Benedict Arnold in the Company of Heroes: The Lives of the Extraordinary Patriots Who Followed Arnold to Canada at the Start of the American Revolution

By Arthur S. Lefkowitz

This “gripping” history recounts the lives of American patriots who were a part of Arnold’s failed Canadian invasion during the Revolutionary War (Thomas Fleming, author of Liberty! The American Revolution).
 
Hundreds of men followed Col. Benedict Arnold in an expedition to capture Quebec in 1775. After Arnold was wounded, his troops found themselves outnumbered and trapped inside the city. Award-winning author and Revolutionary-era historian, Arthur S. Lefkowitz takes a close look at some of the brave veterans who fought in Arnold’s failed campaign and explores the extraordinary lives they led afterward.
 
In Benedict Arnold in the Company of Heroes, Lefkowitz paints vividly detailed portraits of early American patriots who continued their fight for independence after Arnold’s campaign. Some of the men portrayed include Charles Porterfield (who led troops at Brandwine); Daniel Morgan (the hero of Cowpens); Henry Dearborn and Timothy Bigelow (who fought alongside Arnold at Saratoga); Christian Febiger and Return Jonathan Meigs (who were at the forefront of the attack on Stony Point); Simeon Thayer (who refused to surrender at Fort Mifflin); and Col. Aaron Burr (whose wartime record was overshadowed by his later political career and duel with Alexander Hamilton). Benedict Arnold in the Company of Heroes “will delight readers who are looking for something new about the War of Independence” (John Ferling, author of Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jan 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781611211122

Book preview

Chapter One

The Patriotism of Benedict Arnold

We … do Associate under all the ties of religion, honour, and love to our Country, to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatever measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress … for the purpose of preserving our Constitution [English law] and opposing the execution of the several arbitrary and oppressive acts of the British Parliament.

— From Benedict Arnold's Declaration of Principles dated Crown Point, 15th June, 1775¹

The American Revolution lasted for eight years (1775-1783) and, for the first five years of the war, Benedict Arnold was seemingly a staunch patriot and probably the best combat officer in the Continental Army. In 1780, Arnold defected to the British, and his change from patriot to traitor is one of the most compelling narratives in American history. Various explanations have been offered to account for Arnold's transformation, which include his need for money, the influence of his wife, his disillusionment with the patriot cause, and the entry of France into the war on behalf of the Americans. Arnold called the French the enemy of the Protestant faith and maintained that, while the Court of Versailles advocated an affection for the liberties of mankind, she holds her native sons in vassalage [i.e., serfdom] and chains.²

Some of these factors may have influenced him, but I believe that Benedict Arnold turned to treason as revenge against his fellow countrymen who had been working to humiliate him since the start of the war. While it is true that Arnold had numerous powerful enemies within the patriot movement, the cause of their hostility was often his own belligerent behavior. In fact, Arnold had been heedlessly destroying his military career ever since the start of the war, due to his lack of diplomacy, neglect in cultivating influential friends in government, and belief that he was smarter than most of the people around him.

As the Revolutionary War progressed, Arnold's arrogance caused his list of enemies to grow. By the fifth year of the war (1780), he was an angry and vindictive man, and, with the encouragement of his 19-year-old wife, resorted to treason to get even. His plan was spectacular in its potential to damage the patriot cause. Arnold used his goodwill with George Washington to obtain command of the strategic American fortress of West Point, with the intent to deliver the stronghold to the enemy in exchange for money and a commission as a British general. When Arnold's treachery was accidentally discovered on September 25, 1780, he managed to reach safety just ahead of the American troops who had been sent to arrest him for treason. He escaped by boarding the ironically named Royal Navy ship Vulture that was anchored in the Hudson River.

There is a trend today to treat Arnold sympathetically. His supporters point out that his exploits as an American officer, prior to his treason, were significant. Also, despite his victories on the battlefield and being twice wounded in combat, Arnold was ignored or passed over for promotion by Congress. The alliance between France and the United States had not altered the course of the war, which was dragging on as the British made inroads in the Southern colonies. With the possibility of a negotiated peace to end the war, Arnold may have believed that he had a more promising future in the British rather than the Continental Army.

