Arnold’s Expedition to Quebec

By John Codman

This book, written by the American military historian John Codman, provides a detailed look Benedict Arnold's famous expedition to Quebec during the early parts of the Revolutionary War.A table of contents is included.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charles River Editors
• Release date: Mar 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781537805849

Book preview

ARNOLD’S EXPEDITION TO QUEBEC

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John Codman

KYPROS PRESS

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Copyright © 2016 by John Codman

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Arnold’s Expedition to Quebec

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I: THE INVASION OF CANADA IS PLANNED

CHAPTER II: BENEDICT ARNOLD

CHAPTER III: THE EXPEDITION SETS FORTH

CHAPTER IV: THE ASCENT OF THE KENNEBEC

CHAPTER V: THE MARCH INTO THE WILDERNESS

CHAPTER VI: FLOOD-FAMINE-DESERTION

CHAPTER VII: ACROSS THE TERRIBLE CARRY

CHAPTER VIII: ARNOLD SAVES THE REMNANT OF HIS ARMY

CHAPTER IX: DESCENDING THE CHAUDIÈRE

CHAPTER X: BEFORE QUEBEC

CHAPTER XI: MONTGOMERY JOINS ARNOLD

CHAPTER XII: THE INVESTMENT

CHAPTER XIII: THE ASSAULT IS PLANNED

CHAPTER XIV: THE ASSAULT ON QUEBEC

CHAPTER XV: THE DEATH OF MONTGOMERY

CHAPTER XVI: THE AMERICANS STAND THEIR GROUND

CHAPTER XVII: PRISONERS OF WAR

CHAPTER XVIII: A HOPELESS SIEGE

CHAPTER XIX: THE CAMPAIGN FAILS

ARNOLD’S EXPEDITION TO QUEBEC

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INTRODUCTION

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THERE ARE SEVERAL REASONS WHY the Quebec expedition has never been given the place in history which it deserves. The rank and file who returned to tell the tale were few in number, weak in influence and widely scattered. Many of them reenlisted and perished during the war. Most of the surviving officers gained a wider reputation by brilliant exploits in more conspicuous fields, and continued to live the active lives which make history but afford little time to write it. Moreover, this was one of the first military movements of importance in the war, and records at that time were not preserved with much care, so that a great deal of valuable information has only recently become accessible, while perhaps still more has been destroyed or lost forever. The young nation was not likely to dwell with pride on the failure of the invasion of Canada, and gladly allowed everything connected with it to fall into oblivion. Doubtless, also, a campaign which was so closely associated with the name of the traitor Arnold, the truthful account of which could not fail to reflect credit on that evil genius, was willingly slighted.

The author had one advantage over other writers who have touched on this campaign, in that he followed, on foot or in canoes, for the greater part of the distance, the army’s course through the Kennebec, Dead River and Chaudière regions, and visited Quebec and its environs; and in like manner traced the route of Montgomery, with whose force Arnold was cooperating, over Lake George, Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River to Montreal. In examining the illustrations made from the author’s photographs, it is desirable to remember that at the time when they were taken, in October, 1895, or September, 1896, the water in the Dead River and the Chaudière was very low. Many of the falls have also been rendered much less difficult of approach and passage by the blastings of the lumbermen, in order to make a freer passage for their logs, for the greater part of the country has been logged over, and most of the big timber cut out.

The list of Journals to be found in the Appendix indicates the chief sources from which the history of the expedition has been drawn. The most valuable American journals in the list are those of Henry, Arnold, Senter and Thayer; of the English, those of Fraser, Ainslie, and the journal by an unknown author, printed in 1880 by the New York Historical Society; the best French journals are those of Sanguinet and Badeaux. Thayer’s Journal, edited by E. M. Stone, was published many years ago in the Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society. Mr. Stone introduces it with a brief history of the invasion of Canada, and adds an appendix which contains valuable notes on the journal and biographical sketches of some of the principal officers of Arnold’s and Montgomery’s forces.

Most of these journals are brief and in the form of diaries. No one of them gives a comprehensive view of the campaign, or of the movements and adventures of more than one division of the expeditionary force from the date of leaving Cambridge to the arrival before Quebec. Some of them are little more than fragments of personal history which have drifted about, privately printed or in manuscript, for one hundred years or more, and have rarely come into public or private notice.

