Lakes to Locks Passage

Experience New York's Great Northeast Journey

Disputed territory of Hampshire Grants. Courtesy of Wikimedia.

By the mid-1700s, New England was a bustling place. As the population increased, land was at a premium. Farmers looked westward for plots of land to settle and farm. New Hampshire Governor Benning Wentworth established the New Hampshire Grant, or Hampshire Grants, for the area that extended from the Connecticut River to the Hudson River and Lake Champlain. This area of land, however, was in dispute. The New York Colony also claimed the land as its own, leading to ongoing clashes between the two governors and the settlers in the area. The result was the establishment of the Vermont Republic in 1777, which later became the State of Vermont.

 

General John Burgoyne c. 1766 by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Used with permission from the Frick Collection.

By John Burgoyne, ESQ, Lieutenant General of his Majesty’s Armies in America, Colonel of the Queen’s Regiment of Light Dragoons, Governor of Fort William in North Britain, one of the Representatives of the Commons of Great Britain in Parliament, and commanding an Army & Fleet employ’d on an expedition from Canada, &c. &c. &c.

The forces entrusted to my command are designed to act in concert, and upon a common principle, with the numerous Armies & Fleets which already display in every quarter of America, the power, the justice, and, when properly sought, the mercy of the King.

The cause in which the British Arms are thus exerted applies to the most-affecting Interests of the human Heart: and the military Servants of the Crown, at first called forth for the sole purpose of ensuring the Rights of the Constitution, now combine with love of their Country & duty to their Sovereign, the other extensive enticements which spring from a due sense of the general privileges of Mankind. To the eyes and ears of the temperate part of the public, and to the breasts of suffering Thousands in the provinces, be the melancholy appeal whether the present unnatural Rebellion has not been made a foundation for the compleatest system of Tyranny that ever God in this displeasure suffered for a time to be exercised over a forward & stubborn generation.

Arbitrary imprisonment, confiscation of property, persecution and torture, unprecedented in the inquisition of the Romish Church are among the palpable enormities that verify the affirmative. These are inflicted by Assemblies and Committees who dare to profess themselves friends to Liberty, upon the most quiet Subjects, without distinction of age or sex, for the sole crime, often for the sole suspicion, of having adhered in principle to the Government under which they were born, and to which by every tie divine and human they owe allegiance. To consummate these shocking proceedings the profanation of religion is added to the most profligate prostitution of common reason; the consciences of Men are set at nought; and multitudes are compelled not only to bear arms, but also to swear subjection to an usurpation they abhor.

Animated by these considerations; at the head of troops in the full powers of health, discipline and valor; determined to strike where necessary, and anxious to spare where possible, I by these presents invite and exhort all persons, in all places where the progress of this army may point –and by the blessing of God I will extend it far—to maintain such a conduct as may justify me in protecting their lands, habitations and families. The intention of this address is to hold forth security not depredation on the country.

To those whom Sprit and principle may induce to partake the glorious task of redeeming their countrymen from dungeons, and reestablishing the blessings of legal government I offer encouragement and employment; and upon the first intelligence of their associations I will find means to assist their undertakings. The domestic, the industrious, the inform and even the timid inhabitants I am desirous to protect, provided they remain quietly at their houses, that they do not suffer their cattle to be removed, nor the corn or forage to be secreted or destroyed; that they do not break up their Bridges or Roads; nor by any other acts directly or indirectly endeavor to obstruct the operation of the King’s troops, or supply or assist those of the enemy.

Every species of provision brought to my camp will be paid for at an equitable rate, in solid Coin.

In consciousness of Christianity, my royal Master’s clemency and the honor of soldiership, I have dwelt upon this Invitation and wished for more persuasive terms to give it impression: and let not people be led to disregard it by considering their distance from the immediate situation of my camp—I have but to give stretch to the Indian forces under my direction, and they amount to thousands, to overtake the hardened enemies of Great Britain and America, I consider the same, wherever they lurk.

