1775. his own hands to cut down or pull up the pickets, CHAP. V. and open a passage for his troops; but the excessive roughness and difficulty of the way had so lengthened his line of march, that he found it absolutely necessary to halt a few minutes, in order to collect a force with which he might venture to proceed. Having reassembled about two hundred men, whom he encouraged alike by his voice and his example, he advanced boldly and rapidly at their head, to force the barrier. One or two persons had now ventured to return to the battery; and, seizing a slow-match standing by one of the guns, discharged the piece, when the American front was within forty paces of it. This single and accidental fire was a fatal one. The general with captains Death of M'Pherson and Cheeseman, two valuable young officers near his person, the first of whom was his aid; together with his orderly serjeant and a private, were killed upon the spot. The loss of their general, in whom their confidence had been so justly placed, discouraged the troops; and colonel Campbell on whom the command devolved, but who did not partake of that spirit of heroism which had animated their departed chief, made no attempt to prosecute the enterprise. This whole division retired precipitately from the action, and left the garrison at leisure, after recovering from the consternation into which they had been thrown, to direct their undivided force against Arnold. Montgomery CHAP. V. The division commanded by this officer 1775. moved in files, at the common signal for the attack, along the street of St. Roques, towards the Saint des Matelots. In imitation of Montgomery, he too led the forlorn hope in person, and was followed by captain Lamb with his company of artillery, and a field piece mounted on a sled. Close in the rear of the artillery was the main body, in front of which was Morgan's company of riflemen commanded by himself. At the Saint des Matelots, the enemy had constructed their first barrier, and had erected a battery of two twelve pounders, which it was necessary to force. The path along which the troops were to march had been rendered so narrow by the rough cakes of ice thrown up on the one side from St. Charles, and by the works erected by the enemy on the other, that the two pieces of artillery in the battery in front, were capable of raking with grape shot every inch of the ground; whilst his whole right flank was exposed to an incessant fire of musketry from the walls, and from the pickets of the garrison. In this order, Arnold advanced with the utmost intrepidity, along the St. Charles, against the battery. The alarm was immediately given, and the fire on his flank commenced, which, however, did not prove very destructive. As he approached the barrier he received a musket ball in the leg which shattered the bone, and he was carried off the field to the hospital. Morgan rushed forward to the battery at the head of his company, and received from one of the pieces, almost at its mouth, a discharge of grape shot which killed only one man. A few rifles were immediately fired into the embrazures, by which a British soldier was wounded in the head, and the barricade being instantly mounted with the aid of ladders, brought by his men on their shoulders, the battery was deserted without discharging the other gun. The captain of the guard, with the greater number of his men, fell into the hands of the Americans, and the others made their escape. Morgan formed the troops, consisting of his own company, and a few bold individuals who had pressed forward from other parts of the division, in the streets within the barrier; and took into custody several English and Canadian burghers; but his situation soon became extremely critical. He was not followed by the main body of the division; he had no guide; and and was, himself, totally ignorant of the situation of the town. It was yet extremely dark, and he had not the slightest knowledge of the course to be pursued, or of the defences to be Charles Porterfield then a serjeant, and afterwards a lieutenant colonel in the state garrison regiment of Virginia, who was killed at the battle of Camden, was the first person who crossed the barricade; Morgan himself was the second. CHAP. V. 1775. CHAP. V. encountered. Thus circumstanced, it was 1775. thought unadvisable to advance further. It had been found impossible to move on the field piece which had been placed in front of the line, and the path was so narrow that there was much difficulty in passing it. Only Morgan's company and a few Pennsylvanians, led by lieutenant Archibald Steele, and a few individuals of other companies, had made their way round it; and with the forlorn hope had entered the town. As the glow produced by immense exertion gave way to the cold, which was so intense that they were covered with icicles, and as the ardour excited by action subsided, when they were no longer engaged; even this daring party became less animated. Whilst waiting in total ignorance of the fate of the residue of the division; the darkness of the night, the fury of the storm, the scattering fire still kept up by the enemy, principally in their rear, the paucity of their numbers, and the uncertainty concerning their future operations, visibly affected them. It was, after some deliberation, determined that they should maintain their ground, while Morgan returned to the barrier they had passed, for the purpose of bringing up the troops who were supposed to be still on the other side of it. They were soon joined by lieutenant colonel Green, and majors Bigelow and Meiggs, with several fragments of companies, so as to con 1775. stitute altogether about two hundred men. CHAP. V. Among the hazards which must forever endanger the success of enterprises undertaken by undisciplined troops, especially in the night, it is one of the greatest and most certain, that no given portion of the force employed can be counted on. The most daring will precipitate themselves into the midst of danger, whilst the less intrepid, or the less ardent, will not be in a situation to support them. As the light of day began to appear, this small but gallant party was again formed, with Morgan's company in front; and with one voice, they loudly called on him to lead them against the second barrier, which was now known to be less than forty paces from them, though concealed by an angle of the street from their immediate view. Seizing the few ladders brought with them, they again rushed on to the charge, and on turning the angle, were hailed by captain, or lieutenant Anderson, who was just issuing with a body of troops, through the gate of the barricade, for the purpose of attacking the Americans, whom he had expected to find dispersed, and probably plundering the town. Morgan, who was in the front, answered his challenge by a ball through his head, and as he fell, he was drawn within the barricade and Only Morgan's company had brought on ladders further than the first barrier. |