From “The Northern Campaigns of the American Revolution” by Daniel Jones:
It was late March-actually March 28th-that Arnold began the move to Quebec, with 1,500 troops. The harsh weather meant that almost a hundred-fifty men died [1] but upon arrival several weeks later Arnold was reinforced by Wooster almost immediately upon arrival at April 16th and Montgomery’s arrival with three hundred a mere four days later. [2] The assault force now numbered 2,400 men.
Quebec, it need not be said, was a fortress city and the bane of New Englanders for well over a century. Wolfe had managed to get Montcalm to move out of the city, governor Sir Guy Carleton, with a hundred regulars and several hundred militia, had no intention of risking such a position. He knew he was greatly outnumbered and even the few artillery pieces the Americans had made his position that much more tenuous. It turned out to be a quick siege: Arnold, emboldened by numbers and his victory at Halifax, ordered a dawn attack the day of the 23rd. He and Montgomery were to split their forces and join up to attack the city together. This was costly: a mere thirty Canadian [3] militia successfully shot down Montgomery and threw that army into disarray. Montgomery’s next two highest officers were sniped as well and the next commander ordered a retreat.
Arnold was moving up and unaware of his comrade’s death and the troops’ withdraw. It did not matter: his own army consisted of 1,200 regulars [4] and despite a bloody battle-over half the forces lost-managed to take the city with the greater numbers and cannon pounding the city, and all British regulars and much of the Canadian militia killed or taken prisoner. Word eventually got to the Continentals under the late Montgomery and they straggled into the city and begun garrison work. Arnold’s troops numbered three-fourths of his former strength.
The Americans now held Quebec. But what would happen? They were an alien people to the Quebeckers [5], only slightly worse than the British who had at least guaranteed their language and religion. Would the Americans do the same? Would the occupation be harsh? Would the British attack in greater droves? It is difficult and probably unpleasant to think of what would happen had it not been for one Clement Gosselin, who had fought with the troops as a local, eager believer in liberty and republicanism [6], zealous to see his people part of something…greater. He made a speech on May the 1st, and echoed Philip Schuyler’s statements after the battle of St. John:
“We are all part of this great continent as one people, I believe. We should all work to overthrow the yoke of monarchy-of monarchy not even our own-and to lift ourselves up to the ideals of freedom and the grand destiny of our people, all our people. My fellow men shall always respect your rights, your property your way of life, as they do their own… as we are all under the name of the North American!”
It was a clever speech, linking the Quebeckers with the Yankees to the south under the umbrella concepts of freedom and overthrowing the British overlords, and swayed much of the local population that did not take up arms for the American cause to at least neutrality. Indeed, the occupying troops of Montreal and Quebec proved surprisingly lenient, few cases of cruelty being reported, and did much to reconcile the Canadians to their brothers. Of course, modern looks into the past must note that the Canadians, being more used to direct rule, led to the irony that most dissenters to the now-American government were silenced rather easily without much local comment.
Some credit the speech’s resulting surge of patriotism amongst the Quebeckers and Laurentians [7] as helping repel a large British naval attack on May 6th [8]. 4,000 regulars attacked the city but were repulsed thanks to a somewhat-rested army and successful manning of the Quebec fortifications; the surviving redcoats sailing back to Halifax. A second attempt to take the city was the classic attempt by Burgoyne to move up the Hudson from New York to Montreal and link with a new naval siege of the city, one need not go over how Arnold and Morgan repelled the invasion at Saratoga and caused France to enter the war in 1778. [9]
Montgomery’s death became a legend amongst Americans, and it is probably this second chance at being cheated of glory that caused Arnold to attempt betray West Point to the British and forever earn him the fame he so coveted, if not in the way he intended.
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[1] IOTL Arnold lost six hundred men on his way to Quebec via New York. Being closer to the action, properly waiting for the spring, and better supplied from the Nova Scotians ensure his army is much more intact.
[2] Per OTL.
[3] Despite being in spring, the general plan of attack, Montgomery’s death, and even the number of militia remain the same.
[4] 1,200 regulars was the entire army that both Montgomery and Arnold shared. As it’s roughly doubled here, this is but the number of men Arnold alone has and the Haligonian cannon ensures the bloody street fighting that happens both IOTL and ITTL is successful.
[5] Of course this term exists IOTL, but being part of the English-speaking USA means that the term French version of the word, Quebecois, is nonexistent.
[6] As per IOTL. Naturally, being a Canadian in the American army that’s actually successful changes his role somewhat.
[7] The author has anachronistically divided the Canadians into the modern two states along the St. Lawrence in their timeline. Canadian ITTL retains the somewhat ethno-centric meaning it had until the formation of Upper and Lower Canada-of the Francophone-Catholic population along the St. Lawrence River (much like how the term Cajuns refer to Francophones in the New Orleans area).
[8] IOTL, these regulars forced the Americans to finally withdraw from their terribly ineffective siege of Quebec.
[9] A simple reversal of Burgoyne’s plan from OTL, and somewhat desperate, since IOTL it’s proven a move from New York to Quebec in those days would be difficult no matter what. As obvious, it's a new plan to cut the colonies in two and regain valuable naval bases, linking up the newly recaptured St. Lawrence with Halifax and allowing the British to begin moving down south to squeeze the southern colonies and New England colonies against one another.