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PROPERTY OF THE HENRY FORD MUSEUM AND GREENFIELD VILLAGE*
ARNOLD, Benedict (1741-1801), Maj. Gen. Continental Army, traitor. Two Autograph documents, each signed ("Benedt Arnold, Col., Commander at Ticonderoga"), a "Memorandum of Men &c wanted for the Ensuing Summer," and "Sundry Necessaries for Transporting the Cannon Over Lake George." Ticonderoga, 29 May 1775. 3 pages, 4to, blank page docketed "A List of particulars wanted by Coll. Benedict Arnold."
Details
ARNOLD, Benedict (1741-1801), Maj. Gen. Continental Army, traitor. Two Autograph documents, each signed ("Benedt Arnold, Col., Commander at Ticonderoga"), a "Memorandum of Men &c wanted for the Ensuing Summer," and "Sundry Necessaries for Transporting the Cannon Over Lake George." Ticonderoga, 29 May 1775. 3 pages, 4to, blank page docketed "A List of particulars wanted by Coll. Benedict Arnold."
JUST DAYS AFTER CAPTURING TICONDEROGA, ARNOLD MAKES PLANS TO TRANSPORT TICONDEROGA'S CANNON TO BOSTON
Not quite three weeks earlier, a motley American force primarily composed of Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys, jointly commanded by Allen and Arnold, seized Fort Ticonderoga--Britain's single most strategic stronghold in North America--in a bold night attack. At the Fort were an impressive array of cannon and munitions desperately needed by the Continental Army, paticularly for the Boston Seige. Arnold, with his customary efficiency, inventoried the cannon and began plans to transport these by flat-bottomed boat and wagons to Lake George and on to Boston.
The present requisitions detail the men and materials necessary to complete the task. "Sundry Necessaries for Transporting the Cannon Over Lake George," specifies that "2 Flatt Bottom Boats 40 feet long, 12 wide & four Deepwell timbered, & of 4 inch oak planks are "to be built on Lake George"; identical vessels "to go between Tic[onderoga] and the Landing on Lake Champlain" are also to be constructed. Other essentials include "8 Falls for the Guns," ropes and twines, "10 Barrells Pitch, 4 Barrells Tar, 5 Oakum," "10 dozen sails," three sizes of nails, 24 hammers and other tools "for the House & ship Carpenters." He also requisitions 4 pairs of "strong wheels," able to take three tons weight to be used in transporting the cannon over the wilderness road between Lakes Champlain and George." Arnold specifies that "common Cart wheels will answer (if good) for most of the small cannon," while "There will probably be wanted at Fort George Ten Good Teams of 4 Yoak [sic] of Oxen each, to bring up Provisions, &c, & take, such Cannon & Mortars to Albany, as may be wanted by our Army at New York, or Cambridge." Finally, "8 Yoak of Oxen will be wanted at Ticonderoga" and may be obtained "in the neighborhood, of which Col. Webb may inform himself."
The second, linked document lists "Men, &c wanted for the Ensuing Summer," beginning with "1200 Men Including B. Arnold's Regt. of 400 Men," 25 Ship carpenters, 2 gunsmiths, 29 teamsters, masons, blacksmiths and house carpenters, totalling 1,579 men. Supplies required include "100 Tents with proper equipage," 600 hatchets, 100 narrow axes, 50 broad axes, 50 pickaxes, shovels, hoes, camp kettles, wooden canteens and "Arms, Blankets, &c for the men." At the bottom Arnold explains that "the Committee of New York intend forwarding a Number of Articles for which Reason I have omitted them."
Arnold, reduced to second-in-command by his Massachusetts superiors, left Ticonderoga in high dudgeon on July 6, his plan for the cannon forgotten. In the end, Henry Knox, the Continental Army's Chief of Artillery devised another scheme, using horse-drawn sledges, and succeeded in January 1776 in transporting the precious cannon captured at Ticonderoga some 300 miles over frontier roads to Washington's seige lines in Boston.
JUST DAYS AFTER CAPTURING TICONDEROGA, ARNOLD MAKES PLANS TO TRANSPORT TICONDEROGA'S CANNON TO BOSTON
Not quite three weeks earlier, a motley American force primarily composed of Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys, jointly commanded by Allen and Arnold, seized Fort Ticonderoga--Britain's single most strategic stronghold in North America--in a bold night attack. At the Fort were an impressive array of cannon and munitions desperately needed by the Continental Army, paticularly for the Boston Seige. Arnold, with his customary efficiency, inventoried the cannon and began plans to transport these by flat-bottomed boat and wagons to Lake George and on to Boston.
The present requisitions detail the men and materials necessary to complete the task. "Sundry Necessaries for Transporting the Cannon Over Lake George," specifies that "2 Flatt Bottom Boats 40 feet long, 12 wide & four Deepwell timbered, & of 4 inch oak planks are "to be built on Lake George"; identical vessels "to go between Tic[onderoga] and the Landing on Lake Champlain" are also to be constructed. Other essentials include "8 Falls for the Guns," ropes and twines, "10 Barrells Pitch, 4 Barrells Tar, 5 Oakum," "10 dozen sails," three sizes of nails, 24 hammers and other tools "for the House & ship Carpenters." He also requisitions 4 pairs of "strong wheels," able to take three tons weight to be used in transporting the cannon over the wilderness road between Lakes Champlain and George." Arnold specifies that "common Cart wheels will answer (if good) for most of the small cannon," while "There will probably be wanted at Fort George Ten Good Teams of 4 Yoak [sic] of Oxen each, to bring up Provisions, &c, & take, such Cannon & Mortars to Albany, as may be wanted by our Army at New York, or Cambridge." Finally, "8 Yoak of Oxen will be wanted at Ticonderoga" and may be obtained "in the neighborhood, of which Col. Webb may inform himself."
The second, linked document lists "Men, &c wanted for the Ensuing Summer," beginning with "1200 Men Including B. Arnold's Regt. of 400 Men," 25 Ship carpenters, 2 gunsmiths, 29 teamsters, masons, blacksmiths and house carpenters, totalling 1,579 men. Supplies required include "100 Tents with proper equipage," 600 hatchets, 100 narrow axes, 50 broad axes, 50 pickaxes, shovels, hoes, camp kettles, wooden canteens and "Arms, Blankets, &c for the men." At the bottom Arnold explains that "the Committee of New York intend forwarding a Number of Articles for which Reason I have omitted them."
Arnold, reduced to second-in-command by his Massachusetts superiors, left Ticonderoga in high dudgeon on July 6, his plan for the cannon forgotten. In the end, Henry Knox, the Continental Army's Chief of Artillery devised another scheme, using horse-drawn sledges, and succeeded in January 1776 in transporting the precious cannon captured at Ticonderoga some 300 miles over frontier roads to Washington's seige lines in Boston.