Arnold on Lake Champlain
The battle of Bunker Hill was quickly followed by decided action on the part of Congress, then in session at Philadelphia. An address was made to the king and people of Great Britain, and the world was advised of the reason of the appeal to arms. "We are reduced," said they, "to the alternative of choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force. The latter is our choice. We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery." An army of twenty thousand men was ordered to be enlisted, and George Washington was elected commander-in-chief of all the colonial forces.
Washington, who refused any compensation for his services, soon proceeded to Cambridge, where he undertook to organize the army there present. The task was a difficult one. The militia were undisciplined, and destitute of most of the requirements of an army. But by his energy and skill, and the assistance of General Gates, the men were reduced to discipline, stores collected, and a regular siege instituted.
While this was being performed, the authority of the royal governors everywhere ended in the colonies. The only one who made any effort to retain his power was Lord Dunmore, of Virginia. He seized a quantity of the public powder and placed it on board a vessel, but was forced to pay for it by an armed body of people, led by Patrick Henry. He then retired to a man-of-war, armed some vessels, and manned them with slaves to whom he promised freedom. He attacked the provincials near Norfolk, but sustained a severe defeat. In revenge for this he soon after burned Norfolk to the ground. He then retired, and royal government ceased to exist in America.
As the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point opened an easy gateway to Canada, it was determined to invade that province. This was done partly to anticipate the British, who appeared to design an invasion from that quarter, and partly with the belief that success would induce the Canadians to join the revolted colonies. A force under Generals Schuyler and Montgomery passed up Lake Champlain and besieged St. John's, the frontier post of Canada. During the siege, Ethan Allen, with eighty men, rashly assailed Montreal. He was defeated, captured, and sent in irons to England. Schuyler having retired through illness, Montgomery captured St. John's on November 3, and proceeded to Montreal, which surrendered on the 13th.
Meanwhile, a force of one thousand men under General Benedict Arnold was marching north through Maine. This march through the unbroken wilderness was one of extraordinary difficulty and hardship. A part of the force turned back, and it was with but six hundred exhausted and half-starved men that Arnold reached Point Levi, opposite Quebec, on November 13. Without delay he crossed the St. Lawrence, ascended the heights which Wolfe had scaled before him, and marshalled his small force on the Plains of Abraham. As the garrison could not be induced to assail him, and as his force was too small to attempt to storm the walls, he retired, and awaited the arrival of Montgomery from Montreal.
Their united forces numbered but nine hundred men, but with these, on the last day of the year, they made an early morning attack on Quebec, in the midst of a driving snow-storm. At the very beginning of the assault Montgomery, with several of his officers, fell dead before the discharge of a cannon loaded with grape. Their men retreated in disorder, and the garrison turned against Arnold, who had entered the town. He received a ball in the leg, and was, almost by compulsion, removed from the field. The contest continued for several hours, but ended in the surrender of a portion of Arnold's force, while the remainder retired.
Reinforcements being received, the siege of the city was kept up until the following May, when a British fleet ascended the St. Lawrence, and the Americans were forced to retreat. Step by step they were driven back, until obliged to evacuate Canada entirely. Carleton, the Canadian governor, soon followed, and both sides prepared to contest the possession of Lake Champlain, building ships, and sailing to meet each other on that inland sea. As this was the first naval battle ever fought between England and America, and as it was contested by the Americans with consummate skill and courage, a detailed description of it must prove of interest to readers. We select a fully-detailed narrative of the engagement from Isaac N. Arnold's "Life of Benedict Arnold."]
SIR GUY CARLETON early saw the importance of obtaining naval supremacy on these waters, that he might bring the English troops to Ticonderoga, within convenient distance of Albany, looking to a junction ultimately with the king's forces from the city of New York, and thereby separating and isolating New England from the other States. These lakes and their connections formed the most practicable route by which the United States could be invaded from Canada; and both parties, in the summer of 1776, prepared vigorously to contest their control.