However, while Arnold's anger may have been partially justified, his treason was reprehensible. It came at a time when American morale was probably at its lowest point in the eight-year conflict. Devastating events just prior to Arnold's intrigue included the surrender of Charleston in May 1780 to General Sir Henry Clinton, with the loss of over 3,000 patriot troops; the defeat of General Horatio Gates by Lord Cornwallis in August of that same year at the Battle of Camden, which gave the British control of South Carolina and threatened North Carolina; the failure of the French to commit their army to the war; growing pessimism; and runaway inflation, exhausted credit, and an American economy teetering on the verge of collapse. Had Arnold's sinister plot succeeded, it might have been the crippling blow that would have ended the war with a negotiated settlement unfavorable to the Americans.

The origin of Arnold's belligerent behavior can be traced all the way back to his formative years. It may have started when his father's humiliating bankruptcy and drinking forced young Benedict to leave school at the age of fourteen to become an apprentice in his uncle's apothecary and general merchandise business. It was under these circumstances that he apparently acquired some of those qualities (industry, sharp wits, belligerence, and an authoritarian attitude) that allowed him to rise rapidly from a lowly apprentice to a wealthy and socially prominent merchant and shipowner in New Haven, Connecticut. Sometimes he took personal command of one of his merchant ships, sailing it to the West Indies or Quebec, where he sold horses. As a business owner and ship's captain, Arnold became accustomed to making decisions, giving orders, and expecting to be obeyed without question.³

With the newly acquired wealth from his business and borrowing on credit, Arnold built a mansion overlooking New Haven's harbor.⁴ It was one of the largest and most beautiful houses in the town. He also indulged in wearing bespoke (custom-made) clothing and expensive shoes to gratify his enormous ego and flaunt his success.⁵ Business was complicated in colonial America, and it took a smart, quick-witted person to be successful. Arnold's rise to wealth is particularly impressive considering that he began his career as a destitute apprentice.

Although Arnold was a man of vast ambition, he apparently never sought public office or made an effort to cultivate the friendship of influential politicians. In fact, other than his fellow Connecticut merchant Silas Deane, who was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Arnold had no powerful friends in public office to speak out on his behalf. Even Deane's support was short-lived as a result of his failure to be re-elected to Congress at the end of 1775. Deane was next sent on a secret mission to France, leaving Arnold vulnerable to wild accusations about his character and military record.

Besides Deane, Arnold enjoyed the wartime friendship of Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler, the commander of the patriots' Northern Army during the opening years of the war. Schuyler was a man of great wealth, enviable family background, education, and military experience. He was one of the few men whom Arnold recognized as his superior and, with their common interests in business and military affairs, the two men got along famously. However, Schuyler's army career was sabotaged by the hostility of the New England troops and government functionaries who despised his wealth and aloof character. Arnold's alliance with Schuyler eventually became a liability.

Arnold was also admired for his courage and aggressiveness by George Washington, the most powerful and savvy political player of the era. However, Washington was too experienced a politician to risk his own reputation by getting involved in his hot-headed subordinate's altercations. Where Arnold was headstrong and confrontational, Washington was impassionate and respectful. He methodically built and maintained a cadre of influential friends in Congress and state governments to defend him against his critics. Washington also refused to take the handsome salary that was offered to him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. His famous statement that no pecuniary [financial] consideration could have tempted me to have accepted this Arduous emploiment [sic] … was viewed as a genuine act of patriotism, and protected him from any criticism of trying to profit from the war.⁶ While many other American officers insisted on being paid their salary, allowances, and immediate reimbursement of expenses, Arnold in particular gained a reputation as a money-hungry crook. With few friends in government to dispute the outrageous stories spread by his enemies, Arnold was viewed as introducing a series of extravagant charges in his own favor and robbing that very public, which, under the guise of a hypocritical patriotism, he pretended to serve from disinterested motives, and at a great sacrifice.⁷

The concept of honor, or what we would today call reputation, is another important factor in understanding Arnold's personality. His full name was Benedict Arnold V, and his namesakes had been among the wealthiest and most respected men in New England.⁸ While every officer and gentleman was concerned with protecting his honor, Arnold seemed obsessed with restoring his family's good name and reputation, and the slightest affront to his character elicited a hot-tempered response.

At the start of the American Revolution in 1775, Benedict Arnold was 34 years old and married (1767) to the former Margaret Mansfield. They had three children, all boys, named Benedict VI (born 1768), Richard (1769), and Henry (1772). Arnold was of medium height, with a muscular, robust body. Dr. Benjamin Rush described him as low [short] but well made, with a handsome face.⁹ He had dark hair and a swarthy complexion, but his most-mentioned physical features were his hawk-like nose and black, penetrating eyes.

