Two hundred were killed and 150 taken
prisoners. The rest succeeded in returning to Sorrel.
The main body of the British army now came up the river in their ships,
and, as they approached Sorrel, Sullivan broke up his camp and
retreated. At the same time Arnold, who commanded at Montreal, evacuated
the town and joined Sullivan's army at St. John's.
Had the English pushed forward with any energy the whole of the American
army of invasion would have fallen into their hands. They were
completely broken in spirits, suffering terribly from sickness, and were
wholly incapable of making any defense. Burgoyne, who commanded the
advance of the English army, moved forward very slowly, and the
Americans were enabled to take to their boats and cross, first to
Isle-aux-Noix and then to Crown Point. An American historian, who saw
them after they landed, says: "At the sight of so much privation and
distress I wept until I had no more power to weep. I did not look into a
tent or hut in which I did not find either a dead or dying man. Of about
5000 men full half were invalids. In little more than two months they
had lost by desertion and death more than 5000 men."
Captain Wilson and his company were not present with the advance of the
British troops. General Howe, after evacuating Boston, had sailed with
his army to Halifax, there to wait until a large body of re-enforcements
should be sent in the spring from England. General Carleton had, in his
dispatches, mentioned favorably the services which the little company of
loyalists from Boston had performed, and Lord Howe wrote requesting that
the company should be sent down by ship to Halifax, as he was about to
sail from New York to undertake operations on a large scale, and should
be glad to have with him a body of men accustomed to scouting and
acquainted with the country.
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