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But it was not in his nature to be idle. Four days after the capture of the fortress, about fifty men, who had been enlisted in compliance with the orders given by him on the road, joined him with two captains at Ticonderoga. These were properly under his command. They came by the way of Skenesborough, and brought forward the schooner taken at that place, which belonged to Major Skene. He manned this vessel, proceeded immediately down the Lake to St. John's, where he surprised the garrison, taking a sergeant and twelve men prisoners, and captured a King's sloop with seven men. After destroying five batteaux, seizing four others, and putting on board some of the valuable stores from the fort, he returned to Ticonderoga. Colonel Allen went upon the same expedition with one hundred and fifty men in batteaux from Crown Point, but, as the batteaux moved with less speed than the schooner, he met Arnold returning about fifteen miles from St. John's.

Thus, within the space of eight days, the once formidable posts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, renowned in former wars, with all their dependencies on Lake Champlain, fell into the hands of the Americans. A reinforcement of more than four hundred British and Canadians very shortly afterwards arrived at St. John's, and it was rumored that water-craft would be brought from Montreal and Chamblee, and an expedition would proceed up the Lake to attack the forts. This gave Arnold an opportunity of separating from Allen. Having some experience in seamanship, he chose to consider himself the commander of the navy on the Lake, consisting of Major Skene's schooner, the King's sloop, and a small flotilla of batteaux. With these he left Ticonderoga and took post at Crown Point, resolved there to make a stand and meet the enemy whenever they should approach. The number of his men was now increased to about one hundred and fifty.

His first care was to arm his vessels, having previously commissioned a captain for each. In the sloop he fixed six carriage guns and twelve swivels, and in the schooner four carriage guns and eight swivels. In compliance with the orders of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, which accompanied his commission, he likewise busied himself in sending off some of the cannon and mortars from Crown Point, with the intention that they should be transported by way of Lake George to the army at Cambridge. Abundant supplies of pork and flour were received from Albany, collected and sent forward by the committee of that town.

While these things were in train, letters were written and messages despatched from Ticonderoga to the legislatures of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Full details of all the proceedings were communicated, in which the conduct of Arnold was set forth in no favorable light. A man's enemies seldom have the acuteness to discover his merits, or the charity to overlook his faults, and are as little disposed to proclaim the former as to conceal the latter. Arnold's presumption and arrogance were themes of censure; his zeal and energy in contributing to effect the main objects of the expedition were passed over unnoticed. These representations by degrees impaired the confidence of the Massachusetts legislature in their colonel, and caused them to regard with indifference his complaints and demands.

Another reason, also, operated to the same end. When it was known that Connecticut had gone foremost in the enterprise, and when the doubtful issue of so bold a step was more calmly considered, the government of Massachusetts seemed not reluctant to relinquish both the honor and charge of maintaining the conquered posts. It was finally agreed between the parties, and approved by the Continental Congress, that Connecticut should send up troops, and an officer to take the general command, and that such forces as were on the spot from Massachusetts, or as might afterwards be enlisted for that service, should be under the same officer.

Arnold sent a messenger to Montreal and Caghnawaga, for the purpose of ascertaining the designs of the Canadians and Indians, and the actual force of General Carleton. About the middle of June he wrote to the Continental Congress, communicating all the facts he had obtained, and expressing a conviction that the whole of Canada might be taken with two thousand men. He even proposed a general plan of operations, and offered to head the expedition and be responsible for consequences. It seems he was personally acquainted with the country, and had several friends in Montreal and Quebec, which places he had probably visited in prosecuting his mercantile affairs. Certain persons in Montreal, he said, had agreed to open the gates, as soon as an American force should appear before the city; and he added, that General Carleton had under his command only five hundred and fifty effective men, who were scattered at different posts. Such were his representations, and they were, doubtless, nearly accurate; but Congress were not yet prepared to second his views or approve his counsels.

In the mean time the legislature of Massachusetts delegated three of their number as a committee to proceed to Lake Champlain, and inquire into the state of affairs in that quarter. The members of this committee were instructed to ascertain in what manner Colonel Arnold had executed his commission, and, after acquainting themselves with his "spirit, capacity, and conduct," they were authorized, should they think proper, to order his immediate return to Massachusetts, that he might render an account of the money, ammunition, and stores, which he had received, and of the debts he had contracted in behalf of the colony. If he remained, he was in any event to be subordinate to Colonel Hinman, the commanding officer from Connecticut. The committee were likewise empowered to regulate other matters, relating to the supplies and arrangements of the Massachusetts troops.