Arnold's business connections in the West Indies served him well as the American colonists prepared to defend themselves from what they saw as a regular, systematic plan of oppression by the British government to fix the shackles of slavery upon them.¹⁰ The Dutch island of St. Eustatius, for example, was a major source for the European-made weapons, tents, blankets, gunpowder, etc., which were offered for sale to Americans by shrewd importers. Arnold's skill at negotiating the purchase of weapons in the islands and his high standing back home got him elected (March 15, 1775) as the captain and senior officer in the 2nd Connecticut Foot Guards, a New Haven militia company.¹¹ Arnold was typical of the 65 men who joined the unit: young, affluent, and passionate in their belief that England, like Rome in its decline, had fallen from being the nursery of heroes, to become the residence of musicians, pimps, panderers and catamites.¹²

Captain Arnold's militia company had the money to hire a British Army deserter named Edward Burke to teach its members how to maneuver as a detachment and load and fire their weapons in formation. Like other militia companies throughout New England, the 2nd Connecticut Foot Guards were preparing to fight to preserve their hard-won liberties should the British troops stationed in nearby Boston attempt any hostile acts. The militia system dated from the time of the establishment of the colonies. With few British troops to defend them against the French, Spanish, and Indians, the colonists had revived the medieval system of armed citizens who could be called out in a military emergency. It is ironic that the system of colonial self-defense, which had been encouraged by the British government, was turned against it, especially during the opening months of the American Revolution.

British troops had occupied Boston since mid-1774 following the so-called Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773) and the closing of the port of Boston in retribution. Massachusetts was also placed under martial law, with British Army units periodically marching into the countryside to flex their authority. However, the British regiments in Boston were not facing a London mob brandishing clubs and pitchforks, but armed and well-organized militia companies led by officers with combat experience from the French & Indian War.

Massachusetts was a powder keg of pent-up anger, which exploded into armed rebellion on April 19, 1775, when a column of British troops under the command of Lt. Col. William Smith marched 16 miles from Boston out into the countryside to the village of Concord to destroy military equipment being gathered there by the Massachusetts militia. In one of history's most pivotal events, the local militia turned out in force to repel the Redcoats' incursion. The first shots were exchanged in the village of Lexington, and the fighting intensified throughout the day as scores of additional militia companies arrived on the scene. By late afternoon the colonial militia was engaged in a running battle with Smith's column along the road back to Boston. The British had to rush reinforcements and artillery to the scene to prevent a massacre. The day-long event, which became known as the Lexington Alarm, ended with the Redcoats staggering back into Boston, feeling lucky to be alive.

A courier arrived in New Haven on the afternoon of April 21 shouting, To arms, to arms, the war has begun! and carrying a hastily written account of the Lexington Alarm.¹³ The Foot Guards eagerly gathered on New Haven's village green the following day, determined to march to Boston for the relief of our brethren and defense of their as well as our just rights and privileges.¹⁴ Passions ran high as some students from Yale College joined their ranks and, with Captain Arnold in the lead, seized additional weapons and gunpowder from the town's magazine.¹⁵ After listening to some fiery speeches and sermons, the Foot Guards' field musicians (on fifes and drums) struck up a lively tune as they set out for Boston, to the hallooing (shouting) and cheering of the local patriots. En route, each man signed articles of agreement drafted by Silas Deane asserting that they were not mercenaries … wading through the blood of their countrymen; but men acquainted with, and feeling the most generous fondness for the liberties and unalienable rights of mankind.¹⁶

The organizational structure of the rebels following the Lexington Alarm was confusing. Boston was held by the British Army under the command of Gen. Thomas Gage. The rest of Massachusetts was controlled by the insurgents, whose extralegal governing body was called the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. This assembly delegated the Massachusetts Committee of Safety to administer the day-to-day operations of the Provincial Army of Observation, the name given to the militia force from the various New England colonies that gathered outside Boston following the Lexington Alarm. Cooperation between the colonies during these opening weeks of the war was enthusiastic but voluntary. Each colony had its own civilian government, militia organization, and committees involved in the insurrection. Adding to the excitement of the time was a so-called rage militaire that was sweeping the colonies: the romantic idea of soldiering for a noble cause. Many young men marched to Boston with their militia companies eager for a chance to fight in an uprising that was expected to last only a few months. Besides defending their liberties, status-conscious Americans such as Benedict Arnold viewed service as an officer in the insurrection as a means of gaining upward mobility and prestige in their communities.

