ARGIBELA.ASC
                         RICHARD MONTGOMERY:  
                    AMERICA'S FIRST MILITARY HERO 

                        J. KENNETH GIBALA, 32
   4902 Arctic Terrace, Rockville, Maryland 20853, Montgomery County

   On January 17th, 1776, the Continental Congress meeting in
Philadelphia learned that Major General Richard Montgomery was
killed at the battle for Quebec. President John Hancock wept as did
Benjamin Franklin and others.

   Popular ballads and poems were to tell of Montgomery's glorious
campaign into Canada and of his heroic death in the cause of liber-
ty.  Thomas Paine would write an inspirational elegy in which the
spirit of Montgomery would call upon the patriots to fight and
sacrifice for independence.

   That writing was published in June of 1776, and when it was
distributed to the members of the Continental Congress, it is said
to have been what convinced them to prepare the Declaration of
Independence.  Thus, Richard Montgomery in 1776 became
America's first military hero and an inspiration behind the
certain fight for independence.

  In the hope that Montgomery would not be forgotten, the Con-
gress agreed to a resolution which was recorded in its minutes as
follows:


  Resolved, that, to express the veneration of the United Colo-
  nies for the late general, Richard Montgomery, and the deep
  sense they entertain of the many signal and important services of
  that gallant officer, who, after a series of successes, amidst
  the most discouraging difficulties, fell at length in a gallant
  attack upon Quebec, the capital of Canada; And for transmitting
  to future ages, as examples truly worthy of imitation, his
  patriotism, conduct, boldness of enterprise, insuperable
  perseverance, and contempt of danger and death, a monument be
  procured from Paris or any other part of France, with an
  inscription sacred to his memory, and expressive of his amia-
  ble character and heroic achievements; And that the continental
  treasurers be directed to advance a sum, not exceeding 300
  sterling, to Dr. Benjamin Franklin (who is desired to see this
  resolution properly executed) for defraying the expense
  thereof.

     Our Masonic Brother Richard Montgomery was born on December
2nd, 1738, near Dublin, Ireland. He was from a proud family where
a distant relative, Gabriel Montgomery, was a captain in the
Scottish Guard of King Henry II of France.

   Richard was the youngest of three boys and, therefore, not
eligible to inherit from the family estates.  He received a liberal
education at Trinity College in Dublin and became an ensign in the
British army in 1756 just short of his 18th birthday.  Richard
spent his 16 years in the British army in the same regiment, the
17th Foot.  It was there that he became a Freemason in their mili-
tary Lodge.

   In 1758 he participated with his unit in the capture of
Louisbourg on the island of Nova Scotia. Later he was with the
British troops that occupied Lake George, Crown Point and Fort
Ticonderoga.  While in these parts he participated in many
military campaigns which, little did he know, would be of great
benefit in later years when he assumed command of the Northern
Department of George Washington's Continental Army.  Then he would
have to capture those lands again, but this time for the Colonies.

  He returned to England with his regiment in 1763 and resigned his
commission with the rank of Captain nine years later.  He thought
often of his experiences in America and believed there should be
limitless opportunities there for a man of spirit willing to work.
In 1772 he returned to New York and purchased a small farm in
King's Bridge just across the Harlem River from the northern tip
of Manhattan.

  On June 22, 1775, one week after George Washington became
Commander-in-Chief,  Montgomery was appointed Brigadier General
and assigned under Major General Philip Schuyler to secure the
areas north of New York City to Canada.  Montgomery then advised
that the neck of the Hudson River near West Point should be
secured, and he asked that fortifications be placed on the bluffs
overlooking the river.

   Montgomery also conceived the idea to impede warships at those
narrows with a massive but controllable chain stretching across
the river.  The chain was to have forged iron links 40 inches in
diameter and weighing 120 pounds each. When raised, ships could not
pass.  When lowered, it rested on the riverbed, and the ships could
then pass.  The plans of this mechanism were one of the items later
provided by Benedict Arnold in his conspiracy with John Andre.