The author’s effort has been by comparison and combination of such original sources to reconcile or correct the conflicting statements of English, Canadian and American historians, and to produce a narrative of popular interest, which shall aim as well at accuracy and impartiality of statement and deduction. This method of work has proved the essential veracity of these diarists and journalists, and at the same time the superficial, careless and unfair treatment which the history of this expedition has received at the hands of many historians. The author has quoted freely from both diaries and journals - not besitating, where their language seemed peculiarly graphic and strong, to embody an occasional phrase in the text without quotation marks, in order not to lose any of the force of the words by reconstruction, or tax the reader’s patience by constant changes from direct to indirect discourse, or rude transitions from one tense to another.

Other valuable material has been found among Force’s Archives, the Canadian Archives, including the Haldimand Papers, the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania Archives, and in the collection of Manuscripts of Jared Sparks in the Harvard University Library. There, and in the collections of the Maine Historical Society, and Washington’s writings and correspondence, may be found almost all the letters of Arnold, Montgomery, Washington, Reed and Schuyler, from which quotations have been made.

The author’s thanks are due to Messrs. Christian C. Febiger of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; H. Meigs Whaples of Hartford, Connecticut; Parker M. Reed of Bath, Maine; George A. Porterfield of Charlestown, West Virginia; Edward A. Greene of Providence and James G. Topham of Newport, Rhode Island, grandchildren or great-grandchildren of officers of the expedition, for the readiness with which they have put themselves at his service, and the access they have accorded to manuscripts or portraits in their possession.

CHAPTER I: THE INVASION OF CANADA IS PLANNED

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WHEN BENEDICT ARNOLD, TURNED TRAITOR in the last years of the War of Independence, was leading the forces of the King against his former compatriots in Virginia, it is reported that among his prisoners was a certain plucky and witty officer, who, in answer to Arnold’s question, What will the Americans do with me if they catch me? replied, They will cut off the leg which was wounded when you were fightIng so gloriously for the cause of liberty, and bury it with the honors of war, and hang the rest of your body on a gibbet!

The answer gave fit expression to the detestation with which all steadfast patriots regarded the man who had done his best to betray their cause, but it also hints at the earlier fame which Arnold once deserved and enjoyed. The Arnold of Ticonderoga and Quebec, whose name was a synonym for bravery, determination and patriotic fervor, is not often remembered now. His good deeds are forever obscured by the shadow of his great crime. But it will help us to do full justice to that strange and unfortunate man, if we follow again the story of the gallant but ill-fated expedition which he led through the wilderness of Maine and Canada, and against the icy ramparts of impregnable Quebec. And while we do so let us not forget that had he fallen as did Montgomery before the citadel, his whole body, and not his shattered leg only, would have been entitled to burial with the most glorious honors of war. He would have been counted one of the noblest martyrs of the cause of liberty, not its despised and execrated Judas.

The invasion of Canada was one of the very earliest strategic moves in the war of the Revolution. From the inception of the struggle with the mother country, the colonists appreciated to the full the military and political advantages to be gained by enlisting theCanadians in its support. These advantages, indeed, were so numerous and so obvious that it required neither breadth of statesmanship nor experience in military affairs to recognize them at once. The acquisition of Canada would unite the whole of British America in opposition to the Crown, and strengthen the United Colonies by the possession of a wide stretch of territory, in which were situated two of the principal cities of the continent, one of them a natural fortress of great strategic importance, supplied with all those munitions of war of which the rebels stood in the sorest need. An unbroken front would thus be presented to invasion from England, and New England and New York would not be exposed to the menace of an army allied with the savage Indian tribes, operating in their rear - with Canada as a base, and outflanking them on Lake Champlain, Lake George, and the Hudson River.