The Provincial Army of Observation, headquartered in the town of Cambridge near Boston, was being supplied by the fervent efforts of Massachusetts and her neighboring colonies. Delegates from all the colonies had gathered the previous year (1774) in Philadelphia in the First Continental Congress to discuss the political situation in America, and had sent petitions to the King and his government summarizing their grievances. A Second Continental Congress was planned for Philadelphia. However, it too was voluntary, a gathering of the colonies with no authority to raise or direct an army. The outbreak of fighting in Massachusetts on April 19, 1775, occurred prior to the opening of the Second Continental Congress, which was scheduled to convene in mid-May. With a New England militia presence building outside Boston, many influential colonists advocated for assertive military action, while others counseled calm and respectful negotiations with the King and his government.

Captain Arnold and his Connecticut militia company marched into this imbroglio on April 29, 1775. The American Revolution was ten days old when Arnold and his Foot Guards joined other New England militia companies under the loose coordination of the Provincial Army of Observation. Despite the army's impressive name, the rebels were a ragged lot, with few uniforms, little discipline, and a hodgepodge of weapons. The Foot Guards were an exception: they were well-armed and disciplined, with new uniforms consisting of red regimental coats with buff facings (lapels, collars, and cuffs) and white waistcoats (vests) and breeches.¹⁷ There were some other similarly equipped and trained insurgent units in the rebel camp at the time, but Arnold's company was one of the most impressive.

After arriving at Cambridge, Arnold devoted his time to finding comfortable quarters for his men. He found billets for them in the abandoned mansion of a Loyalist (as colonists who sided with Britain were called, also known as Tories). Arnold's concern for the welfare of his troops was typical of his command style throughout the war.

After attending to the needs of his men, Arnold turned his attention to the fact that the patriot army needed more and heavier artillery if it was going to force the British out of Boston. He had been told by his pre-war business friends in Quebec that there was a stockpile of ordnance and other valuable military equipment at Fort Ticonderoga, the fortress guarding the strategic passage between Lake George and Lake Champlain in upper New York. Arnold had no combat experience or fluency in logistics (the planning and carrying out of the movement and maintenance of forces) and he probably had never seen Fort Ticonderoga, but that did not prevent him from proposing that he lead a detachment to surprise the fort's rumored small, superannuated (i.e., ineffective because of advanced age) garrison and seize its valuable artillery. Quick action was critical because the fortress was expected to be reinforced by British troops from Canada following the news of the Lexington Alarm.

Some additional information about Fort Ticonderoga and upper New York is appropriate here, since the region was the scene of some of the major events in this narrative. Fort Ticonderoga was originally built in the 1750s by the French (they called it Fort Carillon) to protect Canada from a British invasion moving north from Albany across Lake George and Lake Champlain and aimed at the cities of Montreal and Quebec. The British countered by building Fort William Henry on the southern end of Lake George to defend New York and New England from a French incursion; it was subsequently destroyed by the French during the French & Indian War. The situation changed when the British annexed Canada under the treaty ending the French & Indian War. The Lake George and Lake Champlain forts had virtually no military value following the French surrender. Thus, Fort Ticonderoga and the other old forts in the region had fallen into ruin by the time of the American Revolution. Sieges, gunpowder explosions, and fires over the years had accelerated their decay. By 1775, Fort Ticonderoga was a lightly garrisoned depot for artillery and other equipment left over from the French & Indian War.

In Cambridge, Benedict Arnold approached Dr. Joseph Warren and other members of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety with the idea of leading a fast-moving expedition to capture derelict Fort Ticonderoga. They must have been impressed with Arnold's acumen and spirit, for they gave him a commission, dated May 3, 1775, appointing him a colonel in the service of Massachusetts, with orders to raise up to 400 men to capture the post, secure it with a garrison, and bring back with you such of the cannon, mortars, stores &c. as you shall judge may be serviceable to the Army here.¹⁸ The speed with which Arnold moved on his idea is demonstrative of his alert mind and aggressive behavior. He arrived in Cambridge on April 29—and he had written orders to seize Fort Ticonderoga four days later. Arnold appointed Eleazer Oswald and Jonathan Brown as his junior officers, ranked as captains, with orders to recruit men in western Massachusetts for his new regiment.¹⁹

Oswald was well-known to Arnold as a fellow New Haven businessman and member of the Foot Guards. Oswald's later adventures would include campaigning with Arnold and serving as an artillery officer in the French Revolution. As one of Arnold's most devoted partisans, Oswald was a key person in the story that follows. In modern parlance, Oswald was Arnold's sidekick.

