Although Carleton’s flotilla drove the Americans away, Arnold’s action delayed Carleton’s approach long enough that, by the time the British general reached New York, the battle season was near an end, and the British had to return to Canada.

On October 11, 1776, the American fleet surprised its foe near Valcour Bay. Correctly predicting that British General Guy Carleton would sail an invading force down Lake Champlain, Arnold supervised the hasty construction of an American flotilla on that lake to meet Carleton’s fleet.

He played a crucial role in hindering a British invasion from Canada into New York in the autumn of that year. Hundreds of American soldiers were killed, wounded or captured, and Canada remained in British hands.īy the later part of 1776, Arnold had recovered sufficiently from his wound to once again take the field. The assault continued, but the Battle of Quebec failed miserably. With the enlistments of many of his men expiring on New Year’s Day, Arnold had no choice but to launch a desperate attack against well-fortified Quebec City through a blizzard on December 31, 1775.Įarly in the battle, Arnold received a grave wound to his leg and was carried to the back of the battlefield. The purpose of the expedition was to rally the inhabitants of Canada behind the Patriot cause and deprive the British government of a northern base from which to mount strikes into the 13 colonies. Later that year, Arnold led an ill-fated expedition on a harrowing trek from Maine to Quebec. Acting under a commission from the revolutionary government of Massachusetts, Arnold partnered with Vermont frontiersman Ethan Allen and Allen’s Green Mountain Boys to capture the unsuspecting British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York on May 10, 1775. When the Revolutionary War broke out between Great Britain and its 13 American colonies in April 1775, Arnold joined the Continental Army.

The couple had three children before Margaret’s death in 1775. In 1767, Arnold, who became a prosperous trader, married Margaret Mansfield. As a young man, Arnold apprenticed at an apothecary business and served in the militia during the French and Indian War. His mother came from a wealthy family, but his alcoholic father squandered their estate. Benedict Arnold was born on January 14, 1741, in Norwich, Connecticut.

An infamous army