Captain Delaplace with forty-eight of his men, a great supply of much needed military and naval stores, and a valuable fortress, were among the trophies of this brilliant dash of inexperienced farmer soldiers.
Colonel Seth Warner, who had now come over from Shoreham with the residue of the troops, was sent with a detachment against Crown Point, an express having been previously dispatched to Captain Baker, of Onion River, forty miles distant, to come with his company to assist. Captains Warner and Baker appeared before Crown Point nearly at the same time; the garrison, consisting only of a sergeant and twelve men, surrendered without firing a gun. Here were taken upward of a hundred cannon. On his way down, Captain Baker intercepted two small boats which had been sent to give the alarm to St. Johns, on the Sorel River.
Arnold now insisted on being given the command of the fortress, as being the only officer clothed with legal authority. Allen was too popular to be eclipsed by the assumptions of Arnold; and the Connecticut committee, which had accompanied the enterprise, gave an instrument in writing investing Allen with full command of the fort and its dependencies, until he should be in receipt of orders from the Connecticut Assembly or Continental Congress. Arnold was forced to content himself, meanwhile, with a statement of his grievances to the Massachusetts Legislature.
Just at this time a new project was set on foot which had the effect to appease the restless spirit of Arnold. The detachment originally sent to Skenesborough arrived with a schooner and several bateaux. Allen and Arnold arranged to continue their conquests by an attempt to surprise St. Johns, the frontier post of Canada. Arnold, who had been a seaman in his youth, took command of the schooner, which had been furnished with cannon and ammunition from the fort, while Arnold and his Green Mountain Boys embarked in the bateaux.
Arnold outsailed the other craft, surprised the post of St. Johns, and made its garrison prisoners; captured the King’s sloop of seventy tons, with two brass pieces and seven men; took four bateaux and destroyed several others; and then, learning that troops were on the way from Montreal and Chamblee, spread his sails to the breeze and swept up the lake with his prizes and his prisoners, and some valuable stores.
On the way he met Allen and the bateaux. Salutes were exchanged, cannon answering to musketry. Learning from Arnold the particulars of his victory, Allen determined to push on and occupy the vacated post. The Canadian reinforcement had already taken possession on his arrival, so he returned to Ticonderoga.
This series of brilliant exploits was hailed as if in requital for the recent acts of British atrocity, and as an omen of a brighter future for the colonies. To the adherents of the Crown it must have been the occasion of astonishment and alarm. It drew public attention to the prowess of the Green Mountain Boys; and their leaders, from being denominated outlaws, were now extolled as patriots.
The capture of those frontier posts impressed the American people with a sense of their ability to cope with the disciplined soldiers of England, and helped some to decide for independence who had trembled in the balance, and at the same time contributed to render preparations for defense more prompt and effectual.
CHAPTER VIII.
EXPEDITION INTO CANADA.
Although these dashing exploits met with the unqualified approval of public sentiment throughout the country, yet Congress for a time wavered as to the disposition of the captured fortresses. An endorsement of those victories by that body would destroy all chances of an ultimate reconciliation with England, of which some entertained strong hopes; others thought the day for a peaceable settlement had passed, and insisted that those victories should be followed by energetic action. The Green Mountain Boys kept possession of the forts until Congress had, so to speak, legitimated their capture, and by its order, Colonel Hinman’s regiment of Connecticut troops was dispatched to relieve them.