It Happened Here -- The Battle of Plattsburgh

Part 1, Mrs Hubbell's Houseguests

On September 1, 1814 the British Army came calling.  Mrs. Hubbell of Chazy, New York, found herself the unwilling hostess for Major General Frederick Philipse Robinson, and his staff.
General Robinson was in the vanguard of an 11,000 man invasion force  headed south from Chambly, Lower Canada towards Plattsburgh. As he sat down at the family dinner table he remarked how his father had been an American Loyalist at the time of the Revolution who had returned to England after the American victory at Yorktown. He also related how his father had told him Americans tended to be a smallish race of people.  Mrs. Hubbell did not contradict him but smiled and directed a servant to have Phillip Hensinger serve the roast beef. In a moment, the doorway was filled with a 6ft. 7in. teenager of some 260 pounds, carrying the main course. The General laughed, telling his staff, "If the Yankees are all like him, the Lord deliver us." The next morning as the General and staff was leaving, Mrs Hubbell bid them a "Good-bye, for a very little while, but I know you will soon be back and hanging your heads as you come." The General scoffed, promising if that happened, every officer here would throw his purse on her doorstep as they passed.

From the perspective of the British, this American conflict had dragged on far too long, through three summers, and now it was time to put an end to it--now that Napoleon was defeated in Europe and Britain could devote much more of her resources for ending it on terms favorable to the British.  Nearly 15,000 troops were shipped directly from the Peninsular War battlefields and other posts to the New World to humiliate the upstart Americans and show them that, unencumbered by a world war with Napoleon, the British military could operate when and where it wanted to, and the Americans could do little to stop them! Additionally, they hoped to carve off some choice hunks of American territory before they forced the Americans to sue for peace. Right before the Plattsburgh invasion British troops raided Washington DC, pushing the American militia aside and burning federal buildings including the White House.  Their attempt to raid Baltimore, Maryland was repulsed but they succeeded in occupying much of coastal Maine.  They would also attempt to occupy New Orleans. A successful drive down the Lake Champlain--Lake George corridor to Albany might even give them a claim to northern New England, in the peace talks.  Operating with the knowledge that many New Englanders were opposed to the federal government and the war, and that many "north country" New Yorkers, Vermonters and Mainers had actively defied the U.S. Embargo, and for years had smuggled goods into Canada, the notion that at least part of New England could be made a new  British colony seemed not so far fetched as it might first appear.*

Rte 30A, Johnstown

The British had successfully created a diversion, misleading the American War Department into thinking the British build-up in Canada was aimed at an attack on Sackett's Harbor. General George Izard was ordered with 4500 of his fittest men to Sackett's Harbor. Because no roads connected Sackett's Harbor and Plattsburgh,  and because the British had control of the Saint Lawrence River  Izard's troops were forced to march south, and southwest to Johnstown,  then northwest to Sackett's Harbor, a trip of about 285 miles (compared to a direct route today of 170 miles.)                                                                                                                                                      

Norway, Herkimer Co., N.Y.

Left in Plattsburgh were a mere 1,500 regular soldiers, mostly pieces of some 9 regiments, plus the sick and some prisoners of war. General Benjamin Mooers, a farmer/politician who lived north of Plattsburgh called out his New York State Militia but of the 2,500 militiamen called, only 700 responded!

In Vermont, Governor Chittenden was opposed to sending his Vermont militia to fight out of state but General Sam Strong mobilized them anyway.  Most of his militiamen responded

Rte 314, Cumberland Head

and made their way across the lake with the help of the American squadron, and anything else that could float. (An unintended consequence of the British raid on the nation's capitol and the raids on the New England Coast may have been that for the first time Vermonters felt invested in "Mr. Madison's War.)

Mooers' seven hundred untrained militiamen were sent forward to delay the advancing British by skirmishing with them, ripping up

Rte 9, South of Plattsburgh




                     

bridges, and felling trees. How much of this they accomplished remains in dispute, but when a unit of American  mounted dragoons came up behind them, wearing their unit's red jackets and white breeches, the militia assumed they were British. They panicked and dissolved. Most did not stop running until they were back at Pike's Cantonment, far to the west on the American lines. Some would rejoin the battle but most would continue on to their homes.

