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You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
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Hello and thanks for joining Revolution 250. This is the place where we remember events that took place 250 years ago this week. It's a short bonus episode from the American Revolution Podcast so that we can remember these important two 50th anniversaries of the Revolutionary War. This week, we remember the British relief fleet, which arrived in Quebec on May 5, 1776.
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This episode is brought to you by Ethos. Life insurance has always been important to me.
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When my grandfather died young and without
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insurance, it was a disaster. My father and his two brothers nearly ended up in an orphanage because my grandmother had no way to support them. If not for the charitable generosity of some other family members, my family would have been ripped apart.
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I was sure to get my own
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policy as soon as I had children. It's simply part of being a responsible parent. Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy. It's completely online, there's no medical exam, and you can get your coverage in minutes. Ethos gives you the best rate from a network of trusted carriers. Take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance through Ethos. Get your free quote@ethos.com Revolution that's E T H O S.com Revolution application times may vary, rates may vary, but don't put this off. Check out their options today.
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British General Guy Carleton had been defending the walled city of Quebec all winter with almost nothing. The Americans had captured the few hundred British regulars in Canada earlier in 1775, so Carleton had to rely on a handful of Canadian Loyalists to protect Quebec. They successfully defended an attack on the city on December 31, 1775, and then withstood the ongoing siege for months. Unfortunately for the British, the Continental Congress was unable to deploy many resources to Quebec. Congress's main focus had always been on the siege of Boston. On top of that, the American forces in Quebec were divided. General Benedict Arnold had made numerous enemies among the other officers. He'd gotten along pretty well with General Montgomery, who was the regional commander, but Montgomery died in that December 31st attack. Congress sent General David Wooster to replace Montgomery as a commander. Wooster and Arnold were both from Connecticut and already hated each other. In the spring, Congress also made the determination that Worcester was incompetent and replaced him with General John Thomas. General Thomas arrived on May 1st and found a complete mess. The Continental forces had fallen below 1000 men due to desertions, enlistment expirations, and deaths from smallpox. Nearly one third of the remaining force also had their Enlistments expired and many of them were also being ravaged by smallpox. Thomas attempted to reorganize things, but he too quickly fell ill with smallpox and would die within a month of his arrival. Everyone expected the British to send a relief fleet in the spring. Back in London, the Ministry had agreed over the winter to send an overwhelming force to America to end this rebellion as quickly as possible. Most of those forces were being deployed to New York, but a large contingent of 13,000 soldiers would be sent to Quebec. The first wave of 7,000 men would arrive under the command of General Johnny Burgoyne. Many of the soldiers in the fleet were known as Hessians, although the German speaking troops that went to Quebec were mostly from Hanover, not Hesse. General Burgoyne had returned to London the previous fall to convince the Ministry that his superiors weren't up to the task in America and that they should give him an independent command. The Ministry sent him to Quebec with his relief army, but the senior General Carleton would remain in overall command. When they arrived in Quebec, both sides kept a watchful eye for the arrival of the British relief fleet. On the night of May 3, sentries in Quebec saw the first relief ship approaching the city. The British had arranged a secret signal and counter signal to to make sure that they could identify the fleet. The defenders in Quebec hoisted their flag and fired five cannon to indicate that they were still in control of the city. But the ship never gave the counter signal. With no counter signal, the defenders began firing on the ship, only to see a small crew abandon the ship and row away in a boat. General Thomas, taking advice from Benedict Arnold, had attempted to use that ship as a fire ship. The plan was to get it as close to the city as possible, set it on fire, and hope that the burning ship would set the city of Quebec on fire. But the defenders did not let the boat get close enough. It soon floated downstream and burned to the water line, doing no damage. Two days later, on May 5, the actual fleet arrived. Before they even disembarked, General Carleton marched his Loyalists out of the city walls and chased off the remaining Continentals. With the arrival of the British relief fleet, the Continentals had no choice but to retreat. They would lose Canada in a matter of weeks and return to a defensive posture in upstate New York. I hope you've enjoyed this Revolution 250 moment. For more details on today's topic, check out episodes 87, 88 and 90@blog.amrevpodcast.com I also urge you to subscribe for free to the whole podcast on whatever podcast platform you like. Thanks again for listening to this Revolution250 moment on the American Revolution podcast.