Arnold had about as many guns as Carleton, but they were smaller, and he had not nearly so many men to handle them. And his men were farmers instead of sailors, and knew no more about a cannon than about a king's crown. But the British ships were manned by picked seamen from the warships in the St. Lawrence River, and had trained naval officers.
I fear if any of us had been in Arnold's place we would have wanted to go home. It looked like folly for him and his men to fight the British fleet with its skilled officers and sailors and its heavy guns. It was like meeting a raft of logs with one of chips.
But Arnold was not a man who stopped to count the cost when fighting was to be had. As soon as he was ready he set sail boldly up the lake, and on the morning of October 11, 1776, he drew up his little fleet across a narrow channel between Valcour Island and the west shore of the lake. He knew the British would soon be down.
It was a fine, clear, cool morning, with a strong wind from the north, just the kind of day Carleton had been waiting for. So, soon after sunrise, his fleet came sweeping on past Valcour Island. But all the sailors saw was a thicket of green trees, and they had got well south of the island before they looked back and saw the American fleet.
Here was an ugly situation. It would never do to leave the Americans in their rear. Down went the helms, round swept the sails, out came the oars, and soon the British fleet was making a struggle against the wind which had seemed so fair a few minutes before. So strong was the breeze that ten o'clock had passed before they reached the channel in which the Americans lay. Arnold came eagerly to meet them, with the Royal Savage, his largest vessel, and three of his gondolas. One of these, the Congress, he had made his flagship. Soon the waters of that quiet bay rang with the roar of cannon and the shouts of fighting men, and Arnold, having drawn the fire of the whole British fleet, was obliged to hurry back.
In doing so he met with a serious loss. The Royal Savage, pierced by a dozen balls, ran ashore on the island. As she could not be got off, the crew set her on fire and escaped to the woods. They might better have leaped into the lake, for the woods were full of Indians whom Carleton had sent ashore; and to be a prisoner to Indians in those days was a terrible fate.
When he got back to his fleet, Arnold formed his line to meet the British, who came steadily on until within musket shot. Then a furious battle began, broadside meeting broadside, grape-shot and round-shot hurtling through the air, the thick smoke of the conflict drifting into the woodland, while from the forest came back flame and bullets as the Indians fought for their British friends.
Arnold, on the deck of the Congress, led in the thickest of the fight, handling his fleet as if he had been an admiral born, cheering the men at the guns, aiming and firing a gun at intervals himself, and not yielding a foot to the foe. Now and then a gun was fired at the Indians, forcing them to skip nimbly behind the trees.
For six long hours the battle kept up at close quarters. This is what Arnold says about it in few words: "At half-past twelve the engagement became general and very warm. Some of the enemy's ships and all their gondolas beat and rowed up within musket shot of us. They continued a very hot fire with round and grape-shot until five o'clock, when they thought proper to retire to about six or seven hundred yards distance, and continued the fire till dark."
Hot as their fire was, they must have found that of the Americans hotter, for they went back out of range of the Yankee guns, but kept within range of their own.