HE SAW “THE COUNTENANCE OF THE ENEMY”
THE STORY OF ARNOLD’S EXTRAORDINARY FIGHT AGAINST OVERWHELMING ODDS
ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN--A THOUSAND SAILORS, OF WHOM SEVEN-TENTHS WERE
PICKED MEN, ARMED WITH THE HEAVIEST GUNS, WERE PITTED UNDER A
COURAGEOUS LEADER AGAINST 700 YANKEES, CHIEFLY HAYMAKERS, POORLY
ARMED AND WITH INSUFFICIENT AMMUNITION--SAVAGES WITH SCALPING
KNIVES AIDED THE BRITISH--A DESPERATE STRUGGLE AT THE END--THE BEST
ALL-AROUND FIGHTER UNDER WASHINGTON.
If the naval Lexington--the first battle of the Revolution afloat--was
fought on the bar at Providence, Rhode Island, the naval Bunker Hill,
a battle wherein glory and renown were gained in defeat, was fought on
Lake Champlain. Not only was the moral effect of this battle quite as
great in the courage it gave the Americans, and the pause for thought
it gave the enemy; it served to head off a victorious invading British
army bound for Albany and the subjugation of northern New York.
[Illustration: Burlington Bay on Lake Champlain.
_From an old engraving in the collection of Mr. W. C. Crane._]
The American troops had invaded Canada, some under Benedict Arnold
going through the Maine woods, and some under Montgomery going by way
of Lake Champlain. The two bodies had united under the walls of
Quebec, and there Montgomery had died and Arnold had bled in vain. The
terrors of the fierce Canadian winter and the distress of disease had
aided the British forces in driving the Americans back, until at last,
in the fall of 1776, Sir Guy Carleton, at the head of the British, was
lodged at St. John’s, at the north end of Lake Champlain, while Crown
Point was the advance post of the Americans.
It will be remembered that at this time the waves of this beautiful
lake lapped the unbroken wilderness, no matter what the direction of
the wind might be. St. John’s, Crown Point, and Ticonderoga were but
military posts, and there was not even a woodsy road for wagons on
either side of the lake north of Crown Point.
Sir Guy Carleton was confident in the belief that the revolted colonies
would soon be subjugated, and he was full of ambition to have a part
of the glory that would cover the British officers in their hour of
triumph. His plan was to pass Lakes Champlain and George with the ample
forces at his command, and then slash his way through the wilderness
to Albany. Once there, the king’s ships could come to meet him, the
American territory would be cut in two at the Hudson, and then the end
would come.
There was, indeed, when he arrived at the north end of Lake Champlain,
but one reason why he did not press on in this victorious career. He
could not pass over the lake for want of boats. The Americans, in their
retreat, had carried off or destroyed every boat on the lake.
[Illustration: Sir Guy Carleton.
_From an engraving by A. H. Ritchie._]
But Sir Guy Carleton was a man of energy as well as ambition. At his
request three ships were sent over from England in such shape that
they might be taken to pieces on reaching the outlet of Lake Champlain.
This done, the parts were transported over the wilderness road to St.
John’s, and there set up and launched in the lake. Meantime a British
naval officer had been busy in superintending the building of a fleet
of smaller vessels at St. John’s--a fleet on which not only the sailors
from the king’s ships at Montreal worked, but the soldiers of the army;
and even the farmers from the Canadian settlements were forced to turn
to. Carleton himself was ever present to force on the work.
Fortunately, the task he had set was a long as well as a hard one. With
all the men and means at his command, he could not get ready to sail
until well on into the month of October. But when he was ready his was
a fleet fit to terrify as well as astonish the farmers that, for the
most part, composed the American forces, then under command of General
Gates, at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. The _Inflexible_, that carried
the flag of the fleet, was a ship of 300 tons, and carried eighteen
twelve-pounders. There was one schooner called the _Maria_, with
fourteen guns, and another, the _Carleton_, of twelve guns. There was
a huge scow very appropriately call the _Thunderer_, for she was armed
with six twenty-four-pounders and twelve six-pounders, besides several
brass howitzers. There was a gondola of seven guns. There were twenty
gunboats with one carriage gun each, the guns varying in size from
nine to twenty-four-pounders. In all, the British flotilla included
twenty-five vessels, that were armed with eighty-nine first-class guns
of that day, and abundantly supplied with ammunition.