Brown's appointment as one of Arnold's officers represented a very different situation. He was a 51-year-old resident of Watertown, Massachusetts, with combat experience as a Provincial captain in the French & Indian War. Brown was also active in pre-war Massachusetts politics, and his military background was put to good use by the colony's Committee of Safety, which sought his advice on a variety of military subjects. Brown was probably appointed as one of Arnold's officers at the insistence of the Committee of Safety. Apparently, while they were impressed with Arnold, Warren and his fellow committeemen wanted their own trusted representative on the mission to keep an eye on Arnold, as well as to provide him with a mature person with military experience.²⁰

Arnold's orders specified that he was to recruit men for his expedition in western Massachusetts and the neighbouring Colonies.²¹ He probably left Cambridge and rode toward the western part of the colony accompanied by Brown and Oswald. At some point they split up, with Arnold riding ahead to gather intelligence on the situation at Fort Ticonderoga while his officers fanned out to recruit men. What happened next turned out to be Arnold's first military campaign. The story is worth describing in detail, as it illustrates Arnold's aggressive personality and how he managed to alienate people in record time. Just as compelling is the observation that Arnold apparently lacked the introspection to learn from the incident and see how his confrontational and abusive manner undermined his military career. Here is the story of Arnold's first military campaign, the capture of Fort Ticonderoga.

Unknown to Colonel Arnold as he rode west from Cambridge, the Connecticut Committee of Safety, acting without authorization from the colony's conservative legislature, had organized its own expedition to capture Fort Ticonderoga. The fact that both Massachusetts and Connecticut had launched uncoordinated campaigns to seize the fort is typical of the disorganization of the patriot movement's disorganization during the opening months of the war. Additionally, Fort Ticonderoga was located in New York, and that colony naturally had an interest in its fate. In fact, at least six political bodies could claim jurisdiction over the fortress: the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, the Connecticut General Assembly, the Connecticut Committee of Correspondence, the Albany Committee of Correspondence, and the New York Committee of Safety.²²

Realizing that speed was essential to capture Fort Ticonderoga, the Connecticut firebrands drew money from their colony's treasury to finance their expedition and appointed a local militia captain, Edward Mott, to command it. Mott, in turn, recruited John Brown as one of his officers. At the time of his appointment, Brown was a 31-year-old lawyer practicing in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was educated, politically connected, and a leader in the insurgent movement in western Massachusetts. Following his graduation from Yale in 1771, Brown became a lawyer and a junior officer in the Pittsfield militia. He was appointed as a member of the pre-war Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence with Canada, on whose behalf he successfully carried out an arduous fact-finding journey to Montreal in February and March 1775 to determine the sentiments of the Canadians. He was recommended for the mission by his friend John Adams. Brown had also made inquiries about the situation at Fort Ticonderoga during his Canadian trip, learning that the place was undermanned. Recognizing the strategic importance of the fortress, Brown wrote in his report that [t]he Fort at Ticonderoga must be seized as soon as possible, should hostilities be committed by the King's Troops.²³ Mott also enlisted Brown's friend Colonel James Easton, a Pittsfield tavern owner and commander of the local militia, to help him recruit men for the attack.

Despite their enlistment efforts, Mott, Brown, and Easton knew that they would need more troops quickly if they hoped to take Ticonderoga before it was put on full alert and reinforced with additional troops from Canada. The fastest way to recruit men was to approach a frontier brawler and land speculator named Ethan Allen, who at the time was in command of a nearby quasi-military force known sympathetically as the Green Mountain Boys.²⁴ Allen and his followers had settled in a region called the Hampshire Grants (modern Vermont) which lay between New York and New Hampshire. New York claimed the territory, calling Allen and his renegade army the Bennington Mob or the Bennington Rioters (after the unofficial capital of the Hampshire Grants) and claiming that they terrorized anyone who dared to dispute their land claims.²⁵

