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The Great Republic by the Master Historians
Arnold on Lake Champlain
by Bancroft, Hubert H.
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[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.
Carleton, the British leader, had many advantages over Gates and Arnold in the
race of preparation. He had contractors and ship-builders from England, and
naval stores in abundance from the fleet in the St. Lawrence and from Quebec.
The English admiralty contributed liberally in material for ship-building and in
naval equipments. It sent out three vessels of war fully prepared for service;
more than two hundred flat-bottomed boats were built at Montreal and taken to
St. John's; and the larger vessels, unable to ascend the rapids, were taken to
pieces and reconstructed at the last-mentioned place. One of these, the
Inflexible, was a three-masted ship, carrying twenty twelve-pound guns and ten
smaller guns. About seven hundred experienced sailors, and the very best of
young naval officers, were selected from the vessels of war and transports to
man and command the lake fleet.
The Americans had to cut from the forest every stick of timber for the additions
to their small fleet. All their naval stores and material had to be brought from
tide-water and the Atlantic, over roads nearly impassable. They lacked money,
skilled ship-builders, naval stores,--everything; still, they were zealous,
active, hopeful, and energetic. General Arnold, having some knowledge of ships,
ship-building, and navigation, was selected to superintend the construction of
the fleet, and to command it when ready for service. .
He was constantly going to and fro, urging on the work, making requisition for
mechanics, for seamen, for naval stores, for ordnance, for everything necessary
to build, equip, arm, and man his little fleet. But no degree of energy and
activity could enable him to equal the armament which Sir Guy Carleton could
bring from the St. Lawrence to the theatre of conflict. . On the Ist of October,
Arnold, writing to Gates, complains that the sea-men have not been sent, and
hopes he shall be excused " if with five hundred men, half naked," he should not
be able to beat the enemy in their overwhelming numbers and complete
preparation. He sends for shot, musket-balls, buckshot, grenades, clothing, and
"one hundred sea-men,--no landlubbers."
Gates replies on the 3d, and sends what he can, but says, "What is not to be
had, you and the princes of the earth must go unprovided with.". .
Gates gave to Arnold careful instructions, and, among other directions, said,
"Should the enemy come up the lake and attempt to force their way through the
pass you are stationed to defend, in that case you will act with such cool,
determined valor as will give them reason to repent of their temerity."
The time at which the desperate struggle for supremacy between the fleet of
Arnold and that of Sir Guy Carleton approached, Schuyler, Gates, Washington,--
all were conscious of the great superiority of the British. All were anxious,
but each indulged hope, arising mainly from the desperate valor of Arnold.
Knowing his inferiority in ships, in weight of metal, and in men, Arnold avoided
the possibility of an encounter on the open lake, where he might have been
flanked or surrounded, by anchoring his fleet in a line between Valcour Island
and the western shore. In this position, the rear being unapproachable, and his
line extending across the channel, he could be attacked in front only. This was
the first time an American fought a British fleet. .
The British fleet consisted of the Inflexible, a large, three-masted ship, two
schooners, the Lady Mary and the Carleton, a floating battery called the
Thunderer, twenty gun-boats, besides long-boats and transports. "They had," says
Bancroft, " more than twice his [Arnold's] weight of metal, and twice as many
fighting-vessels, and skilled sea-men and officers against landsmen." As has
been stated, the British armed vessels were manned by about seven hundred
selected seamen and well-trained gunners. Captain Pringle, of the British navy,
commanded, but Carleton was himself on board, and among the many young officers
was Edward Pellew, afterwards distinguished as Admiral Viscount Exmouth. This
fleet carried ninetythree guns, some of them of heavy calibre. The fleet of
Arnold consisted of three schooners, two sloops, three galleys, and eight
gondolas, carrying in all seventy guns.
