The Battle of Valcour Island

Until the early decades of the 20th century saw wide-spread construction of roads in North America, water provided ready-made highways. Lake Champlain formed 125 miles of one such 350-mile-long artery through the wilderness that lay between the Atlantic Ocean at New York City and the St. Lawrence River at Montreal. In the spring of 1776, the Americans commanded the lake with four small armed vessels captured a year earlier. Lacking any shipping, the British and Germans pursuing the shattered American army retreating from the disastrous Canadian campaign could not continue up the lake.[1] With control of the water highway as the prize, an arms race began that would last until October.

In order to retain control, the Americans began to build ships at Skenesborough (Whitehall, NY)—the head of the lake. Under the command of Benedict Arnold. workmen constructed the ships out of green lumber and sent them down the lake to Mount Independence and Ticonderoga to be completed with supplies, cannons, and crews. In mid-August, the fleet began cruising several miles to the north. By the end of summer, the army had built a cutter from timbers captured at St. Johns, four row galleys over 70 feet in length, and eight 50-foot gunboats (also called gondolas). The fleet ultimately consisted of seventeen vessels of various sizes and armaments.

The American fleet at the time of the Valcour Island battle.[2]

NAME Advertisement	TYPE	ARMAMENT	CREW
Royal Savage	Schooner	six 6-pounders; four 4-pounders; twelve 1-pound swivels[3]	60 Advertisement
Revenge	Schooner	eight 4s; ten 1s	35
Liberty (at Ti loading supplies)	Schooner	two 4s; six 2s; six 1s	35
Enterprise (served as hospital ship)	Sloop	ten 4s; twelve 1s	50
Lee	Cutter	one 12; one 9; four 4s; six 1s	45
Trumbull	Galley	one 18; one 12; two 9s; two 6s; two 4s; ten 1s	76
Washington	Galley	one 18; three 12s; four 6s; ten 1s	76
Congress	Galley	two 18s; two 12s; four 6s; ten 1s	76
Gates (being rigged at Mt. Independence)	Galley	two 18s; two 12s; four 4s; ten 1s	76
Philadelphia	Gunboat	one 12; two 9s; eight 1s	45[4]
New York	Gunboat	one 9; two 6s	45
New Jersey	Gunboat	one 12; two 9s	45
Connecticut	Gunboat	one 12; two 9s; eight 1s	45
Providence	Gunboat	three 9s; seven 1s	45
New Haven	Gunboat	one 12; two 9s; eight 1s	45
Spitfire	Gunboat	three 9s; four 1s	45
Boston	Gunboat	one 12; two 9s; eight 1s	45
Total: 17 Vessels (15 at Valcour)		Total Weight of Armament: 841 pounds (729 at Valcour: heavy guns = 616 pounds; swivels = 113 pounds.)	Total: 865

The effort suffered from severe shortages. Only a limited number of qualified carpenters, blacksmiths, and shipwrights could be cajoled to work in the shipyard. When joining the fleet, many ships did not have full rigging and all had to make use of old and inferior armament.[5] Worse yet, with few sailors available, crews had to be filled out with inexperienced landsmen. Shortly after Arnold left the shipyard to command the fleet, he wrote to General Horatio Gates: “We have a wretched motley crew in the fleet, the marines the refuse of every regiment, and the seamen, few of them ever wet with salt water.”[6] Against ships and sailors of arguably the most powerful navy in the world, Arnold had to go into battle with green ships and greener men.

Intent on seizing control of the lake, the British built their fleet in a shipyard at St. Johns, Quebec—the foot of the lake. Anticipating that Champlain would be the scene of naval action, the Admiralty had ingeniously constructed ten gunboats as kits in England to be assembled in Canada under the direction of naval Lieutenant John Schank.[7] Added to similar vessels built locally, the British had up to twenty-seven gunboats mounting a single cannon or howitzer. They also brought thirty longboats from the St. Lawrence River fleet and mounted a cannon in four of them. Expecting to have to fight on land as well, the carpenters produced as many as 450 flat-bottomed transports each capable of carrying 30-40 infantry and supplies. Many featured a square bow designed to allow for the landing of the men.[8]

Victory would require larger ships, however. Unlike the Americans who built most of their ships out of standing timber in the area around their shipyard, the British constructed only the massive radeau Thunderer entirely at their yard.[9] Instead, Schank and the commander of the St. Lawrence fleet, Captain Charles Douglas, had four of Douglas’s large vessels partially disassembled and dragged up the Richelieu, over or around twelve miles of rapids and shallows at Chambly, to St. Johns for reassembly.

The British fleet at the Battle of Valcour Island.[10]

Construction delayed the British advance until 4 October but the fleet had everything in its favor. It featured larger ships with better sailing qualities as well as newer, larger, and more numerous guns. In addition, experienced Royal Navy officers and seamen crewed the vessels while well-practiced British and German artillery crews manned the artillery. Veteran Captain Thomas Pringle commanded from the Maria accompanied by Governor-General Carleton. The move up the lake would be in two parts. The lead element would include the warships with about 1,000 regulars and 650 Indians and Canadians following in bateaus and canoes. The main body of the army—about 7,000 men—remained behind at Pointe au Feu.