They found Colonel Arnold at Crown Point, acting in the double capacity of commandant of the fortress and admiral of his little fleet, consisting of the armed sloop, schooner, and batteaux, which he had contrived to keep together at that place. At his request, they laid before him a copy of their instructions. It may easily be imagined in what manner these would affect such a temperament as that of Arnold. He was exceedingly indignant, and complained of being treated with injustice and disrespect, in which he was perhaps not entirely in the wrong. He said that he had omitted no efforts to comply with the intentions of the Committee of Safety, signified in their commission to him; that an order to inquire into his conduct, when no charge had been exhibited against him, was unprecedented; that the assumption to judge of his capacity and spirit was an indignity; that this point ought to have been decided before they honored him with their confidence; that he had already paid out of his own pocket for the public service more than one hundred pounds, and contracted debts on his personal credit in procuring necessaries for the army, which he was bound to pay, or leave the post with dishonor; and finally, that he would not submit to the degradation of being superseded by a junior officer. After he had thus enumerated his grievances, and his warmth had a little subsided, he wrote to the committee a formal letter of resignation.

Having nothing more to do on the frontiers. Arnold made haste back to Cambridge, where he arrived early in July, uttering audible murmurs of discontent, and complaints of ill treatment against the legislature of Massachusetts. His accounts were allowed and settled, although, if we may judge from the journals, some of his drafts presented from time to time by the holders were met with a reluctance, which indicated doubt and suspicion.

Expedition through the Wilderness to Quebec.

Arnold was now unemployed, but a project was soon set on foot suited to his genius and capacity. General Washington had taken command of the army at Cambridge. The Continental Congress had resolved that an incursion into Canada should be made by the troops under General Schuyler. To facilitate this object, a plan was devised about the middle of August, by the Commander-in-chief and several members of Congress then on a visit to the army during an adjournment of that body, to send an expedition to Quebec through the eastern wilderness, by way of the Kennebec River, which should eventually cooperate with the other party, or cause a diversion of the enemy, that would be favorable to its movements. Arnold was selected to be the conductor of this expedition, and he received from Washington a commission of colonel in the Continental service. The enterprise was bold and perilous, encompassed with untried difficulties, and not less hazardous in its execution, than uncertain as to its results. These features, repelling as they were in themselves, appeared attractive in the eyes of a man, whose aliment was glory, and whose spirit was sanguine, restless, and daring. About eleven hundred effective men were detached and put under his command, being ten companies of musketmen from New England, and three companies of riflemen from Virginia and Pennsylvania. The field-officers, in addition to the chief, were Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Greene, afterwards the hero of Red Bank, Lieutenant-Colonel Roger Enos, and Majors Bigelow and Meigs. At the head of the riflemen was Captain Daniel Morgan, renowned in the subsequent annals of the war.

These troops marched from Cambridge to Newburyport, where they embarked on board eleven transports, September 18th, and sailed the next day for the Kennebec River. Three small boats were previously despatched down the coast, to ascertain if any of the enemy's ships of war or cruisers were in sight. At the end of two days after leaving Newbury port, all the transports had entered the Kennebec, and sailed up the river to the town of Gardiner, without any material accident. Two or three of them had grounded in shoal water, but they were got off uninjured. A company of carpenters had been sent from Cambridge, several days before the detachment left that place, with orders to construct two hundred batteaux at Pittston, on the bank of the river opposite to Gardiner. These were now in readiness, and the men and provisions were transferred to them from the shipping. They all rendezvoused a few miles higher up the river at Fort Western, opposite to the present town of Augusta.

Here the hard struggles, sufferings, and dangers were to begin. Eleven hundred men, with arms, ammunition, and all the apparatus of war, burthened with the provisions for their sustenance and clothing to protect them from the inclemencies of the weather, were to pass through a region uninhabited, wild, and desolate, forcing their batteaux against a swift current, and carrying them and their contents on their own shoulders around rapids and cataracts, over craggy precipices, and through morasses, till they should reach the French settlements on the Canada frontiers, a distance of more than two hundred miles.