[Illustration: General Arnold.
Drawn from Life at Philadelphia by Du Simitier.]
To Benedict Arnold was given the task of preparing a flotilla to stop
the invasion of Sir Guy Carleton. Benedict Arnold was an army officer
and in command, under Gates, of militia who were, as said, for the most
part farmers. But Arnold was a man of infinite resource, energy, and
courage. Some shipwrights and sailmakers were brought from the American
coast, and with such materials as were at hand he set to work to build
a navy for the defence of the lake. He had, fortunately, seen service
at sea, and the task was not wholly beyond his experience.
When the month of October arrived Arnold was afloat with a fleet of
fifteen vessels--the twelve-gun schooner _Royal Savage_, the ten-gun
sloop _Enterprise_, the eight-gun schooner _Revenge_, the eight-gun
galley _Trumbull_, the eight-gun galley _Congress_, the eight-gun
galley _Washington_, the six-gun galley _Lee_, the five-gun gondola
_Spitfire_, the five-gun gondola _Connecticut_, the three-gun gondola
_New Haven_, the three-gun gondola _Providence_, the three-gun gondola
_Philadelphia_, the three-gun gondola _Jersey_, the three-gun gondola
_New York_, and the three-gun gondola _Boston_.
Two or three of the names of the vessels built for the impending strife
may be worth noting. The British named one of their medium-sized
vessels the _Loyal Convert_. Arnold named the largest of his the _Royal
Savage_. Carleton named another for himself, but Arnold, less vain,
went to the leaders of the American army and to the towns of the nation
for the names of his ships.
[Illustration: The _Royal Savage_.]
On the whole, the American fleet mounted eighty-eight guns to the
eighty-nine of the British fleet, but they were inferior in weight
of metal thrown, the largest being eighteen-pounders to the British
twenty-four-pounders, while they needed 811 men for a full complement,
but had only 700. And these were, from a man-o’-warman’s point of view,
“a miserable set; indeed, the men on board the fleet in general are not
equal to half their number of good men.” It was not that they lacked
good will or bravery; it was that they were landsmen and untrained in
the work before them.
On the other hand, Sir Guy Carleton’s fleet was manned by a thousand
men, among whom were “eight officers, nineteen petty officers and 670
picked seamen” from the British warships in the St. Lawrence, besides
the soldiers of the expedition. The quotation is from Schomberg’s
“History of the British Navy.” In addition to the regular crews, the
British fleet was supported by a host of Iroquois Indians.
Just south of the present site of Plattsburg lies Valcour Island. The
bay on the west side of which Plattsburg stands is enclosed by a long
cape called Cumberland Head.
At daybreak on the morning of Wednesday, October 11, 1776, Benedict
Arnold’s little fleet lay at anchor in a line across the north end of
the strait between Valcour Island and the mainland. It was a clear,
cold morning. A strong northerly wind was sweeping through this narrow
valley between the Green Mountains and the ever-beautiful Adirondacks.
It was just the kind of a day that Sir Guy Carleton wanted for his
passage over the lake, and, soon after sunrise, his fleet came snoring
along under full sail past Cumberland Head.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN.]
Because Arnold’s little fleet lay well behind the forest on Valcour
Island, Sir Guy and his fleet drove past without discovering that any
one was there; but when they had opened out the view from the south
between Valcour Island and the mainland, they saw that they were
exposing their rear to the Americans. At this it was down helm and haul
their tacks and get out oars on the smaller vessels, but the wind was
so strong that it was not until after ten o’clock that the head of the
fleet, which included the schooner _Carleton_ and the gunboats, arrived
within the channel where the American fleet lay.
[Illustration: The Action of October 11, 1776.
A. Plan of action. B. _Congress_ galley and five gondolas.]
In the meantime Arnold had taken the gondola _Congress_ as his
flagship--no doubt because she was furnished with oars, and, as a
double-ender, could be easily handled--and with two other gondolas
and the schooner _Royal Savage_, went down wind to meet the enemy. He
reached them at eleven o’clock, and the battle opened with a broadside
from the British schooner _Carleton_.
