St Johns and Chambly part 6 (Quebec 1775)

As Carleton's men sat on St Helen's criticizing their commander's lack of aggression, Montgomery used two Canadian prisoners sent back by Warner to persuade Preston that further resistance was hopeless. The garrison was on salt rations and suffering from the lack of warmth and shelter, and the Americans - now numbering 2,000, excluding the detachments to the north - had completed another battery to the north-east. On 1 November, its guns opened fire, destroying vital supplies and causing serious damage to the defenses, though still not inflicting many casualties. That evening, Preston's officers announced that there was only enough food for eight more days, on two-thirds rations. At the same time, Montgomery wrote to Preston pointing out the human consequences of further bombardment, adding that if the fort was stormed, he would not be responsible for the consequences. The following day, Preston sent an officer to negotiate terms. He attempted to paint an optimistic picture of the state of the garrison, but Montgomery sent him back with another letter, threatening to deny the honors of war and protection for the officers' possessions. Preston was for carrying on, but his officers were not. Terms were agreed on the evening of 2 November, although Preston demanded the removal of a clause expressing Montgomery's regret that the garrison's bravery had not been applied "in a better cause." On 3 November, 60 days after Schuyler's first attack, the garrison marched out with the honors of war, having lost 20 dead (half of whom were Indians or Canadians) and 23 wounded. Montgomery had suffered 100 combat casualties, but a further 1,000 men had been discharged due to illness. As he prepared to leave, Preston wrote a final insult to his captors in his journal: "We may thank our Enemy in some sort for leaving us in such slight field Works the credit of having been only reduced by Famine."