In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Army launched a bold campaign aimed at bringing Canada into the rebellion against British rule. One of the most daring undertakings of this campaign was the expedition led by Colonel Benedict Arnold in the fall of 1775, designed to capture Quebec City through a treacherous wilderness route.

Earlier that year, in May, Arnold had helped capture Fort Ticonderoga in present-day New York alongside Ethan Allen. With control of this key post on Lake Champlain, the American forces gained a gateway into British Canada. Arnold, familiar with the region from his prior business dealings, believed that French-speaking Canadiens might support the American cause. Intelligence also suggested that British forces in Quebec were sparse—no more than 600 regular troops guarded the entire province.

Arnold proposed a daring plan to General George Washington: to lead a second, simultaneous thrust into Canada, complementing a more conventional advance from Fort Ticonderoga led by General Richard Montgomery. Arnold’s route would take him and approximately 1,100 troops from Cambridge, Massachusetts, through Newburyport by ship to the mouth of the Kennebec River in Maine. From there, they would march through the vast, unsettled wilderness to Quebec.

Nathaniel Tracy of Newburyport received orders from Washington to provide the expedition’s transport from Newburyport to Maine which he willing provided. But from that point on, the journey was plagued by hardship. The soldiers, using flat-bottomed boats called bateaux, struggled with difficult portages and treacherous river currents up the Kennebec. Many of the boats leaked, spoiling vital food supplies and gunpowder. Inexperience navigating whitewater rapids led to further losses.

As the men pushed deeper into the wilds of Maine, they encountered swamps, steep terrain, and freezing weather. The maps were inaccurate, and the conditions increasingly desperate. Hunger and sickness set in. More than a third of the original force turned back before reaching the halfway point.

Despite these setbacks, Arnold and about 600 starving, exhausted men emerged from the forest in November and arrived at the outskirts of Quebec. With the help of sympathetic Canadiens, they crossed the Saint Lawrence River on November 13 and 14. Although Arnold hoped to surprise and besiege the city, he lacked the manpower and artillery to do so. He withdrew to Point-aux-Trembles to wait for General Montgomery, whose force had advanced from the south.

When Montgomery arrived, the combined American force launched a coordinated attack on Quebec City on December 31, 1775. The assault failed; Montgomery was killed, and Arnold was wounded. The Americans ultimately withdrew, ending their hopes of bringing Canada into the revolution.

Although unsuccessful in its ultimate objective, the expedition stands as a testament to endurance and determination. Benedict Arnold, for his leadership and bravery, was promoted to brigadier general. Today, the route he took is commemorated as the Arnold Trail to Quebec and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with several geographic features named in honor of the expedition and its participants.

Benedict Arnold – Hero

Colonel Benedict Arnold visited Newburyport in September 1775. After the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in May of that year, Arnold became aware that Quebec was only lightly defended, with a total of only 600 British troops in the whole province. In August, Arnold presented an audacious plan to take Quebec for George Washington, and on September 2, Washington sent a letter to Nathaniel Tracy:

“You are hereby authorized and impowered to take up for the Service of the sd. Colonies so many Vessels as shall be necessary for the transporting a Body of Troops to be detached from this Army on a secret Expedition.”

Arnold’s force of 1,100 soldiers left Newburyport on September 19th, aboard several of Tracy’s ships, which brought them to the Kennebec River in Maine, where they started their march to Canada. Historian John Currier outlines the following letter to Nathaniel Tracy, sent by Arnold 9 days after leaving Newburyport, from present-day Augusta, Maine:

“ ‘Fort Western, 28th September, 1775. Mr. Nathaniel Tracy:

‘Dear Sir:

‘This will be handed you by captain Clarkson who will acquaint you with the particulars of our voyage, which has been very troublesome indeed.

‘To captain Clarkson I am under many obligations for his activity, vigilance and care of the whole fleet, both on our passage and since our arrival here; for which he may very possibly be blamed by some of the other captains; but he has really merited much, and it will always give me a sensible pleasure to hear of his welfare and success, as I think him very deserving.

‘I must embrace this opportunity to acknowledge the many favours received from you at Newbury; and am with my best respects to Mrs. Tracy, your brother and Mr. Jackson, and so forth,

Dear sir, yours, and so forth,

ARNOLD.’ “

While Tracy had been promised reimbursement for his expenses, it’s more likely, based on a November 1775 letter, that he was never paid.

Benedict Arnold – Traitor

In 1780, Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point to the British was discovered. Joshua Coffin details the following in his Sketch of the History of Newbury, Newburyport, and West Newbury from the diary of local soldier Joshua Davis:

“September. This month, the most flagrant instance of treachery that occurred during the revolutionary war, was discovered, by the apprehension of Major Andre, a British officer, who was executed as a spy, October second. The treachery was, an attempt, by general Arnold, to deliver up West Point to the enemy. From a journal kept by a Newbury soldier, I extract the following. ‘September twenty-fourth. …This day about one o’clock general Washington, General Knox, Marquis La Fayette came to West Point to take a view of the fort. They stayed about two hours and then left the point. We had thirteen pieces of cannon discharged. This night Arnold’s plot was discovered. He had news of the British officer being taken. He told his wife he was a dead man. He took his horse and rode to the ferry as soon as he could to his barge, when he made the best of his way to a British ship. The ship made the best of her way to York, He carried off John Brown and Samuel Pilsbury of our company…”