Posted on 07/31/2023 7:51:38 PM PDT by Lakeside Granny
Sir Guy Carleton was the George Patton of the British Army, and he resented being cooped up in Canada when he could have been fighting American rebels farther south. But difficulties between Carleton and Lord Germain at the War Office led to this situation. Carleton would not enter the war until after Yorktown, and by then it was too late.
Richard Montgomery got his troops to Montreal by sea and by the St. Lawrence River, and for the only time in his career, Sir Guy Carleton was out-generaled. He fled to Quebec, a walled city built on the French medieval model. This was something he could defend.
Benedict Arnold should have gone the same route, but he went by land without sufficient knowledge of the lay of it. Instead of using lithe birchbark canoes, he built clumsy flat-bottomed scows called bateaux. Men and supplies were loaded onto these scows, and the campaign proceeded up the Kennebec. Where that river ended, it became necessary to make a portage to the Chaudiere, which would take them down to the St. Lawrence.
It took little time for the troops to kill and eat all the deer while they portaged those clumsy scows through the Maine woods. And then it began to snow.
The troops dined on squirrels. There isn’t enough fat and protein in an all-squirrel diet, and men began to starve to death. They boiled their boots. Some turned to cannibalism. When they reached the Chaudiere, Arnold loaded the sick and supplies onto the scows and sent them down river. But unknown to Arnold, the Chaudiere was a white-water river, and the scows broke apart, drowning the sick and losing the supplies.
The men were in an ill humor upon reaching French Canada. Being staunch New England Protestants, the first thing they did was despoil and burn down a Catholic church. So much for getting French Catholic Canadians to take up the American cause!
When Arnold’s troops emerged from the woods across the St. Lawrence from Quebec, they looked like scarecrows. The British troops holed up in Quebec laughed until they were hoarse.
Carleton had established defenses in depth at the eastern and western gates of Quebec with multiple barricades, murder holes and the traditional medieval techniques of defending against a siege.
Montgomery and Arnold knew they needed more than just the cover of darkness to begin the invasion of Quebec. A blizzard provided that cover, muffling the sounds of men’s boots.
It didn’t start well at the eastern gate. Montgomery’s troops had only begun to move on the gate when they were spotted. Montgomery and his second-in-command, Campbell, died within the first few seconds. Command devolved upon Aaron Burr, who gave a good account of himself. His troops managed to crash the three barriers into the city. At this point Burr had to invent urban guerilla warfare on the spot by occupying the upper floors of the buildings by the gate. Unfortunately, Sir Guy Carleton had already invented urban guerilla warfare, and his people held the high ground within the buildings. The battle at the eastern gate failed.
At the western gate, things went well at first. Arnold and his troops used the cover of darkness and snow well enough to surprise the British troops at the first barrier. To them it appeared that the gates of Hell had opened, and the Devil himself, Benedict Arnold, was leading his demons. Resistance at the first barrier crumbled.
At the second barrier, resistance stiffened, and it turned into hand-to-hand combat. Dan Morgan, a wagon master from a section of Virginia known as Kentucky, took one British soldier by his neck and with one quick move snapped that neck. Morgan said he learned that move “wrestling b’ars back in Kentuck’.” The second barrier fell.
Now Arnold led his “demons” at the third barrier in two charges. A lesser commander than Sir Guy Carleton would have buckled under the onslaught, but he held his men in place with sheer will. It was at this point that Benedict Arnold was wounded and dragged off the battlefield with the battle surgeon telling Arnold that his leg would have to be amputated and Arnold telling him he would shoot him if he tried. Had there been a third charge, the western gate of Quebec and its defenses would have fallen.
The American forces retreated, and Quebec stood.
When spring arrived, Sir Guy Carleton chased Arnold all the way down to Fort Ticonderoga without effort. Believing the fort was impregnable by land, Carleton built a navy to attack from Lake Champlain. Through his spyglass, Benedict Arnold espied what Carleton was doing and built his own navy. Always preferring a surprise, Arnold placed his navy on the leeward side of Valcour Island as Carleton moved his navy into position. Firing his cannons, Arnold wrought hell upon Carleton’s fleet, splintering the mainmast of Carleton’s flagship and sinking several of his boats.
