The Americans invade Canada in the winter of 1775 under generals Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery.

The attack is a complete failure; many Americans who aren't killed are either captured or die of smallpox.

While Schuyler was at the native conference, Montgomery had received word on August 25 that ships under construction at Fort St. Johns were nearing completion.

Taking advantage of Schuyler's absence (and in the absence of orders authorizing movement), Montgomery, leads twelve hundred troops that had mustered at Ticonderoga up to a forward position at Île aux Noix in the Richelieu River, arriving September 4.

Schuyler, who is falling ill, catches up with the troops en route.

He dispatches a letter to James Livingston, a Canadian prepared to raise local militia forces in support of the American effort, to circulate in the area south of Montreal.

The next day, the forces go down the river to Fort St. Johns, where, after seeing the defenses and a brief skirmish in which both sides suffer casualties, they withdraw to Île aux Noix.

The skirmish, which involves mostly natives on the British side, is not supported from the fort, prompting the natives to withdraw from the conflict.

Any additional native support for the British is further halted by the timely arrival of Oneidas in the area, who intercept a Mohawk war party on the move from Caughnawaga toward St. John's.

The Oneidas convince the party to return to their village, where Guy Johnson, Daniel Claus, and Joseph Brant had arrived in an attempt to gain the Mohawks' assistance.

Refusing to meet directly with Johnson and Claus, the Oneidas explain to Brant and the Mohawks the terms of the Albany agreement.

Brant and the British agents leave without any promises of support. (In a more formal snub of the British, the war belt that Guy Johnson had given to the Iroquois in July will be turned over to the American Indian commissioners in December 1775.)

General Schuyler becomes too ill to continue following this first skirmish, so he turns command over to Montgomery.

Schuyler leaves for Fort Ticonderoga several days later.

After another false start, and the arrival of another eight hundred to one thousand men from Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York, as well as some of the Green Mountain Boys, Montgomery finally begins besieging Fort Saint-Jean on September 17, cutting off its communications with Montreal and capturing supplies intended for the fort.

Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, now commanding the American forces, begins to besiege Fort St. Jean on September 17.

The next day, a detachment of American forces under the command of John Brown arrests Hazen north of the fort.

However, a British sortie from the fort forces Brown's men to retreat; Hazen ends up in British hands.

Major Charles Preston, the British commander, is mistrustful of Hazen, and sends him to Montreal under the guard of Claude de Lorimier.

Brigadier General Richard Prescott, unhappy with Hazen's explanations of his movements, imprisons him.

Fort Saint-Jean, after an attempt by General Carleton to relieve the siege fails on October 30, finally surrenders on November 3.

Montgomery had led his troops north and occupied Saint Paul's Island in the Saint Lawrence River on November 8, crossing to Pointe-Saint-Charles on the following day, where he had been greeted as a liberator.

Montreal falls without any significant fighting on November 13, as Carleton, deciding that the city is indefensible (and having suffered significant militia desertion upon the news of the fall of St. Johns), withdraws.

He barely escapes capture, as some Americans have crossed the river downstream of the city, and winds prevent his fleet from departing right away.

When his fleet nears Sorel, it is approached by a boat carrying a truce flag.

The boat carries a demand for surrender, claiming that gun batteries downstream will otherwise destroy the convoy.

Based on uncertain knowledge of how real these batteries are, Carleton elects to sneak off the ship, after ordering the dumping of powder and ammunition if surrender is deemed necessary. (There are batteries in place, but not nearly as powerful as those claimed.)

The British fleet surrenders on November 19; Carleton, disguised as a common man, makes his way to Quebec City.

The captured ships include prisoners that the British had taken; among these is Moses Hazen, a Massachusetts-born expatriate with property near Fort St. Johns whose poor treatment by the British had turned him against them.

Hazen, who had had combat experience in the French and Indian War and will go on to lead the 2nd Canadian Regiment throughout the war, joins Montgomery's army.

Montgomery, before departing Montreal for Quebec City, publishes messages to the inhabitants that the Congress want Quebec to join them, and enters into discussions with American sympathizers with the aim of holding a provincial convention for the purpose of electing delegates to Congress.

He also writes to General Schuyler, requesting that a Congressional delegation be sent to take up diplomatic activities.

Much of Montgomery's army had departed due to expiring enlistments after the fall of Montreal.

He now uses some of the captured boats to move towards Quebec City with about three hundred troops on November 28, leaving about two hundred in Montreal under the command of General David Wooster.

Along the way, he picks up James Livingston's newly created 1st Canadian Regiment of about two hundred men.

Benedict Arnold, who had been rejected for leadership of the Champlain Valley expedition, had returned to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and approached George Washington with the idea of a supporting eastern invasion force aimed at Quebec City.

Washington had approved the idea, and had given Arnold eleven hundred men, including Daniel Morgan's riflemen, for the effort.

Arnold's force had sailed from Newburyport, Massachuesetts, to the mouth of the Kennebec River and then upriver to Fort Western (present day Augusta, Maine).

Arnold's expedition is a success in that he is able to bring a body of troops to the gates of Quebec City.

However, the expedition had been beset by troubles as soon as it had left the last significant outposts of civilization in present-day Maine.

There had been numerous difficult portages as the troops moved up the Kennebec River, and the boats they were using had frequently leaked, spoiling gunpowder and food supplies.

The height of land between the Kennebec and the Chaudière River is a swampy tangle of lakes and streams, where the traversal had been complicated by bad weather, resulting in one quarter of the troops turning back.

The descent down the Chaudière had resulted in the destruction of more boats and supplies as the inexperienced troops were unable to control the boats in the fast-moving waters.

By the time Arnold reached the outskirts of civilization along the Saint Lawrence River in November, his force had been reduced to six hundred starving men.

They had traveled almost four hundred miles through untracked wilderness.

had When Arnold and his troops finally reached the Plains of Abraham on November 14, Arnold sent a negotiator with a white flag to demand their surrender, but to no avail.

The Americans, with no cannons, and barely fit for action, faced a fortified city.

Arnold, after hearing of a planned sortie from the city, had decided on November 19 to withdraw to Pointe-aux-Trembles to wait for Montgomery, who had recently captured Montreal.

As he headed upriver, Carleton had returned to Quebec by river following his defeat at Montreal.

On December 2, Montgomery had finally come down the river from Montreal with five hundred troops, bringing captured British supplies and winter clothing.

The two forces had united, and plans were made for an attack on the city.

Three days later the Continental Army again stands on the Plains of Abraham and begins to besiege the city of Quebec.

Christophe Pélissier, a Frenchman living near Trois-Rivières, comes to meet with Montgomery while the Americans plan the attack on Quebec City,

Pélissier, who is politically supportive of the American cause, operates an ironworks at Saint-Maurice.

Montgomery discusses the idea of holding the provincial convention with him.

Pélissier recommends against holding a convention until after Quebec City has been taken, as the habitants would not feel free to act in that way until their security was better assured.

The two did agree to have Pélissier's ironworks provide munitions for the siege, which he does until the Americans retreat in May 1776 (at which time Pélissier also flees, eventually returning to France).

Montgomery joins Arnold and James Livingston in an assault on Quebec City during a snowstorm on December 31, 1775.

Outnumbered and lacking any sort of tactical advantage, the Americans are soundly defeated by Carleton.

Montgomery is killed, Arnold is wounded, and many men are taken prisoner, including Daniel Morgan.

Following the battle, Arnold sends Moses Hazen and Edward Antill, another expatriate American, to report the defeat and request support to Wooster in Montreal, and to the Congress in Philadelphia.