Ethan Allen surrenders outside Montreal after his flanks bolt and his backup never comes
Four months after seizing Fort Ticonderoga without firing a shot, Ethan Allen tried the same audacity on a much bigger target. On the night of September 24, 1775, he crossed the St. Lawrence River with about 110 men and landed at Longue-Pointe, expecting Major John Brown to arrive with reinforcements. Brown never showed. British General Guy Carleton's Quebec militia surrounded Allen's isolated force, and after a 90-minute exchange of fire, his line broke and Allen surrendered.
Allen's capture became early Revolutionary propaganda: his months in a ship's hold and irons, then transport to England, gave the colonies one of their first prisoner-of-war narratives, one that colonial newspapers repeated for years. Montreal itself fell without a fight to Montgomery's better-organized force on November 13, 1775.
QWho exactly made up the British force that trapped Allen outside Montreal?
Captain John Campbell's defense was a patchwork, not a garrison. His roster held just 34 regulars from the 26th Regiment of Foot, backed by 120 Canadien militia and 80 English militia recruited from the city, plus 20 British Indian agents and a handful of Indians. That mix outnumbered Allen's landing party more than two to one before a shot was fired. The composition also shows how thin Britain's regular presence in Quebec was in 1775: Carleton had only 34 regulars to work with, and filled the rest of his force with militia and Indian agents.
QWhy did Thomas Walker never reach Ethan Allen with help?
Walker was a British-born Montreal merchant who had turned Patriot sympathizer, and Allen sent word asking him to rally support once the landing was underway. Walker was arrested before he could do anything, cutting off Allen's one contact inside the city who might have organized reinforcements or intelligence. Brown's force also never crossed the river at La Prairie, so Allen lost both potential sources of help that night. Walker's arrest meant Allen had no warning that Campbell's mixed force was already moving, and no local network left to fall back on once his flanks ran.
QWhat was Allen actually supposed to be doing on the St. Lawrence that week, if not attacking Montreal?
General Richard Montgomery had given Allen a narrower job: link up with James Livingston's Canadian militia and hold the south bank of the St. Lawrence to stop Carleton from marching relief to the besieged British garrison at Fort Saint-Jean. Allen and Major Brown were circulating General Schuyler's proclamation urging Quebec residents to side with the Americans, a recruitment and propaganda mission, not an assault. Fort Saint-Jean was still under siege and would hold out until November. Allen's decision to cross to Longue-Pointe and go for Montreal instead meant he abandoned the assignment Montgomery had actually given him.
