2nd Canadian Regiment - Origins

Origins

Late in 1775, Colonel James Livingston raised and commanded a regiment of Canadians which fought at St. Jean, Quebec, in support of General Montgomery's 1775 invasion of Quebec. Livingston's 300 Canadians, along with about 50 Americans, were instrumental in the fall of Fort Chambly during that engagement. Livingston's regiment, which was not formalized by Montgomery until November 1775, also participated in the action at Quebec. On January 3, 1776, Congress commissioned him Colonel, and his organization became known as the Canadian Regiment.

Moses Hazen had served as a lieutenant in the 44th Regiment during the French and Indian War and was receiving a half-pay pension from this British service. In 1775 he was living on this pension and the income from his growing estate in St. Jean, Quebec, when the colonial army invaded. Hazen's estate was plundered and his property damaged by the Americans during the siege of the fort. He was incarcerated by the British on suspicion of spying for the Americans, and held for 54 days until he was released by General Montgomery after the fall of Montreal in November. Hazen joined the American cause, and participated in the battle of Quebec. Following the American failure there, he and Edward Antill, an American expatriate, traveled to Philadelphia to report on the battle. Congress partially compensated Hazen by establishing the 2nd Canadian Regiment. Hazen accepted this command, forfeiting his British half-pay, and Antill was given a Lieutenant Colonel's commission in the regiment. Although John Duggan, one of Livingston's captains, had been promised a regiment by Benedict Arnold, Hazen and Antill reached Philadelphia before Duggan, and Hazen smeared Duggan in his effort to get the regiment.

With an allowed maximum strength of 1,000, the 2nd Canadian Regiment was authorized by Congress on January 20, 1776, to consist of four battalions (twenty companies), the only such over-sized regiment in the Continental Army. It was assigned to the Army's Canadian Department, and was organized by Hazen on February 10, 1776 at Montreal, to be recruited from the Richelieu and St. Lawrence Valleys. Over the next two months, Hazen and Antill recruited in those areas, until early April, when the recruiting funds dried up, and raised approximately 250 men.

During much of the war, the 2nd Canadian Regiment was known as Congress's Own Regiment, and Livingston's organization continued to be known as the Canadian Regiment. Livingston's organization, depleted, was disbanded in the reorganization of the Continental Army on January 1, 1781, and its Canadian elements were assigned to Hazen's organization, which was then redesignated as the Canadian Regiment.