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America's Invasion of Canada

American History Hit

Mon Oct 06 2025

Summary

American History Hit: “America's Invasion of Canada”
Host: Don Wildman | Guest: Major Jonathan Bratton
Release Date: October 6, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Don Wildman is joined by Major Jonathan Bratton of the Maine Army National Guard to explore the dramatic and often-overlooked American invasion of Canada during the Revolutionary War, focusing on Benedict Arnold’s harrowing 1775 campaign through the wilds of Maine toward Quebec. The discussion covers the campaign's motives, the grueling journey, the climactic assault on Quebec City, and its aftermath—illuminating why Canada was targeted and why the operation failed, as well as the legacy it left for later military history.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Invade Canada? The Revolutionary Motive

[03:57–07:51]

Historical Context: The plan to invade Canada was driven by longstanding colonial animosity toward “the big boogeyman” to the north. Many colonists had recently fought in the French and Indian War, which shaped their view that Quebec was “ripe for the picking.”
Strategic Opportunity: In 1775, British forces were thin in Canada. “If you take out Canada, you remove that avenue of approach that the British have to attack from the north.” (Bratton, 07:44)
Ideological Aspirations: The dream of a North American “union” that included Quebec as the 14th colony motivated decision-makers.
Misjudging Local Sentiment: American assumptions that French Canadians would readily join the revolution ignored class divisions and the increasing number of British settlers, setting the stage for later miscalculations.

2. The Enigma of Benedict Arnold

[07:51–10:07]

Early Promise: Arnold was “the ideal military leader”—a bold, enterprising merchant-soldier with logistical know-how and early Revolutionary success.
Downside: His “impulsive nature… soon turns into a bit of hubris” (Wildman, 08:39), which would contribute to future infamy.
Ticonderoga and the Route to Canada: Seizing Fort Ticonderoga preserved options for attacking Canada and enabled the transport of captured artillery to Dorchester Heights, ultimately instrumental in chasing the British out of Boston.

3. Into the Wilds: The Expedition Begins

[10:07–18:10]

Arnold’s Ambition: As others moved north via traditional routes, Arnold pitched an ambitious flanking march through the Maine wilderness, believing he had found a secret backdoor to Quebec.
Logistical Nightmares: Arnold’s “handmade boat flotilla”—the bateau—was ill-conceived due to green timber and a shortage of nails, leading to fragile and leaky transports. Maps were incomplete, underestimating the trek by as much as 90 miles.
The ‘Who’s Who’ of Early America: The march included future notables like Aaron Burr, James Wilkinson, Daniel Morgan, and Henry Dearborn—seeding future American military and political folklore.

4. The Ordeal: Hardship and Near-Mutiny

[18:16–24:18]

Nature’s Onslaught: Crossing Maine’s “height of land,” the men contended with green, waterlogged boats, ruined supplies, and relentless storms (“…a small hurricane, as some historians look at the weather patterns, which is very, really, really weird for October.” – Bratton, 20:50)
Desperate Provisions: Men resorted to eating leather, candles, and even a dog, while exposure claimed many.
Mass Desertion: Lt. Col. William Enos led half the force (about 700 men) in retreat, a move Arnold saw as mutiny: “He’s livid. Yeah, he’s absolutely livid. He’s seeking court martial…” (Bratton, 23:20) No punishment followed.