The first resort of the rebellious colonies was, of course, to negotiation, and their earliest efforts in this direction met with sufficient encouragement to afford them good hopes for the ultimate attachment of Canada to the confederation by peaceful means alone. Before the capture of Ticonderoga, before the battle of Bunker Hill, even before the battle of Lexington, Canada had been invited to send delegates to the Provincial Congress. The reply of some of the principal merchants of Montreal, to whom the invitation was directed, shows that there was at this time considerable popular sympathy in that province with the cause of liberty, albeit it was a sympathy which prudently hesitated to declare itself in public. Under date of April 28, 1775, they wrote:

We deeply feel the Sorrows and Afflictions of our suffering Brothers; & sincerely wish it was in our Power to afford you effectual Relief; but alas we are more the Objects of pity and Compassion, than yourselves, who are now suffering under the heavy hand of Power; deprived, as we are, of the common right of the miserable, to complain.

You have Numbers, Strength, & a common Cause to Support you in your Opposition: we are still more divided here, by our Interests, than by our Religion, Language and Manners. The Apprehension of Evils to come upon us, in a short time, from the unlimited power of the Governour, strikes all Opposition dead: indeed, few in this Colony dare vent their Griefs: but groan in Silence, & dream of Lettres de Cachet, Confiscations, and Imprisonments, offering up their fervent Prayers to the Throne of Grace, to prosper your righteous cause, which alone will free us from these jealous Fears and Apprehensions that rob us of our Peace. . . .

You will please to bear in Mind, that not only those who hold the Helm of Government, but also, all those who make Wealth or Ambition the chief Objects of their Pursuit are professedly your Enemies; & would be glad to reduce you to the same Abject State, with themselves: nevertheless, the bulk of the People, both English and Canadians, are of quite contrary Sentiments; and wish well to your Cause; but dare not stir a finger to help you; being of no more estimation in the political Machine, than the Sailors are, in shaping the Course, or working the ships in which they sail. They may mutter and swear, but must obey; however, should Government handle them too roughly, & arbitrarily attempt to force them upon dangerous & disagreeable Service, to which they have already shown an irreconcileable Aversion, they may, perhaps, dearly repent it.

Somewhat later, the Whigs of Montreal did, in fact, gather enough courage to send James Price, one of the signers of this letter, to represent them in the Continental Congress, though in a secret and unauthoritative capacity. Price, with Thomas Walker and James Livingston, all wealthy and influential citizens of Montreal, were as zealous for the cause of the colonies, and as open and arrant rebels as Samuel Adams or Patrick Henry. The Quebec Act had been hardly better received in Canada than the Stamp Act in the southern colonies, and there were Committees of Correspondence and Safety in Montreal, and trustworthy private correspondents at Quebec. That very spring, on the first of May, people had insulted his Majesty by daubing his bust in the public square of Montreal with black paint and hanging a string of rotten potatoes round the neck above this inscription: Voila le Pape du Canada et le sot Anglais. Indeed, it is not improbable that but for the impolitic document addressed by Congress to the people of Great Britain, in September, 1774, inveighing in unmeasured terms against the French Jurisprudence and Roman Catholicism, Canada might also have cast her vote for independence.

The ancient French noblesse were, for the most part, office-holders under government and devoted to Its interests, but they had dwindled in numbers, means and influence, and were neither to be courted nor feared.

The habitants, or French farmers, who made up the bulk of the population, were certainly not enthusiastic in their loyalty to the English sovereignty under which they had not yet lived a score of years, and though they could hardly be relied upon for active aid, might, at least, have given passive countenance to the plans of the revolutionary leaders if their religion had been treated with respect and their priesthood with tact and wisdom. This phase of the situation was, unfortunately, not correctly understood at Philadelphia until too late. The step already referred to, which alienated many of the Roman Catholic clergy and their flocks from the revolutionary cause, was taken before its probable effect upon this preponderating element of the Canadian population was appreciated.

But though the Continental Congress found much encouragement in the temper of the northern provinces,

as it was reported by its correspondents in Montreal and Quebec, it soon became evident that the active spirits were too few, and the mass of the people too inert, to give any hope for a spontaneous uprising in behalf of the cause of independence. The bolder patriots at once turned to the other alternative, an invasion of Canada by the colonial troops, who, through the aid of the rebel sympathizers and the indifference of the rest of the population, were expected to expel the British troops from Montreal and Quebec, and attach the province to the confideration.