The commander was not ignorant of the obstacles with which he had to contend. Colonel Montresor, an officer in the British army, had passed over the same route fifteen years before, and written a journal of his tour, an imperfect copy of which had fallen into the hands of Arnold. The remarks of Montresor afforded valuable hints. He came from Quebec, ascending the Rivers Chaudi?re and Des Loups, crossing the highlands near the head-waters of the Penobscot, pursuing his way through Moosehead Lake, and entering the Kennebec by its eastern branch. He returned up the western branch, or Dead River, and through Lake Megantic into the Chaudi?re. This latter route was to be pursued by the expedition. Intelligence had likewise been derived from several St. Francis Indians, who had recently visited Washington's camp, and who were familiar with these interior regions. Two persons had been secretly despatched towards Quebec as an exploring party, from whom Arnold received a communication at Fort Western. They had proceeded no farther than the headwaters of the Dead River, being deterred by the extravagant tales of Natanis, called "the last of the Norridgewocks," who had a cabin in that quarter, and who was then probably in the interest of the enemy, though he joined the Americans in their march. Colonel Arnold had moreover been furnished with a manuscript map and a journal by Mr. Samuel Goodwin of Pownalborough, who had been a resident and surveyor in the Kennebec country for twenty-five years.

From these sources of information Colonel Arnold was as well prepared, as the nature of the case would admit, for the arduous task before him. While the preparations were making at Fort Western for the departure of the army, a small reconnoitring party of six or seven men was sent forward in two birch canoes under the command of Lieutenant Steel, with orders to go as far as Lake Megantic, or Chaudi?re Pond as it was sometimes called, and procure such intelligence as they could from the Indians, who were said to be in that neighborhood on a hunting excursion; and also Lieutenant Church with another party of seven men, a surveyor, and guide, to take the exact courses and distances of the Dead River. Next the army began to move in four divisions, each setting off a day before the other, and thus allowing sufficient space between them to prevent any interference in passing up the rapids and around the falls. Morgan went ahead with the riflemen; then came Greene and Bigelow with three companies of musketeers; these were followed by Meigs with four others; and last of all was Enos, who brought up the rear with the three remaining companies.

Having seen all the troops embarked, Arnold followed them in a birch canoe, and pushing forward he passed the whole line at different points, overtaking Morgan's advanced party the third day at Norridgewock Falls.

At a short distance below these falls, on the eastern bank of the river, was a wide and beautiful plain, once the site of an Indian village, belonging to a tribe from whom the falls took their name, and memorable in the annals of former days as the theatre of a tragical event, in which many of the tribe were slain in a sudden attack, and among them Father Ralle, the venerable and learned missionary, who had dwelt there twenty-six years. The foundations of a church and of an altar in ruins were still visible, the only remaining memorials of a people, whose name was once feared, and of a man who exiled himself from all the enjoyments of civilization to plant the cross in a savage wilderness, and who lost his life in its defence. Let history tell the story as it may, and let it assign such motives as it may for the conduct of the assailants, the heart of him is little to be envied, who can behold unmoved these melancholy vestiges of a race extinct, or pass by the grave of Ralle without a tear of sympathy or a sigh of regret.

But we must not detain the reader upon a theme so foreign from the purpose of our narrative. Justice claimed the tribute of this brief record. At the Norridgewock Falls was a portage, where all the batteaux were to be taken out of the river and transported a mile and a quarter by land. The task was slow and fatiguing. The banks on each side were uneven and rocky. It was found that much of the provisions, particularly the bread, was damaged. The boats had been imperfectly made, and were leaky: the men were unskilled in navigating them, and divers accidents had happened in ascending the rapids. The carpenters were set to work in repairing the most defective boats. This caused a detention, and seven days were expended in getting the whole line of the army around the falls. As soon as the last batteau was launched in the waters above, Arnold betook himself again to his birch canoe with his Indian guide, quickly shot ahead of the rear division, passed the portage at the Carratunc Falls, and in two days arrived at the Great Carrying-place, twelve miles below the junction of the Dead River with the eastern branch of the Kennebec. Here he found the two first divisions of the army.

Thus far the expedition had proceeded as successfully as could have been anticipated. The fatigue was extreme, yet one man only had been lost by death. There seem to have been desertions and sickness, as the whole number now amounted to no more than nine hundred and fifty effective men. They had passed four portages, assisted by oxen and sleds where the situation of the ground would permit. So rapid was the stream, that on an average the men waded more than half the way, forcing the batteaux against the current. Arnold wrote, in a letter to General Washington, "You would have taken the men for amphibious animals, as they were great part of the time under water." He had now twenty-five days' provisions for the whole detachment, and expressed a sanguine hope of reaching the Chaudi?re River in eight or ten days.

In this hope he was destined to be disappointed. Obstacles increased in number and magnitude as he advanced, which it required all his resources and energy to overcome. The Great Carrying-place extended from the Kennebec to the Dead River, being a space of fifteen miles, with three small ponds intervening. From this place the batteaux, provisions, and baggage were to be carried over the portages on the men's shoulders. With incredible toil they were taken from the waters of the Kennebec, and transported along an ascending, rugged, and precipitous path for more than three miles to the first pond. Here the batteaux were again put afloat; and thus they continued by alternate water and land carriage, through lakes, creeks, morasses, and craggy ravines, till they reached the Dead River.