[Illustration: Fight on Lake Champlain, 1776:
A. American fleet. B. Gunboats. C. Schooner _Carleton_. D. Ship
_Inflexible_. E. Anchorage of British fleet during the night. F.
Radeau _Thunderer_. G. Gondola _Loyal Convert_. H. Schooner _Maria_,
with Carleton on board.
]
In a brief time the whole of the British fleet of gunboats and gondolas
got into line, and Arnold was obliged to beat back to the support of
the remainder of his vessels. In making this retreat the schooner
_Royal Savage_ was disabled by the shot of the enemy, and before
repairs could be made she grounded hard and fast on Valcour Island.
There she was fired, and then abandoned by her crew, who escaped to the
woods on the island, where some of them met a worse fate than death in
the fleet, for Sir Guy Carleton had sent his Indians into the woods on
both sides of the narrow water where the action was held, and these, of
course, tortured as well as killed such prisoners as happened to fall
into their hands.
Giving little, if any, heed to the abandoned American schooner, the
British squadron pressed into the narrow sound. The _Inflexible_,
because she was a square-rigged vessel, could not be handled there, nor
could the formidable scow, but the swarms of gondolas and gunboats were
as easily managed as the American vessels.
By the time Arnold, with the _Congress_, had formed his line the
British were “within musket shot”--they were but forty or fifty yards
away, and were veering to and fro to bring, now this broadside and now
that to bear on the American squadron, while the Americans, meeting
turn with turn and manœuvre with manœuvre, fought back without yielding
a boat’s length. The cannon, huge for the day and place, belched flame
and smoke. The round shot bounded along the water to bury themselves
in the soft-wood hulls of the ships or cut away the oars with which
the hulls were managed, or flew wild to sink at last harmless. The
grapeshot drove through the air in death-dealing squalls. The roar of
the conflict filled the valley and was echoed back from the mountains.
The smoke clouds drifted into the evergreen forests on both shores of
the little sound. The breath of hell mingled with the fragrant odors of
balsams and spruce and hemlock. The forest spit flames and lead back
at the Americans. Cry answered to cry and the yell of defiance to the
war-whoop of the savage. Arnold himself, on the deck of the _Congress_,
led in the thickest of the fight, cheering to the men as they worked at
the guns, and at frequent intervals stooping over a gun to aim and fire
it with his own hands.
The region around the scene of that battle is in these days the health
resort of thousands in the summer season. We who see it now can hardly
realize that it was the chosen haunt of Death on that bleak October day
of 1776.
There is a paragraph in a report by Lieutenant Hadden, of the British
forces, that relates to one branch of the British forces, and is worth
quoting. He says:
“These savages under Major Carleton moved with the fleet in their
canoes which were very regularly ranged. On the day of the battle, the
rebels having no land force, the savages took post on the mainland and
on Valcour Island. Thus being upon both flanks they were able to
annoy them in the working of their guns. This had the effect of now
and then obliging the rebels to turn a gun that way, which danger the
savages avoided by getting behind trees.”
[Illustration: The Fight on Lake Champlain, October 13, 1776.
1. (On right) Ship _Inflexible_. 2. Schooner _Carleton_. 3. Schooner
_Maria_. 4. _Congress_ galley run ashore, with other vessels blowing
up. 5. _Washington_ galley striking. 6. Gunboat coming up.
_From an English engraving published December 22, 1776._]
And as for the result of the day’s work, the quaint words of Arnold
himself shall tell it:
“At half past 12 the engagement became general and very warm. Some
of the enemy’s ships and all their gondolas beat and rowed up within
musket shot of us. They continued a very hot fire with round and
grapeshot until 5 o’clock when they thought proper to retire to about
six or seven hundred yards distance, and continued the fire till dark.”
The fleet of the enemy, though manned by picked men--by men known not
only for their bravery, but for their skill in handling the guns--was
obliged to draw off to get beyond the range of the smaller guns on the
American fleet.
The _Congress_, Arnold’s flagship, was hulled by the British round shot
no less than twelve times during the afternoon, and seven of these
projectiles passed through her at the water-line. But the crew, farmers
though they were, plugged her up and fought on as before. General
Waterbury, who was on the _Washington_, fought her until he was the
only officer left on deck--her captain, lieutenant, and master having
all been killed. The _Washington_, like the _Congress_, was full of
holes when the fight ended. The _Philadelphia_, Captain Grant, sank
within an hour after firing ceased.