The leading revolutionists correctly understood the urgency of the crisis, for they were perfectly acquainted with the zeal and military talents of General Guy Carleton, the governor of the province. He was exerting himself actively to organize the Canadians, and to supply them with arms and ammunition recently shipped from England, and though the habitants resolutely refused to enroll themselves, it was easily imagined that as soon as the Governor’s authority was reinforced by the arrival of a large body of troops from England, the Canadians would be obliged to yield, and feeling more certain of the issue of the contest, would try to secure immunity for themselves by becoming active in fastening burdens on the backs of their southern neighbors. The blow must be struck at once, then, if it was to be struck at all. The capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point by the New England troops under Ethan Allen opened the way for an expedition to be despatched by way of Lake George and Lake Champlain to the St. Lawrence, and Congress in the summer of 1775 authorized such an undertaking. The invading force was to be composed of militia raised in New England and New York, and Major-General Philip Schuyler of the latter colony was appointed to its command. This gentleman was a veteran of the French War and combined with wealth and position, military talents, trustworthiness and unquestioned zeal for the cause. But he was well advanced in years and was perhaps over-cautious for a campaign which so urgently demanded activity and energy.

General Schuyler, having mobilized at Albany, was hurried forward early in July with an army fluctuating from five hundred to fifteen hundred men up Lakes George and Champlain to Ticonderoga. From that fortress as a base he was expected to begin the expulsion of the British from Canada. by taking Chambly on the St. John’s River, and then St. John’s and Montreal. But before he had an opportunity to meet the enemy in force, he was compelled by illness, about September 14, to resign the command to Brigadier-General Richard Montgomery.

Meanwhile General Washington, who had recently taken command of the colonial troops besieging Boston, had communicated to Congress, with his approval, a project for the support of Schuyler’s movement by another expedition, to be sent against Canada, as it were, from the rear. While General Carleton was engaged with an active enemy in his front, this second army was to attempt by rapid marches to surprise and capture Quebec, which would no doubt be but slenderly garrisoned, and if it failed in this, it would at least be able to join forces with the Lake Champlain expedition and give valuable assistance in the reduction of the all-important fortress. Whether General Washington himself first conceived this plan, or whether it was suggested to him by the officer whom he selected to carry it out, does not clearly appear. Perhaps the truth lies between. At all events, Washington warmly pressed the scheme upon the attention of Congress and secured its assent with no apparent difficulty. The expedition thus resolved upon, Washington chose Benedict Arnold as its commander, and Congress promptly voted him a colonel’s commission in the Continental service.

CHAPTER II: BENEDICT ARNOLD

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THE YOUNG OFFICER ENTRUSTED WITH this responsible command was born at Norwich, Connecticut, January 14, 1741. He came of good stock, being a great-grandson of Benedict Arnold, the second governor of the colony of Rhode Island. His father, Benedict Arnold, had come to Norwich from Newport, Rhode Island, about 1730, as a seaman aboard the vessel of Captain Absalom King, whose young widow he married in 1733. During Benedict junior’s early youth, his father did a good business with the West Indies, owning parts or the whole of vessels, which he sometimes sailed himself, so that he came to be called Captain Arnold. Though his old age seems to have been one of poverty, intemperance and little respect, yet, judging from the positions of trust which he is known to have held, he must for many years have had the confldence of the community in which he lived. His wife died when the young Benedict was seventeen years old, and the Captain himself died three years later. Their son, then, was left an orphan before he reached his majority. Beyond doubt this was a misfortune, for we know that his mother, at least, was his pious counselor and guide.

Arnold had opportunities to receive, it would appear, such education as the best schools of Norwich or its neighborhood afforded - that is to say, a very good one; but judging by the caricatures with which he covered his spelling-book, and what little has come down to us of his youthful habits and inclinations, he was no student, and did not get much farther towards a liberal education in the arts than to write his name in a copy of Cornelius Nepos.

Of his character as a boy, we have only meager and secondary accounts. Rather than repeat, therefore, the stories of his youth and childhood, which are too often colored by prejudice and hatred, it is better to let the reader form his estimate of Arnold’s character and motives chiefly from his authentic writings and undisputed acts. It seems just, however, to record that in letters written to Jared Sparks by citizens of Norwich and New Haven in 1834, when few who knew Arnold as a boy were living, and those at a great age, we find him referred to as an uncommonly active, prompt, saucy, roguish and impetuous lad, showy and ostentatious, possessing a mind naturally strong, and certainly singular, rash, headstrong and regardless alike of friends and foes.

