ached Colonel St.
Clair, with six or seven hundred men, to Three Rivers, about fifty
miles down the St. Lawrence, to give check to an advanced corps of the
enemy of about eight hundred regulars and Canadians, under the veteran
Scot, Colonel Maclean. Sullivan proceeded forthwith to complete the
works on the Sorel; in the meantime he detached General Thompson with
additional troops to overtake St. Clair and assume command of the
whole party, which would then amount to two thousand men. He was by no
means to attack the encampment at Three Rivers, unless there was great
prospect of success, as his defeat might prove the total loss of
Canada.

Sullivan was aiming at the command in Canada; and Washington soberly
weighed his merits for the appointment, in a letter to the President
of Congress. "He is active, spirited, and zealously attached to the
cause. He has his wants and he has his foibles.... He wants experience
to move upon a grand scale; for the limited and contracted knowledge,
which any of us have in military matters, stands in very little
stead." Scarce had Washington despatched this letter, when he received
one from the President of Congress, dated the 18th of June, informing
him that Major-general Gates had been appointed to command the forces
in Canada, and requesting him to expedite his departure as soon as
possible. The appointment of Gates has been attributed to the
influence of the Eastern delegates, with whom he was a favorite;
indeed, during his station at Boston, he had been highly successful in
cultivating the good graces of the New England people. He departed for
his command on the 26th of June, vested with extraordinary powers for
the regulation of affairs in that "distant, dangerous, and shifting
scene."

The actual force of the enemy in Canada had recently been augmented to
about 13,000 men; several regiments having arrived from Ireland, one
from England, another from General Howe, and a body of Brunswick
troops under the Baron Reidesel. Of these, the greater part were on
the way up from Quebec in divisions, by land and water, with Generals
Carleton, Burgoyne, Philips and Reidesel; while a considerable number
under General Frazer had arrived at Three Rivers, and others, under
General Nesbit, lay near them on board of transports.

General Thompson coasted in bateaux along the right bank of the river
at that expanse called Lake St. Pierre, and arrived at Nicolete, where
he found St. Clair and his det