Beekmantown Rd., by High School

North of Beekmantown the British Army had split, with General Robinson's force following the Beekmantown road to the center of Plattsburgh, and General Brisbane's taking the road that followed along the shore.

Along a rise in the Beekmantown Road, "Culver Hill",  the Americans made their first attempt to oppose the British. Major John Wool leading about 250 regular army infantrymen and 30 militiamen-volunteers fired on the British column killing the lead unit's colonel, and ensign and twelve soldiers before being driven back.

Rte. 22, Beekmantown Rd.

 

Artist rendition of the skirmish at Culver Hill--from a sign at the skirmish site

(note--the British Column appears to extend to the horizon!)

Halsey Court, Tom Miller Rd.,Boynton Ave.

Sniping as they retreated, the Americans next stand was at Halsey's Corners where the Beekmantown Road ended at a "T" on the outskirts of Plattsburgh. There the Americans improvised a surprise for the British column. Along the top of the "T" was a farmer's field bounded by a stone wall**.  The infantry had been joined by Captain Leonard's Light Artillery. Leonard's artillery at the corners consisted of two, small 3 pounders--cannon firing three pound balls. (Most field artillery of the era used 6 or 8 pounders) but Captain Leonard planned to use them for maximum effect. Partially obscured by the stone wall,  the guns were further hidden by a closed rank of soldiers, standing in front. When the long column of British regulars, marching four abreast, were almost in musket range the American infantry scampered out of the way, allowing the cannon to do their bloody work. The little cannon each got off two or three shots before the Americans were driven back.

162 Quarry Rd. (Am. Legion Post)

Two additional stands were made before the Americans were forced back into their lines on the south side of the Saranac River, after tearing off the planking of the bridge over the Saranac.

While the British right wing was battling down Beekmantown road, the left wing was coming down the shore road (today's Rte 9) facing heavy fire as the Americans removed the planking off of the Dead Creek Bridge (later known as Scomotion Creek).

Rte 9, north Plattsburgh

Once they had taken the bridgehead and crossed they came under a new threat--the American fleet.
American Naval Commodore Thomas Macdonough had four ships positioned in Plattsburgh's Cumberland Bay. These were armed with short cannon, known as carronnades that were unable to reach the shore.  But he also had assembled twelve gunboats, mostly built before, and at an earlier stage in the war, to try to interdict smugglers running supplies to Canada. Seventy foot long whaleboats, they each had two long naval guns. Crowded at the narrow bows of the crafts they were difficult to load and reload and could be aimed only by moving the whole boat, but their fire stopped the entire left column, until the Royal Artillery brought up their own 6 pounders, forcing the Americans out of range.

As the day ended skirmishers on both sides had entered the city and had begun a house to house fight, as the vastly outnumbered American Army hunkered down in their forts and trenches, built up along the southern shore of the Saranac River, and awaited the onslaught that they knew was coming the next day. Between 200 and 250 casualties had occurred on the British side this first day.  Around forty five Americans had been killed or wounded.


*Smuggling was a major industry on Lake Champlain. American beef fed the British Army and the British Lake Champlain squadron was built with American masts, American spars and American planks. The New England newspapers often railed against "Mr. Madison's War" and hinted at secession. Some members of Parliament speculated about a new English speaking colony, separate from French-speaking Lower Canada, possibly named "Columbia." 