   In May of 1775 Montgomery advanced to occupy Fort Ticonderoga
just captured by Colonel Ethan Allen.  By November, with their
combined forces, Ethan Allen and Montgomery captured Forts Chambly
and St. John's which were strategically located between the British
held Montreal and the war zone at Boston.

   Ethan Allen, feeling the glory of easily winning those two forts
quickly, proceeded to Montreal expecting another easy win.  He
lost, was captured and sent to England in irons to wait out the
war.

   Montgomery proceeded to Montreal the following month, and with
prior knowledge of the area successfully captured the city. Our
Congress was overjoyed for Montgomery was then in control of
two-thirds of British Canada.

   Sir Guy Carleton, who was well known to Montgomery, was the
British Commander and GovernorGeneral of Canada.  Montgomery
hoped to capture Carleton at Montreal but failed.  Carleton
slipped away dressed as a farmer and escaped to Quebec.

   A month later, on December 30, 1775, in the middle of a raging
blizzard, Montgomery attacked Quebec and was killed instantly in
the first volley of cannon fire. Like Generals Wolfe and Montcalm
before him, he died in a battle for that fortress.  He was buried
three nights later by the civilians of the town.  General Guy
Carleton permitted neither military nor Masonic services for
Montgomery.

   In retrospect, the actions of General Montgomery during 1775
prevented Carleton and his army from assisting the British in Bos-
ton. Had Carleton's forces been free to come south, they most
certainly would have surrounded our Continental Army, and the war
would have then ended. That did not happen, and in March of 1776
the British in Boston were forced to evacuate.  In time, the
British lost the war and the United States was born.

   By arrangement of New York Governor De Witt Clinton, the remains
of our first American military hero were brought to Albany on July
4th, 1818, to lie in state at New York's Capitol.  The coffin was
then placed aboard the steamboat Richmond and carried down the
Hudson to New York City where it rests today in a crypt at St.
Paul's Chapel in Trinity churchyard not too many steps from the
resting place of Alexander Hamilton and General Horatio Gates.

   There was a funeral procession of close to five thousand people
headed by the Vice President.  Not since the death of George Wash-
ington in 1799 had the country seen so great and emotional a
funeral.  The monument designated by Congress in 1776 with in-
scriptions by Benjamin Franklin was at last erected at Montgom-
ery's final resting place.

   Our colonial leaders were saddened upon learning of Montgom-
ery's death.  In September of 1776 Montgomery county in Maryland
was named. It was the first county to be named for an American and
by an elected representative body. Previously all counties of our
original colonies were named by the King's appointed governor.
Soon there would be fifteen additional counties named after our
hero.

   The sixteen states with counties named for Richard Montgomery
are: Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky,
Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. The counties named Montgomery in
Alabama and Tennessee were named after local Indian fighters.

   The city of Montgomery in Alabama is also named after our he-
ro.  In Rockville, Maryland, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as in
Texas, Ohio, Virginia and New York, Masonic Lodges are named after
Richard Montgomery, for this great hero was a Freemason as were
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, De Witt
Clinton, Robert Livingston and Ethan Allen.

   Without the brave deeds of Montgomery, George Washington most
likely would not have been able to win the Revolutionary War, and
we all would probably still be British subjects.   Many history
books refer to Montgomery as America's first military hero. He was
so regarded at the Montgomery County Centennial celebration
held in 1876.

   I suggest we again remember Richard Montgomery, his valor, his
courage, and his boldness.  A study of Richard Montgomery recreates
the great and wonderful beginning of our country.  And to learn of
our beginning will give us a better appreciation of who we are
today.

   Richard Montgomery, our first military hero, is he to be remem-
bered or forgotten?



   [These passages may be highlighted in the text.]

In 1776 Richard Montgomery became America's first military hero and
an inspiration behind the certain fight for independence.

Montgomery conceived the idea to impede warships at those narrows
with a massive but controllable chain stretching across the river.
The chain was to have forged iron links 40 inches in diameter and
weighing 120 pounds each. When raised, ships could not pass.  When
lowered, it rested on the riverbed, and the ships could then pass.

Without the brave deeds of Montgomery, George Washington most
likely would not have been able to win the Revolutionary War, and
we all probably would still be British subjects.

