History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

1775.] . REVOLUTION—INVASION
OF CANADA. 377
Benedict Arnold's To co-operate with this army, General
Movement against Washington Ordered another detachment
against Quebec by way of the Kennebeck
River through the trackless wilderness. The command of
this force, which consisted of eleven hundred men, was
given to Col. Benedict Arnold. Two months were consumed
in this perilous march, and the little army after enduring
almost incredible hardships, appeared about seven
hundred strong, on the 9"' of November, at Point Levi on
the St. Lawrence opposite Quebec. Four days elapsed be-
fore the river could be crossed, and by that time Gen. Carle-
ton, who had escaped from Montreal, was prepared for
Arnold's reception. Unable to surprise the city, and with
his force so greatly reduced, Arnold declined the hazard of
an assault, and retreated twenty miles down the river to
await the arrival of Gen. Montgomery. That union was
not effected till the first of December, and by it the army
was increased to an aggregate of less than 1,000 men. A
siege of three weeks followed, when an assault was made
on the last day of December. Both sides of the city were
attacked, and both detachments succeeded in passing the
outer batteries. Gen. Montgomery was killed while forcing
a battery at Cape Diamond, and his men retreated. Arnold's
detachment penetrated to the second barrier, when
its commander was so severely wounded that he had to be
borne from the field. His soldiers fought bravely, but the
enemy coming upon their rear, between three and four
hundred were made prisoners. Arnold retreated about
three miles, and there forming ramparts of frozen snow
and blocks of ice, he kept Quebec in a state of blockade
throughout the winter.
Northampton Men in Nine men from Northampton participated
this Expedition. j^ ^-his expedition. All but two of them
were members of Capt. Allen's company
of minute-men, and most of them enlisted at Dorchester in
the fall of 1775, under Capt. Jonas Hubbard. Their names
were Abner Lyman, Jonathan Pomeroy (son of Josiah),
Seth Lyman Jr. , Elias Thayer, Russell Clark, Paul Clapp,
Oliver Edwards, Lemuel Bates, Joseph Parsons Jr. They
went with Arnold through the wilderness, endured the