**Today it is a four way intersection in a development.  Halsey Court is cut off of Beekmantown  Rd. by the Northway.

Next Week-- It Happened Here--The Battle of Plattsburgh, Part 2, The Battle in the Bay


Addenda-- (A new more-or-less regular feature of this blog)  After writing and researching this blog for a few years I have come to appreciate how much things change.  Old NYSHMs disappear--sometimes, but not usually, replaced by more informative tablet-photographic signs. New NYSHMs are created by local organizations, and through the excellent work of the Pomeroy Foundation.  More often I find signs I didn't know existed, or had previously been unable to find, or just hadn't gotten to photograph.  Sometimes the subjects of the signs themselves disappear: historic houses burn or are torn down; graves are moved (see last week's Marker of the Week); etc.  Only very rarely are the subjects of signs. once removed, re-created! But here is a rare example:

Rte. 30, Blenheim

The sign remains, but the bridge is gone.

The Bridge Re-created








On August 28, 2011 Hurricane Irene became stalled over the counties around New York's capital district, dumping heavy rainfall on the area for days. Water rose high enough under the Blenheim Bridge to carry it off its dry-stone piers. In the months that followed, pieces of the bridge were found as far away as thirty miles downstream. A lively debate followed: Should money be allocated to rebuild an historic (but unused) bridge when so many families homes in the valley had suffered significant storm damage? Eventually money was allocated and a new bridge built--15 feet higher than the old one, on concrete abutments.

It Happened Here -- Ulysses S. Grant on Horses, Smoking, Dying and Determination

The General loved horses and had been an exceptional horseman. On foot he was described as “an ordinary scrubby looking man (who) gets over the ground queerly. He does not march, nor quite walk but pitches along as if the next step would bring him on his nose” (Flood 108.) but on horseback he was magnificent. Years before, as a Cadet at a graduation exercise at West Point he and a horse named York made a record breaking jump that left the spectators breathless, and remained an Academy record for 25 years.(Flood 24. Perry13.) During the Mexican War he made a desperate ride to order up more ammunition. Racing down a two mile street exposed to enemy gunfire, he hung from the side of his mount, shielding himself from the enemy and galloping  at breakneck speed the whole way. He delivered his orders unscathed as he was able to ride in and out of the Mexicans' fields of fire before the Mexican troopers had time to respond. (Flood 108-109) 
 

near Track Entrance, Goshen

So when Alden Goldsmith a prominent horse breeder invited  Grant and  C.E. Meade, a famous journalist to his Walnut Grove Horse Farm in Goshen, New York, the former President was delighted to accept. This November of 1884 was not the first time Grant had visited Goshen. Over a decade earlier, while President, he had come to Goshen, staying in a house on Main Street and watching the trotters race from the vantage point of the owners barn, in back. General Grant thoroughly enjoyed himself as they toured the farm admiring the fine horses, examining the season's crop of new colts, and swapping horse stories.  

210 Main St., Goshen

Before they parted, however, Grant made an announcement that ominously foretold of difficult times ahead for the General. Giving his cigar case to one of of the two, Grant carefully selected a cigar and lit it. “Gentlemen, this is the last cigar I shall ever smoke. The doctors tell me I will never live to finish the work on which my whole energy is centered these days (his Memoirs) if I do not stop indulging in these fragrant weeds.” (Flood 110.)
 
Grant loved his cigars and had smoked from six to twenty five a day. Before he smoked cigars he chewed tobacco and smoked a pipe, which his wife Julia hated. She would regularly throw Grant's pipes away..  In 1862, Admiral Samuel Foote, commander of the gunboats attacking Fort Donnelson in Tennessee had been wounded and Grant went to him to confer on strategy. The admiral offered him a cigar which he put in his pocket. Later he lit the cigar and had started to smoke it when a staff officer rode up and told him the Confederate forces were making a vigorous attack. Grant forgot about the cigar, which went out, but he continued to carry it throughout most of the day as he went among his troops issuing orders and directing the battle. Grant's successful attack made him a national hero and his terms offered to the Confederate General, “unconditional surrender” made U.S. Grant a celebrity bringing him to the attention of Lincoln, as well. Newspaper accounts portrayed him as having smoked his way through the entire battle and for weeks to come, an adoring Northern public sent him cigars – tens of thousands of boxes of them! Grant gave away what he could, but from then on, cigars were a regular part of his life. (Flood 107-110)