As some relief to their sufferings, the men were regaled by feasting on delicious salmon-trout, which the ponds afforded in prodigious quantities. Two oxen were also slaughtered and divided among them. A block-house was built at the second portage, at which the sick were left; and another near the bank of the Kennebec, as a depository for provisions ordered up from the commissary at Norridgewock, and intended as a supply in case a retreat should be necessary.

While the army was crossing the Great Carrying-place, Arnold despatched two Indians with letters to gentlemen in Quebec and to General Schuyler. They were accompanied by a white man, named Jakins, who was to proceed down the Chaudi?re to the French settlements, ascertain the sentiments of the inhabitants, procure intelligence, and then return. It appeared afterwards, that the Indians betrayed their trust. The letters never reached the persons to whom they were addressed, but were doubtless put into the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor of Canada. The Indian, who had them in charge, named Eneas, was afterwards known to be in Quebec.

The Dead River presented for many miles a smooth surface and gentle current, interrupted here and there by falls of short descent, at which were carrying-places. As the batteaux were moving along this placid stream, a bold and lofty mountain appeared in the distance, whose summit was whitened with snow. When approached, the river was discovered to pursue a very meandering course near its base; and, although the fatigue of the men was less severe than it had been, yet their actual progress was slow. In the vicinity of this mountain Arnold encamped for two or three days, and, as report says, raised the American flag over his tent. The event has been commemorated. A hamlet since planted on the spot, which ere long will swell to the dignity of a town, is at this day called the Flag Staff. The mountain has been equally honored. Tradition has told the pioneers of the forest, and repeated the marvel till it is believed, that Major Bigelow had the courage as well as the leisure to ascend to its top, with the hope of discovering from this lofty eminence the hills of Canada and the spires of Quebec. From this supposed adventure it has received the name of Mount Bigelow. Its towering peaks, looking down upon the surrounding mountains, are a beacon to the trappers and hunters, who still follow their vocation in these solitudes, notwithstanding the once-coveted beaver has fled from their domain, and the field of their enterprise has been ominously contracted by the encroaching tide of civilization.

From this encampment a party of ninety men was sent back to the rear for provisions, which were beginning to grow scarce. Morgan with his riflemen had gone forward, and Arnold followed with the second division. For three days it rained incessantly, and every man and all the baggage were drenched with water. One night, after they had landed at a late hour and were endeavouring to take a little repose, they were suddenly roused by the freshet, which came rushing upon them in a torrent, and hardly allowed them time to escape, before the ground on which they had lain down was overflowed. In nine hours the river rose perpendicularly eight feet. Embarrassments thickened at every step. The current was everywhere rapid; the stream had spread itself over the low grounds by the increase of its waters, thereby exposing the batteaux to be perpetually entangled in the drift-wood and bushes; sometimes they were led away from the main stream into smaller branches and obliged to retrace their course, and at others delayed by portages, which became more frequent as they advanced.

After despatching this order, Arnold hastened onward with about sixty men under Captain Hanchet, intending to proceed as soon as possible to the inhabitants on the Chaudi?re, and send back provisions to meet the main forces. The rain changed into snow, which fell two inches deep, thus adding the sufferings of cold to those of hunger and fatigue. Ice formed on the surface of the water in which the men were obliged to wade and drag the boats. Finally the highlands were reached, which separated the eastern waters from those of the St. Lawrence. A string of small lakes, choked with logs and other obstructions, had been passed through near the sources of the Dead River, and seventeen falls had been encountered in ascending its whole distance, around which were portages. The carrying-place over the highlands was a little more than four miles. A small stream then presented itself, which conducted the boats by a very crooked course into Lake Megantic, the great fountainhead of the Chaudi?re River.

Here were found Lieutenants Steel and Church, who had been sent forward a second time from the Great Carrying-place with a party of men to explore and clear paths at the portages. Here also was Jakins, returned from the settlements, who made a favorable report in regard to the sentiments of the people, saying they were friendly and rejoiced at the approach of the army. Lake Megantic is thirteen miles long and three or four broad, and surrounded by high mountains. The night after entering it, the party encamped on its eastern shore, where was a large Indian wigwam, that contributed to the comfort of their quarters.

Early the next morning Arnold despatched a person to the rear of the army, with instructions to the advancing troops. He then ordered Captain Hanchet and fifty-five men to march by land along the margin of the lake, and himself embarked with Captain Oswald, and Lieutenants Steel and Church with thirteen men in five batteaux and a birch canoe, resolved to proceed as soon as possible to the French inhabitants, and send back provisions to meet the army.

