Sainte-Thérèse Raid facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sainte-Thérèse Raid |
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| Part of the French and Indian War | |||||||
 Map of the Richelieu River with Forts Sainte-Thérèse and Chambly |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Louis-Antoine de Bougainville |
 Robert Rogers |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 1,875 Regulars, militia and Indians | 350 Rangers, regulars and Indians | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 80 casualties 27 captured |
30 casualties | ||||||
The Sainte-Thérèse Raid was a military attack during the French and Indian War. It happened from June 3 to 18, 1760. British special forces, called Rogers' Rangers, led the raid. They attacked the town of Sainte-Thérèse in French Canada.
Robert Rogers led the Rangers. Major General Jeffery Amherst ordered this attack. It was a plan to weaken the French before a big British attack on Montreal the next month.
The Rangers started from Fort Crown Point. They faced many French soldiers and their Native American allies near Lake Champlain. The Rangers then moved north. They planned to attack Forts Chambly, Saint-Jean, and Île aux Noix.
Rogers saw these forts were too strong. So, he decided to attack Sainte-Thérèse instead. He knew it was a key place for supplies. Using a clever trick, he destroyed the fort, its supplies, and the nearby village. He also captured prisoners and got important information. After their mission, the Rangers returned to Crown Point.
Contents
Why the Raid Happened
By 1759, Great Britain had won important battles in North America. They captured Fort Ticonderoga, Fort Niagara, and Quebec from the French.
In 1760, the French commander, Chevalier De Lévis, tried to take Quebec back. His forces won the Battle of Sainte Foy in April. But he failed to capture Quebec after a three-week siege. The British soldiers inside Quebec were helped by the Royal Navy. Lévis had to retreat to Montreal. He then worked to prepare the area for the British attack.
The British commander, Major General Jeffrey Amherst, planned a large attack on Montreal. His forces would come from three directions: Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, and Quebec. He wanted a big victory to end the war. British prisoners from the Quebec siege told Amherst that Lévis had many soldiers along the Richelieu River. These soldiers were at Forts Chambly, Saint-Jean, and Île aux Noix.
Amherst ordered Major Robert Rogers to lead a surprise attack. Rogers was the leader of Rogers' Rangers, a special military group. Their job was to attack these French posts. They also had to destroy as many supplies and boats as possible along the Richelieu River. Rogers and his Rangers were well-known for their skills, especially after the Saint Francis Raid the year before.
Rogers was to lead 275 Rangers and 28 regular soldiers. The British hoped this raid would weaken the French. It would also make the French move soldiers away from Amherst's main attack on Montreal.
What Rogers and Amherst didn't know was that the French had already strengthened their posts. By June, Louis Antoine de Bougainville had added nearly 1,800 men to the Richelieu River forts. These included regular soldiers, local fighters, and Native American allies.
The Raid Begins
The Rangers left Crown Point on June 2, 1760. They had four ships and several small boats called bateaux. The next day, they sent fifty Rangers to Missisquoi Bay. These men were to attack a French post called 'Wigwam Martinique'. Four more Rangers went overland to Quebec with a letter for the British commander there.
Captain Alexander Grant, a British officer helping the Rangers, created a distraction. His ships tried to draw French attention further down the lake. Meanwhile, Rogers and his 213 men crossed to the northwest shore of Lake Champlain. They landed near the Chazy River.
Even with the distraction, Bougainville soon found out where the Rangers were. He sent 350 French, Canadian, and Native American fighters to ambush the Rangers. This group was led by Pierre Pepin LaForce.
Battle at Pointe Au Fer
Rogers' scouts told him where the French might attack. The Rangers and Light Infantry waited on the Pointe Au Fer Peninsula. On their left was the lake shore, where their boats were pulled up. On their right was a swamp. Rogers sent seventy Rangers to go through the swamp and attack the French from behind.
On the morning of June 6, La Force's forces ambushed the Rangers. They tried to push the Rangers towards the lake shore to trap them. Rogers had only 144 men, but they fought hard. They held off the French long enough for the seventy Rangers to get through the swamp. These Rangers then attacked the French from behind.
At the same time, Rogers led his main group forward. The French were forced to retreat to the west. The Rangers chased them for about a mile. The French then hid in a cedar swamp. A heavy rainstorm stopped the fighting.
The battle lasted three hours. The Rangers had twenty-four casualties. Seven were killed right away, and seven more later died from their wounds. Captain Noah Johnson, a company leader, was badly hurt. The French had nearly fifty casualties. La Force, their leader, was badly wounded in the chest. After the fight, the Rangers collected thirty-four firearms and three Native American scalps.
