He begins his Military Career.--Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point.
There were in Connecticut two companies of militia called the Governor's
Guards, and organized in conformity to an act of the legislature. One
of these companies belonged to New Haven, and in March, 1775, Arnold was
chosen to be its commander. This company consisted of fifty-eight men.
When the news of the battle of Lexington reached New Haven, the bells
were rung, and great excitement prevailed among the people. Moved by a
common impulse, they assembled on the green in the centre of the town,
where the Captain of the Guards took occasion to harangue the multitude,
and, after addressing himself to their patriotic feelings, and rousing
their martial spirit by suitable appeals and representations, he
proposed to head any number of volunteers that would join him, and march
with them immediately to the scene of action. He ended his address by
appointing a time and place for all such to meet, and form themselves
into a company.
When the hour arrived, sixty volunteers appeared on the ground,
belonging mostly to the Guards, with a few students from the College.
No time was lost in preparing for their departure, and on the morning
of the next day they were ready to march. The company was destitute of
ammunition, which the rulers of the town refused to supply, not being
satisfied as to the expediency of taking up arms, or of abetting such
a movement, without the previous direction or countenance of a higher
authority. This was a point, which Arnold was not in the humor to
discuss. He drew out his volunteers in martial array, and despatched a
message to the Selectmen, stating that, unless the keys of the magazine
were delivered to him immediately, he would break it open by force. This
threat was effectual, and perhaps it was not reluctantly heeded by the
Selectmen themselves, as it afforded an apology for their acquiescence.
A sense of responsibility often excites quicker fears, than the distant
and uncertain consequences of a rash action. Being thus provided, and
participating the ardor of their leader, the company hastened forward
by a rapid march to Cambridge, the head-quarters of the troops, who were
collecting from various parts to resist any further aggressions from the
British army in Boston.
At the same time a few individuals at Hartford, in Connecticut, where
the legislature of the colony was then sitting, secretly formed a plan
to surprise and capture Ticonderoga. It is probable, that Arnold had
received a hint of this project before he left New Haven; for, as soon
as he arrived in Cambridge, he waited on the Massachusetts Committee
of Safety, and proposed the same scheme, explaining its practicability,
portraying in vivid colors the advantages that would result from it, and
offering to take the lead of the enterprise, if they would invest him
with proper authority, and furnish the means. The committee eagerly
embraced his proposal, and on the 3d of May commissioned Benedict Arnold
as a colonel in the service of Massachusetts, and commander-in-chief of
a body of troops not to exceed four hundred, with whom he was to proceed
on an expedition to subdue and take Fort Ticonderoga. The men were to be
enlisted for this purpose in the western parts of Massachusetts, and
the other colonies bordering on those parts. The Colonel was moreover
instructed, after taking possession of Ticonderoga, to leave a small
garrison there sufficient for its defence, and to bring to Cambridge
such of the cannon, mortars, and stores, as he should judge would
be serviceable to the army. In the siege of Boston, now begun by the
Provincial forces, the cannon and mortars were extremely wanted, and
the hope of obtaining them was a principal motive with the Committee for
favoring the expedition.
By a vote of the Committee of Safety, the Provincial Congress of
Massachusetts was likewise desired to supply Colonel Arnold with one
hundred pounds in cash, two hundred pounds' weight of gun-powder, the
same quantity of leaden balls, one thousand flints, and ten horses,
for the use of the colony. He was authorized to procure stores and
provisions for his troops, and to draw on the Committee for the sums
expended in the purchase of them.
The temperament of Colonel Arnold admitted no delay after matters had
been thus arranged, and he made all haste to the theatre of operations.
He arrived at Stockbridge, on the frontier of Massachusetts, within
three days of the time of receiving his commission. To his great
disappointment he there ascertained, that a party of men from
Connecticut had already gone forward, with the design of raising the
Green Mountain Boys, and making an assault upon the fortress. The
laurels, which he had gathered in anticipation, seemed now to be
escaping from his grasp, and he waited not a moment longer on the way
than was requisite to engage a few officers to enlist troops and follow
him.