It was a peach, not a cigar, that was the first harbinger of trouble for General Grant, early in June 1884. The General had complained of a sore throat but had paid it no mind until later that week Julia had set out a bowl of peaches and Grant had helped himself to one. An intensely sharp stinging sensation accompanied his first swallow of peach, and in fact he thought he had swallowed a bee. Several attempts to rinse his throat only increased his discomfort. Julia wanted him to go see a doctor but the stubborn Grant would not hear of it. His personal physician was abroad and besides, he was preoccupied with other problems. (Flood 73-75)

The personal problems that weighed so heavily on Ulysses Grant in the summer of 1884 were financial. As a retired United States Army General, Grant would have been eligible for a comfortable pension, but when he became President of the United State the law required him to give up that pension, and there was no pension for retired Presidents. (It would not be until the Presidency of Harry Truman after World War II that Congress finally voted pensions for former Presidents.) 

One of Grant's sons, Buck, a budding Wall Street financier, had introduced him to Ferdinand Ward and James D. Fish.  Ward and Fish offered them partnerships for $100,000 each in a new investment firm to be titled Grant and Ward.  President Grant was offered a part time position for a handsome salary but was not involved in daily operations, except for signing occasional documents and lending his prestigious name to the company.  At first, the firm did extremely well with the initial investors receiving a 40% dividend, when the average stock exchange return on investment was 5.5%! Most of the company's liquid assets were held in the Marine Bank, another Ward and Fish  company.  When New York City, the other major depositor, made a large withdrawal,  a panicky Ferdinand Ward asked Grant to raise another $500,000 to keep the bank solvent. Grant did, asking help from friends and colleagues.  Then Ward fled with his check.  An investigation revealed the firm of Grant and Ward had solicited $16million from investors but had made only $6000 worth of stock purchases.  Most of the money had gone to Ward and Fish, and to paying the early investors an exorbitant dividend to encourage other people to invest.--one of the first iterations of the "Ponzi scheme."

Not only was Grant "broke" but he felt tremendous responsibility to others he had asked to invest.

The failure of Grant and Ward would lead Grant to make a decision he had previously avoided. For years friends and publishers had been trying to get him to write about his wartime experiences. There was a continuing strong interest in the Civil War. Many books had been published and many of the war's generals and other participants had written their stories, but Grant had not. The General didn't see himself as a writer and was somewhat skeptical of what he could add to a story that was already being extensively told. In January, Century Magazine, a respected national periodical first approached the General about contributing to a proposed series on the Civil War to be written by some of the war's most important figures. Grant was asked to write articles on the battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, the Wilderness and Chattanooga. At that time he had shown no interest, but now he was feeling  burdened with a sense that he needed to do all he could to provide for his family. Although his throat continued to trouble him a great deal, the General threw himself into his task and produced  an article on Shiloh. The editors at Century Magazine were delighted, but delight turned to dismay when they read Grant's piece– essentially, a dry analytical “after action” report that an officer might typically submit to his superiors. With some trepidation the Century Magazine's associate editor, Robert Underwood Johnson approached Grant to ask him to rewrite the piece, advising him to make it “like a talk he might make to friends after dinner, some who would know all about the battle, and some nothing at all.” He told him the public was especially interested in his perspective, what he “planned, thought, saw and did.” Grant did not take offense, but instead took Johnson's criticisms to heart. Johnson said of his work with him, “no one ever had an apter pupil” and Grant found something he thoroughly enjoyed. (Flood 56-60)

As his condition worsened, Grant went to his physician followed by several specialists and learned he had a cancerous tumor.  In the weeks and months that followed, the pain became constant and severe. Grant was reduced to primarily a liquid diet. He described drinking water like “drinking molten lead.” (Flood 89.) Throat swabs of “cocaine water,” brandy and morphine would help for a while but they left him fuzzy headed and he could not work. (Flood 198.) Writing, itself, was often Grant's only relief. The old soldier's abilities to focus on the tasks at hand and wall himself off from the 

fears, fatigues and discomforts he had felt on the battlefield served him admirably in this current battle. 