In three hours they reached the northern extremity of the lake, and entered the Chaudi?re, which carried them along with prodigious rapidity on its tide of waters boiling and foaming over a rocky bottom. The baggage was lashed to the boats, and the danger was doubly threatening, as they had no guides. At length they fell among rapids; three of the boats were overset, dashed to pieces against the rocks, and all their contents swallowed up by the waves. Happily no lives were lost, although six men struggled for some time in the water, and were saved with difficulty. This misfortune, calamitous as it was, Arnold ascribes in his Journal to a "kind interposition of Providence"; for no sooner had the men dried their clothes and reembarked, than one of them who had gone forward cried out, "A fall ahead," which had not been discovered, and over which the whole party must have been hurried to inevitable destruction.

It is needless to say, that after this experience they were more cautious. Rapids and falls succeeded each other at short intervals. The birch canoe met the fate of the three batteaux, by running upon the rocks. Sometimes the boats were retarded in their velocity by ropes extended from the stem to the bank of the river. Two Penobscot Indians assisted them over a portage of more than half a mile in length. Through its whole extent the stream, raised by the late rains, was rough, rapid, and dangerous; but the party was fortunate in losing no lives and in advancing quickly. On the third day after leaving Lake Megantic, being the 30th of October, Arnold arrived at Sertigan, the first French settlement, four miles below the junction of the River Des Loups with the Chaudi?re, and seventy miles from the lake by the course of the stream.

Meantime Arnold proceeded down the river to conciliate the attachment of the people, and make further preparations for the march of his army. Before leaving Cambridge, he had received ample instructions for the regulation of his conduct, drawn up with care and forethought by the Commander-in-chief, and containing express orders to treat the Canadians on all occasions as friends, to avoid every thing that should give offence or excite suspicion, to respect their religious ceremonies and national habits, to pay them liberally and promptly for supplies and assistance, to punish with severity any improper acts of the soldiery; in a word, to convince them that their interests were involved in the results of the expedition, and that its ultimate purpose was to protect their civil liberties and the rights of conscience.

He was also furnished with printed copies of a manifesto, signed by General Washington, intended for distribution among the people, explaining the grounds of the contest between Great Britain and America, and encouraging them to join their neighbors in a common cause by rallying around the standard of liberty. These instructions were strictly observed by the American troops, and had their desired influence. The impression was lasting. To this day the old men recount to their children the story of the "descent of the Bostonians," as the only great public event that has ever occurred to vary the monotonous incidents of the sequestered and beautiful valley of the Chaudi?re.

Ten days after reaching the upper settlements, Arnold arrived at Point Levy opposite to Quebec. His troops followed, and were all with him at that place on the 13th of November. About forty Indians had joined him at Sertigan and on the march below. He had ascertained that his approach was known in Quebec, and that all the boats had been withdrawn from the eastern side of the St. Lawrence to deprive him of the means of crossing. Eneas, the savage whom he had sent with a letter to General Schuyler, and another to a friend in Quebec, had found his way to the enemy, and given up his despatches to some of the King's officers. He pretended to have been taken prisoner; but treachery and falsehood are so nearly allied, that Eneas had the credit of both.

Between thirty and forty birch canoes having been collected, Arnold resolved to make an immediate attempt to cross the river. The first division left Point Levy at nine o'clock in the evening and landed safely on the other side, having eluded a frigate and sloop stationed in the St. Lawrence on purpose to intercept them. The canoes returned, and by four in the morning five hundred men had passed over at three separate times, and rendezvoused at Wolfe's Cove. Just as the last party landed, they were discovered by one of the enemy's guard-boats, into which they fired and killed three men. It was not safe to return again, and about one hundred and fifty men were left at Point Levy.

No time was now to be lost. Headed by their leader they clambered up the precipice at the same place, where Wolfe sixteen years before had conducted his army to the field of carnage and of victory. When the day dawned, this resolute band of Americans, few in number compared with the hosts of the British hero, but not less determined in purpose or strong in spirit, stood on the Plains of Abraham, with the walls of Quebec full in their view. They were now on the spot, to which their eager wishes had tended from the moment they left the camp of Washington; and, after encountering so many perils and enduring such extremities of toil, cold, and hunger with unparalleled fortitude, it was a mortifying reflection, that scarcely a glimmering hope of success remained. Troops had recently come to Quebec from Sorel and Newfoundland, and such preparations for defence had been made, that it would have been madness to attempt a serious assault of the town with so small a force.

