Most Americans can tell you about Saratoga. Many know the story of Yorktown. Far fewer remember that before the Declaration of Independence was even signed, the Continental Army launched an ambitious invasion of Canada in hopes of making it the fourteenth colony.

In this episode of Liberty 250, Dave Does History on Bill Mick Live, we travel to the often-forgotten Battle of Trois-Rivières, fought on June 8, 1776. It was a battle born from bad intelligence, overconfidence, and desperation. American commanders believed they were attacking a weak British outpost. Instead, they marched through swamps and confusion only to discover a prepared British force supported by Royal Navy gunfire.

Along the way, we meet some of the most fascinating figures of the Revolutionary War's northern campaign, including Governor Guy Carleton, General William Thompson, Anthony Wayne, Simon Fraser, Baron Riedesel, and the mysterious local guide Antoine Gautier, whose role in the American defeat remains debated nearly 250 years later.

We will explore how the American invasion of Canada collapsed, why the Battle of Trois-Rivières effectively ended the Canada Campaign of 1775-1776, and how a forgotten debt owed to the Ursuline Convent of Trois-Rivières remained unpaid for more than two centuries.

Join us as we uncover one of the most overlooked chapters of the American Revolution, a story of ambition, miscalculation, and a battlefield that changed the future of North America.