Throughout the spring and summer of 1776, the British and Americans were both busy building fleets of ships. The British plan to attack and retake Fort Ticonderoga, and thus control access to the Hudson River, depended upon transporting troops by water on Lake Champlain. The British had their shipyard at Saint-Jean, on the Richelieu River, while the Americans were building their own ships for defense at Skenesborough (now Whitehall), New York. Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, who was an experienced ship's captain (he had often commanded his own ships as a merchant prior to the war), was placed in charge of the building of the fleet.
By August of 1776, the American forces expected that the British ships might enter the lake at any moment, and Arnold (now commander of the fleet) began patrolling the waters. Between September 8 and September 18, Arnold anchored his fleet on the lake near Isle la Motte, where he received intelligence and prepared for battle. Because he knew that the British fleet was larger and more powerful than his own, he headed south, towards the narrow passage between the lake shore and Valcour Island. In this spot, British firepower would be less effective, and Arnold's own relatively unskilled sailors would have an easier time handling their crafts. Although the Americans lost the battle on October 11, Arnold's strategy worked to delay the British advance so they could not attack Ticonderoga before winter.
This historical marker was erected by the Chazy Friends of the Library in 1980. It is located on the east side Lake Shore Road, just south of Dunn Road.
Comments