A small party of men from Connecticut, and another from Berkshire County
under Colonel Easton, had proceeded to Bennington, and joined themselves
to Ethan Allen at the head of a still larger number of his mountaineers.
They had all marched towards Lake Champlain. Arnold overtook them at
Castleton, about twenty-five miles from Ticonderoga. A council of war
had just been held, in which the command of the combined forces was
assigned to Colonel Ethan Allen, and a plan of operations was fully
agreed upon. All things were in readiness for pushing forward the next
morning. At this juncture Arnold made his appearance, introduced himself
to the officers, drew his commission from his pocket, and in virtue of
it claimed the command of the expedition.
This bold assurance in a person, with whom the troops were not
acquainted, who had taken no part in calling them together, and who
pretended to act under an authority, which none of them recognised,
was received with equal astonishment and indignation. Arnold had come
accompanied by one attendant only. It is true, there was a small body
of volunteers from Massachusetts in the party; but these had turned out
under Colonel Easton, at the request of the committee from Connecticut,
who superintended the expedition, and by whom all the troops were to be
paid. The Green Mountain Boys constituted much the larger portion of the
whole number, and they were too warmly attached to their officers, and
particularly to their chivalrous leader and early champion, Ethan Allen,
to be prevailed upon to move a step further if Arnold's pretensions
were allowed. Confusion and symptoms of mutiny among the men ensued, and
seemed to threaten a defeat of the enterprise. For once the discretion
of Arnold got the better of his ambition, and he yielded to a necessity,
which he could not control. He assented to a compromise, and agreed to
join the party as a volunteer, maintaining his rank but exercising no
command.
Harmony being restored, the party advanced to Ticonderoga, took the
fort by surprise on the morning of the 10th of May, and made the whole
garrison prisoners. Ethan Allen, as the commander, entered the fort at
the head of his men. Arnold, ever foremost in scenes of danger and feats
of courage, assumed the privilege of passing through the gate at his
left hand. Thus the love of glory, common to them both, was gratified;
and the pride of Arnold was soothed, after the wound it had received by
the disappointment of his ambitious hopes.
It soon appeared, however, that the aims of so aspiring and restless
a spirit were not to be easily frustrated, and that the conciliatory
acquiescence at Castleton was no more than the evidence of a truce, and
not the pledge of a permanent peace. A few hours after the surrender of
the garrison, Arnold again insisted on taking the command of the post
and all the troops, affirming that no other person present was vested
with an authority equal to that conferred by his commission. To prevent
these fresh seeds of dissension from taking root, the committee from
Connecticut interfered, and by a formal written instrument appointed
Colonel Allen commandant of Ticonderoga and its dependencies, till
further orders should be received from the colony of Connecticut or the
Continental Congress. Unsustained by a single voice, and deeming it
an idle show of power to issue orders, which no one would obey, Arnold
again made a virtue of necessity by submission, contenting himself
with a protest, and with sending a catalogue of his grievances to the
legislature of Massachusetts.
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.
He next discharged the men, who were engaged to serve under him, which
was a signal for a new scene of difficulties. Some of them, who had
become attached to their leader, espoused his cause, and gave tokens of
dissatisfaction, which it may be presumed he would not strive either
by persuasion or authority to pacify. The pay of all the troops was in
arrears, and the rumor went abroad, that, since the colonel had resigned
and the troops were disbanded, their claims would not be received by the
government. They began to be turbulent and mutinous; but the committee
at last succeeded in quieting them, by assurances that every man should
be paid, and by embodying under Colonel Easton all such as chose to
reenlist. *
* A more extended account of the capture of Ticonderoga, and the
subsequent operations on Lake Champlain may be found in Sparks's Life of
Ethan Allen, contained in the Library of American Biography, Vol. I. pp.
270-288.
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.