page_title: Military career of Benedict Arnold, 1775–1776
section_title: Early Revolutionary War
hierarchical_section_title: Military career of Benedict Arnold, 1775–1776 / Early Revolutionary War
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a color mezzotint of American Revolutionary War General Benedict Arnold, captioned as follows: Colonel Arnold who commanded the Provincial Troops sent against Quebec, through the wilderness of Canada and was wounded in that city, under General Montgomery. London. Published as the Act directs 26 March 1776 by Thos. Hart.
context_page_description: The military career of Benedict Arnold in 1775 and 1776 covers many of the military actions that occurred in the northernmost Thirteen Colonies early in the American Revolutionary War. Arnold began the war as a captain in Connecticut's militia, a position to which he was elected in March 1775. Following the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord the following month, his company marched northeast to assist in the siege of Boston that followed. Arnold proposed to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety an action to seize Fort Ticonderoga in New York, which he knew was poorly defended. They issued a colonel's commission to him on May 3, 1775, and he immediately rode off to the west, where he arrived at Castleton in the disputed New Hampshire Grants in time to participate with Ethan Allen and his men in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga. He followed up that action with a bold raid on Fort Saint-Jean on the Richelieu River north of Lake Champlain. He then resigned his Massachusetts commission after a command dispute with the head of a detachment of Connecticut militia troops that arrived in June to reinforce Ticonderoga.
context_section_description: In March 1775, a group of 65 New Haven residents formed the Governor's Second Company of Connecticut Guards. Arnold was chosen as their captain, and he organized training and exercises in preparation for war.  On April 21, 1775, news reached New Haven of the opening battles of the revolution at Lexington and Concord.  Arnold's company formed up to march to Boston the next day, but the town council would not release any gunpowder to them.  In a confrontation between Arnold and David Wooster that is reenacted in New Haven every Powder House Day, Arnold successfully argued with the older man that he would take the powder one way or another.  The magazine was opened, Arnold's company was armed, and they marched off to Boston.
  During the march, Arnold encountered Connecticut legislator and militia Colonel Samuel Holden Parsons. They discussed the shortage of cannons in the revolutionary forces and, knowing of the large number of cannons at Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, agreed that an expedition should be sent to capture the fort. Parsons continued on to Hartford, where he raised funds to establish a force under the command of Captain Edward Mott. Mott was instructed to link up with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys at Bennington in the disputed New Hampshire Grants territory (now Vermont). Meanwhile, Arnold and his Connecticut militia continued on to Cambridge, where Arnold convinced the Massachusetts Committee of Safety to fund an expedition to take the fort. On May 3, the committee appointed him a colonel in the Massachusetts militia and dispatched him, and several captains under his command, to raise an army in Massachusetts. As his captains recruited troops Arnold rode west.  When he reached Williamstown he learned of the activities of Mott and Allen.  Turning north, he reached Castleton on May 9, where Allen's forces were already gathering.  Arnold attempted to gain control over the expedition by asserting the legitimacy of his commission, but Allen's Green Mountain Boys, by far the largest part of the force, refused to act under the command of anyone other than Allen.  In a compromise negotiated privately between Allen and Arnold, the two appeared to jointly lead the expedition.
  On May 10, 1775, Fort Ticonderoga was assaulted in a dawn attack and taken without a battle, the colonial forces having surprised the outnumbered British garrison.  They also captured nearby Fort Crown Point and Fort George, which were occupied by even smaller garrisons.  Following these captures, Allen's men broke into the liquor stored at the fort, and became somewhat unruly.  Arnold, who wanted to inventory the fort's military assets for possible transport to Boston, was incensed, but powerless to stop them.  With the arrival of men his captains had recruited, and of a schooner they had captured, Arnold then executed a daring raid on Fort Saint-Jean, not far from Montreal.  He took more prisoners, and also captured the largest military vessel on Lake Champlain, giving the Americans complete military control of the lake.
  After returning to Ticonderoga, Arnold began to exert more authority over the place as Allen's men drifted away.  However, a Connecticut force of 1,000 men under Colonel Benjamin Hinman arrived in June with orders placing him in command with Arnold as his subordinate. This act angered Arnold, who felt his efforts on behalf of the revolution were not being recognized; he resigned his commission and headed for his home in Connecticut.  Arnold's angry response to the loss of command led some members of Congress to dislike him in spite of his military contributions.  Congressional opinion of Arnold was also negatively affected by reports circulated by two men that Arnold came to consider enemies.  John Brown and James Easton were two of Allen's lieutenants who had traveled to Massachusetts and Philadelphia to report on the action.  While their characterizations of Arnold's behavior were accurate, he apparently came to believe that they had probably slandered him, and later interactions with both men were marked by conf
caption: Colonel Benedict Arnold in 1776
exif: {}