On the whole, the American loss for the day was reported at “about
sixty,” while that of the British was less than forty. Two of the
British gunboats were sunk and one was blown up.
The Americans had checked the enemy in his advance along the lake, and
had damaged him materially, but they had suffered more than he had,
and, what was worse, had used up nearly all their ammunition. “Being
sensible that with his inferior and crippled force all resistance would
be unavailing” on the morrow if they remained where they were, Arnold
determined to slip away to the shelter of the American post either at
Crown Point or at Ticonderoga.
The night came on dark and stormy and with a northerly gale driving
over the lake. So the fleet up anchor, and “one following a [shaded]
light on the stern of the other,” they slipped through the enemy’s
line that lay across the south end of the channel, with Arnold on the
_Congress_ bringing up the rear, because that was the post of danger,
and at daylight on the morning of Thursday, October 12th, they were
ten miles away and under the lee of Schuyler Island.
[Illustration: A View on Lake Champlain Showing the Fight of 1776.
_From Hinton’s History of the United States._]
At this point the fleet came to anchor and began to make such repairs
as were possible. Two gondolas were sunk because they were past remedy,
and when the patching of the rest had been carried far enough to enable
them to float without too much pumping, the fleet started on. Meantime,
however, the wind shifted to the south, and the progress, depending on
the oars, was necessarily slow.
But, although the wind retarded the American fleet, it had retarded
the British as much, if not more. The British had discovered that the
Americans were gone as soon as daylight came on Thursday morning, but
so slow was the progress of the square-rigged _Inflexible_ against the
head-wind that it was not until Friday that the British were able to
overtake the Americans.
The Americans were at this time just south of the narrow water at Split
Rock. Arnold, with the _Congress_ and the _Washington_ and four smaller
(three-gun) boats, was guarding the rear, and until noon there was an
anxious race to escape to the shelter of Crown Point--anxious because
the choice of the British fleet--the uninjured _Inflexible_, with the
schooners _Carleton_ and _Maria_--were in the van of the chase, and
Arnold’s rowboats were together no match for the least of these.
But at noon, while yet some leagues from Crown Point, the tired crews
of the flying boats had to drop their sweeps and take to the guns, for
the British ships were upon them. The wind had shifted to the north
once more, and the British vessels, of course, got it first.
No more desperate conflict is recorded in naval annals than that of
Arnold that day.
At the first broadside of the enemy the shattered _Washington_ was so
injured that surrender was unavoidable. Nevertheless Arnold ranged
up within musket-shot of the big _Inflexible_ and continued to fight
while the farmer crews of the four gondolas stood to their guns and
faced the storm of shot and grape from the twelve-gun and fourteen-gun
schooners--faced the storm unflinchingly until one-third of Arnold’s
crew had been killed, his boat reduced to a wreck, and resistance could
no longer damage the enemy.
But, though beaten, the indomitable Americans were not conquered. They
would never give up the ships. By Arnold’s order the small galleys
were run ashore in a creek near by and there fired, Arnold, in the
_Congress_, covering their retreat until their crews were safe on
shore, when he ran the _Congress_ ashore also, and then stood guard
while his crew fired her, “remaining on board of her until she was in
flames, lest the enemy should get possession and strike his flag, which
was kept flying to the last.”
When the _Congress_ was so well on fire that she could not be saved,
Arnold himself leaped overboard, waded ashore, formed his men in an
orderly line, and marched away over a woodsy trail. He escaped the
savages that were sent ashore seeking scalps, and safely reached Crown
Point.
The best all-around fighter under George Washington was Benedict
Arnold. As a leader in actual combat he was simply unequalled. Words
cannot now be found to adequately express the pity of it when it is
remembered that injustice and disappointment at the last drove him mad.
Although this fight on Lake Champlain was ordered on the American
side by an army officer, and the crews were chiefly landsmen, it was
unquestionably an exhibit of the early sea power of the United States,
for the ships were built at the national expense and the crews were in
the national service.
[Illustration:
_A Description of the Engagement on Lake_ CHAMPLAIN.
