St Johns and Chambly part 5 (Quebec 1775)

After almost two days, the only damage was to the fort's chimneys, but this was enough to impress Stopford. While Chambly was not built to withstand a heavy bombardment, many cursed Stopford for not holding out longer and above all for not destroying the stores before surrendering. On 21 October, Preston and his men watched as the boats taking the Chambly garrison to prison camps in New England passed upriver. Such was the damage to the defenders' morale that the Canadian contingent petitioned Preston to let them surrender separately. At Montreal, desertions among the militia (and the capture of a leading seigneur whilst recruiting replacements) had restricted Carleton to minor raids against Longueuil and Boucherville. Now he knew that time was running out for St Johns and he ordered MacLean to bring 180 troops down to Sorel from Quebec, and to recruit as many militia as he could on the way. By mid-October, with MacLean now leading 400 men, Carleton preparing to cross to Longueuil with 130 Regulars, 800 militia and 80 Indians and link up with MacLean just south of Chambly. Late in the afternoon of 30 October, Carleton's force set out in boats from St Helen's Island in the middle of the river. Immediately, they ran into musket fire from Seth Warner's 350 Green Mountain Boys and canister from two small cannon captured at Chambly. Unable to risk losing many men, Carleton withdrew, despite a successful landing by some Canadians and Conosadaga warriors farther downstream that could have been exploited. Just south of Sorel, MacLean learned of this setback while encountering strong opposition from Brown and Livingston and he too turned back.