A lesser commander than Sir Guy Carleton would have turned tail and run, but this general had nerves of steel. His command to his men: “Hold! Hold!! Hold!!! NOW!!!” Carleton gave it back to Arnold in spades. The two army men conducted a naval slugfest that lasted most of the day. By nightfall the two sides were tuckered out, but Arnold now found himself with Carleton’s navy between him and Ticonderoga. In one of the great naval retreats of history, Arnold took advantage of the fog that had settled in, had his men muffle their oars – and rowed back to the fort right through the middle of Carleton’s fleet without being detected.
Military historians give the Battle of Valcour Island to the British, but with an asterisk. Carleton used up vital resources that John Burgoyne needed a year later and did not possess.
I’m glad your sister is calm about it. And ready to take a video :-)
That’s making lemonade out of lemons
“Hawaiian Electric said the power to the grid was cut off TWO HOURS BEFORE THE FIRE!!!”
There’s something terribly wrong going on. In my chores running around this morning, the radio said that some entity admitted, it was an electrical line that started the fire. And after the first fire was contain another electrical line started the second one. It made it sound like it was the electric company that admitted that, but I wasn’t listening that closely.
After having lived in California for 40 years where she went through several bad earthquakes, she said a hurricane, who you have warning of for days, is not something she is going to worry about.
Tulsi Gabbard 🌺
@TulsiGabbard
A death rattle of any democracy is when a sitting president uses the state security apparatus to go after political opponents and cover up lies and crimes committed by himself or his family. Biden is doing that now. His actions make it clear he believes himself to be not the enforcer of the rule of law but the exception to it.
https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1695360094849134598
3:30 video
She should run third party and get the honest Democrat vote.
Have you done any research on this P guy, exit? You may want to, just sayin’. I watched him a bit and the words shyster, conman, huckster came to mind. I can see by a simple search that he’s all that, and more. Buyer beware. Believe him if you wish, but all of my spidey senses went off while listening to him. He’s cashing in nicely peddling this stuff.
RE: TAINTED FUEL
Maximizing a crisis to get eyes off Hawaii.
These people are EVIL. No one is safe.
There are many historical markers here in Maine that show Benedict Arnold expedition from here to Quebec:
https://mainedar.org/benedict-arnolds-expedition-markers/
You can see/read about them here, if interested!
Hawaiian Electric says power lines were shut off hours before wildfire, de-energized
https://thepostmillennial.com/hawaiian-electric-says-power-lines-were-shut-off-hours-before-wildfire?utm_campaign=64483
The Post Millennial.
The claims contradict those made in lawsuits filed by Maui county and others against the energy company, accusing it of “inexcusably [keeping] their power lines energized during forecasted high fire danger conditions.”
Tulsi and RFK Jr should team up for a 3rd party run.
If they screw Trump over and keep him off the ballot, many MAGA may just vote for them.
Not me though, I’m writing in Donald J Trump if I have to.
I saw that last night, just before I went to bed. On X a few people were saying the police overreacted and/or ignored the human rights of the protestors.
What was forgotten was, it happened on tribal land and those leo were not police. As I understand it, tribal land is sovereign territory, a separate country within the US. They make their own laws and operate their own leo as the tribe sees fit. The Constitution doesn’t necessarily apply there.
I hope EVERYBODY is listening to Pollster Baris on the WR.
Baris said that if NH pubbies get Trump removed from the ballot the pubbie party is done!
I believe him, the GOPe just doesn’t get that WE are not loyal to a party but WE ARE LOYAL TO TRUMP!
Write in, and make sure they’re counted!
You are correct.
My husband was DPS here in AZ and was stationed in Whiteriver on the Apache Rez.
He had to defer to Tribal Police when arresting a Native American but not if it was Mr. Whitey.
The Tribal Police could arrest anyone.
I think that last picture is fake. No way a granny would misspell “disobey.” A millennial would, not a granny.
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