May 1, 1775
You may not have heard that the Americans decided to invade and take over Quebec early in the Revolutionary War. The first part of the invasion was led by Benedict Arnold in September 1775. The journey itself was quite an achievement, but you can see that it didn’t work out, by the fact that Canada is not one of the United States.
I’ve read a lot about Arnold’s trek along the rivers and through the woods of Maine and Quebec, but I didn’t realize until today that somebody else was itching to start such an expedition before the war was even two weeks old. Jonathan Brewer, Esquire, of Waltham, Massachusetts, submitted a petition to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, stating:
That your Petitioner having a desire of contributing all in his power for this Country’s good, begs leave to propose to this honourable House to march with a body of five hundred Volunteers to Quebeck, by way of the Rivers Kennebeck and Chadier, as he humbly begs leave to apprehend that such a diversion of the Provincial Troops into that part of Canada, would be the means of drawing the Governour of Canada with his Troops, into that quarter, and which would effectually secure the Northern and Western Frontiers from any inroads of the Regular or Canadian Troops. This he humbly conceives he could execute with all the facility imaginable. He therefore begs that this honourable Assembly would take this his proposal into consideration, and to act thereon as in their wisdom shall seem meet.
The plan he proposed was pretty much the same one that Benedict Arnold followed several months later. When he said he could “execute” his plan “with all the facility imaginable”, what he meant was that he could carry it out quickly.
I’m sure there was plenty of talk about invading Canada during the early months of the war, but I didn’t know it was formally proposed as early as May 1, 1775, which is when this petition was evidently submitted.
Sources
American Archives, Series 4, Volume 2, 462.
A Map of the Sources of the Chaudière, Penobscot, and Kennebec Rivers, by John Montresor, ca. 1761. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3730.ar083800