The Invasion of Canada by the Americans, 1775-1776

Teresa L. Meadows

Description

The Invasion of Canada by the Americans, 1775–1776 offers two significant, insightful, and intriguing first-hand accounts of the Revolutionary War. These previously untranslated and unpublished primary sources provide contrasting viewpoints from a Loyalist French-Canadian administrative official, Jean-Baptiste Badeaux, and a Patriot Continental officer, William Goforth. Compelling personal interactions with friends and neighbors, and local and provincial-level leaders—as occupier and occupied—are documented. Their stories climax during the two-month period in early 1776 when Goforth was military governor of Three Rivers and Badeaux served as his somewhat reluctant interpreter and unofficial advisor. Including their experiences with Benedict Arnold and Quebec's Governor Guy Carleton, as well as letters to Benjamin Franklin and John Jay, this unique book provides diverse insights into the invasion of Canada and its immediate impact on the people on both sides of the revolution.
List of Illustrations and Maps
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations Used in Footnotes
Introduction
Historical Prelude
Chronology
Jean-Baptiste Badeaux—A Short Biography
William Goforth—A Short Biography
The Stage—Three Rivers, Quebec, 1775–1776
Translator’s Notes

Summer 1775
September 1775
October 1775
November 1775
December 1775
January 1776
February 1776
March 1776
April 1776
May 1776
June 1776

Notes on the Provenance of Badeaux’s Journal

Appendix 1—The Accounts of the Three Rivers Ursuline Nuns
Appendix 2—Officers and Unit Identification

