Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-06-20
ARNOLD'S MARCH.
The Daring Expedition Through
Maine to Quebec.
A New Story Of a Famous Episode in
Our History.
The Hardships Of the Journey up the
kcnnebec River.

"Arnold'S Expedition to Quebec" Mrs.
Estes paper is of special interest in
this section as it rehearses a story not
any too well known of a part Maine
played in the Revolution. The paper
was as follows:
The subject, "Maine's Part in the
Revolution scarcely admits of definite
treatment, as Maine was a Massachu-
sets province and her soldiers were
reckoned in the Massachusetts quota.
yet we can form a rough judgment of
their number from the fact that more
than 1000 soldiers from Maine fell on
revolutionary battlefields. And al
though in 1776 one-fourth of the male
inhabitants of above IL years, except
those east of Camden, We're arranged in
companies equipped for war-that is,
each having good gun with bayo-
net or tomahawk' or cutting sword or
hatchet.'' and ready to march at mo-
ment's notice, vet with the exception of
los men from York and 81 from Cum
berland, the rest were stationed along
the home coast to repel threatened in
Vasions.
OF these men we have learned during
the past year in our researches among
the coast towns. The only revolution
AIRY expedition upon the soil of Maine
was that of Benedict Arnold for the
capture Of Quebec.
Eight days after the battle of LeXing
ton Benedict Arnold proposed that an
army be sent out to capture Ticon-
deroga and Crown Point, and in May
he went out as its leader. Ethan Allen
and the Green Mountain boys under
took the same project and meeting,
they went on together. From this time
Arnolds services were largely devoted
to maintenance of control of the Hud-
son valley. Before the battle of
Saratoga, when General Schuyler
sought leader to turn back the force
Of st. Seger, silence followed the re-
quest, until Arnold said, washington
sent me here to be useful will GO
and We remember how he went, gaining
}, victory while Gates stayed i'll his
tent.
In the summer of IS on the shores
of Lake Champlain, he built a fleet Of
war boats to fight Carleton on the same
waters where McDonough 80 years af-
ter destroyed another English fleet, but
Arnold's was the first navy of the war.
The undertaking by Arnold more not
able than any Of these referred to, beset
by dangers and difficulties, compared to
which most other incidents of the
American Revolution fall to Subordi-
nate places, was the expedition to
Quebec in the autumn and winter of
1715.
- a., oil ,fNe.t
the earliest step in strategy undertaken
during the Revolution. 1t was believed
that the people of Canada scarcely less
than those of the seaboard colonies
favored resistance to British tyranny.
They had been invited to send delegates
to the Provincial congress, and it was
believed that delegates would come.
From it's position Canada was of
great military Importance. The St.
Lawrence valley furnished a route by
which England could cut the colonies
in twain by way of Lake Champlain.
and the Hudson. 1t possessed two of
the chief cities of the continent, one q
natural fortress, the Importance OF
which mad been demonstrated 10 years
before in the war with France.
which crossed Maine was put in
charge of Benedict Arnold. remembered
as BENEDICT Arnold. the traitor: Bene-
dict Arnold the patriot and Valorous
soldier having been buried under his
subsequent load of obloquy, and forgot
ten. He had been among the first to
offer his sword to the patriot cause
and thenreforth until the autumn OF
1850. his career was not only honor
able but most distinguished. Except
for West Point he would have ranked
with. if not outranked, any officer of
the Coleman army.
Mr.. Goldman, his historian, says that
after Washington by no one had more
brilliant deeds been performed. Statues
in his homer would have arisen, instead
If the vacant tablet on the wall for
heroes at West Point, and the niche on
The monument near Schuylerville
would not have been empty, a pathetic
witness both of his glory and his
shame.
In September. l115. Benedict Arnold
with a select corps of 100 men'from the
army at Cambridge, was given charge
of the expedition for the capture OF
Quebec. His route was to be from the
mouth Of the kennebec river. north
west through an unpeopled forest to
the lakes there to cooperate with
forces under Montgomery and. advance
to Quebec. more than 200 miles.
The expedition was overwhelmed with
disaster from start to finish. The men,
bers who survived it were few; many
died upon other fields before the con-
clusion of the war; those of Colonel
Enos's force who deserted en- masse,
could not with pride recall their
proves. and the last incident in Bene-
dict Arnold's career as a colonial sol
der obliterated all his preceding skill
and fame: so that not only the leader
but his men fail to receive the honor
due their endurance.
The route was chosen on account OF
information gained from a journal kept
nv Colonel Montressor of the English
army when on an exploring expedition,
and this falling into the hands of
Arnold. furnished him a clear idea of
the way. Expecting entire success he
took the inhabitants of Canada mani
festo from George Washington con-
Guiding:
Let no man desert his habitation: