Picturesque Quebec : a sequel to Quebec past and presentLe Moine, J. M. (James MacPherson), Sir
History
Picturesque Quebec : a sequel to Quebec past and present
Le Moine, J. M. (James MacPherson), Sir
Québec (Québec) -- Description and travel; Québec (Québec) -- Suburbs
worth while the undertaking, in avoidance of our subsequent
sufferings. Its desperateness consisted in running two miles
across shoal ice, thrown up by the high tides of this latitude--
and its danger, in the meeting with air holes, deceptively covered
by the bed of snow. Speaking circumspectly, yet it must be
admitted conjecturally, it seems to me, that in the whole of the
attack, of commissioned officers, we had six killed, five wounded,
and of non-commissioned and privates, at least one hundred and
fifty killed, and fifty or sixty wounded. Of the enemy, many were
killed and many more wounded, comparatively, than on our side,
taking into view the disadvantages we laboured under; and that but
two occasions happened when we could return their fire, that is,
at the first and second barriers. Neither the American account of
this affair, as published by Congress, nor that of Sir Guy
Carleton, admit the loss of either side to be so great as it
really was, in my estimation * * * * * as to the British, on the
platform they were fair objects to us. They were soon driven
thence by the acuteness of our shooting. * * * *
Perhaps there never was a body of men associated, who better
understood the use and manner of employing a rifle, than our
corps; while by this time of the attack, they had their guns in
good order. When we took possession of the houses, we had a great
range. Our opportunities to kill, were enlarged. Within one
hundred yards, every man must die. The British however were at
home--they could easily drag their dead out of sight, and bear
their wounded to the Hospital. It was the reverse with us. Captain
Prentis, who commanded the provost guards, would tell me of seven
or eight killed, and fifteen or twenty wounded; opposed to this
the sentries, (who were generally Irishmen, that guarded us with
much simplicity, if not honesty,) frequently admitted of forty or
fifty killed, and many more wounded. The latter assertions
accorded with my opinion. The reasons for this belief are these:
when the dead, on the following days, were transported on the
carioles which passed our habitation for deposition in the "dead
house," we observed many bodies, of which none of us had any
knowledge; and again when our wounded were returned to us from the
hospital, they uniformly spoke of being surrounded there, in its
many characters, by many of the wounded of the enemy. To the great
honor of General Carleton, they were all, whether friends or
enemies, treated with like attention."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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