Copy _of a_ LETTER _from General Sir_ GUY CARLETON _to Lord_
GEORGE GERMAIN, _Principal Secretary of State for the_ American
_Department_.
_On board the Maria off Crown-Point,
October 14, 1776._
My Lord,
The rebel fleet upon Lake Champlain has been entirely defeated in two
actions; the first on the 11th instant, between the island of Valcour
and the main; and the second on the 13th, within a few leagues of
Crown-Point.
We have taken Mr. Waterburg, the second in command, one of their
brigadier-generals, with two of their vessels, and ten others have been
burnt and destroyed; only three of fifteen sail, a list of which I
transmit, having escaped. For further particulars I refer your Lordship
to Lieutenant Dacres, who will be the bearer of this letter, and had
a share in both actions, particularly the first, where his gallant
behaviour in the Carleton schooner, which he commanded, distinguished
him so much as to merit great commendation: and I beg to recommend him
to your Lordship’s notice and favour: at the same time I cannot omit
taking notice to your Lordship of the good service done, in the first
action, by the spirited conduit of a number of officers and men of the
corps of artillery, who served the gun-boats, which, together with the
Carleton, sustained for many hours the whole fire of the enemy’s fleet,
the rest of our vessels not being able to work up near enough to join
effectually in the engagement.
The rebels, upon the news reaching them of the defeat of their
naval force, set fire to all the buildings and houses in and near
Crown-Point, and retired to Ticonderoga.
The season is so far advanced, that I cannot yet pretend to inform your
Lordship whether any thing farther can be done this year.
I am, &c.
GUY CARLETON.
_List of the Rebel Vessels on_ Lake Champlain, _before their Defeat_.
_Schooners_
Royal Savage, 8 six-pounders and 4 four-pounders--Went
on shore, was set fire to, and blown up.
Revenge, 4 six-pounders and 4 four-pounders--Escaped.
A sloop, 10 four-pounders----Escaped.
_Row-Gallies_
Congress, 2 eighteen-pounders in the bow, 2 twelve and
2 two-pounders in stern, and 6 six-pounders in the sides--
Blew up.
Washington, same force----Taken.
Trumble, ditto----Escaped.
The Lee, a cutter, 1 nine-pounder in the bow, 1 twelve-pounder in
the stern, and 4 six-pounders in sides----Run into a bay, and not
known whether destroyed.
_Gondolas_
Boston, 1 eighteen-pounder in the bow, 2 twelve-pounders
in sides----Sunk.
Jersey, ditto----Taken.
One, name unknown, same force----Run on shore.
Five ditto, ditto----Blown up.
_Other Vessels not in the Action._
A schooner, 8 four-pounders--Sent from their fleet for provisions.
A galley, said to be of greater force than those mentioned
above----Fitting out at Ticonderoga.
G. C.
]
[Illustration:
[_Over_]
COPY _of a_ LETTER _from Captain_ DOUGLAS, _of the Isis_, _to Mr._
STEPHENS, _Secretary to the Admiralty._
_Quebec, 21st October, 1776._
Having for the space of six weeks attended the naval equipment for the
important expedition on Lake Champlain, I on the 4th instant saw, with
unspeakable joy, the re-constructed ship, now called the Inflexible,
and commanded by Lieutenant Schank, her rebuilder, sail from St.
John’s, twenty-eight days after her keel was laid, towards the place of
rendezvous; taking in her 18 twelve-pounders beyond the shoal which is
on this side the Isle aux Noix, in her way up.
