On July 24, 1773 he married Janet Livingston, daughter of Judge Robert R. and Margaret (Beckman) Livingston and moved to Rhinebeck, New York where he resided until he joined the Continental army. He was a delegate to the Provincial Congress held in New York city in May 1775, and in June, of that year was commissioned one of eight Brigadier Generals in the Continental Army and became second in command to General Philip Schuyler. He left Rhinebeck with his wife and they made the journey in a coach to the residence of General Schuyler at Saratoga. Here General Montgomery left his wife with the assurance "that she would never have cause to blush for her Montgomery."
On account of the disability of General Schuyler, General Montgomery was placed in command of the expedition to Canada. The invasion was undertaken without proper preparation and its movements were controlled chiefly by circumstances. He proceeded by way of Whitehall, and after many hardships reached Ticonderoga where he learned that Sir Guy Carleton was organizing a naval force on Lake Champlain to prevent the Americans from crossing the St. Lawrence. Montgomery took possession of the Isle aux Noix on Lake Champlain, and with 1000 men laid siege to St. Johns and Chambly, which surrendered to him, and advanced toward Montreal, which capitulated on November 12th, 1775. For this victory he was promoted to Majpr General by the Continental Congress. With the capture of Montreal he obtained possession of all the military stores in the town, and eleven vessels in the harbor; General Carleton retreated to Quebec. The central object of the expedition now only remained; as Montgomery wrote in a letter to his father-in-law, Robert R. Livingston, "until Quebec is taken, Canada is unconquered."
He joined Benedict Arnold who had a force of 700 men, before the walls of Quebec, on December 3rd, 1775. The combined attack was made on both sides of the city on December 31st, 1775, with Montgomery leading his little force of 500 men in the midst of a heavy snow-storm. The first barrier, was breached and Montgomery at the head of his men shouted "Men of New York, you will not fear to follow where your general leads!" The small force pushed forward. Two cannon had been placed in the windows of a house which overlooked the second barrier. As Montgomery appearanced on a little rising ground, they were fired. Montgomery and his two aids, McPherson and Captain Chessman were killed instantly. His soldiers, and those of Arnold were at once demoralized and the British troops pursued the defeated army from the city, capturing about 400 men. Montgomery's body was found partly covered by the snow and the British commander ordered him buried within the walls surrounding the powder magazine with full military honors. Montgomery, only 40 years old, became one of the first Revolutionary Generals to lose his life on the field of battle.
Forty-two years later his remains were removed at the request of the legislature of the state of New York to New York city and interred in St. Paul's chapel churchyard. The journey from Quebec to New York was attended by civic honors, notably at Albany, July 4, 1818, and on the voyage down the Hudson on the steamer Richmond, passing Montgomery Place, the home of the General's widow, who viewed the vessel from the portico. The death of Montgomery was deeply felt by friend and foe, and congress proclaimed its "grateful remembrance, respect and high veneration." The city of New York erected a monument under the portico of St. Paul's chapel on the Broadway front. A tablet was also erected upon the spot where he fell at Quebec, by the Sons of the American Revolution in 1901. Mrs. Montgomery survived her husband for fifty-two years and after completing the home begun by the General in 1774 at Rhinebeck Flats, known as the "Rhinebeck Place," moved to the immediate east bank of the Hudson above Barrytown, where she erected "Montgomery Place" which continued to be her home up to the time of her death in November.
The first memorial authorized by the Continental Congress on January 25, 1776, was to honor Major General Montgomery. When word of his death reached Philadelphia, Congress voted 300 pounds for a monument to Montgomery's memory, and entrusted the fund to Benjamin Franklin, shortly due to leave for Paris, in order that one of the best French artists might be secured to create it. Franklin engaged the King's sculptor, Jean Jacques Caffieri, to design and make the monument. Upon completion, in 1778, it was shipped to America in eight boxes, arriving at Edenton, North Carolina, in the midst of the War, where it remained for several years. Although originally intended for Independence Hall, in 1784 Congress decided to place the memorial in New York. Four years later it was carefully installed under the direction of Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant beneath the portico of St. Paul's Chapel, where Washington worshipped regularly as our first President in 1789. The Montgomery Memorial is still there today; St. Paul's Chapel is now a National Historic Landmark.
Four United States Navy ships and one World War II Liberty Ship have been named after General Montgomery.
Richard Montgomery was born at Convoy House, near Raphoe, county Donegal, Ireland, Dec. 2, 1736; son of Thomas Montgomery, a member of the British parliament from Lifford. He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, and entered the 17th Regiment of Foot as an Ensign on August, 1756. His regiment was ordered to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and he took part in the siege of Louisburg under General James Wolfe in 1758. He was promoted to Lieutenant for his bravery on this occasion, and in 1759 he joined the expedition under Sir Jeffrey Amherst to relieve General Abercrombie. He served in the command of Colonel Haviland in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in July, Crown Point in August, and Montreal, Sept. 7, 1759; he was then promoted to Adjutant on May 15, 1760, ordered to the West Indies in 1762, commissioned a Captain on May 5th, 1762, and took part in the campaign against Martinique and Havana. He returned to New York, and at the close of the war with France in 1763, received permission to return to England where he resided until 1773. He became embittered when his claims for military advancement were neglected. As a result he sold his commission in the army, returning to America in 1773 where he purchased a 60 acre farm at King's Bridge, New York.