[Extract]

...The invalids who have got in I shall leave here with the other troops for a few days, where Mr. [John] Bonfield tells me he can provide for them. I shall repair immediately to the Sorel, and advise with the principal officers there; if the boats and gondolas are in readiness, it will be my opinion to return with the utmost expedition to Deschambault, a post I am, for many substantial reasons, extremely unwilling to abandon to the enemy. Not a vessel of theirs has yet been able to pass the falls of Richelieu, so difficult is the navigation. But should it, after a thorough inquiry, be thought advisable to fortify and make a stand only at the mouth of the Sorel, and give up the large tract of country below, the observations Mr. [James] Price makes in regard to our taking post at the little river Berthier, I believe are just and shall be attended to.