet I hope no fatal accident will happen to us, more than what has happened; and, truly, it is distressing enough. And, to add to it, several of our men, this two days past, have strenuously insisted on being discharged, not having inlisied for longer than to the last of December, which has been complied with; but it is said by some, that their view is only to change companies, and inlist at Montreal, which I hope may be true, though, really, few of them are worth retaining. Some good men are gone, (and some, even, without a discharge,) and carried off their arms, which I wish could be recovered, as being in much demand here. I hope every disposition of the troops, this two days past, will prove agreeable to you, when I have" the pleasure of seeing you, though, to gratify some Field-Officers, I shall be necessitated to hold a council of war to-morrow, which I pray may agree in, was it only to satisfy the Field-Officers. I pray you to recommend, in the strongest terms, to Congress, the absolute necessity of sending a sufficient body of troops here, as early as possible; and I would recommend that those troops already on duty at New-York, for expedition sake, be forwarded here, and their place lilted up as fast as they can be recruited.

Medicines are much wanted here, and I am told that a Dr. Beaumont has claimed a chest worth fifty guineas, which was the property of the Crown, and ought to belong to Congress. If this is a fact, I could wish it was looked into, as the most expeditious way of providing a supply for the Army, and which must be provided. I hope you will not forget to remind the Congress of the necessity of furnishing a suitable chest for the Army that may be ordered here; a thing much neglected this campaign for our Army.

Musket ball, and smaller sized balls and buckshot, are wanting, and I esteem buckshot more serviceable than generally allowed. I have not, as yet, received a return of the killed and wounded; must, therefore, defer it till you arrive.

I am, dear General, your most humble servant,

DONALD CAMPBELL.

To General Wooster.

P. S. I most sincerely wish you the compliments of the season.

COLONEL ARNOLD TO GENERAL WOOSTER.

General Hospital, January 2, 1776.

DEAR SIR: I wrote you, three days since, of our defeat and the death of General Montgomery and others, with all the information I then had of the matter. We have been in suspense, with regard to my detachment, until this afternoon, when Major Meigs was sent out, with a flag, for the officers' baggage, who, he says, are all taken prisoners, except Captain Hendricks, Lieutenant Humphreys, of the Riflemen, and Lieutenant Cooper, who were killed in the action. General Carleton says our loss, in killed and wounded, is a hundred. Major Meigs thinks it does not exceed sixty, and about three hundred taken prisoners, who are treated very humanely. These brave men sustained the force of the whole garrison for three hours, but were finally obliged to yield to numbers, and the advantageous situation the garrison had over them. Several other officers, I am told, are slightly wounded. We bad the misfortune of losing one brass six-pounder in the en gagement, and all our mortars were taken from St. Rogue's the evening after the engagement. This was the fault of some of the officers who commanded, as they might very easily have been brought away, agreeable to my positive orders for that purpose. Our force, at this time, does not exceed eight hundred men, including Colonel Livingston's Regiment of two hundred Canadians, and some scattered Canadian forces, amounting to two hundred more. Many of the troops are dejected, and anxious to get home, and