If notwithstanding these endeavors and sincere inclinations to affect them, the frenzy of hostility should remain, I trust I shall stand acquitted in the eyes of God and Man in denouncing and executing the vengeance of the State against the willful outcasts—The messengers of justice and of wrath await them in the field; and devastation, famine and every concomitant horror that a reluctant but indispensable prosecution of military duty must occasion, will bar the way to their return.

 

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Baron Friedrich Adolf Riedesel, ca 1790. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

An excerpt from William Leete Stone’s Memoirs and Letters and Journals of Major General Riedesel during his Residence in America, Translated from the original German from Max von Eelking’s Memoirs. pg. 21:

It must not be overlooked that Prince Carl was forced to participate in the war. The heir to the throne of Brunswick says confidentially in a letter before the breaking out of the America war: The landgrave will very likely, in spite of Eichfeld, furnish all or part of his troops. Otherwise he might get into difficult with both sides; for he is not strong enough to remain neutral, as his funds would soon be seized, and the lack of everything would soon be felt. It was believed at that time, that the difficulties between England and America would be fought out, not only in the colonies, but in Europe, and particularly in Germany.

The landgrave was thus forced to take sides with one of the parties. He accordingly entered into an agreement with England, or rather an offensive and defensive alliance. England needed troops; the German states needed money; it was therefore natural that they should mutually aid each other. England had already been an ally of Hessia and Brunswick during the Seven Years’ War; and in the case of another war breaking out – an event which was thought extremely probably – that union would have to be renewed.

According to the treaty, the Duke Charles agreed to furnish an infantry corps of 3.064 men, and 336 of light cavalry. It was specially agreed in Article II, that “His majesty of Great Britain, not deeming it advisable that his corps should be mounted, the same shall serve as a corps of infantry. But should the service demand that they should be mounted, then his majesty agrees to do it at his own expense.”

On the disbanding of his regiment in 1767, Riedesel was appointed adjutant general of the Brunswick army. His advancement was rapid. In 1772, he was named colonel of carbineers, which was subsequently formed into a regiment of Dragoons. Germany was to take into Britain’s service upwards of twenty thousand German troops, of which nearly four thousand were from Brunswick. On January 10, 1776, Colonel Riedesel, who had been appointed commander of the auxiliary troops of Brunswick, received his commission as Major General and instructions.

Julius Wasmus

Julius F. Wasmus was a German surgeon who fought for the British in the American Revolution. Wasmus served in a German regiment, the Braunschweig Dragoons, which was a mounted infantry regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum. This was an elite group of mounted soldiers, trained to move and fire while on horseback. They were noted for their thigh-high riding boots, 12-pound broad swords, and their handlebar mustaches, but they were dispatched here without horses and needed to adapt to being on foot.

The Braunschweig Dragoons were under the command of British General John Burgoyne and thus Wasmus witnessed many key battles. Wasmus was among the men taken prisoner by the Americans after the war. When an American finds him hiding behind a tree he shakes hands with the man and calls him “Freund und Bruder” [friend and brother]. When they heard that he was a surgeon, they immediately set him to work bandaging American troops. He attempted to help some of the fallen German artillerymen, but they did not give him the time and pulled him along by force. The prisoners were taken to Bennington before they marched to Boston as POWs.

Later, after being taken prisoner, Wasmus was ordered to live with a farmer’s family in Brimfield, Massachusetts, and encouraged to work in his profession. His journal—An Eyewitness Account of the American Revolution and New England Life: The Journal of J.F. Wasmus, German company surgeon, 1776-1783—offers first-hand accounts of military affairs, as well as detailed observations of the climate, geography, and societal customs of New England and New York.

 

Benedict Arnold. Copy of engraving by H.B. Hall after John Trumbull, published 1879. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Born in 1741, to a well-established merchant family in Norwich, Connecticut, Benedict Arnold had a troubled past. He was the second of six children, but only he and his sister survived to adulthood. Some historians believe that the death of Arnold’s siblings contributed to his father’s alcoholism, which resulted in him losing the family business and being placed in debtor’s prison.
No longer able to attend private school and ambitions of attending Yale dashed, the unruly teen acted out. He was prone to feats of danger and spent a great deal of time playing with what remained of the local Indian children. The young man needed a trade to keep him out of trouble. Arnold’s mother eventually found young Benedict an apprenticeship with Dr. Lanthrop, a physician and practicing apothecary, where he was to serve until he was 21.

