| Siege of Fort St. Jean | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the American Revolutionary War | |||||||||
 Detail from a 1777 map showing the Richelieu River valley | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| United Colonies |
Great Britain Iroquois | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Richard Montgomery David Wooster James Livingston |
Guy Carleton Charles Preston Joseph Stopford | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
1,500–over 2,000 (Fort St. Jean) 350 (Fort Chambly)[1] |
about 750[2](Fort St. Jean) 82[3](Fort Chambly) | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
20–100 killed and wounded at least 900 sick[4] |
20 dead[5] 23 wounded[5] about 700 captured[6] | ||||||||
The siege of Fort St. Jean (September 17 – November 3, 1775 French: Siège du Fort Saint-Jean) was conducted by American Brigadier General Richard Montgomery on the town and fort of Saint-Jean, also called St. John, St. Johns, or St. John's, in the British province of Quebec during the American Revolutionary War. The siege lasted from September 17 to November 3, 1775.
After several false starts in early September, the Continental Army established a siege around Fort St. Jean. Beset by illness, bad weather, and logistical problems, they established mortar batteries that were able to penetrate into the interior of the fort, but the defenders, who were well-supplied with munitions, but not food and other supplies, persisted in their defence, believing the siege would be broken by forces from Montreal under General Guy Carleton. On October 18, the nearby Fort Chambly fell, and on October 30, an attempt at relief by Carleton was thwarted. When word of this made its way to St. Jean's defenders, combined with a new battery opening fire on the fort, the fort's defenders capitulated, surrendering on November 3.
The fall of Fort St. Jean opened the way for the American army to march on Montreal, which fell without battle on November 13. General Carleton escaped from Montreal, and made his way to Quebec City to prepare its defences against an anticipated attack.
- ^ The number of American forces in this action were highly variable, due to the arrival of additional troops, and the departure of the sick and wounded, during the action. Likewise, the exact number of troops involved in the capture of Chambly, which were a subset of the American forces and Canadian militia, are difficult to count accurately. Stanley, p. 55 estimates that there 200–500 troops besieging Chambly. While the initial invasion force was about 1500 (Stanley, p. 37), any other firm counts are unreliable. Stanley, p. 60, lists the British estimates of the American force at 2000 prior to St. Jean's surrender.
- ^ Stanley, pp. 33–34 lists 662 regulars and militia, and about 100 Indians. Wood, p. 37 lists 725 total.
- ^ Stanley, p. 54
- ^ As with the American troop strengths, determining the exact number of casualties is difficult, in part because different sources may count casualties attached to a particular action differently. Zuehlke, p. 51, and Stanley, p. 62, estimate American casualties at 100, while Smith, p. 458, says there were only 20. Gabriel, p. 112 cites 900 sick removed to Ticonderoga by mid-October.
- ^ a b Stanley, p. 62
- ^ Lanctot p. 92 lists the surrender count at St. Jean, to which the Chambly garrison size is added