Early on the morning of the 11th of October, the guardboats, stationed as
sentinels, gave notice that the British fleet was approaching, and it soon
appeared off Cumberland Head, moving before a fair wind up the lake. Carleton
came on, conscious of his greatly superior strength, with his battle-flags
proudly flying, and when the fleet of Arnold was discovered, moored in the
passage behind Valcour Island, Captain Pringle expressed his belief that they
would not encounter much resistance, and he anticipated an easy victory; but
Carleton, remembering Quebec, knew that Arnold would fight to desperation. As
the enemy approached, the Americans made ready to receive them. As they advanced
around the southern point of Valcour Island and attempted to beat up towards the
channel in which the Americans had formed their line of battle, the large ships
fell behind. Arnold, who rarely waited to be attacked, determined to take
advantage of the wind and attack the smaller vessels, which were in advance,
before the large ones could beat up to their assistance. With the schooner Royal
Savage, and three galleys, he went to meet the British, and opened a rapid fire,
but was gradually pushed back by superior force, and attempting to return to the
line, in beating back, the Royal Savage, with its inexperienced crew, went
aground and was abandoned,--Arnold losing his baggage and all his papers, but
the men were saved.
At half-past twelve, the British having brought all their gun-boats and
schooners within musket-shot of the American line, the action became general,
and from the shore of the mainland to the island the hostile fleets fired at
close range. Arnold, in the Congress galley, to which he had gone after
abandoning the Royal Savage, anchored in the hottest part of the fire, and here,
with obstinate determination, he held his position against all odds till five
o'clock in the afternoon, when the enemy retired. During this long afternoon, a
terrific cannonade of round- and grapeshot was continually kept up, and a
constant blaze of rifles by a large body of Indians in the covers of the forest
on the shores of the island and the mainland. But, as Arnold had taken the
precaution to protect his men and his ships by fascines attached to the sides of
the vessels, the rifles did little execution. So terrific was the cannonade that
the roar of the heavy guns is said to have been heard at Crown Point. The
Congress and the Washington galleys received the most injury. Arnold, in the
former, which was armed with two eighteen-pounders, two twelves, and two sixes,
fought with desperate heroism. In the absence of experienced gunners, he pointed
most of the pieces him-self, passing rapidly from gun to gun, and firing as fast
as they could be loaded. The vessel received seven shots between wind and water,
was hulled twelve times, the mainmast was wounded in two places, the rigging cut
to pieces; yet, in this condition, and with dead and wounded all around him, he
refused to yield or retreat, but hour after hour, for five hours, cheered on his
men by word and example, until, as night approached, the British withdrew,
retiring from an enemy commanded by a man who would never know that he was beat,
and who would rather go down with flags flying than surrender.
The Washington galley was nearly as badly shattered as the Congress, the first
lieutenant killed, and the captain and master wounded. The New York lost all her
officers except her captain. The Philadelphia was hulled in so many places that
she sunk one hour after the engagement. The whole number of killed and wounded
was about eighty.
Never has there been exhibited a more striking illustration of Arnold's
wonderful power of leadership and ability to inspire his men with heroic
bravery, and power to make militia fight with unflinching courage, than on this
occasion.
As darkness fell over the scene of this terrible conflict, the British commander
posted his fleet across the channel through which Arnold must pass to effect his
escape, with the expectation that in the morning, with his greatly superior
force, he would capture the whole American flotilla. Arnold, however, determined
to make an effort to escape, and, if he failed, to destroy his ships, land his
men, and fight his way through the Indians to Crown Point. . It was a hazy
night, and a fair wind had sprung up from the north, and so, each vessel,
putting out every light except a single signal-lantern in the stern, to guide
the ship that followed, attempted to pass through the British lines.
As the darkness of the misty night gathered over the waters, the first vessel
started, and in breathless silence one by one the whole flotilla glided through,
between the hostile vessels,--Arnold in the Congress, bringing up the rear, and,
as usual, the last to leave, as he was ever the first to reach, the post of
danger. They were undiscovered. It was skilfully, gallantly, admirably done; and
now, with a fresh breeze, the crippled vessels bore away as rapidly as possible
up the lake. Using all possible expedition, the fleet reached Schuyler's Island,
some twelve miles from the scene of the battle; and here they were compelled to
lay to, and stop the leaks in their vessels and repair damages. .
