Often referred to as the “American Hannibal”, a moniker achieved as a result of the expedition through the Maine woods in autumn 1775 that was part of a two-pronged attack on the Province of Quebec, Benedict Arnold enjoyed a successful, but often contentious career as a leader of continental forces during the Revolutionary War. He possessed a keen ability to see and devise military tactics that often had a high-risk level, and that he would fearlessly pursue independent of general orders. Lauded for his bravery, people saw Arnold as a dynamic and persevering leader who was revered by the men who served under his command.

Born and raised in Norwich, Conn., Arnold (1741-1801) attended school and was later apprenticed for seven years to family cousins, Daniel and Joshua Lathrop, who operated a successful apothecary and general merchandise trade in Norwich. In 1759 his mother died, followed by his father in 1761. By 1762, young Arnold was setting up a pharmacy and book business in New Haven with the help of the Lathrop’s. His business prospered and by 1764, in association with Adam Babcock, they purchased the first of three trading ships, and he began a mercantile career that extended from Connecticut to Quebec to the West Indies.

Benedict Arnold and Margaret (Peggy) Mansfield were married on February 27, 1767, in New Haven. They had three sons before Peggy’s death from illness in June 1775 leaving him with young children who were raised by his sister Hannah who lived with them throughout these years and who managed the business for Arnold especially as he was often away at sea. Before and during this period, he maintained an active trading business, but it was at this time that the British government began imposing taxes on colonial merchants and trade especially the Sugar Act (1764), the Stamp Act (1765), and the Townshend Acts (1767). Surviving some downturns in business, Arnold, the self-made man, was once again on the road to prosperity by 1770 at which time he started construction of a large stately home on Water Street in New Haven.

The British repealed the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act in 1766, but the tax on tea that was part of the Townshend Acts lingered until 1773 when angered colonials dumped company tea in Boston Harbor. This resulted in the adoption of the Coercive Acts of 1774 which were known as the Intolerable Acts in the colonies and which set in motion the actions that would eventually lead to open rebellion.

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, and Arnold’s company formed up to march to Boston the next day, but the town council would not release any gunpowder to them. Eventually, Arnold secured the key from Gen. David Wooster who was in command of Connecticut militia companies, and Arnold and his men marched off to Boston.

Arnold, whose attention was increasingly focused on the growing unrest in New England, knew of the cannon and supplies held at Fort Ticonderoga in New York and started to promote the idea of attaining them for the use of the colonial forces. In Cambridge, 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 the captains attempted to find recruits Arnold went on to the fort ahead of his unit. It was there that he encountered Ethan Allen who, with his Green Mountain Boys, was in the process of taking Ticonderoga, but who allowed the Yankee merchant a place at his left-hand side as they entered the fort. However, by all accounts Ethan Allen, not Arnold as he would claim, was in charge of the action which resulted in the colonial forces taking Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775. They also captured nearby Fort Crown Point and Fort George.

In the days after the capture of the fort, Arnold, did an inventory of the fort’s military assets for possible transport to Boston, and then with the arrival of the men his captains had recruited, and using a schooner they had captured, they next executed a daring raid on Fort Saint-Jean south of Montreal. Here they took prisoners, and captured the largest military vessel on Lake Champlain, giving the Americans complete military control of the lake. Back at Ticonderoga, Arnold began to exert more authority over the fort 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. It was then that Arnold resigned his commission and headed home to Connecticut only to suffer the loss of his wife Peggy on June 19, 1775. According to most Arnold biographers, it was at this point that he threw himself into increased military activity, and leaving his family and business under the control of his sister Hannah, sought service and command in the colonial forces.

On August 1, 1775, he had an appointment in Watertown with the Massachusetts Provincial Congress to settle his accounts from the Ticonderoga expedition hoping to be reimbursed for monies laid out by him for the purchase of livestock at Crown Point and other necessities for his troops. He also planned on using the trip as an excuse to go to Cambridge to meet the newly appointed Commander in Chief of the colonial forces, Gen. George Washington hoping to volunteer his services for the planned invasion of Quebec which the Continental Congress had just authorized and which would be led by Gen. Philip Schuyler of New York. Having sent the Congress a letter on June 13, 1775, from Crown Point outlining a plan for just such an invasion, Arnold wanted to be part of the action.

Called a “detached command,” Gen. Washington met with Arnold during the first weeks of August while the Continental Congress was in recess and personally authorized an expedition through the Maine woods of what would be the second prong of an attack on Quebec under the command of newly appointed Col. Benedict Arnold.

On August 20^th Genl. Washington wrote to Genl. Schuyler informing him of the plan.

On 27 August 1775, Schuyler replied to Washington.

"...only wished that the thought had  Struck sooner[.]  The force I shall carry is far short of what I would wish[.]"

Both missions were plagued by delays and hardships. Arnold arrived in Quebec on November 9th. The rendevous with Montgomery took place on December 2nd. In the meantime, Gov. Guy Carleton had managed to secure a position inside the walls of the town and repulsed the Americans throughout the month, culminating in the December 31st Battle of Quebec in which Montgomery was killed and Arnold injured. Quebec never became the 14th Colony, but remained under British control until the establishment of the Canadian Confederation in 1867.