One morning in mid-November Fred Grant and his father were about to sign the contract they had just received from Century Magazine for a book of Grant's wartime memoirs when they had a visitor--Samuel Clemens (aka. Mark Twain). Dramatically stopping the former President from signing,  Clemens  outlined a proposal Clemens offered to present to his publisher.  Saying that Century Magazine grossly under-appreciated the market for his memoirs, Clemens proposed  his book should be widely advertised and sold by subscription-enlisting veterans. With potential readers including hundreds of thousands of veterans contacted to buy the book and making an initial payments for the book, before printing began, Clemens believed the book could be huge, but not entail the risks a large publication run might pose; becoming much more successful than a book simply printed and deposited on bookstore shelves. After several days of hesitation the Grants agreed and the next day, Clemens presented Grant with a $50,000 advance check.(Flood 99-103. Perry 82-90, 115-117.)

Rte 9, Wilton

Through the first half of 1885 Grant continued to battle his cancer, and write with organizational help from one of his sons and stenographic help from a former wartime aid, Adam Badeau. Sometimes the pain would be so bad for days that he could not write, but then he would rally and soldier on.

News of his illness had leaked out and his apartment in New York City was besieged by newspaper reporters, curiosity seekers, well wishers and people of all sorts offering him home remedies. By early June it was getting hot in the city and Grant and his doctors decided he needed a cooler, quieter place away from the crowds.  The owner of the new Balmoral hotel, outside of Saratoga offered him the use of a "cottage" on the extensive grounds of the hotel.  The "cottage" was actually a big two story house with a large room suitable for an office/bedroom on the first floor and a spacious wrap-around porch on three sides.  His family purchased for him a "bath chair"--a large wheeled chair that looked like a cross between a modern wheelchair and a rickshaw, first developed for spa treatments in Bath, England.

 

The plan was that he could be wheeled around the porches to take in the cooling, pines scented breezes from whichever direction they happened to blow. A short distance away was an overlook where the family hoped to take the General for an occasional change of scenery.

Mt. McGregor Rd., Wilton, off U.S. 9

On the afternoon of July 19^th Grant put down his pencil and handed his writing tablet to his stenographer, who for the last month had mainly assisted him by reading back to him the drafts, that Grant himself had written out. He was finished. His memoirs, which he completed in just under a year, would fill two volumes, 1,215 pages, – 291,000 words. They would be critically acclaimed, and frequently compared, favorably, to Caesar's Commentaries. Julia would receive a check for

$ 200,000 and eventually paid a total of $450,000, in royalties.

The following day, Grant suggested to his doctor they take the bath chair to the eastern overlook. Grant returned pale and exhausted. The next four days his condition worsened, as his family were summoned and gathered around him. The General began to drift in and out of consciousness. On the morning of July 23d, he died. His son Fred impulsively stopped the clock on the mantle of the room Grant occupied, slept in and wrote in throughout much of the summer. The room at “Grant Cottage” has been kept as it was that Thursday morning. The mantle clock reads 8:08.


Flood, Charles Bracelen.  Grant's Final Victory: Ulysses S. Grant's heroic last year.  2011  
Perry, Mark. Grant and Twain:  the story of a friendship that changed America.  2004

Marker of the Week--

Q.--Who is buried in William Few Jr.' s tomb?
A.--Not William Few Jr.! 

If this marker strikes you as a little odd, it does me too.  William Few, Jr. was a legitimate founding father of Georgia who organized militia resistance to the British, served in the Congress under the Articles of Confederation and was a delegate to the Constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787. Few was elected one of the first U.S. senators from Georgia, then served as a federal judge of the Georgia circuit. In 1799 he retired and moved to Manhattan where he believed he could better further his business interests. Few became president of City Bank of New York and an assemblyman in the New York Assembly, then, City Alderman followed by other positions. He retired to Fishkill-on-Hudson (Beacon) in1815; dying and buried there in 1828.