The strength of the garrison, including regulars and militia within the walls, and the mariners and sailors on board the ships, was little short of eighteen hundred men. But two thirds of these were militia, many of whom were Canadians supposed to be friendly to the Americans, and ready to join with them whenever they should enter the town. This expectation, indeed, had been one of the chief encouragements for undertaking the enterprise against Quebec. To make an experiment upon the temper of the inhabitants, Arnold drew up his men within eight hundred yards of the walls, and gave three cheers, hoping by this display to bring out the regulars to an open action on the plain. The gates would thus be unclosed, and, if the people in the town were as favorably disposed as had been represented, there might thus be an opportunity of forming a junction and acting in concert, as circumstances should dictate. This has been considered as a ridiculous and unmeaning parade on the part of the American commander, but he doubtless had some good grounds for the manouvre from the intelligence brought to him by persons, whose wishes corresponded with his own. At any rate, the garrison chose not to accept the challenge in any other manner, than by discharges of cannon through the embrasures on the walls.

These fears were of short duration. The reality was soon made manifest, and Arnold himself was the first to discover his weakness and danger. Three days after his formidable summons, he had leisure to examine into the state of the arms and ammunition of his troops, and to his surprise he found almost all the cartridges spoiled, there being not more than five rounds to a man, and nearly one hundred muskets unfit for use. Some of the men were invalids, and many deficient in clothing and other necessaries. At the same time he received advice from his friends in town, that a sortie was about to be made with a force considerably superior to his own. A retreat was the only expedient that remained. The men left at Point Levy had already crossed the river and joined him, and with his whole force he marched up the St. Lawrence to Point-aux-Trembles, eight leagues from Quebec, intending to wait there the approach of General Montgomery from Montreal.

Operations in Canada.--Affair of the Cedars.--Retreat from Montreal.

Colonel Arnold had written to General Washington from Point-aux-Trembles, that it would require twenty-five hundred men to reduce Quebec. Calmly viewed through the medium of historical evidence, with a full knowledge of collateral facts and subsequent events, a resolution for an immediate assault may now seem rash and ill advised. But General Montgomery relied on the lukewarmness of the inhabitants, and their readiness to abandon the British standard whenever they should see a reasonable hope of protection from the assailants. He likewise believed, that the large extent of the works rendered them incapable of being defended at all points, and that in this respect the seeming strength of the enemy was in reality an element of weakness. He moreover derived a renovated confidence from the disposition of his officers and troops, who seconded with promptness and zeal the views of their leader. Notwithstanding the weight of these motives, and of others that might have had their influence, it must ever be lamented, that a spirit so elevated and generous, fraught with the noblest principles of honor and chivalrous feeling, was doomed to be sacrificed in a conflict so utterly unequal and hopeless of success. Leonidas died not a braver death, nor with a self-devotion more worthy to place him among the first of heroes and of patriots.

But we are not now concerned with the history of events, any farther than to sketch very briefly the part acted in them by the subject of the present narrative. General Montgomery found Arnold, as he said, "active, intelligent, and enterprising." A quarrel happened between Arnold and one of his captains, which drew three companies into a mutinous combination; but the danger was checked by the decision and firmness of the commander, who discovered the captain to be in the wrong, and maintained subordination. Several attempts were made to send a summons into the town; but Governor Carleton forbade all communication, and no flag was suffered to approach the walls. Meantime preparations for an attack were carried on. A battery was opened, from which five cannon and a howitzer were brought to bear upon the town, but with very little effect. There were slight skirmishes in the suburbs, houses were burnt, and a few men killed.

Different plans of attack had been meditated, and it was at last resolved to make a general assault upon the lower town. Montgomery was to proceed with one division of the army along the margin of the St. Lawrence around the base of Cape Diamond, and Arnold with his detachment by the way of St. Roque. Each commander was to act according to circumstances, and both parties were to unite if possible at the eastern extremity of the town. At five o'clock in the morning of the 31st of December they began their march. Arnold had already passed through the suburb of St. Roque, and approached unperceived a picketed two-gun battery or barrier across the street. It was attacked by Captain Lamb's artillery, but was bravely defended for about an hour, when it was carried, and the Americans pushed forward in the midst of a violent snow-storm, till they arrived at a second barrier. Several lives had been lost at the first barrier. Arnold was shot through the leg. The bone was fractured, and he was obliged to be taken to the general hospital; where he learned that Montgomery had been killed in forcing a barrier at Cape Diamond, and that his troops had retreated. A very severe contest was kept up by his own party at the second barrier for three hours, without being able to force their way beyond it. While yet in the heat of action, they were surrounded by a party, that issued from one of the gates of the city in their rear, by which their retreat was cut off, and between three and four hundred were taken prisoners. The killed and wounded were about sixty.

