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Late in 1775 Col. Benedict Arnold lead an army of volunteers from Skowhegan, Maine (at that time what is now Maine was still a part of the Massachusetts Colony) through the Northern wilderness with the purpose of meeting up with Richard Montgomery to attack the City of Quebec, hoping that conquering the fortress city would convince the Canadians to join the Rebellion against England.
Arnold's spy network, and brilliant use of the information he got from them, was one of the prime reasons for him becoming, arguably, the greatest field commander in U. S. History, failed him on this occasion, and it was later discovered that some of them were, in fact, working for the British.
The horrors that this expedition went through, and the heroic, though unsuccessful attack on Quebec, in which Montgomery was killed, Arnold severely wounded in the left leg, and Daniel Morgan was captured, are beautifully chronicled in Kenneth Roberts's brilliant novel "Arundel"
After fighting their way up the Kennebec River and carrying their 400 pound bateaux, which those British sympathizers had said were the boats to take, when in fact, canoes would have been far better, over the mountains known as the "Height of Land", going on foot through many miles of swamp and bog lands along the Dead River, where the bateaux were useless, often through waist and often chest deep water and muck, in bitter cold, with winter coming, and all of their food having run out, they came to Lake Megantic.
After making their way around the lake, they came to what was known then as Seven Mile Creek, pictured here.
From here they went to Spider Lake (sometimes called Finger Lake) then on, through even worse tribulations, to Quebec.
Since that time, this waterway has been called Riviere Arnold, in honor of the man, who many historians believe is the ONLY man with the intelligence, leadership, and personal charisma to have successfully gotten an army to Quebec under the conditions they suffered, and that alone is considered one of the great feats in American military history.
I took this image on a cloudy October afternoon with mid-autumn color showing.
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