From Publishers Weekly
In June 1775, Benedict Arnold—having not yet turned traitor, and, indeed, lionized as one of the 13 colonies' great military hopes—proposed an invasion of Quebec. He thought a successful attack might dispose King George to redress the colonists' grievances. With General Washington's approval, Arnold gathered together a group of soldiers and headed north. Desjardin (
These Honored Dead:
How the Story of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory) describes the grueling expedition. The soldiers quickly ran low on food, and, among other disasters, a canoe was ripped apart by a tree branch, almost costing half the men their lives. Eventually, some of the troops made it to Canada, and after backup arrived, they attacked Quebec Though the attempt was unsuccessful and Arnold was wounded, he was praised for simply having made it from Maine to Canada. Desjardin's account is able, though at times melodramatic ("Thousands of issues must have weighed heavily upon Arnold's mind") and cute (two centuries before Dr. Atkins, Arnold's men "discovered the weight-loss capacities" of low-carb eating). Perhaps the most important section is the epilogue, in which Desjardin suggests that a successful attack on Quebec might actually have hampered the fight for American independence.
(Jan. 8) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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edition.
From Booklist
Rather too late in 1775, American generals Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery set off to assault Quebec, the main fortress of British Canada, at the head of an exceedingly modest force of Continental soldiers. They faced grueling portages, swamps, insects, trackless forests, hostile Indians, Quebecois not eager to be liberated by the staunchly Protestant New Englanders, and supply shortages of every conceivable kind. They finally reached Quebec in the dead of winter, to find it desperately defended by the British. After attempting a siege, they assaulted the walled city. The assault failed, with Montgomery killed and Arnold wounded, which Desjardin, state historian of Maine, suggests may have been a fatal blow to the campaign. The survivors retreated even more precariously than they had advanced. Thoroughly researched and well written, this is likely to be the standard history of the campaign for some time to come.
Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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