Arnold appreciated the return to people of gentlemanly refinement, but he could not suppress his rebellious spirit. When warfare was renewed with the France and its allies during the Seven Years War, 14-year-old Arnold attempted to run away to join the British war effort against the French colonies several times. When he was 16, he succeeded in joining a militia company dispatched to relieve Fort William Henry on Lake George, but returned home when he learned his mother was ill. His mother soon died and Arnold continued his apprenticeship with Dr. Lanthrop.

When Arnold completed his term of service in 1762, Dr. Lanthrop gave him a loan to set up his own apothecary in New Haven, Connecticut. The economy was booming as men and material came and went from New England ports to support the troops on the frontier of the New World. Arnold became a successful businessman. He eventually raised enough money to repay Dr. Lanthrop and buy three ships to take part in the lucrative West India trade. Shipping was vital to the economy of the New World and merchants, like Arnold, established a growing middle class that made their fortune by avoiding trade laws and tariffs established by the British Government.

British Taxes
Benedict Arnold’s experience was typical of many merchants. He was successful during the boom years of the French and Indian War, but when the post-war economy declined and the tax collections by the British increased, business waned. Arnold was facing financial ruin, falling £16,000 in debt. He became a vocal opponent of the new taxes. As the number of violent incidents in New England increased, British General Gage dispatched several regiments of troops to occupy Boston.

Boston Massacre by Alonzo Chappel. Courtesy of New York Public Library.

The presence of the troops was unsettling for the disgruntled civilians. Arnold was in the West Indies when a confrontation between angry citizens and a British sentry escalated into the Boston Massacre.

 

 

Letter from Arnold to friend Douglas, Esquire, New Haven:
St. George’s Key, 9th June, 1770

Dear Sir,
I am now in a corner of the world whence you can expect no news of consequence, yet was very much shocked the other day on hearing the accounts of the most wanton, cruel, and inhumane murders committed in Boston by the soldiers. Good God! Are the Americans all asleep; and tamely yielding up their liberties, or are they all turned philosophers, that they do not take immediate vengeance on such miscreants; I am afraid of the latter and that we shall all soon see ourselves as poor and as much oppressed as ever a heathen philosopher was.

With great Esteem, Dear Sir, your sincere Friend,
Arnold

Arnold began the war as a captain in Connecticut’s militia, a position to which he was elected in March 1775, and was among the men dispatched to assist the Rebel uprising against the British in Boston. When he arrived there he proposed to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety a mission to take over Fort Ticonderoga, a strategic outpost known to be poorly defended but vital to protect against and attack from Quebec.

Arnold received a colonel’s commission in the Massachusetts Militia and was ordered to take Ticonderoga, but he did not anticipate running into Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys en route to Ticonderoga. Arnold had the orders and Allen the men so they agreed to go together. Yet they still competed for power:

This is to certify that previous to Colonel Benedict Arnold’s arrival to the Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, a Committee sent from the Colony of Connecticut, furnished with money for the purpose of reducing and garrisoning said Forts, had, with the assistance of seventy-five men from Massachusetts, and one hundred and forty from the New Hampshire Grants, marched within a few miles of Ticonderoga, and this morning, at daybreak, took possession of said Fort, and have given the command thereof into the hands of Colonel Ethan Allen. And said Arnold refuses to give up his command, which causes much difficulty.
Allen Mott to the Provincial Congress
Ticonderoga, May 11, 1775

After the capture of Ticonderoga, the Rebels were fighting among themselves. Arnold was disturbed when he found that Allen had taken all credit for the capture of Ticonderoga for himself, but Allen and his Green Mountain Boys departed soon after the alcohol was depleted.