As soon as the news of the storming of Quebec reached Congress, they promoted Arnold to the rank of brigadier-general, as a reward not less of his gallant conduct on that occasion, than of his extraordinary enterprise and military address in conducting his army through the wilderness. Additional troops were likewise immediately ordered to Canada. During the winter a few companies, and fragments of companies, from New-Hampshire and Massachusetts, and part of Warner's regiment from Vermont, arrived at the encampment, having walked on snow-shoes, carried their own provisions, and braved all the perils of frost and exposure incident to such a march in so rigorous a climate.

General Wooster had passed the winter at Montreal in a state of repose, which his countrymen were not prepared to expect from a man, who had gained the reputation of a bold and active officer in the last war. On the 1st of April he appeared at Quebec, and, being superior in rank, succeeded to the command. At this time the number of troops had increased to two thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, of whom about eight hundred were sick, mostly of the small-pox. A cannonade was opened upon the city from a battery of six guns, two howitzers, and two small mortars, on the Heights of Abraham, and another of three guns and one howitzer, at Point Levy. Preparations were begun for pushing the siege with vigor, but at this time an accident happened to General Arnold by the falling of his horse upon his wounded leg, which bruised it so badly, that he was laid up for a fortnight. He likewise complained of the coldness and reserve of General Wooster, who neither asked his advice nor took his counsel; and his temper was not formed to brook neglect, nor indeed patiently to act a second part. It is moreover to be considered, that he and General Wooster were townsmen and neighbors, and with that class of his fellow-citizens he had commonly found means to be at points. The condition of his wound was an apology for asking leave of absence, which was readily granted, and he retired to Montreal.

Here again he was at the head of affairs. Montreal was in the hands of the Americans under a military government; and, there being no officer present equal to himself in rank, he of course assumed the command. For the first six weeks he had little to do; but the catastrophe at the Cedars, in which nearly four hundred men surrendered to the enemy by a disgraceful capitulation, and a hundred more were killed or taken in a brave encounter, called him out to meet the approaching foe, and avenge the barbarous murders and other cruelties, which had been committed by the savages on the prisoners. He hastened to St. Anne's, at the western part of the Island of Montreal, with about eight hundred men, where he arrived in the afternoon of the 26th of May. At this moment the enemy's batteaux were seen taking the American prisoners from an island about a league distant from St. Anne's, and proceeding with them to the main land on the opposite side of the St. Lawrence. Arnold's batteaux were still three or four miles behind, making their way slowly up the rapids, having fallen in the rear of the troops, who marched along the shore. They did not reach St. Anne's till nearly sunset. Meantime a small party of Caghnawaga Indians returned, whom Arnold had sent over the river in the morning with a message to the hostile savages, demanding a surrender of the American prisoners, and threatening in case of a refusal, or if any murders were committed, that he would sacrifice every Indian that should fall into his hands, and follow them to their towns, which he would destroy by fire and sword. The Indians sent back an answer by the Caghnawagas, that they had five hundred prisoners in their power, and that if Arnold presumed to land and attempt a rescue, they would immediately put them all to death, and give no quarter to any that should be captured.

This threat, however, did not deter Arnold from pursuing his object. He filled the boats with his men, and ordered them to row to the island, where the prisoners had been confined. He there found five American soldiers, naked and almost famished, who informed him that all the other prisoners had been taken to Quinze Chiens except two, who, having been unwell, were inhumanly butchered. From this island he advanced towards Quinze Chiens about four miles below; but, when the boats came within three quarters of a mile of the shore, the enemy began to fire upon them with two brass field-pieces, and soon afterwards with small arms. The boats rowed near the shore, but without returning a shot; and, as it was now become dark, and Arnold was unacquainted with the ground, and his men were much fatigued, he thought it prudent to return to St. Anne's.

Congress refused to ratify this convention, except on such conditions as the British government would never assent to; and a general indignation was expressed at the subterfuge of barbarity by which it was extorted, so contrary to the rules of civilized warfare, and so abhorrent to the common sympathies of human nature. Since the compact was executed in due form, however, and by officers invested with proper authority, General Washington considered it binding, and expressed that opinion in decided language to Congress. In a military sense this may be presumed to have been a right view of the matter, and perhaps in the long run it was politic. The stain of ignominy, which must for ever adhere to the transaction, may be regarded as a punishment in full measure to the aggressing party, and as holding up an example, which all who value a good name, or have any respect for the universal sentiments of mankind, will take care not to imitate. General Howe wrote a complaining and reproachful letter to Washington on the proceedings of Congress; but the actual sense of the British authorities may be inferred from the fact, that the subject was allowed to drop into silence, and the hostages were sent home on parole.

