Benedict Arnold
Part 3

The Battle of Valcour Island

by J. Michael Flynn, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

The news of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 was greeted with jubilation and celebration. But the new Americans were completely unaware that the real situation was far more grave than the celebrations and snubbing of the nose at fat George implied. The Declaration was in a sense a propaganda coup of sorts — a means of maintaining a brave front while terrified of the unknown on all sides.

The truth was more somber. In the north the Patriot army was in retreat wracked by smallpox and threatened by a fresh British army, composed of ten thousand British Redcoats, two thousands German Hessians, seven hundred British sailors from their fleet, and four thousand Indians, bent on invasion.

This British army came well prepared to invade a wilderness in which waterways substituted for roads. To overcome this problem the British brought from England twenty-five prefabricated ships along with the necessary craftsmen for their assembly. This was a serious army with its own fleet and mission. But it was only one part of the grand British plan.

British Invasion

In July of 1776 four hundred and seventy-nine British ships carrying their main invasion force — thirty-four thousand British Redcoats and German Hessians, commanded by under General Howe arrived in New York. British plans called for this army to secure the strategic city and then march north to link up with the northern force driving down from Canada. In doing so rebellious New England would be separated from the other colonies, and having divided the colonies, conquer them in detail, ending the rebellion in 1776.

On July 7 at Crown Point an American council of war was held under the direction of General Philip Schuyler as Commander of the Northern Army was the senior officer present Gates and Arnold were also present. The pressing concern for the council was to formulate a means of delaying the British and giving the Americans time to strengthen the northern defenses, rebuild Fort Ticonderoga, recruit a new army, and for Congress to finalize its negotiations with the French for more support.

Arnold argued that the only practical hope of stopping the prevent an invasion that year would be to delay the British northern forces southern advance until cold weather forced the British into winter quarters. The place to do this he submitted was on Lakes Champlain and George. Schuyler, Gates and the others had no alternatives themselves and so they grabbed on to Arnold's idea with enthusiasm. The proposal to build a fleet and meet the British to was as welcome as a breath of air in a vacuum.

Arnold, when questioned by his seniors on the practicality of building boats or ships with which to challenge the British, was able to answer that he had already designed and built three boats with two more under construction But bigger ships would be needed and he would need the Northern Army's Command support to build them. What he needed would be one large ship and eighteen armed supporting vessels. Schuyler and Gates accepted the plan and promised Arnold the thousand workers for construction and nine hundred experienced sailors to man them he requested. They appointed Arnold "Commander of the Lakes "reporting to Gates. General Gates wrote Congress that "General Arnold, who is perfectly skilled in maritime affairs, has notably undertaken to command our fleet upon the lakes. With indefinite satisfaction, I have committed the whole of that department to his care, convinced he will thereby add to that brilliant reputation he has so deservedly gained".

The letter was perfectly in character for Gates — an effusively praising note that also placed the entire responsibility on Arnold should something go wrong. Arnold however was oblivious to Gates' unctuousness. With the wholehearted support of Schuyler, he set about building his ships. Schuyler, who was an important man in Albany before the war, made things appear as if by magic. With a quiet word or a hasty note from the commander, canvas for sails, ropes and pulleys for rigging , and everything essential for a fleet were procured. Congress, finally awake to the threat opened its purse strings and had fifty ship's carpenters recruited and sent north from Rhode Island each to be paid five dollars a day and in hard money.

Yet the man on the spot, the project manager solely responsible for the outcome was Benedict Arnold. Arnold designed most of the ships. Some were flat hulled, fifty to sixty feet long and fifteen wide armed with a twelve pounder plus two nine pounder cannons. Others were seventy two foot galleys propelled with oars each with six to twelve cannon. These boat were constructed using fresh cut green wood almost impossible to work with as drying under construction it changed shape. It is surprising that even in Philadelphia Congress did not hear the curses of the professional Rhode Island ship carpenters. The logistics of the undertaking was awe inspiring as crews, powder, shot, food, tools, clothes, had to reach to the very end of a tenuous supply line.

Controversy

Amidst this staggering effort, with the fate of the nascent nation in the balance, controversy once again dogged Arnold. During the earlier retreat from Canada, Arnold had stripped anything useful from the British and their Tories. This booty he shipped south and later found much of it had been lost though negligence. Reporting this affair and naming the individual he felt responsible for the loss he had continued with the job at hand. The table was turned when Arnold was brought to a court martial as the guilty party by the man he reported as responsible for the loss. It was an acrimonious affair. When Court Martial Board refused to hear the principal witness for his defense, Arnold challenged the entire Board to a duel. Gates, recognizing priorities that a little lost booty was not worth a lost nation, avoided the problem by dissolving the Board and sent Arnold back to assembling his fleet.