5. The Approach to Quebec

[24:18–26:52]

Ragged Arrival: Approximately 675 survivors stumbled into a French-Canadian village, half-starved, requiring immediate aid from locals.
Leadership Amid Calamity: Arnold’s charisma and “force of personality” kept the remaining men together. “He manages to within less than a month of coming out of the swamps, feed, almost clothe his soldiers, get them up to the St. Lawrence, get them within sight of Quebec City.” (Bratton, 26:12)

6. Besieging Quebec: The Pincer Fails

[26:52–36:16]

Siege Setup: Richard Montgomery’s and Arnold’s forces intended a two-pronged assault; delays and lack of artillery forced them into a risky winter frontal attack.
Quebec’s Fortifications: “It still is the only walled city left in North America... formidable.” (Bratton, 30:06)
The Assault: On New Year’s Eve 1775, amidst a snowstorm, both columns attacked. A lucky blast of grapeshot killed Montgomery and his staff, collapsing one prong of the attack while Arnold was wounded and his force overrun. “So there’s no—now—it’s literally… all the focus is now, the attention is on Arnold and his force.” (Wildman, 36:16)

Memorable Moment

On Montgomery’s Death:
“Probably one of the worst timed blasts of grapeshot in American history kills Montgomery and the sort of leading attack party… And Montgomery’s dead and his second in command is dead. And the third in command goes, ‘I’m scared...’ and pulls the entire assaulting column back.” (Bratton, 33:24–34:10)

7. Aftermath and Legacy

[36:16–42:32]

Collapse and Retreat: The failed assault resulted in 400 American prisoners, 50 dead, 40 wounded, and the shattered remains retreating to retrench before the arriving British reinforcements.
Recurring Lessons: Despite future attempts—in 1812, and even diplomatic maneuvers later—America would never come so close to controlling Canada.
Impact on the War: The failed campaign was “extraordinarily important to set up for what comes later… the whole war shifting down to sort of the mid Atlantic region.” (Wildman, 42:32)

Notable Quotes

“Canada has just always been the boogeyman… ever since the beginning.”
— Jonathan Bratton [06:18]
On Arnold’s march:
“There are soldiers dying of exposure right and left. There’s frosts in the swamps. There’s a Pennsylvania rifleman who dies—his wife… picks up his kit and walks off to go invade Quebec with Arnold. We’re talking about some incredibly horrific privations.”
— Bratton [24:18]
On Quebec’s walls:
“If you ever go up there, you look at the walls, you go, ‘Oh my God. What on earth were they thinking?’”
— Bratton [30:06]
On smallpox and final withdrawal:
“Smallpox is the chief killer of the northern army… And then just when smallpox is destroying the combat power, the British show up in the spring of 1776.”
— Bratton [40:07]

Timeline of Key Events (with Timestamps)

[03:57] The rationale for invading Canada and the colonial mindset
[07:51] Benedict Arnold’s military qualities and Ticonderoga
[10:07] Arnold proposes the Maine wilderness route
[12:00] Map and logistical failures, the challenges of the bateau
[18:16] The “cursed expedition” begins, leading into starvation and storms
[23:05] Enos’s retreat: 700 men abandon the expedition
[23:48] Ragged survivors reach Canada, nursed by locals
[26:52] Join Montgomery, prepare for pincer assault, besiege Quebec
[33:17] The New Year’s Eve assault and the abrupt defeat
[38:33] The closest America came to conquering Canada, and its echo in later wars
[40:07] Smallpox ravages the Army and the campaign collapses
[42:32] Broader significance: how defeat shaped the later course of the Revolution

Conclusion & Resources

The episode casts new light on the “forgotten” campaign to conquer Canada, highlighting Benedict Arnold’s complex leadership, the terrible ordeal suffered by his men, and the far-reaching consequences of the failed invasion. The story is not just one of military mishap, but of enduring human spirit and the unpredictability that shaped early American history.

To learn more:
Jonathan Bratton recommends the US Army Center of Military History website (history.army.mil) for accessible resources, especially the concise new publication on the Canadian Campaign.