Neither Arnold nor Gates expected the British to come onto the lake this late in the season. Living on ships amplified the shortages of clothing and supplies so Arnold planned to move the fleet south in mid-October. Nevertheless, he still made preparations to repel an attack.[11] He knew his fleet could not meet the enemy on open waters and had to find some way of limiting their advantages. He chose to do so by placing his ships in a line across the narrow strait between the New York shore and an island named Valcour about half way between Crown Point and St. Johns. As well as providing protection from the blustery north winds, the island shielded the fleet from British view until they had sailed past the island whereupon they would have trouble sailing back against the wind. Lastly, the narrow strait would limit how many ships the British could employ at one time.

On the morning of October 11, Arnold’s plan began just as he had hoped. Desirous of battle, he ordered the gallies and Royal Savage under way to sail out into view of the British fleet while the rest of the fleet remained at anchor.[12] The British apparently thought they caught the Americans trying to escape: “One of their vessels perceived us only a little before we came abreast of the Island, and our van got to the southward of it in time enough to stop them just as they were making off.”[13] They could not have known that the other ships had remained anchored in line of battle.

Unfortunately for the Americans, they lost the Royal Savage very early in the action. Being a poor sailer with an inexperienced crew, she missed stays several times while attempting to tack against the wind. Around 11:00, still unable to move back to the fleet, she came under fire and ran aground on the southwest corner of the island. As the crew attempted to abandon her, a British boarding party captured twenty men and turned the guns on the rest of the American fleet. In turn, the boarders soon found themselves under considerable fire and abandoned the ship.

Watching that action, Carleton and Pringle realized they could not easily get any of the larger ships into the action. The fight rested on the gunboats. Even without the larger ships, however, they provided enough firepower for Arnold to become concerned. Around half-past twelve, the Carleton came up before a favorable breeze and “the engagement became general and very warm. Some of the enemy’s ships and all their gondolas beat and rowed to within musket-shot of us [300 yards]. They continued a very hot fire with round and grape shot.”[14]

The two fleets battled through the day. Each of the British gunboats carried fifty rounds of solid and grape shot into battle and they had to be resupplied having used up their initial quantity.[15] The Inflexible finally came up and engaged the Americans with several broadsides but, around 5 o’clock, the British “thought it proper to retire about six or seven hundred yards distance, and continued to fire until dark.”[16] Captain Georg Pausch, commanding the German gunboats, wrote that, “The cannon of the Rebels were well served; for, as I saw afterwards, our ships were pretty well mended and patched up with boards and stoppers.” The Carleton had been hit so many times that it could not move on her own and had to be towed back. One of the German gunboats blew up when a round hit their magazine.[17] The British fleet had suffered around sixty dead and wounded.[18]

As much damage as the Americans did to the British fleet, the more experienced British and German gunners firing considerable quantities of shot from larger cannons inflicted greater damage on the Americans: “The Congress and Washington have suffered greatly … The New York lost all her officers except her Captain. The Philadelphia was hulled in so many places that she sank about an hour after the engagement was over. … The whole killed and wounded amounted to about sixty.”[19] Not all the casualties resulted from enemy fire. One of the officers killed on the New York and an unknown number of enlisted men died when a cannon burst, probably the result of double-charging with powder and/or shot.[20]

With the coming of darkness and the end of the day’s fighting, Arnold met with General Waterbury and Colonel Wigglesworth: “It was thought prudent to Retire to Crown Point, every Vessells Ammunition being Nearly three fourths spent, & the Enemies greatly Superior to us in Ships, & Men.”[21] Two possible routes existed for the escape— out the south end of the strait or  around the north end of the island into the main channel of the lake and then south. Both routes presented their own set of challenges. Either way, they would have to slip through the British fleet but a significant difference lay in the course to navigate. Out the south end, the ships would follow a nearly straight course with only a narrow shelf of shallows along the shore that quickly dropped off to deep water. Moving north meant steering a line of ships through a narrow curving course between the island, the mainland, and barely submerged shoals—all in virtually total darkness. Any illumination on the ships would be seen by the British fleet or the loyalists and Indians that had landed on the island.