Arnold returned with his detachment to Montreal. Disasters began to thicken in every part of Canada. The small-pox had made frightful ravages among the troops and was still increasing, provisions and every kind of supplies were wanting, the inhabitants were disgusted and alienated, having suffered from the exactions, irregularities, and misconduct of the Americans, who seized their property for the public service, and paid them in certificates and bills, which were worthless; reinforcements had come in so sparingly, that it was now impossible to withstand the force of the enemy, augmented by a large body of veteran troops recently arrived from Europe; confusion reigned every where, and a heavy gloom hung over the future. At this crisis, Franklin, Chase, and Carroll, arrived at Montreal as a committee from Congress. The state of affairs was already too desperate to be relieved by the counsels of wisdom, or the arm of strength. The American troops under General Thomas, driven from Quebec and pursued up the St. Lawrence, took post at Sorel. General Sullivan succeeded to the command; a last attempt was made to hold the ground, but it was more resolute in purpose than successful in the execution; the whole army was compelled precipitately to evacuate Canada, and retire over the Lake to Crown Point.

Montreal was held till the last moment. Arnold then drew off his detachment, with no small risk of being intercepted by Sir Guy Carleton, and proceeded to St. John's, making, as General Sullivan wrote, "a very prudent and judicious retreat, with an enemy close at his heels." He had two days before been at St. John's, directed an encampment to be enclosed, and ordered the frame of a vessel then on the stocks to be taken to pieces, the timbers numbered, and the whole to be sent to Crown Point. General Sullivan soon arrived with the rear of his retreating army, and preparations were made for an immediate embarkation. To this work Arnold applied himself with his usual activity and vigilance, remaining behind till he had seen every boat leave the shore but his own. He then mounted his horse, attended by Wilkinson his aid-de-camp, and rode back two miles, when they discovered the enemy's advanced division in full march under General Burgoyne. They gazed at it, or, in military phrase, reconnoitred it, for a short time, and then hastened back to St. John's. A boat being in readiness to receive them, the horses were stripped and shot, the men were ordered on board, and Arnold, refusing all assistance, pushed off the boat with his own hands; thus, says Wilkinson, "indulging the vanity of being the last man, who embarked from the shores of the enemy." The sun was now down, and darkness followed, but the boat overtook the army in the night at Isle-aux-Noix.

Arnold censured for the Seizure of Goods at Montreal.--Appointed to the Command of a Fleet on Lake Champlain.--Naval Combat.

It being necessary that General Schuyler should be made acquainted, as soon as possible, with the present condition of the army, and the progress of the enemy, General Arnold consented to go forward for that purpose. His knowledge of all that had passed in Canada, during the last seven months, enabled him to communicate the requisite intelligence in a more satisfactory manner than it could be done in writing, and to add full explanations to the despatches of the commander. He found General Schuyler in Albany, at which place General Gates arrived in a few days, proceeding by order of Congress to take command of the northern army. Meantime General Sullivan retreated to Crown Point. Schuyler, Gates, and Arnold repaired together to that post.

It was expected that Sir Guy Carleton, as soon as he could provide water-craft sufficient, would make all haste up the Lake and commence an attack. A council of general officers was convened, who, after mature deliberation, resolved to abandon Crown Point, retire to Ticonderoga, strengthen that post, and make it the principal station of defence. This measure was thought extraordinary by General Washington and by Congress. It was looked upon as giving up a position, formidable in itself and by artificial works, which afforded advantages at least for checking the enemy, if not for repelling their farther approach. The members of the council were unanimous; but many of the field-officers partook of the prevailing sentiment, although on the spot, and signed a remonstrance against the decision of their superiors. A proceeding so unmilitary, and so little in accordance with sound discipline, was of course disregarded, but dissatisfaction and ill feelings were excited on both sides. Schuyler and Gates defended the resolve of the council in letters to Washington and Congress, and in the end no one doubted its wisdom. Crown Point had from circumstances acquired a name in former wars, which had magnified it in public opinion much beyond its real importance as a military post. It was moreover impolitic to divide the troops, few in number compared with those of the enemy, by attempting to fortify and defend two positions within fifteen miles of each other.

The army was accordingly withdrawn to Ticonderoga, and every preparation was there begun for meeting the enemy, whenever they should make their appearance.

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