Guest sign-off:
“This is like the who’s who of American military history—and also so rapscallion agree on this expedition.”
— Jonathan Bratton [19:52]

Host sign-off:
“All of this is extraordinarily important to set up for what comes later…”
— Don Wildman [42:32]

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Transcript

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Don Wildman (0:42)

They have come so far through the sodden, tangled forests of Maine, pushing leaking boats along flooded rivers, through weeks of starvation and illness when shoe leather became a meal. Now, standing in snow, a blizzard howling around them, they look to the steep barricades of Quebec. Exhausted eyes staring into the predawn darkness, Everyone aware of the knife's edge of history they teeter upon. All the months of sacrifice, the hardship, the resolve converging on this one desperate assault. This is their chance to seize the city and try and make Canada the 14th American colony. They move quietly, stealthily, undetected in the snow. Soon enough, muskets and cannon roar. The battle for Quebec is underway. Greetings one and all. This is American history. Hit and I'm Don Wildman. It's sometimes tough to ground your feet solidly in the early history of the American Revolution, so let's review a few events. Everybody knows about Lexington and Concord, spring of 75, shot Heard round the world. Bunker Hill. That British victory that comes at such a bloody cost follows in June, July. George Washington arrives to organize the Continental army surrounding Boston. The siege of Boston and that stalemate lasts until the following March, when the British finally evacuate under threat of American artillery. That siege is the backdrop of a remarkably grueling event that often escapes notice. Certainly when we were youngsters locking in the basics of the revolution. In the fall months of 1775, there was a critical and pivotal scene setter of so much which comes later. It involved none other than the infamous Benedict Arnold, though this is the early heroic Arnold, the one so full of vim and vigor, hell bent on victory against the tyrants. It is the American invasion of Quebec, Canada today our peaceful ally and primary trading partner to the north, which might be the reason we never hear much about it happened in the fall and winter of 1775. And today we have just the man to explain it all. Jonathan Bratton is a major in the Maine Army National Guard. On this series, he has previously attacked the history of Bunker Hill, demystified George Washington's generalling even took on the counterfactual. What if the British had won? All these and more you can find in our very lively background, backlogged, wherever you get your podcasts and please do. Hello, Jonathan Bratton. Welcome back to American History hit. Let's do this again.

Jonathan Bratton (20:50)

Yeah. So their first leg is going up the Kennebec. And that's got its own problems, but at least you're on water. The biggest issue issue is the second leg, when you have to begin your first portage to go over the height of land. This is a massive logistical problem. These boats weigh 400 pounds and they're green wood, so they're soaked with water. Like they just suck the water into them so they're even heavier. The water that gets into the boats gets into the dried peas, gets into the flour, and so you're losing provisions. Arnold eventually breaks up his group into three sections. He sort of has an advance guard to move ahead, scout out the trail. They're worried about Wabanaki Indian ambushes which never really materialize. They are concerned about sort of enemy contact. And then he's got his sort of middle group, and then he's got his rear guard, which has most of the provisions. And about halfway into this thing with, as you say, the weather is awful. There's basically a nor' easter or a small hurricane, as some historians look at the weather patterns, which is very, really, really weird for October. Like really late comes in just as the advance parties on what's called the Dead River. Not because you know you all die when you get on there, it's just, it's reflect referring to how slow it goes. But with this, the advance guards on the Dead river, the main body and the. The rear guard are still doing their portage. It's awful. It's pouring rain. It is miserable. Provisions are running like they're already down on half rations. And this is when the rear guard, which is composed of the majority of troops with most of the provisions under Lt. Col. William Enos from Vermont, decides to hold a little council of war about what they should do, because everyone remembers those orders that Washington gave. Hey, if the weather gets bad, you gotta call it. So Arnold's pressing ahead, pressing ahead. He's going back and forth, by the way, between all of these groups. So he's got to be exhausted and he's going, hey, no, keep your spirits up. We're going to keep going. We're going to keep going. But his rear guard does eventually vote when he's not there, that, hey, you know, discretion is the better part of valor. We out. And they, they split the rations with the. The main body. They actually take the majority of them and they peace out. Back to Cambridge.

