The Invasion of Canada by the Americans, 1775-1776

Book excerpt: Presents never before published and translated Canadian Loyalist and American Patriot first-hand accounts of the Quebec Campaign of the Revolutionary War. The Invasion of Canada by the Americans, 1775–1776 offers two significant, insightful, and intriguing first-hand accounts of the Revolutionary War. These previously untranslated and unpublished primary sources provide contrasting viewpoints from a Loyalist French-Canadian administrative official, Jean-Baptiste Badeaux, and a Patriot Continental officer, William Goforth. Compelling personal interactions with friends and neighbors, and local and provincial-level leaders—as occupier and occupied—are documented. Their stories climax during the two-month period in early 1776 when Goforth was military governor of Three Rivers and Badeaux served as his somewhat reluctant interpreter and unofficial advisor. Including their experiences with Benedict Arnold and Quebec’s Governor Guy Carleton, as well as letters to Benjamin Franklin and John Jay, this unique book provides diverse insights into the invasion of Canada and its immediate impact on the people on both sides of the revolution.