The Origin and Services of the 3rd (Montreal)

"""The French authorities appear to have made no earnest effort to establish anartillery force in connection with their very comprehensive militia system, whichunder the law of fiefs made all the male inhabitants, with a very few exceptions,liable for military service. The theory of the French authorities appeared to bethat ifthey could depend upon the population of the colony for participation intheir campaigns as voyageurs or guerillas that was all that they would require.They were consequently not even drilled to any extent in infantry tactics. But,according to General Murray s report, an artillery company was organized inQuebec, for he reports on the militia organization of the French regime asfollows : The militia were generally reviewed once or twice a year to inspecttheir arms. The militia of the City of Quebec were frequently exercised, and thecompany of artillery every Sunday were exercised at the great gun practice, underthe orders and directions of the artillery sergeant-major of the King s troops."The first use made of British field artillery in America, while failing toprevent the disaster of Fort du Quesne, reflected great credit upon the artillerymen. We read that on that fatal day when Braddock s force was ambushed,when the infantry regiments staggered and hesitated under the deadly fire suddenlypoured upon them from the dense covert, the artillery, although without orders,pressed to the front, and their leading guns, the field pieces attached to the 44thRegiment, plied the thickets with grape and cannister, but in a few minutes allthe officers and most of the gunners were stretched bleeding upon the field. How,after the guns had been thus silenced, the panic became a rout, and how theartillery shared the fate of the wounded and all the baggage, including the luckless general s private papers, is familiar to every reader of Canadian history.The artillery of the British forces operating during this war was used tomore purpose in other and more suitable fields. When Baron Dieskau and hisveteran French soldiers made their spirited attack upon the British entrenchments on Lake George (1755) they were checked by Johnson s guns, and disheartenedby finding the position armed with artillery. After several gallant attacks theydispersed in the forest leaving their leader mortally wounded on the field.All of the British expeditions of any account appear to have had detachmentsof field artillery, though the difficulty of moving the guns through the vast tractsof forests, hampered them considerably in their progress. When Abercromby,with presumptuous haste, rashly precipitated his splendid infantry against Montcalms lines of abatis in rear of the fort at Ticonderoga, committing them therebyto certain and complete annihilation, his artillery was, on account of bad roads,yet lagging in the rear. The artillery officers in charge of the Battalion fieldguns were doing their best to overcome the natural obstacles, and if the impetuousgeneral had waited for a few hours until the guns came up and had used themproperly, the British army would probably have been spared one of the mostdisastrous defeats in its history. Some authorities of the time said that one hourof well plied artillery would have swept Montcalm s rude barrier away, Lord Mahon