Protestant Reformed Church, Rte 9D, Beacon

In 1973, in the run-up to the American Revolution Bicentennial, Georgia asked for their founding father back. New York and the Protestant Reformed Church of Beacon complied.

It Happened Here --The Battle of Valcour Island, 

Part 2,  A fierce and unequal contest

                                                                

The morning of October 11, 1776 saw Benedict Arnold's fleet in line awaiting the British fleet. This American fleet consisted of three Row Galleys equipped with lateen sails on two masts and long sweeps (oars) to propel them in the face of Lake Champlain's capricious winds. Each mounted a mix of ten 18, 9, and 6 pounders* Supporting them were eight "gondolas" or "gundalows" a type of coastal workboat with one square sail and one topsail and sweeps if the wind failed.  Each carried one forward-facing 18 pounder and two side-facing 6 or 12 pounders.

The Row Galley Congress under fire. Painting from a marker at Arnold's Bay

Three schooners, the Royal Savage with 6-6 pounders and 4-4 pounders and the Revenge and
Liberty each with 4-4 pounders and 4-2 pounders** rounded out Arnold's fleet.  The sloop Enterprise had been stripped of its guns to use as a hospital ship and courier to maintain contact with his base at Ticonderoga.

The Americans would face off against a British fleet comprised of the schooners Carleton and Maria, each with 14 and 12 guns, the three masted ship Inflexible with  eighteen 12 pounders, the Loyal Convert, a a large gondola with six or seven  9 pounders and a 24 pounder, the radeau Thunderer with 6 24's, 6 12's and 2 howitzers, and 20 or 22 gunboats.  These were essentially  longboats or whaleboats of the type carried on large sailing ships, modified to carry a single bow-mounted cannon.  These carried approximately seven 6 pounders, nine 12 pounders,  two  24 pounders and a couple howitzers.

 Using an 18th century measure for comparing the relative strength of individual ships or whole fleets, the "weight of metal," we find the British could theoretically fire over 1000 lbs. of cannon balls in a single volley, while the Americans could fire slightly more than 600 lbs. Additionally, most of the first day's battle occurred between British gunboats and American gondolas. While British gunboat crews could continuously train their single large pieces on the Americans, the American gondolas, with one front-facing and two-side facing guns could aim only one, or sometimes two of their guns at the enemy.***

In his protected position, Arnold feared the British might not see his little fleet and sail right by it, so he sent  the Royal Savage and his row galleys out as bait.  The British gave chase.  The galleys successfully made it back to the American line but the Royal Savage, a poor sailor, crewed by an inexperienced crew, grounded off the tip of Valcour Island. The British poured cannon fire into her, doing serious damage, and forcing the American crew to abandon her and escape across the shallows to Valcour Island.

The southern tip of Valcour Is., Valcour Bay in the foreground-Rte 9 Peru

The British gunboats closed with the American line and a fierce cannonading began, but for most of the day the British were unable to bring their larger ships within range, battling shifting headwinds that forced them to them to tack back and forth in the narrow confines of the mouth of the bay.  The radeau Thunderer and the schooner Maria were unable to join the fight.
By late afternoon, both fleets had taken a pounding but the British superiority was beginning to tell.
The heavier British ordinance was doing more damage and the more experienced Royal Navy gun crews and German artillerymen assigned to the British gunboats were probably making more of their shots count. (The Americans, in contrast, had had few live fire exercises due to shortages of gunpowder.)

In late afternoon the British schooner Carleton attempted to recover the grounded Royal Savage but was heavily damaged and driven off by American gunfire.  The British later set fire to the American schooner to prevent her from being retaken by the Americans.

As dusk and a low gunpowder laden fog was settling over the lake, the British ship Inflexible was finally able to beat her way up to the American line and with its eighteen 12 pounders do further
damage.  Mercifully, darkness and fog settled in early and firing ceased.