It is telling that no primary source has been found that mentions Arnold considering the northern route. It seems that it went without saying the escape would be to the south. Once darkness had set in, the Americans moved off along the New York shore with muffled sweeps (the long oars on each ship) and a shrouded lantern in the stern to guide the following ship. The adrenalin level of those men must have been quite high for some time as they slowly and quietly made their way past the British blockade. Once in the clear, all felt “great reason to return our humble thanks to Almighty God for preserving and delivering so many of us from our more than savage enemies.”[22]

Three factors enabled the escape. First and foremost, the British probably did not expect an attempt at escape and, although they certainly knew of both escape routes, it appears they did little to thwart either one. Carleton wrote that the fleet anchored in a line to the south of the Americans but does not note how tight a line they formed. He goes on to say that they “found means to escape us unobserved by any of our guard boats or cruisers.”[23] His use of the terms “guard boats or cruisers” indicates the line had gaps which had to be watched over by stationary or moving boats both of which are considerably less effective than a tight line. The northern route posed a particular problem for the British. Clearly, they did not have enough ships to completely seal off the four miles between opposite shores of the lake but, Pringle did have one or two ships anchored east of the island.[24] Interestingly, eight months after the battle, three officers charged Pringle with negligence in preventing the escape. If their letter is to be believed, the British blockade did not have much organization with ships scattered south of the island and well away from the New York shore. Whatever positioning had been ordered by Pringle, the Americans must have seen an opening in the fading light and quickly decided to take advantage of it.

In addition to gaps in the blockade, two factors would have impaired the vision of the British watchmen. While there is some reference to cloudy weather with squalls, the night would have been quite dark even with clear skies. With the moon just hours from its new phase, the only natural light came from the stars, inadequate to illuminate anything against the black backdrop of the Adirondack mountains.[25] Further, Carleton ordered the Royal Savage burned and with “her ammunition, blowing up, caused a fine fire lasting all night.”[26] The sight not only provided a distraction for the British but also prevented their eyes from becoming dark adapted. With those conditions, they probably would not have been able to see the American ships even if they looked right at them.

By morning, much of the American fleet had stopped to perform repairs at Schuyler’s Island eight miles south. A few had moved further south. Two of the heavily damaged gunboats, Spitfire and New Jersey, had to be abandoned. With first light, the British looked in jaw-dropping disbelief at an empty expanse where they expected to see the remnants of the American fleet. Carleton gave the Americans credit for “the real dilligence used by the enemy in getting away from us.”[27] The British fleet soon set off in pursuit but, the wind being out of the south, they had to “give over the chase for the present. The enemy has however been retarded as well as us.”[28]

Conditions changed dramatically on the 13th. The wind near Valcour came around to the northeast and the British set sail. They soon claimed the abandoned New Jersey but the Spitfire had already sunk.[29] The Americans, however, still had a southerly breeze. and had to row putting three men to a sweep. The wind change eventually reached the Americans but the far better sailing British ships caught up with straggling Washington five miles below Split Rock.[30] She surrendered after receiving several broadsides. The crew of the Lee ran her aground and abandoned her. After a two-hour running battle up the east side of the lake, Arnold took four gunboats and the Congress into Ferris Bay nine miles above Split Rock and, with flags flying, set fire to them. Arnold, his men, and some local settlers escaped overland to Crown Point.[31]

That action proved to be the last of the Battle of Valcour Island. The remainder of the American fleet had made enough progress that the British could not catch them but the Americans had suffered a major defeat. Scores of men had died, suffered wounds, or been captured. Out of the fleet of fifteen vessels, only four—Revenge, Enterprise, Trumbull, and New York—escaped. Nearly 130 valuable cannons had been lost. While Arnold’s plan had begun perfectly on the 11th, it did not end that way on the 13th.

Following the battle, the Americans abandoned Crown Point and the British immediately took over the post. On the 15th, Carleton sent several boats under a flag to Ticonderoga carrying 104 prisoners released on their honor not to rejoin the army (a common practice).[32] When greeted by Johnathan Trumbull (who later gained notoriety as an artist), they reported being treated very well and that Carleton “pitied them as deluded subjects.”[33] Trumbull felt the treatment had “made a very dangerous impression” and immediately reported it to Gates without allowing the prisoners to land. Fearing the stories would soften the army’s view of the enemy, Gates did not allow them to land at Ti and promptly ordered them to continue on to Skenesborough and home.[34]

In spite of Carleton’s generosity and somewhat sympathetic feelings towards the enemy (an attitude that shortly led, in part, to his recall), the Americans feared an attack and worked feverishly to strengthen their defenses at Mount Independence and Ticonderoga. Additional units arrived and by late October around 10,000 men manned the positions. In a probe of the American defenses, around two dozen boats landed troops at Three Mile Point (so-called for being that distance north of Ticonderoga) but vigorous artillery fire from the forward redoubts prompted the British to return to Crown Point. Carleton’s troops continued some patrolling and taking soundings of the lake but, by early November, with cold weather arriving and facing a large entrenched force, they returned to Canada having accomplished their goal of gaining control of the lake. The British would retain control until the end of the war.

For the Americans, there is a silver lining to the dark story. The arms race had cost the British a campaign season. Considering the dilapidated condition of the army that retreated out of Canada that spring, the king’s forces might well have been able to move all the way to Albany and possibly beyond if not for the efforts surrounding that little collection of ships. The three months of delay allowed the American army to compose itself and gain strength. It would be next summer before another force moved south out of Canada full of confidence but, like Arnold’s fleet, Burgoyne’s army would suffer a severe thrashing.