In September 1775, 1,700 rebel militia, under General Richard Montgomery, launched an offensive, taking Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point in northern New York. They then advanced along Lake Champlain into the Province of Quebec, where they captured St Johns, followed by Montreal on 13 November, and headed on to Québec City. In a simultaneous advance from Maine, Colonel Benedict Arnold, arrived at Québec City in mid-November. After the city refused to surrender, Arnold, believing himself too under-resourced to fight, waited for Montgomery. Montgomery and Arnold then launched assaults on 31 December; the British, who had strong fortifications and were well supplied with ammunition, crushed both armies under a barrage of artillery fire. Some 400 rebels were killed or captured and Montgomery was killed in the first assault. A fourth and final phase of the Québec campaign in May–July 1776, saw the final defeat of rebel forces.
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