Jonathan Bratton (33:24)

So the rationale behind this is twofold. One, everyone's enlistments run out on January 1st. This is one of those planning factors of, like, hey, make sure, you know, when everyone's enlistments are good through, you've got the enlistment problem. You have the problem that the Continentals don't have enough artillery to basically breach the walls. Really, if you're going to do an operation of this type, they don't have enough artillery to breach the walls. They don't have enough troops for a siege. So what does that leave you with? That means you have to attack. You have to have an assault of some kind. And what they're looking for is they're looking for some bad weather to do it in. They want to have obscuration from a snowstorm. There's a couple false starts in the days prior of, hey, we're going to go, we're going to go. You know, it's like D day kind of feeling, hey, we're going tonight. We're going to, oh, nope, no jump tonight. That type of thing. And now it's like, oh, invasion tonight on New Year's Eve, they get the weather that they need and, and they execute an attack which is, it's another pincher movement. They leave a very small force at their camps with some light artillery pieces to demonstrate in front of the city walls to fix the British attention there, while two other forces try to maneuver around the city. So Montgomery has the larger force around 6 to 700 troops. He sweeps south around Cap d' ament to try to seize one of the main city gates to sweep into the upper town. Meanwhile, Arnold, with a slightly smaller force, he's going to attack the northern gate of the southern town and then work his way into the southern town to then attack through the city itself into the upper town and seize the fortifications from there. So it's this double envelopment. Double envelopments are tough. They're really tricky to keep synchronized. This soldiers all have green sprigs or pieces of paper in their hats to try to help distinguish them from friend to foe. Especially in a snowstorm. Everything's going super well. Arnold crosses the walls. They're going in the lower town. Montgomery's leading his force in. They find what they believe is a open passageway into the city. And then probably one of the worst timed blasts of grapeshot in American history kills Montgomery and the sort of leading attack party. You know, maybe if you're, if you're leading an assault, maybe don't post yourself on the right in the, in the front. But, you know, leading by example. And Montgomery's dead and his second in command is dead. And the third in command goes, I'm scared. And I don't think we should do this anymore. And pulls the entire assaulting column back.

Jonathan Bratton (40:07)

The northern campaign, it's kind of fascinating because the situation outside Quebec that you think couldn't get any worse gets worse. Yes, Arnold gets a bunch of reinforcements. He also gets a bunch of new commanding general officers that Washington ships up there. And he also gets a lot of smallpox. So smallpox hits as they're sort of in these miserable camps outside Quebec City through the winter, 1775-1770. 1776. Smallpox is the chief killer of the northern army, of the Continental army. You have the northern army, the main army, and the southern army. The northern army is absolutely decimated by smallpox, is going to kill one of their commanders who sort of didn't believe that it was that bad. And then he gets there and realizes it is this bad. And then just when smallpox is destroying the combat power, the British show up in the spring of 1776. A lot of reinforcements, Carlton and this guy, John Burgoyne, who will feature heavily in the northern theater, push out from Quebec City. There's a few brief battles that do not go well, but a few future big names in the Continental army do pretty well in them, one of them being Anthony Wayne, who is able to get his force off the field in good order. And that's called doing well in the Canadian campaign. By June of 1776, I mean, this thing is done. Arnold's writing about back to his superiors, saying, hey, it's over. Prepare river transports, prepare defenses. We need a flute and lake giant plane to contend. He's already thinking a few steps ahead. We have to contend and contest the lake because they're going to be invading down if there's too strong. Continental leaders. Arnold, Wayne, Sullivan, others are sort of by force of personality holding this tiny force only about like 800 troops at the end together as they pull out of Canada, there's this sort of legend. James Wilkinson talks about it in his diary. But James Wilkinson also lied about nearly everything in his career that says that Arnold was the last person to leave the shores of Canada, actually shoots his horse prior to getting on board the boat in order that the British cannot have that. They sort of burn everything in their retreat, go back down the lake. Now Arnold and Philip Schuyler, the overall continental commander of the Northern theater, have to build this army from scratch again to contest the British attempt down the lake.