The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1912-10-10
MEMORIAL TO BENEDICT ARNOLD
Continued from page one

Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen anC
Benedict Arnold in May which gave tn,
colonial forces control of the back.
door of the country. Gen. Washing
ton, upon taking command of tht
army in Cambridge in July, resolved
upon an aggressive campaign.
body of troops under Gen. Schuyler
later under Montgomery, was to adj
vance up Lake Champlain against st
John on the Richelieu, and against
Montreal, and another expedition was
to pierce through the wilderness oil
Maine and surprise Quebec. The
two armies would effect junction
and Canada would be ours. 1t was
a project both daring and sagacious
and was executed for the most part
with fidelity even unto death and with
desperate yalor. 1t resulted in dis
aster and failure, and Canada was
lost to the Union. Two years later
the army of Burgoyne came down
through the unguarded gate of Lake
Chamnlain, and on the field of Sara
toga was fought the decisive battle
of the war.
There was a trail across Maine
which had often been travelled by
Canadian Indians, and which few
years before this time had been fol-
lowed by an English engineer, the
record of whose journey was in the
hands of Washington, describing in
some detail the route by way of the
Kennebec, Dead River, Lake Megantic
and the Chaudiere The route seem
ed practicable, and the enterprise
highly promising.
For leader of the expedition the
choice of Washington fell on young
Connecticut officer who had just ar
rived at Cambridge fresh from bril-
liant exploits at Ticonleroga and on
northern Lake Champlain, and whose
buoyant enthusiasm and reckless
courage seemed to the Head of the
army valuable to be used in his
country's service. 1t is evident thai
Washington was favorably impressed
with Arnold's qualities of leadership
and personally attracted by the man
Arnold was at this time in his thirty
fifth year, and is described by Judge
Henry, who entered Canada on his
seventeenth birthday with the Expedi
ton, as a short, handsome man, of {
ford complexion, stoutly made, brave
even to temerity, and beloved by thC
Toldiery.
1t is not our province to follow tht
career of Benedict Arnold beyond this
Expedition, in which he proved him
self resourceful, courageous anC
steadfast Call no man happy unit
he is dead, If Arnold, like Mont
gomery, had been killed instead o
wounded on the ramparts of Quebec
or if he had been killed instead O
wounded in one of his fiery charge,
at Saratoga, his name would now oc
cupy shining place in American
history.
The Expedition was composed o
ten companies of infantry made up o
selected men from Washington's army
then engaged III the siege of Boston
sturdy continentals mostly from Con
necticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Is
land and New Hampshire, and three
companies of rifemen from Virginia
and Pennsylvania, these last the flow
er of the Continental army. Includ
ing officers, 1850 men were enrolled
at Cambridge. These with the ad
dition of Colburn's artificers from
Gardinerstown, and volunteers from
settlements along the way made {
total commonly reckoned at 100 men
The soldiers were enrolled at Cam
bridge, and marched to Newburyport
sailing from there for the Kennebet
September 10, 1873. On Septembel
22d they arrived at Gardinerstown
where two hundred bateauX which
had been constructed by Major Reu
ben Colburn in his shipyard were
waiting for them. A few days were
passed at Fort Western, the presen
Augusta, nine miles up the river from
the shipyard, in making final prepare
tons for the journey through thu
wilderness. When everything wa!
ready, the bateaux were loaded viii
the ammunition and provisions am
various supplies, and the army Sc
forth up the river, some of the mel
walking up the trail and some row
ing and polling the bateaux. Tn
four divisions left Fort Western OF
the days from Sept. 25th to the 10Th
and arrived at what is now Skowh
gan from Sept. Doth to Oct 4th.
In the autumn of 1915 this place
was both essentially like and strange
ly unlike what it is today. There
were no churches, no factories, nj
school-houses, no homes or not more
than one or two within the limits o
the present village. A rude mill il
process of construction on the islant
gave the only hint of the future
wheels of industry But the river
circled the rOckbOund isle and rush