The prodigies of labour which have been effected since the rebels
were driven out of Canada, in creating, re-creating, and equipping a
fleet of above thirty fighting vessels of different sorts and sizes,
and all carrying cannon, since the beginning of July, together with
the transporting over land, and afterwards dragging up the two rapids
of St. Terese and St. John’s, thirty long-boats, the flat bottomed
boats, a gondola weighing about thirty tons, and above four hundred
batteaus, almost exceed belief. His Excellency the Commander in Chief
of the army, and all the other generals, are of the opinion, that the
sailors of his Majesty’s ships and transports have (far beyond the
usual limits of their duty) exerted themselves to the utmost on this
great and toilsome occasion; nor has a man of that profession uttered
a single word expressive of discontent, amidst all the hardships they
have undergone, so truly patriotic are the motives by which they are
actuated.--To crown the whole, above two hundred prime seamen of the
transports, impelled by a due sense of their country’s wrongs, did
most generously engage themselves to serve in our armed vessels during
the expedition, and embarked accordingly. Such having then been our
unremitting toils, I am happy beyond expression in hereby acquainting
my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that the destruction of almost
the whole of the rebel fleet, in two several battles on the eleventh
and thirteenth instant, is our reward. I have recived a letter from
Captain Pringle, of the Lord Howe armed ship, who commands the officers
and seamen on the Lake, and who bestows the highest encomiums on their
behaviour in both engagements. The rebels did by no means believe
it possible for us to get upon Lake Champlain this year; were much
surprized at the first fight of the van of our force; but ran into
immediate and utter confusion the moment a three-masted ship made her
appearance, being a phenomenon, they never so much as dreamt of. Thus
have his Majesty’s faithful subjects here, (contrary to a crude but
prevailing idea) by straining every nerve in their country’s cause,
out-done them in working as much as in fighting. The ship Inflexible,
with the Maria and Carleton schooners, all reconstructions, did the
whole of the second day’s business, the flat-bottomed radeau called
the Thunderer, and the gondola called the Loyal Convert, with the
gun-boats, not having been able to keep up with them. The said gondola
was taken from the rebels the day the siege of Quebec was raised.--The
loss we have sustained, considering the great superiority of the
insurgents, is very small, consisting of between thirty and forty
men killed and wounded, seamen, soldiers, artillery-men, and all;
eight whereof were killed outright, and six wounded, on board of the
Carleton.--As to farther particulars, I must refer you to Lieutenant
Dacres, who, in justice due to his merit, for the part he bore in
destroying the rebel fleet, I am happy in sending upon this occasion
to their Lordships in the Stag transport, as also in thereby complying
with the General’s desire, who, for the same reason, is pleased to
honour him with the conveyance of his dispatches.
Printed for R. SAYER and J. BENNETT, Map, Chart, aj
_Facsimile of a copy of the original broadside at the Lenox Library._]
[Illustration:
_A List of his Majesty’s Naval Force on_ Lake Champlain.
Ship Inflexible, Lieutenant Schank, 18 twelve-pounders.
Schooner Maria, Lieutenant Starke, 14 six-pounders.
Schooner Carleton, Lieutenant Dacres, 12 six-pounders.
Radeau Thunderer, Lieutenant Scott; 6 twenty-four, 6 twelve-pounders;
2 howitzers.
Gondola Loyal Convert, Lieutenant Longcroft, 7 nine-pounders.
Twenty gun-boats, each a brass field-piece, some twenty-fours to
nines, some with howitzers.
Four long-boats, with each a carriage-gun, serving as armed tenders.
Twenty-four long-boats with provisions.
_A List of the Seamen detached from his Majesty’s Ships and Vessels in
the River St. Lawrence, to serve on Lake Champlain._
_Seamen._
Isis 100
Blonde 70
Triton 60
Garland 30
Canceaux 40
Magdalen 18
Brunswick 18
Gaspee 18
Treasury arm’d Briggs 90
Fell 30 } _Province armed
_Lately wreck’d_ Charlotte 9 } Vessels_
Voluntiers from no ship 9
Do. from the Transports 214
---
_Total_ 670
_Exclusive of 8 officers, and 19 petty officers._
COPY _of a_ LETTER _from Captain_ THOMAS PRINGLE.
_On board the Maria, off Crown-Point,
the 15th of October, 1776._
It is with the greatest pleasure that I embrace this opportunity of
congratulating their Lordships upon the victory compleated the 13th
of this month, by his Majesty’s fleet under my command, upon Lake
Champlain.
Upon the 11th I came up with the rebel fleet commanded by Benedict
Arnold: they were at anchor under the island of Valicour, and formed
a strong line extending from the island to the West side of the
continent. The wind was so unfavourable, that for a considerable time
nothing could be brought into action with them but the gun-boats; the
Carleton schooner, commanded by Mr. Dacres, (who brings their Lordships
this,) by much perseverance at last got to their assistance; but as
none of the other vessels of the fleet could then get up, I did not
think it by any means adviseable to continue so partial and unequal a
combat; consequently, with the approbation of his Excellency General
Carleton, who did
Print Seller, No. 53, FLEET-STREET. Price ONE SHILLING.]