In all likelihood Gates was probably acting on Schuyler's orders. Gates was, by nature, incapable of a decision of this magnitude. Called "Granny Gates" by his men, the general was a bureaucratic ex-Bntish officer of the type that in going to the latrine likely as not would leave before he could decide to stand or squat unless someone absolved him of the decision.

The boat, ship, and, barge assembly went on on both sides. Utilizing a propaganda opportunity Arnold leaked to newspapers the intense ship building efforts of the Americans. This caused the cautious Carleton to order even more vessels built and caused a further four week delay in the British sailing. In late September, with the promise of frost in the air, Arnold put his fleet to sea. As his flagship he chose the Royal Savage a twelve gun four hundred ton schooner. Joining he fleet were two additional schooners the Revenge (eight cannon), the Enterprise (eight guns), the ten gun sloop the Enterprise. and six gondolas with a total of fifty five guns. As October began this tiny fleet was joined by six more vessels and Arnold was able to transfer his flag to the galley Congress.

British Force

The British force opposing Arnold consisted of ten thousand men, thirty ships, and, two hundred bateaux. Two British ships deserve special notice. The first, Inflexible mounted six eighteen pounders per side and by itself was capable of destroying the Rebel fleet. The second vessel, aptly named , Thunderer was 105 feet long and carried six twenty four pounders, six twelve pounders, and, two eight inch howitzers. By inland waterway standards, Thunderer was a siege machine of awesome power. In early October the British fleet, accompanied by a further 27 thirty foot gun boats each armed with a twenty four pounder cannon, set sail.

On Lake Champlain Inflexible was in modern day parlance at least the equivalent of a cruiser, the Thunderer, a battleship, while Arnold's ships were no larger than destroyers or PT-boats. To give some relationship as to the strength of the opposing fleets one author estimated a British fleet volley of twelve hundred pounds to which the Americans could respond with a mere 600 pounds. Arnold was in sole command and it was to be one of his finest battles. His first order was to position his fleet between Valcour Island and the west shore of Lake Champlain in a narrow channel which would allow only one enemy ship at a time to attack as it came up the channel. He ordered his smaller boats to dart out once the British attacked, fire and then return behind the screen of his larger vessels to reload and repeat the process. The British with the wind behind them on October 11th sailed quickly south past Arnold's undetected trap. Arnold then sent out two ships as bait to draw the British closer.

Within minutes of sighting the Rebel vessels the monster of the lake the Inflexible had damaged Royal Savage to such an extent she had to run aground and was abandoned.

The first British ship into the trap was their command ship Maria carrying Governor General Carlton, his brother and, Commodore Pringle the naval commander, The British captain of the Maria, recorded that Arnold himself aimed and fired the eighteen pound shot which flew between Carlton and his brother. The concussion caused Carlton's brother to fall unconscious with blood flowing out of his ears. Commodore Pringle instructed his captain to retire two miles aft where Maria would remain throughout the battle. Thunderer lived up to it's name that day. By laying off shore and out of range of the American guns it accurately lobbed shells onto Arnold's line of vessels inflicting horrendous damage to the little fleet.

Battle

The battle lasted seven hours until darkness closed it down. Assembling his captains Arnold learned that all his ships were damaged, there were sixty dead, and only one quarter of his powder left. Arnold then outlined his plan for escape. During the night the American vessels would move in single file between the British ships which Pringle had moved offshore for their blockade. Protected by fog and muffled oars Arnold's ships made it past the unwary British. Pringle, finding Arnold gone the following morning, ordered his fleet north believing Arnold was intent on destroying his unprotected base. Not till noon two days later were the remnants of Arnold's fleet discovered sailing south.

By October 13th Pringle and his fleet had again come within range and the battle continued. Surrounded by seven British ships Arnold and another of his ships stayed back engaging the enemy to buy time for the other vessels to escape. It was a five hour running fight. Finally, while still ten miles from Crown Point Arnold sailed and rowed into a bay so shallow the British ships could not follow. Here he burned his vessel and flag then he and his men disappeared into the forest.

Carlton with his fleet continued to approach Fort Ticonderoga then, perhaps thinking destroying the American fleet was enough of an accomplishment for the year, gave the order to return to Canada and put the into winter quarters. A century later, American admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, author of The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. 1600-1783 would write of this engagement:

    "The little American navy on Champlain was wiped out; but never had any force, big or small lived to better purpose or died more gloriously; for it had saved the Lake for that year."

And was that not the objective Arnold set to accomplish when he first proposed the building of the Lake fleet? The American's lost their fleet but the British lost a year.

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