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Authors: Jennifer Crump
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advantage and did not take his troops up the St. Lawrence to make a play for Quebec until the middle of June. He found Sorel abandoned.
Even Arnold was ready to give up. âLet us quit and secure our own country before it is too late,â 13 he wrote. On May 15, he and the American Army, which numbered more than 5,000 in and around Montreal, first attempted to burn down the city then abandoned it and began their retreat back through the Richelieu River to Lake Champlain. They took refuge at Ãle-aux-Noix but were promptly ousted by the British. At Fort St.-Jean they managed to get away only moments before the British forces arrived. Throughout the summer and into the fall of 1776, Arnold managed to hold the British at bay with a fleet he had built up after his initial taking of Crown Point in 1775, but was finally defeated on October 11, and forced to withdraw from that fort to Ticonderoga. Carleton decided that the Americans were too strong to oust and he contented himself to wait at Crown Point. Finally, on November 2, he pulled his troops from Crown Point and withdrew to spend the winter in Quebec.
The campaign to capture Quebec was an unmitigated disaster for the Americans. Not only had they failed in their attempt to take Canada by force, but they had also failed to convince the Canadians that their future could be secured by uniting with their rebellious neighbours to the south. It would be many years before relationships along the border were sufficiently repaired. The only saving grace for the Americans was that Arnoldâs tiny naval fleet had held off the British long enough that it had discouraged a full-scale British invasion along Chesapeake Bay, which might have ended the entire revolution. The Americans made one last attempt to secure Quebec at the Paris Peace Conference, which created the United States of America. American negotiator Ben Franklin suggested that all of Quebec be ceded to the Americans, but in the end they received only the Ohio territory.
CHAPTER FIVE:
THE NOOTKA CRISIS
Canadaâs eastern colonies were not the only ones to capture the attention of foreign armies. By the late 1700s five nations had turned their attention to the westernmost end of Canada, led in part by a desire to exploit the rich store of furs there and by a desire to locate the infamous Northwest Passage. The American interest was still muted by the effort and expense they were already expending on settling their own West. Still, John Jacob Astor and others were making plans to establish trading posts along the Columbia River, and American ships were frequenting the Canadian west coast.
Russiaâs interest in Canadaâs west coast was primarily incidental and far less acquisitive than the other nations believed it to be. They made frequent forays into what is now known as the province of British Columbia, but their interests were primarily trade related. On the other hand, the Spanish had made their intentions quite clear. The entire North American Pacific coast, including the island of Vancouver, belonged to them. The British were more recent converts to the practice of exerting their territorial rights over the Pacific coastal regions of Canada, but they were enthusiastic. They had seen the rich stores of fur that could be found in the region and with a new market for furs opening in China, they were eager to exploit the Pacific area. Finally, there were the Nootka 1 , who had been there all along and watched the struggles for their territory with interest while they traded with each of the rival nations. The Nootka were well practised in the art of war so it is unlikely that they were perturbed by the arrival of so many foreigners on their shores.
The area at the centre of all of these claims was a series of inlets along the rugged western edge of Vancouver Island, known as Nootka Sound. An early resident of the area captured its rugged, dangerous beauty:
On the ocean coast outside, between the
Even Arnold was ready to give up. âLet us quit and secure our own country before it is too late,â 13 he wrote. On May 15, he and the American Army, which numbered more than 5,000 in and around Montreal, first attempted to burn down the city then abandoned it and began their retreat back through the Richelieu River to Lake Champlain. They took refuge at Ãle-aux-Noix but were promptly ousted by the British. At Fort St.-Jean they managed to get away only moments before the British forces arrived. Throughout the summer and into the fall of 1776, Arnold managed to hold the British at bay with a fleet he had built up after his initial taking of Crown Point in 1775, but was finally defeated on October 11, and forced to withdraw from that fort to Ticonderoga. Carleton decided that the Americans were too strong to oust and he contented himself to wait at Crown Point. Finally, on November 2, he pulled his troops from Crown Point and withdrew to spend the winter in Quebec.
The campaign to capture Quebec was an unmitigated disaster for the Americans. Not only had they failed in their attempt to take Canada by force, but they had also failed to convince the Canadians that their future could be secured by uniting with their rebellious neighbours to the south. It would be many years before relationships along the border were sufficiently repaired. The only saving grace for the Americans was that Arnoldâs tiny naval fleet had held off the British long enough that it had discouraged a full-scale British invasion along Chesapeake Bay, which might have ended the entire revolution. The Americans made one last attempt to secure Quebec at the Paris Peace Conference, which created the United States of America. American negotiator Ben Franklin suggested that all of Quebec be ceded to the Americans, but in the end they received only the Ohio territory.
CHAPTER FIVE:
THE NOOTKA CRISIS
Canadaâs eastern colonies were not the only ones to capture the attention of foreign armies. By the late 1700s five nations had turned their attention to the westernmost end of Canada, led in part by a desire to exploit the rich store of furs there and by a desire to locate the infamous Northwest Passage. The American interest was still muted by the effort and expense they were already expending on settling their own West. Still, John Jacob Astor and others were making plans to establish trading posts along the Columbia River, and American ships were frequenting the Canadian west coast.
Russiaâs interest in Canadaâs west coast was primarily incidental and far less acquisitive than the other nations believed it to be. They made frequent forays into what is now known as the province of British Columbia, but their interests were primarily trade related. On the other hand, the Spanish had made their intentions quite clear. The entire North American Pacific coast, including the island of Vancouver, belonged to them. The British were more recent converts to the practice of exerting their territorial rights over the Pacific coastal regions of Canada, but they were enthusiastic. They had seen the rich stores of fur that could be found in the region and with a new market for furs opening in China, they were eager to exploit the Pacific area. Finally, there were the Nootka 1 , who had been there all along and watched the struggles for their territory with interest while they traded with each of the rival nations. The Nootka were well practised in the art of war so it is unlikely that they were perturbed by the arrival of so many foreigners on their shores.
The area at the centre of all of these claims was a series of inlets along the rugged western edge of Vancouver Island, known as Nootka Sound. An early resident of the area captured its rugged, dangerous beauty:
On the ocean coast outside, between the
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