[Illustration:
me the honor of being on board the Maria, I called off the Carleton
and gun-boats, and brought the whole fleet to anchor in a line as near
as possible to the rebels, that their retreat might be cut off; which
purpose was, however, frustrated by the extreme obscurity of the night;
and in the morning the rebels had got a considerable distance from us
up the Lake.
Upon the 13th I again saw eleven sail of their fleet making off to
Crown-Point, who, after a chace of seven hours, I came up with in the
Maria, having the Carleton and Inflexible a small distance a-stern;
the rest of the fleet almost out of sight. The action began at twelve
o’clock, and lasted two hours; at which time Arnold, in the Congress
galley, and five gondolas, ran on shore, and were directly abandoned
and blown up by the enemy; a circumstance they were greatly favoured
in, by the wind being off shore, and the narrowness of the Lake. The
Washington galley struck during the action, and the rest made their
escape to Ticonderoga.
The killed and wounded in his Majesty’s fleet, including the artillery
in the gun-boats, do not amount to forty; but, from every information I
have yet got, the loss of the enemy must indeed be very considerable.
Many particulars which their Lordships may wish to know, I must, at
present, take the liberty of referring you to Mr. Dacres for; but as I
am well convinced his modesty will not permit him to say how great a
share he had in this victory, give me leave to assure you, that during
both actions nothing could be more pointedly good than his conduct. I
must also do the justice the officers and seamen of this fleet merit,
by saying that every person under my command exerted themselves to act
up to the character of British seamen.
_A circumstantial and authentic Account of the_ ROADS _and_ DISTANCES
_from_ NEW-YORK, _to_ CROWN-POINT.
Miles.
From New-York to King’s Bridge 15
King’s Bridge to Conklin’s 22
Conklin’s to Croton’s River 12
Croton’s River to Peekskill 10
Peekskill to Rogers in Highlands 9
Rogers in Highlands to Fishskills 11
Fishskills to Poughkeepsie 14
Poughkeepsie to Staatsborough 11
Staatsborough to Rhynbeck 6
Rhynbeck to Ryer Shermerhorns 10
Ryer Shermerhorns to Rininston’s Manor 14
Rininston’s Manor to Claverack 7
Claverack to Kenderhook 14
Kenderhook to Halfway-house 10
Halfway-house to Albany 10
Albany to Saratoga 36
Saratoga to Fort Edward 20
Fort Edward to Lake George 14
Lake George to Ticonderoga 30
Ticonderoga to Crown Point 15
---
In all 290
]
Of the results of the fight a few words must be written, because
their value to the Americans was well-nigh inestimable under the
circumstances. The American fleet had fought to the last gasp. It was
well-nigh exterminated, but it had not suffered in vain. It taught
the British that the Americans were not only willing, but they were
able fighters. In spite of the tremendous odds against them, at the
last they had proved themselves as unyielding as the rocks that echoed
back the roar of the conflict. Their stubborn wills bade the ambitious
Carleton pause and consider. If, with a shattered hulk, they had kept
the three best British vessels on the lake at bay until the gondolas
were aground and on fire, and if they were then still able to make such
a murderous fight as enabled them to fire and burn the last ship with
its flag flying till burned away, what would they not do in resisting
the British were an attack made on Ticonderoga?
The thought was cooling to the ardor of even Carleton. Worse yet,
should he succeed in taking Ticonderoga, these unyielding Yankees
would contest every rod of the long wilderness route with a skill that
excelled that of Carleton’s best men. And that settled the question
that had arisen in Carleton’s mind--the question of the advisability of
continuing on his course. As a most excellent account of this fight,
which appeared in Dodsley’s (London) “Annual Register” says, “the
strength of the works, the difficulty of approach, the countenance
of the enemy, and the ignorance of their number, with other cogent
reason, prevented this design from taking place.”
Having looked upon “the countenance of the enemy,” Sir Guy Carleton
changed his mind. He decided to return to Canada. The most glorious
defeat in the annals of the American navy had saved the nation from an
invasion that would have severed it in twain, and probably whelmed its
forces in utter defeat.