Battle of Valcour Island
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Battle of Valcour Island
by Adam Parker
During the Revolutionary War, the Americans had three main defenses from the British in Canada. Lake Champlain was one of these defenses, where the rebels had already established a small naval fleet. This skirmish, known as the Battle of Valcour Island, was the first ever American Naval battle and delayed the British by a whole winter season. Some historians consider this to be one of the most, if not the most important battle of the Revolutionary War (Jenny). Nevertheless, the profound impact a small group of soldiers led by Benedict Arnold had on the future of the thirteen colonies, was greater than they would have ever thought.
It started when General Carleton of the British, decided that he would recapture Fort Ticonderoga, which had been captured by Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen his Vermont group known as the Green Mountain Boys in an effort to increase their artillery capability (McGranahan). Carleton and the rest of the British planned to split New England in half and defeat each halve separately to win the war. To do this, Carleton would have to go south and recapture Fort Ticonderoga, then he could meet with General Howe in NY to eliminate Washington's army. This could not be done however, without passing through Lake Champlain. Because of this, Washington decided to organize an attack on St. Jean in Canada led by Benedict Arnold, who would act as Naval commander.
With the aid of farmers just east of the lake in Vermont, Benedict Arnold built 13 ships in addition to the 3 already residing in Lake Champlain (Jenny). Without the farmers' help, the efforts of Benedict Arnold could have been no more than a minor annoyance to what was the greatest navy the world had ever seen. But instead of sailing north and following his commanders orders, Arnold decided to hold position near Valcour Island. Arnold carefully positioned the fleet in a way that the British had to go through a narrow path in order to attack them. Using this tactic, the rebels only had to fire upon a few ships at a time allowing them to focus fire on a single ship (Miller). Even with this strategic advantage, Benedict Arnold simply did not have enough men or ships to hold off the British indefinitely.
At their disposal, the British had 30 ships with over 700 seamen manning them along with solders and, not too far behind were over 7,000 soldiers in nearly 400 bateaux. Compared with the rebels, who had only 16 ships with 800 men aboard. This number may seem high, but these men were exhausted and had little if any energy left. Despite their exhaustion, the Americans continued on and soon spotted the British in the north. Once General Waterbury saw the size of the British fleet approaching, he informed Benedict Arnold that his plan was too risky and it would be better to retreat south to Fort Ticonderoga where they would have cover fire. Arnold Benedict was not going to retreat, having put all of this time and effort into building a fleet, so he told his commanders to get ready (Millard).
The ensuing battle that day did not last long, starting around 11 AM that morning to 6 PM in the evening when the Council of War was assembled. The Americans counted over 60 killed and wounded while their British counterparts had set fire to the Savage, the largest vessel of the American fleet. Many other ships were also badly damaged, including Benedict Arnold's own Congress. After the commanders met at the council that night, they decided to retreat (Millard). So that night, the remaining American fleet of 14 vessels silently rowed by the British and were astoundingly unnoticed. They made their way down the lake south towards Crown Point, but first Benedict Arnold had to stop at Shuyner's Island to make repairs to some of the vessels. Arnold himself said in a letter to Washington "We remained no longer at Schuler's Island than to stop our leaks and mend the sails of the Washington" (Miller).Once the repairs were complete, the rebels again set sail and went further down south. Soon they found themselves moving too slowly as the British fleet caught up to them 10 miles south of Shuyner's Island, including a particular ship called the Inflexible, which was over 300 feet long. The desperate rebel fleet saw the capture of their ships one by one until eventually only the Congress and 4 gondolas remained. With 3 large British ships attacking the Congress, Arnold and his crew were pushed towards the eastern side of the lake and used it to their advantage. Once they reached the eastern side, Arnold took out all of the weapons and ammunition and set fire to the Congress using the last 4 boats of the fleet that remained. Finally Arnold and his men made their way to Crown Point (Miller).
Over 80 Americans were wounded or lost their lives and over 110 captured. Despite their lack of success, Benedict Arnold and his crew of around 800 men managed to delay a British invasion of New England. The oncoming winter forced the British fleet to retreat north. Benedict Arnold had effectively distracted the British long enough, forcing them to return until the season lapsed. With this advantage, the American's could more easily predict the next move of the British forces in Canada and they would have time to recuperate and amass more men. The plan of splitting New England was not as practical now. The British soldiers had also witnessed the extreme passion and patriotism of the Americans as they fought in harsh conditions against what was then the most powerful and largest navy in the world (Miller). Even Carleton was impressed, as he awoke to find no American fleet nearby (Millard). Without Arnold's leadership, the Americans might have lost the war. As Miles Miller puts it: "This along with the battle at Hubbardton was probably the only time in the American Revolutionary War that the Americans lost for a good cause" (Miller).
Works cited
C, Jenny. "The Battle of Valcour Island." Jenny's Early American Maritime Page. October 21, 2006 http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/students/his3487/cantrell/Default.htm
McGranahan, Ronald. "Ethan Allen and his 'Green Mountain Boys'." The American Revolution Home Page. October 21, 2006 http://www.americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/ALLEN.HTM
Millard, James. "The Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain." America's Historic Lakes. October 21, 2006 http://historiclakes.org/Valcour/valcour_battle.htm
Miller, Miles. "The Battle of Valcour Island." Vergennes Union High School. October 21, 2006 http://www.vuhs.org/project/valcour.htm
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