Arnold made significant improvements to the fort during his time on Lake Champlain, often spending his own money to ensure it was prepared in case of attack. He built barracks and additional outworks at Fort Ticonderoga and even led a raid against the British port at St. John, in Quebec, capturing additional boats, but in June a colonel from the Connecticut militia arrived and again rivaled Arnold’s command. The command was given to the younger officer and Arnold resigned his commission from the Massachusetts Militia:

Colonel Arnold’s Refusal to Serve Any Longer
Crown Point, June 24, 1775

“In the first place, I observe you are appointed co examine my conduct, and in what manner I have executed my commission. I look on this instruction at this juncture an unprecedented, and a very plain intimation that the Congress are dubious of my rectitude or abilities, which is a sufficient inducement for me to decline serving them longer…. it appears to me very extraordinary that the Congress should first appoint an officer, and afterwards, when he had executed his commission, to appoint a Committee to examine if he was fit for his post.

The last objection I have to make is that I have so far lost the confidence of the Congress, that they have declined sending me money, as was promised by Captain Brown, to discharge the small and unavoidable debts I have contracted for necessaries for the use of the Army, for which my own credit is at stake, and I am reduced to the necessity of leaving the place with dishonor, or waiting until I can send home and discharge those debts out of my private purse.

All which reasons I believe will be thought a sufficient inducement for me to decline holding my Commission longer.

“I am, Gentlemen, your most humble servant,
Benedict Arnold

Such disputes for command were not uncommon as the colonists established makeshift political structures at the state and national level. Things became slightly more structured when in May 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia, establishing a temporary Colonial government. On June 14, Congress established the Continental Army, appointing George Washington as commanding general. They quickly dispatched him to New England to take command of the Siege of Boston.
Arnold’s Invasion of Quebec

On June 27, Congress authorized General Philip Schuyler to investigate whether an invasion against the British in Quebec was practical. When Schuyler learned that British General Guy Carleton had approached the Iroquois for help and that he was fortifying St. John, Schuyler selected General Richard Montgomery to launch an Invasion of Canada.

Troops, under command of Benedict Arnold, portaging with boats, at Skowhegan Falls, Maine, en route to invasion of Canada. Courtesy of Library of Congress.

Arnold had written Congress suggesting such an undertaking against Canada when he took control of Fort Ticonderoga. He believed that he should have been selected for the command. Arnold went to Boston and convinced George Washington to send a second force under his command. Washington took notice of the abilities of the young man and the two struck an unlikely friendship. Arnold was given a colonel’s commission in the Continental Army and 1,100 men to lead an attack on Quebec.

It wasn’t until December 31, 1775, that a coordinated attack was launched against the entrenched city. Montgomery died and Arnold took a shot in the leg as their attack was hastily repelled by General Guy Carleton. Arnold was promoted to brigadier general and continued to lay siege on the city until he was relieved of command in April 1776.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Hannah Arnold
Camp before Quebec, January 6, 1776

My Dear Sister,
Before this reaches you I make no doubt you will have heard of our misfortune of the 31st ultimo and will be anxious for my safety. I should have wrote you before, but a continual hurry of business has prevented me. The command of the Army, by the death of General Montgomery, devolved on me; a task, I find, too heavy under my present circumstance. I received a wound by a ball through the leg, at the time I had gained the first battery at the lower town, which by the loss of blood, rendered me very weak… I have no thoughts of leaving this proud town until I enter it first in triumph. My wound has been exceedingly painful, but is now easy, and the surgeon assures me will be well in eight weeks. I know you will be anxious for me in eight weeks. The Providence, which has carried me through so many dangers, is still in my protection. I am in the way of my duty and know no far.

The Death of General Montgomery by John Trumbull. Courtesy of Library of Congress.

Arnold was one of America’s greatest heroes at the time. He had succeeded in capturing Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point, lead a courageous raid against St. John, trekked through the wilderness to Quebec, and was the last man to leave Canada. He then was given orders to construct a Navy at Skenesborough (present-day Whitehall, NY) and led a successful delaying tactic, which saved Fort Ticonderoga from attack in 1776.
He had his enemies too. During the winter of 1776 a handbill was distributed that said “Money is this man’s God, and to get enough of it he would sacrifice his country.” After the Battle of Valcour, Arnold went to New Jersey to assist General Washington, but in November the British seized Newport and Washington assigned Arnold to the defense of Rhode Island.