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Hello, and thanks for joining Revolution 250, where we look at events that took place 250 years ago this week.

This is from the American Revolution podcast, a short bonus episode to remind you about these important anniversaries from the Revolutionary War.

This week, we remember the Battle of Quebec, December 31, 1775.

From the beginning, the Americans hoped to draw Quebec into the rebellion.

The Patriots believe that if they could show that Britain was unable to hold on to

Canada by force, that the people of Quebec would join the rebellion. General Richard Montgomery

had led a continental invasion from Fort Ticonderoga into Canada, capturing Montreal. At the same time,

Colonel Benedict Arnold had taken a force across the main

wilderness to reach the walls of Quebec from the other side. The walled city of Quebec, however,

remained defiant. Although Montgomery had captured almost all the regulars in Canada,

a group of militia made up primarily of Scottish Highlander immigrants, held the city.

Half of Arnold's force never arrived, believing the Wilderness March would be impossible.

Much of Montgomery's force had demanded to be sent home after the capture of Montreal.

Even worse, most of the men who had held out this long looked forward to the end

of the year when their enlistments ended and they could go home. By the time the two armies

converged on Quebec in early December, they had less than a month before the army would dissolve

away. They couldn't count on George Washington to say in reinforcements.

He was facing his own end-of-the-year deadline when the Continental Army around Boston turned

into a group of 15,000 civilians. By December 6th, the Continental Army had surrounded Quebec.

Montgomery offered terms if the city surrendered, but the city refused.

Montgomery used his field artillery, but his small field cannons were useless against the city's stone

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