Attack on Sainte-Thérèse
The Rangers gathered again on Isle La Motte. They were joined by some Stockbridge Indians. On June 9, 222 Rangers and Indians landed at the mouth of the Chazy River. They marched north, following the west bank of the Richelieu River, towards Fort Saint Jean.
Rogers soon learned that the French had made Fort Saint Jean much stronger. His scouting team was even fired upon by French guards. Rogers realized it would be foolish to attack such a strong fort.
He then marched towards Fort Chambly during the night. But on the way, he found Sainte-Thérèse. This was a fenced-in post and a village. It had two large storehouses near the Chambly rapids, about five miles south of Fort Chambly. Rogers realized how important Sainte-Thérèse was and decided to attack it.
Rogers looked at the place closely at 8 AM on June 16. He saw it was not heavily guarded. As the day went on, he noticed most people were busy bringing hay into the fort. Rogers and some of his men quietly got close to the fort. Other groups of Rangers silently approached the farmhouses nearby.
Rogers and a few men rushed the gates when a haycart was passing through. They quickly entered the fort and surprised the soldiers inside. The French were completely caught off guard. In less than ten minutes, the Rangers captured twenty-four soldiers without firing a shot. Outside, the rest of the Rangers captured another seventy-eight soldiers and civilians in the houses. A few civilians managed to escape and warn Fort Chambly.
Rogers ordered his men to take what they could from Sainte-Thérèse and then burn it. The village, the fence around it, boats, canoes, wagons, supplies, and farm animals were all burned or destroyed. Anything valuable was taken. Rogers let the captured women and children go free on the road to Montreal.
Rogers questioned the prisoners. He learned that Sainte-Thérèse was a vital link for sending messages to Île aux Noix. It also supplied all the military posts along the Richelieu River. Supplies were unloaded at Chambly, then reloaded onto boats at Sainte-Thérèse. From there, they were sent to Saint Jean and Île aux Noix. Rogers realized that attacking Fort Chambly, which had been reinforced, was too risky. No one was hurt on either side during the raid. Rogers left some funny messages for the French. He took twenty-seven prisoners in total.
Leaving the Area
The Rangers left Sainte-Thérèse. They crossed the Richelieu River and returned to Lake Champlain. They took a route east of the river that passed Île aux Noix. They headed for Windmill Point to meet up with Captain Grant and his ships.
As they moved along the shores of Missisquoi Bay, they saw many French troops chasing them. Rogers' advance group fought a similar number of French soldiers. This was just ahead of a larger force of over 800 men from Île aux Noix. The Rangers managed to ambush them, and the French were defeated.
Rogers realized how many French soldiers were coming. He made his men march faster. The French prisoners could not keep up. So, Rogers ordered their pants cut off to help them move quicker. When they reached Windmill Point, Rogers sent the prisoners and fifty soldiers, along with his report, to Crown Point. Rogers and the rest of his men waited for Lieutenant Holmes' group.
On June 21, Rogers met Holmes and his men. They had not been able to find 'Wigwam Martinique' and had turned back. Just as the Rangers left, many French soldiers started to arrive on the shore. But the Rangers were already rowing away and were safe. Two days after leaving, the group celebrated their successful mission at Chimney Point.
What Happened Next
The Sainte-Thérèse Raid was different from the Saint Francis Raid. There was no widespread killing at Sainte-Thérèse. The Native American allies did not take scalps. Rogers also noticed there were no English scalps in the village. Plus, the village was Canadian, not a Native American settlement.
This raid was one of Rogers' most successful. The Rangers only lost men during the fight at Pointe Au Fer. They had no casualties during the raid on Sainte-Thérèse itself. The raid had a big impact on both the British and the French.
Amherst was very happy with the results and praised Rogers. The British captured over 100 soldiers and local fighters. They also burned or captured valuable supplies. In addition, they learned a lot about the French defenses leading up to Montreal.
The raid shocked the French. It showed them that Rogers could cause a lot of damage deep inside their territory. After the raid, some local fighters left the French side. Many Native American allies also stopped supporting France. Lévis tried to boost morale, but it didn't help much.
Amherst's three-part attack on Montreal began in July. Rogers and his Rangers were part of William Haviland's advance up Lake Champlain. After Rogers' attack, the Richelieu River forts were made even stronger by Bougainville. They had about 3,000 regular soldiers, Canadians, and Native Americans.
The Rangers played a big role in taking Île aux Noix, Fort Saint Jean, and Fort Chambly. Montreal finally surrendered on September 8. After this victory, Amherst chose Rogers for a trip to the western French posts. These included Fort Detroit, Fort Michilimackinac, Fort Ouiatenon, and others. This was the first time the British had explored the French-held Great Lakes region in almost a hundred years. The mission was a huge success. Rogers called it the most glorious year in the history of the British Empire.