Through advance emissaries, Allen and his rowdy cohorts agreed to join Mott's expedition. However, upon Mott's arrival at Bennington, and after counting heads, Allen realized that he was supplying the largest number of men to the mission, and demanded to be put in charge. In the spirit of cooperation and realizing that time was of the essence, Mott accepted Allen's arrangement. Besides, it was the long-established custom that the man who commanded the largest number of men was made the leader. Thus the Connecticut-based expedition's plan went forward with Allen as commander-in-chief and Mott, Brown, and Easton designated as his committee-at-war. Mott was officially the head of the committee, but Allen held the power. Despite their pretentious organization and military ranks, the Connecticut-organized expedition had no legitimacy. Not only were its members lacking written orders from any colonial authority, they were also undertaking an offensive operation into a sister colony (New York) which had not sanctioned their action.

One of the first things that Allen did was to set up patrols on the roads in the region to prevent anyone from trying to warn Fort Ticonderoga's garrison of an imminent attack. Another of Allen's measures was to send thirty of his Green Mountain Boys, under the command of Capt. Samuel Herrick, to Skenesboro to take into custody Major Skene and his party, and take possession of all the boats that they should find there and in the night proceed up the Lake to Shoreham.²⁶ Skenesboro was a large estate owned by Philip Skene, a former British Army officer and ardent Loyalist who was in England at the time. There were boats at Skenesboro that Allen needed to transport his men across Lake Champlain. Skene also owned a small schooner (a two-masted sailing vessel) named the Katherine.²⁷

Allen mustered 230 of his followers at Bennington and made a forced march to Lake Champlain, arriving in the town of Shoreham on the east side of the lake across from Fort Ticonderoga. They arrived at Shoreham on the night of May 9, 1775. Allen had excellent, up-to-date intelligence about the situation inside the fort from Noah Phelps, one of Mott's men, who had posed as a farmer and managed to talk his way into the fortress. Phelps returned with an encouraging report that the garrison had no knowledge that fighting had taken place near Boston. Although the isolated fort had been ordered to increase its security months previously, little had been done to defend the place, which lay quiet and peaceful.

However, there was intense military activity across Lake Champlain on the night of May 9 as Allen prepared to attack the fort with hundreds of armed men. The rebels were only waiting for nightfall and the arrival of Herrick's additional boats from Skenesboro to add to the two scows (barges) they had anchored at Hand's Cove, near Shoreham. Allen had a total force of 286 troops poised for the attack, consisting of 230 Green Mountain Boys, 16 volunteers from Connecticut commanded by Edward Mott, and 40 men recruited in the Pittsfield area by James Easton and John Brown.

Arnold was at Nehemiah Smedley's tavern in Williamstown, Massachusetts, on the night of May 8 when he learned that Mott and his men had passed through the village a few days before en route to join Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys in Vermont.²⁸ Arnold realized that their objective had to be Fort Ticonderoga, so he arose early the following morning and rode north into Vermont to find them. He caught up with Mott, Brown, Easton, and some of their men that evening (May 9) in a tavern in Castleton, Vermont, preparing to join Allen, who was a short distance away in Shoreham with the main column. Everything was set for the entire force to cross the lake later that night, to be followed by a pre-dawn surprise attack on Fort Ticonderoga.

A prudent man probably would have understood the situation and offered to help, in a spirit of cooperation. Instead Arnold raced to Shoreham, where he burst into Allen's makeshift headquarters waving his Massachusetts commission and insisting that he was in command. He based his demand upon his commission from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety as a colonel and his written orders to subdue and take possession of the Fort of Ticonderoga.²⁹

Allen recognized the legitimacy of Arnold's commission and orders, but Arnold was accompanied only by a manservant, while Allen had almost 300 armed men ready to attack the fort. The situation required diplomacy and tact—qualities which neither man possessed. After some wrangling, the matter was resolved by Brown, Easton, and the other officers present by recognizing Allen and Arnold as co-commanders. The Green Mountain Boys were unhappy with the arrangement, insisting that they would take orders only from Allen. A mutiny was averted by explaining to them that Arnold's participation gave their mission legal status; but the raucous Green Mountain Boys remained sullen and cynical—an attitude which was aggravated by Arnold's haughty manner.

