Benedict Arnold's Kennebec Expedition

September 17th to November 9, 1775

Continental victory

Eager to capitalize on his summer’s gains at Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point, Colonel Benedict Arnold received authorization from General George Washington to launch a second prong in the invasion of Canada. Arnold and his force of 1,200 men would navigate the wilderness of Maine and approach Quebec City from the south. Arnold and his men sailed from Newburyport, Massachusetts on September 17, 1775 to the mouth of the Kennebec River and upriver to Fort Western (modern Augusta, Maine). Here they entered bateau – flat bottomed river boats – for the series of portages across several rivers and ponds. Unfortunately for Arnold, his bateau were constructed with improperly cured lumber and leaked, ruining gunpowder and spoiling food supplies, Arnold's map map was inaccurate, the portages (were difficult, and the terrain was unforgiving. Running short of food, a two thirds of his force elected to turn back. The survivors were forced to boil shoe leather and eat candle tallow (animal fat) to survive, many starving to death in the desolate wilderness. Arnold and his surviving 300 men reached the Saint Lawrence across from Quebec City on November 9, too exhausted to launch an immediate attack