For two weeks the tension was great in the city. One of the soldiers has recently given his reminiscences of this time as follows: “We marched to Molson’s College in the east end. Yes, it was called a college then, and had originally been built for some educational purpose. It was at the back of St. Thomas’ Church, or rather, this church, at the time, formed part of the building. Back of this again, and close to the river, was Molson’s Terrace, which is a pretty tawdry place today but which, when I was stationed in the city with my regiment, was most select. Why, the Molson’s themselves lived in the Terrace--that is, the founders of the brewery and of the college. The houses were then considered elegant, and that part of the city had a reputation which it does not now possess. “At the time I am speaking of, the total military strength of Montreal was considerable. There was the First Battalion of the Sixteenth Bedfordshire Regiment, to which I belonged. The Forty-seventh Lancashire; the Fourth Battalion; Sixtieth Rifles, which latter was quartered in the College Street Barracks; the Second Battalion of the Guards; the Second Battalion of the Scotch Fusiliers; three field batteries of Artillery, which later were stationed at the Quebec Gate Barracks where the Dalhousie Square depot is now, and the Forty-seventh Regiment. “This Quebec Gate Barracks had two entrances--one on Water Street for the men, and one on Notre Dame Street for the officers. In that same barracks were two companies of the Royal Engineers. The commissariat and two troops of the Military Train were stationed at Hochelaga. “The city was full of troops at the time. There was every belief that we would speedily be at war with the North, but the ill feeling passed over. Nothing happened. We remained, and lived the lives of soldiers. We had good times; we had no care; we had our beer; we had a brisk time in Montreal.” His recollection of the officers is as follows: “At that time the sons of noblemen thought it an honour to belong to the army, and the officers in Montreal were, for the most part, highly connected. Now the commission is obtained by competitive examination; but the old soldiers like to be under gentlemen born. Some of the officers stayed at the Donegana Hotel, and many of them messed in the building opposite Dalhousie Square, where the band played in the evening; but the bulk of the higher officers put up at the St. Lawrence Hall. The officer of the day, and the subaltern of the day, always lived in Molson’s Terrace, to be near the scene of their duties. “Several of the officers, I remember, put up at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, which stood on the present site of the New York Life Building. Opposite Molson’s brewery was the regimental hospital, while the Garrison Hospital was on Water Street. Each regiment had its own hospital.”[1]