Benedict Arnold
1775. September. Battle of Quebec. The Failed Expedition of Benedict Arnold. An objective of the Continental Army in 1775 was to capture St. Johns and Montreal in Canada. Thus, the invasion occurred after the Battle of Bunker Hill. While General Washington actively engaged General Howe's troops in Boston, Colonel Montgomery led an expedition north through Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River, employing eleven hundred recently detached from the American Army in Boston.
In early September 1775, Colonel Benedict Arnold led eleven hundred Continental Army troops from Cambridge, Massachusetts, through wilderness country (now Maine). The journey up the Kennebec River was difficult, especially when the boats leaked, ruining gunpowder and spoiled food supplies. As a result, more than a third of his men turned back before reaching the land between the Kennebec and Chaudiere rivers. The troops were inexperienced in handling boats in white water and lost supplies and boats.
When Arnold finally arrived at the French settlements above the Saint Lawrence River, his force only had six hundred starving men who had traveled about 350 miles through a poorly charted wilderness. If it were not for the assistance of the local French Canadians, his troops would have never crossed the Saint Lawrence River. Nevertheless, by the middle of November, they reached Quebec City and attempted to put it under siege.
When this failed, Arnold withdrew to Point-aux-Trembles until Colonel Montgomery, the officer of the other part of the expedition, arrived to lead another unsuccessful attack on the city.
Sources: Calendar of Virginia State Papers, Vol. 1; Revolutionary War Journals of Henry Dearborn 1775-1783, pp. 9-11, 51-54; Hero Imprints by Jeannette Holland Austin.
Benedict Arnold published by Jeannette Holland Austin on medium.com
The Battle of Sarasota Springs
Benedict Arnold account by Revolutionary War Journals of Henry Dearborn 1775-1783 (1971)pp 205-206