Meanwhile, the night wore on and the additional boats failed to appear. With just a few hours of darkness left to conceal their movements, Allen and Arnold decided that they would cross the mile-wide lake using their two scows to ferry their troops across the lake in stages. But by 4 a.m. only 80 men were on the New York side. They were hiding on a sandy beach below the fort accompanied by their officers. With daylight fast approaching, the commanders determined that the attack could wait no longer, and they decided to launch their assault with the men they had available. It was at this moment that Arnold decided that he was entitled to have the honor of leading the troops into the fort. Standing on the beach below the fort, he argued the point with Allen, while precious minutes slipped by.

William Gordon, a gossipy raconteur and early chronicler of the war, described the event: [A] dispute took place between the colonels, Arnold became assuming and swore he would go in first, Allen swore he should not. The gentlemen [officers] present interposed, and the matter was accommodated upon the footing that they should go in together.³⁰

Thus the two antagonists advanced side by side at sunrise, with their men following. They reached the main gate of the fort, shoulder to shoulder—only to find it shut. However, the wicket (a small door in the gate of a fortified place, through which men could enter in single file) was open. Apparently Allen went through the door first, because there was a sentry on the other side who fired his musket at him, but the gun failed to go off. Allen said he chased the sentry, who ran deeper into the fort and gave a halloo.³¹ But the rebels swarmed into the fort through the wicket while also scaling the undefended wall on both sides of the gate. There were a few other sentries on duty who, according to Allen, were so surprised, that contrary to expectation they did not fire on us, but fled with precipitancy.³² The interior of the fort consisted of a parade (open area) surrounded by barracks on three sides. The Americans rushed into the buildings and captured the British soldiers they found sleeping there. The entire operation took ten minutes and was a complete success.³³ The fort's garrison was soon revealed to be 42 privates, 24 women and children, and three officers.³⁴

ne of the captives was Lt. Jocelyn Feltham, who later described the attack: I was awakened by a number of shrieks and the words No quarter, no quarter ' [no surrender] from a number of armed rabble. He said that the rebel assault was a complete surprise: I never saw a [British] soldier, tho' I heard a great noise in their rooms and … that they must have been seized in their beds…. When I did see our men they were drawn up [standing in formation] without weapons.

Lieutenant Feltham also commented on the reckless nature of Allen's Green Mountain Boys. Calling them rioters, he said they were constantly landing men from across the lake who … came now to join in the plunder which was most rigidly performed as to liquors, provisions, etc., whether belonging to His Majesty or private property.³⁵

On the following day (May 11), the Green Mountain Boys captured Crown Point (called Fort St. Frédéric by the French) located ten miles north of Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. The rebels easily overwhelmed the dilapidated fort's meager garrison, consisting of one sergeant and 11 common soldiers.

The American Revolution was three weeks old when the patriots captured Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Their attack took place just in time, because Guy Carleton, the royal governor of Canada, had been alerted by General Thomas Gage in Boston to rush reinforcements to Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point from Quebec.³⁶ Troops from the 7th Regiment were about to depart from Montreal when the Governor learned that the King's Lake Champlain forts had been captured by the rebels. Writing to Gage on May 20, 1775, Carleton said that it was impossible to carry out his orders, since one Dominick Arnold and certain Banditti [the Green Mountain Boys] settled on the Borders of the Lakes had seized the fort.³⁷

Carleton's report was among the few accounts which gave Arnold any credit for the capture of Fort Ticonderoga. Arnold's mean-spirited behavior during the brief campaign had alienated him from Allen and his committee of war. Their opportunity for retribution came in their after-action reports and letters, which either failed to mention Arnold's participation in the attack or denounced him as a demagogue. For example, in his report to the Massachusetts authorities announcing his victory, Ethan Allen praised his officers, including James Easton, who behaved with great zeal, and John Brown, who was personally in the attack, but he did not even mention Arnold's name.³⁸

Allen's committee-at-war was even more hostile to Arnold. Its members wrote a scathing letter to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress (Arnold's civilian bosses) requesting his recall. This is to certify, their letter read, that said Arnold refuses to give up his command, which causes much difficulty and … we think that said Arnold's further procedure in this matter highly inexpedient.³⁹ In a separate report, Edward Mott added to the condemnation of Arnold: Colonel Arnold strenuously contended and insisted that he had a right to command them [the troops] and all their officers, which bred such a mutiny among the soldiers which had nearly frustrated our whole design.⁴⁰

John Brown probably inflicted the most damage upon Arnold's fledgling military reputation. Brown was what we would call today