Two of the gondolas were so badly injured that they had to be abandoned and
sunk. In the afternoon the remainder of the crippled flotilla again got under
way; but the wind gradually ceased, and soon a breeze sprung up from the south,
retarding their advance, so that very little progress could be made by beating
and rowing. The next morning, as the fog rose and the sun came out, the whole
British fleet, with every sail set, was seen crowding down upon them. The
crippled Congress, with Arnold on board, the Washington, and some gondolas, were
in the rear. All the others, with every inch of canvas spread, and urged to the
utmost, were flying towards Crown Point. It was but a short time, however,
before the enemy came up and opened fire on the Congress, the Washington, and
the gondolas. After receiving a few broadsides, the Washington struck her
colors; but Arnold had no thought of surrender. He determined with the Congress
and the crippled gondolas to fight the whole fleet of the enemy, and so retard
their advance that the remainder of his vessels might make good their escape,--
to sacrifice himself, if necessary, to their safety. He received the whole fire
of the hostile fleet. A ship mounting twelve eighteen-pound guns, a schooner of
fourteen six-pounders, and another of twelve sixes, two under her stern and one
on her broadside, poured their concentrated fire of round and grape-shot into
the already disabled Congress. These vessels kept up an incessant fire for four
hours upon this one ship, which Arnold returned as best he could. Thus the
English fleet was delayed, and the remainder of his own were making good their
escape. The Congress was so disabled she could not fly, and Arnold would not
surrender. Her sails, rigging, and hull were shattered and torn to fragments;
the lieutenant killed; the crew, many of them, killed and wounded. Still her
stern commander had no thought of striking his flag, and continued the contest,
until still other vessels of the enemy arrived, and he found himself surrounded
with seven sail, each pouring in upon the hapless Congress broadside after
broadside; and still, in the openings of the enemy's sails, and of the smoke of
their guns, which thickly enveloped him, his flag could be seen still flying.
His ship was now a complete wreck, and as he could fight no more, he managed to
break through the vessels which surrounded him, and ran the Congress and the
gondolas into a small creek; and, ordering the marines to leap overboard and
wade ashore with their small-arms, he then set fire to the ship and the
gondolas, and, protected from the approach of small boats by the muskets of the
marines, he lingered until the fire had extended too far to be extinguished, and
then, his flag still flying, and ordering all his men ashore, he himself the
last to leave, leaped from the bowsprit to the beach, and both he and his men,
escaping an Indian ambuscade by taking an unusual route, arrived in safety at
Crown Point, and passed on to Ticonderoga. Where has there been a braver fight?
Well may the sober Mr. Sparks, roused by the magnetism of such conduct, exclaim,
"There are few instances on record of more deliberate courage and gallantry than
were displayed by him from beginning to end of this action." . .
"Such were the skill, bravery, and obstinate resistance of Arnold and his men
against a vastly superior force: the event was hailed as ominous of great
achievements when such fearful odds did not exist." [Lossing.]
"General Arnold covered himself with glory, and his example appears to have been
nobly followed by most of his officers and men. Even the enemy did justice to
the resolution and skill with which the American flotilla was managed, the
disparity of force rendering victory out of the question from the first. The
manner in which the Congress was fought until she had covered the retreat of the
galleys, and the stubborn resolution with which she was defended until
destroyed, converted the disasters of this part of the day into a species of
triumph." [Cooper's Naval History.]
[The above article displays to a certain extent the special pleading of an
ardent advocate of General Arnold; yet that the battle was fought with striking
bravery, and that Arnold was a man of unusual boldness and intrepidity, is
undeniable. Had he been of smaller calibre his subsequent treason would have
been of less importance. This action took place after the period fixed for the
conclusion of the present volume, but, as it is a direct outcome of the
preceding invasion of Canada, we give it here, as a fitting close to that
episode. The control of Lake Champlain, gained by it to the British, opened the
way to events which were among the most important of the whole war.]
Isaac N. Arnold
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