As a youngster, Arnold ran away to serve in the French War of 1756, but was promptly returned at the request of his parents. It is said, though the truth of the statement is open to question, that he made a second attempt, and succeeded in passing some dreary months of inactivity in barracks at Ticonderoga. This was so little to his taste that he deserted and returned home, where he was kindly secreted from the King’s officers by his fellow-townsmen. He was then only about sixteen years of age.

Arnold’s mother’s name was Hannah Waterman, and her family was worthy and influential. It was her interest, no doubt, which secured her son’s apprefiticeship to the trade of apothecary with her relatives, Drs. Daniel and Joshua Lothrop, both graduates of Yale College, and the leading importers of drugs in New England. Having served his apprenticeship, he made several voyages to the West Indies as super-cargo of a vessel in which he was interested, and then upon returning from a journey to London, he hung out his sign at New Haven, B. Arnold, druggist, bookseller, etc. From London.

Under the patronage of the Lothrops, Arnold seems to have carried on business successfully. From 1768 to 1773, we find him still living at New Haven, a trader with the West Indies, Martinique, Jamaica, St. Croix and St. Eustache; sometimes sailing his own ships, transporting horses and cattle, as well as merchandise; and we may note, having business connections and correspondents in Montreal and Quebec, which cities he visited personally on more than one occasion. He had experienced business reverses and gone into bankruptcy, from which we are told he did not emerge very creditably, though it does not appear that he made money by the operation, or seriously damaged his reputation. By the time the Revolution broke out he had rallied and was doing a good business. He had repurchased for three hundred pounds the family homestead of Dr. Lothrop, who had bought it from his father for ten pounds, and there is a sworn appraisal of his property at the opening of the Revolution at about twelve thousand dollars.

In 1775 his military ambitions had not left him, and he had become the popular young captain of one of the two companies of Governor’s Guards, the crack militia organization of Connecticut. He appears as a man of sensitive pride and temper, full of self-confidence, of force - therefore with enemies - and enjoying respect and local favor in a considerable degree. That he was generous and thoughtful of others is witnessed even by his detractors.

He had married, in New Haven, Miss Margaret Mansfield, the accomplished daughter of Samuel Mansfield, high-sheriff of the county, by whom he had three children; but at this time he was a widower. An only sister, Hannah Arnold, who was devoted to him, was in charge of his household.

He was rather short in stature, thickset and very muscular, and of good figure. He was a decided favorite with women and enjoyed their society. He had dark hair, light eyes, a florid complexion and features which might fairly be called handsome. He was an excellent horseman, no mean sailor, and a splendid shot with either rifle or pistol. His skill with the latter had stood him in good stead on the dueling-ground, and was destined to save his life once, at least, in close quarters on the battlefield.

News of the battle fought at Lexington on the 19th of April reached New Haven by midday of the 20th. Arnold and his company assembled and, joined by some enthusiastic students from Yale College, made a demand on the selectmen for powder, so that they might set off at once for Cambridge. This request being refused for lack of orders from the colonial authorities, Arnold did not hesitate; he forced the selectmen to deliver the keys, opened the powderhouse and marched for Cambridge with a full complement, arriving there with one of the best-drilled, best-equipped and best-uniformed companies which the little army could boast.

Such a leader, so announced, would have been likely to attract attention, even if less self-confident, and Arnold was never a laggard in the path of ambition. On April 30, a few days after his arrival at Cambridge, he wrote to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, urging an expedition to capture Ticonderoga, Crown Point and Montreal. On May 3, so well did he bespeak his cause, we find him receiving a colonel’s commission, and departing for western Massachusetts, there to raise the levies for the undertaking.

The same idea had meanwhile been conceived by Ethan Allen, who was in command of the militia companies of Vermont, and by some of the leading men of Hartford, who had raised a company and hurried it forward to cooperate with Colonel Allen, already on the march. On arriving at Stockbridge, therefore, Arnold found himself forestalled, and without waiting to recruit the levies he was authorized to raise, he hurried forward in order that he might not himself miss the stirring events which were at hand.

Perhaps he relied on his regular commission from Massachusetts to supersede the zealous Vermonter in his command. But Allen proved to be a man too much after his own