Select Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• USA
• United States of America
• Canadá
• Military history
• Canada
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 14 mars 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438460055
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THE
INVASION
OF
CANADA
BY THE
AMERICANS
1775–1776
THE
INVASION
OF
CANADA
BY THE
AMERICANS
1775–1776
As Told through Jean-Baptiste Badeaux’s Three Rivers Journal and New York Captain William Goforth’s Letters
Edited by
Mark R. Anderson
Translated by
Teresa L. Meadows
Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2016 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Jenn Bennett
Marketing, Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The invasion of Canada by the Americans, 1775–1776 : as told through Jean-Baptiste Badeaux s Three Rivers journal and New York Captain William Goforth s letters / edited by Mark R. Anderson; translated by Teresa L. Meadows.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-6003-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-6005-5 (e-book)
1. Canadian Invasion, 1775–1776. 2. Badeaux, J. B. (Jean Baptiste), 1741–1796—Diaries. 3. Goforth, William, 1731–1807—Correspondence. 4. Canadian Invasion, 1775–1776—Sources. I. Anderson, Mark R., 1966– editor. II. Meadows, Teresa L., 1955– translator. III. Title: Jean-Baptiste Badeaux s Three Rivers journal. IV. Title: New York Captain William Goforth s letters. V. Title: Jean-Baptiste Badeaux s Three Rivers journal and New York Captain William Goforth s letters. VI. Title: Invasion du Canada par les américains en 1775. E231.I63 2016 971.02'4—dc23 2015015564
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations and Maps
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations Used in Footnotes
Introduction
Historical Prelude
Chronology
Jean-Baptiste Badeaux—A Short Biography
William Goforth—A Short Biography
The Stage—Three Rivers, Quebec, 1775–1776
Translator’s Notes
Summer 1775
September 1775
October 1775
November 1775
December 1775
January 1776
February 1776
March 1776
April 1776
May 1776
June 1776
Notes on the Provenance of Badeaux’s Journal
Appendix 1—The Accounts of the Three Rivers Ursuline Nuns
Appendix 2—Officers and Unit Identification
Select Bibliography
Index
Illustrations and Maps Figure 1 . A General Map of the Northern British Colonies in America Figure 2 . Operations of the Northern Army Figure 3 . Unidentified Man, 1765–1770 Figure 4 . New York Soldier, 1775 Figure 5 . View of Three Rivers at the End of the XVIII Century Figure 6 . The Town of Three Rivers Figure 7 . Opening Page of the Badeaux Journal Figure 8 . General Sir Guy Carleton Figure 9 . William Goforth Letter to John Jay Figure 10 . Alexander McDougall Figure 11 . Vicar General Pierre Garreau dit Saint-Ongé of Three Rivers Figure 12 . Government House Barracks, Three Rivers Figure 13 . Ste-Anne de la Pérade Church and Other Buildings Figure 14 . British Winter Uniform Figure 15 . Benjamin Franklin Figure 16 . The Forges, River St. Maurice Figure 17 . Sledge and Habitants in a Snowstorm Figure 18 . New Jersey Continental Soldier Figure 19 . Ursuline Convent, Three Rivers Figure 20 . Benedict Arnold Figure 21 . John Jay Figure 22 . Ursuline Nun Map 1 . Three Rivers City, 1775–76 Map 2 . Montreal District and the Lake Champlain Corridor Map 3 . Three Rivers District Map 4 . Quebec District
Acknowledgments
This work was made possible only by the help of many associates and institutions. The kind staffs at the Library and Archives Canada, the New-York Historical Society, and Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales de Québec offered tremendous access to their wonderful collections. Those institutions, as well as Columbia University in the City of New York, the American Philosophical Society, and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County have also given invaluable assistance in accessing treasured materials from more than a thousand miles away, as we work from our homes in Colorado. The interlibrary loan staff at Pikes Peak Library District provided vital support in obtaining the full range of books and articles necessary to complete this project.
It is a fantastic time to do historical research, as virtual access to primary and secondary sources grows by leaps and bounds each year. We commend the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales de Québec for their expansive digitization of manuscript collections, providing researchers the ability to remotely view documents deep in some of the most obscure portions of their holdings. The Université de Montréal Research Program in Historical Demography parish records database was another critical tool—a means to readily access vital details of most of the Canadian historical characters’ lives and families.
We also must thank our family, friends, and fellow professionals for their contributions: Transcription assistant Kira Anderson, who helped decipher William Goforth’s messy and nearly illegible letters; Pam Anderson and Dave Eblen, who willingly proofread drafts at every stage; Professor Michael Gabriel, who has generously continued to encourage and guide this editor/author through the world of academic history and publishing; Associate Professor Fabienne Moore who kindly lent her expertise in eighteenth-century French language and culture to both appropriate translation and reading of difficult script; and colleagues at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, the University of Oregon, and the University of Rochester who were interested enough to spend time simply discussing the period, the text, and the translation.
Abbreviations Used in Footnotes
AA4 = Force, Peter, ed., American Archives: Fourth Series
AA5 = Force, Peter, ed., American Archives: Fifth Series
AMP = Alexander McDougall Papers, 1759–1795, NYHS
BAnQ = Bibliothèque et Archives nationales Québec
DCB = Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online/Dictionnaire biographique du Canada en ligne
JCC = Ford, Worthington, Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789.
LAC = Library and Archives Canada
LoD = Smith, Paul H., ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789
NARA = United States National Archives and Records Administration
NYHS = New-York Historical Society
NYPL = New York Public Library
PGWRWS = Chase, Philander, ed., The Papers of George Washington: Revolutionary War Series
PSP = Philip Schuyler Papers, NYPL
SoFR = “State of the Four Regiments,” 4 August 1775, NARA, M853, rg93, v5, r15, p152
UMPRDH = Université de Montréal, Programme de recherche en démographique historique
Footnotes that begin with “(date)” are cross-referenced.
Introduction
On its own merits, Canadian notary Jean-Baptiste Badeaux’s record, commonly known as the “Journal of the Operations of the American Army during the Invasion of Canada in 1775–76,” 1 warrants a long-overdue translation to the English language. Badeaux’s document, written in Three Rivers (Trois-Rivières), Quebec, is one of three principal French Canadian journals of this period, all written by notaries, which have served as invaluable primary sources for the various historical examinations of this American invasion. These three accounts were published in their original French, in an 1873 collection edited by Hospice-Anthelme Verreau. 2 The most prominent of these, the “Eyewitness Account of the Invasion of Canada by the Bostonians during the years 1775 and 1776,” 3 by Simon Sanguinet, is anchored in that author’s hometown of Montreal, the political center of the American occupation. Another account, “Extracts from a Memoir by M. A. Berthelot on the Invasion of Canada in 1775,” 4 from Quebec City’s Michel-Amable Berthelot Dartigny, provides a French Canadian perspective originating inside the capital—the besieged focal point of the military campaign for six months of the invasion. In a period when approximately 75 percent of French Canadians were functionally illiterate, these journals demonstrate their authors’ remarkable writing skills—the notarial skills they required for documenting local civil and judicial activities were easily transferred to journal keeping during such momentous times. Badeaux’s account, however, stands out from the others.
Most importantly, Jean-Baptiste Badeaux provides a uniquely objective view of the invasion. While he repeatedly and explicitly clarified his staunch loyalist stance in his journal, Badeaux, unlike his vehemently partisan counterparts Sanguinet or Berthelot, made a remarkable effort to simply state the facts surrounding events. He avoided the temptation to put all of the invading Continentals’ actions in the worst light, and he deliberately weighed the veracity and bias of secondhand reports received from outside his home district. Additionally, Badeaux offers the reader occasional glimpses of his sly wit, and a sprinkling of self-deprecation, giving his journal a warmer, more intimate feel.
One obvious drawback of Badeaux’s account is that he was distant from the most momentous events in the campaign, since he largely remained in the Three Rivers District. His relative remoteness from th