With 3/4 of his gunpowder expended, Arnold knew his fleet could not survive another day of such pounding, and so he settled on a bold plan.  In single file, along the western shore guided by  single hooded stern lanterns of the boat ahead,  Arnold's entire fleet slipped past the British fleet.  A dark night sky, the low fog, and the enemy's general temporary deafness caused by six hours of incessant cannonading aided the little fleet's escape. During the night the gondola Philadelphia, hulled below the waterline, sank,  as did the shattered gondola Spitfire.  The gondola New Jersey, flooded and awash was abandoned by her crew.

Split Rock Marker, Rte. 22, South of Essex

In the morning, the British were astonished to find the Americans gone.  After ascertaining they had not gone north up the narrow Valcour strait, they raced to overtake them before the Americans could reach American held Crown Point. The wind, however, had changed after dusk.  The Americans rowed all night in the face of a cruel headwind and in the morning were only some ten miles ahead of their pursuers. Then the wind caroming between the Adirondacks and the Green Mountains created an unusual effect, that is nevertheless common on Lake Champlain. While a head wind from the south was still challenging the exhausted Americans at their sweeps, a few miles north, the wind was blowing from the northeast, allowing the British crews to quickly close the distance between the fleets.

At the landmark Split Rock the British caught up with the Americans. Lagging at the end of the line of fleeing boats, the battered row galley Washington surrendered after receiving a few broadsides, being unable to return fire, her commander fearing she would not be able to withstand the recoil of her own cannon. Next, the Congress was overtaken and a 2 ½ hour running battle ensued up the lake. Four of the escaping American gondolas were swept up in the fighting. Out gunned and shattered, the five American boats made a run for the shallows of Ferris Bay (later named Arnold’s Bay.) In the shallow water where the British ships could not follow, the Americans set fire to their ships with the American “Grand Union” flag flying from the mast of the Congress. With his men, some cannon and supplies he could salvage, Arnold set out for Ticonderoga overland.

             

DAR Monument in Spring high water

 
Arnold's Bay, Arnold's Bay Rd.Boat Launch, Panton, Vt.
 

                                                                                                                         





  Carleton sailed up the lake to discover  Crown Point had been burned by the Americans. Uncertain what to do next, the Quebec governor general hesitated at Crown Point while the weather rapidly turned colder and several inches of new snow fell on November 2^nd. Neither laying siege to Fort Ticonderoga through an Adirondack winter nor hunkering down in the burned-out ruins of Crown Point were appealing prospects.             Memories of Abercromby’s disastrous 1758 assault on Ticonderoga in the French and Indian War haunted Carleton. Later that day the British general turned his fleet northward to return to St. Jean and Quebec. Few if any of his officers expressed objections.

Only the row galley Trumbull, the schooners Revenge and the unarmed Enterprise, and one

gundalow, New York reached Ticonderoga. They too would be destroyed, to keep them from falling into enemy hands the following summer when an even larger British force would sweep down the lake.

From a tactical prospective, the Battle of Valcour was a decisive defeat for the Americans but from a strategic prospective it was an American success, accomplishing what Benedict Arnold hoped to do—slowing down Carleton, delaying the invasion until winter’s icy hand would veto it. The British would try again the next year, but in the meantime the Americans would have months to prepare; General Washington would have time to recover from a disastrous summer and fall; and the next invasion would result in the destruction/capture of an entire British Army.

Marker of the Week--a question from last time--What New York town/city gets its name from the Algonquin phrase--
"Uppuqui-sipis-ing" "Reed covered lodge by the watering place"?
 
*In the colonial era cannon were rated by the weight of the cannon balls they shot. Thus, a 12 pounder threw a 12 lb. cannonball. The guns of the two fleets varied from diminutive 2 pounders to ship smashing 24 pounders.
**There is considerable disagreement over exact numbers with different observers reporting different numbers and caliber of cannon and even the numbers of British gunboats engaged. 
***James L.Nelson, in Benedict Arnold's Navy, McGraw Hill, 2006 presents this analysis and is a major source of information for much of this post.