_Quebec_ was besieged by two divisions of Americans under Colonels Montgomery and Arnold, and the garrison, of which sixty men of the ROYAL FUSILIERS formed part, defended the place with firmness and intrepidity; the winter was particularly severe, and the soldiers of both sides served amidst ice and snow. About five o'clock on the morning of the 31st of December, during a storm of sleet and snow, the Americans made a general assault with the view of carrying the place by storm; but the garrison withstood the tempest of war with such determined resolution, that the storming party was repulsed with the loss of between six and seven hundred men; Colonel Montgomery was killed, and Colonel Arnold wounded. The garrison only lost one officer and four private soldiers killed, and seven private soldiers wounded. [Sidenote: 1776] After this repulse the Americans turned the siege into a blockade, and placed their troops in village cantonments: in April, 1776, they resumed the siege, and the British defended the place with resolution. In the early part of May reinforcements arrived from England, and on the 6th of that month Lieut.-General Carlton marched out of the fortress at the head of the garrison to attack the American camp, when the besieging army made a precipitate retreat, leaving its artillery, stores, scaling ladders, &c., behind. The British followed their opponents up the country, recovered Montreal, and drove the Americans out of Canada. In the meantime a detachment of the regiment had arrived at Boston from England, and on the evacuation of Boston, it proceeded to Halifax in Nova Scotia. In October, 1776, Lord Robert Bertie was appointed to the command of the second troop (now second regiment) of life guards; and the colonelcy of the ROYAL FUSILIERS was conferred on their lieut.-colonel, William Prescott, by commission dated the 12th of November, 1776. In the autumn of this year the ROYAL FUSILIERS transferred their services from Canada to New York; as the men taken prisoners were exchanged, the numbers of the regiment were increased; clothing and appointments arrived from England, and the regiment occupied quarters for the winter at Amboy in Middlesex county. [Sidenote: 1777] From Amboy the ROYAL FUSILIERS were removed to _Staten Island_, which was attacked in August, 1777, by the Americans under General Sullivan, who were repulsed with loss.