"The little American navy on Champlain was wiped out; but never had any force, big or small, lived to better purpose or died more gloriously, for it had saved the Lake for that year."

General Nathaniel Greene summed up his strategy in the south as, "We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again."  This was exactly the outcome for the Americans after the naval battle on Lake Champlain.  The British won the battle, but in "losing" the Americans halted the British advance and made possible the alliance with France.

Taken from, Mahan, A.T. "The Major Operations of the Navies in the War of American Independence." Sampson Low, Marston & Co: London, 1913.  Available as a free ebook at Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16602).  Edited by Gary M. Bohannon.  This is part two of the article Click to go to Part 1>>.

The British squadron were over-confident after the first day's battle, and a proper look-out was not kept, thinking the Americans too injured to move.  Benedict Arnold, however, immediately held a conference with his officers, and decided to attempt a retreat, "which was done with such secrecy," writes Waterbury, Arnold's second in command, "that we went through them entirely undiscovered."

The retreat of the Americans southward had been impeded by their injuries, and by the wind coming out ahead. They were obliged to anchor on the 12th to repair damages, both hulls and sails having suffered severely.  Arnold took the precaution to write to Crown Point for bateaux, to tow in case of a southerly wind; but time did not allow these to arrive.  Two gondolas had to be sunk on account of their damage, making three of that class so far lost.  The retreat was resumed at 2 P.M., but the breeze was fresh from the southward, and the gondolas made very little way.  At evening the British chased again.  That night the wind moderated, and at daybreak the American flotilla was twenty-eight miles from Crown Point,—fourteen from Valcour—having still five miles' start.  Later, however, by Arnold's report, "the wind again breezed up to the southward, so that we gained very little either by beating or rowing.  At the same time the enemy took a fresh breeze from northeast, and, by the time we had reached Split Rock, were alongside of us." 

The galleys of Arnold and Waterbury, Congress and Washington, had throughout kept in the rear, and now received the brunt of the attack, made by Inflexible and the two schooners, which had entirely distanced their sluggish consorts.  This fight was in the upper narrows, where the Lake is from one to three miles wide; and it lasted, by Arnold's report, for five glasses (two hours and a half), the Americans continually retreating, until about ten miles from Crown Point.  There, Washington having struck some time before, and final escape being impossible, Arnold ran Congress and four gondolas ashore in a small creek on the east side; pulling to windward, with the cool judgment that had marked all his conduct, so that the enemy could not follow him—except in small boats with which he could deal.  There he set his vessels on fire, and stood by them until assured that they would blow up with their flags flying.  He then retreated to Crown Point through the woods, "despite the savages;" a phrase which concludes this singular aquatic contest with a quaint touch of local color.

In three days of fighting and retreating the Americans had lost one schooner, two galleys, and seven gondolas,—in all, ten vessels out of fifteen.  The killed and wounded amounted to over eighty, twenty odd of whom were in Arnold's galley.  The original force, numbering seven hundred, had been decimated.  Considering its raw material and the recency of its organization, words can scarcely exaggerate the heroism of the resistance, which undoubtedly depended chiefly upon the personal military qualities of the leader.  The British loss in killed and wounded did not exceed forty.

The little American navy on Champlain was wiped out; but never had any force, big or small, lived to better purpose or died more gloriously, for it had saved the Lake for that year.  Whatever deductions may be made for blunders, and for circumstances of every character which made the British campaign of 1777 abortive and disastrous, thus leading directly to the American alliance with France in 1778, the delay, with all that it involved, was obtained by the Lake campaign of 1776.  On October 15th, two days after Arnold's final defeat, Carleton dated a letter to Douglas from before Crown Point, whence the American garrison was withdrawn.  A week later Riedesel arrived, and wrote that, "were our whole army here it would be an easy matter to drive the enemy from their entrenchments," at Ticonderoga, and—as has been quoted already—four weeks sooner would have insured its fall.  It is but a coincidence that just four weeks had been required to set up Inflexible at St. John's; but it typifies the whole story.  Save for Arnold's flotilla, the two British schooners would have settled the business.

"Upon the whole, Sir," wrote Captain Douglas in his final letter from Quebec before sailing for England, "I scruple not to say, that had not General Carleton authorized me to take the extraordinary measure of sending up Inflexible from Quebec, things could not this year have been brought to so glorious a conclusion on Lake Champlain."  Douglas further showed the importance attached to this success by men of that day, by sending a special message to the British ambassador at Madrid, "presuming that the early knowledge of this great event in the southern parts of Europe may be of advantage to His Majesty's service."  That the opinion of the government was similar may be inferred from the numerous rewards bestowed.  Carleton was made a Knight of the Bath, and Douglas a baronet.

The gallantry shown by both sides upon Lake Champlain in 1776 is evident from the foregoing narrative. With regard to the direction of movements,—the skill of the two leaders,—the same equal credit cannot be assigned.  It was a very serious blunder, on October 11th, to run to leeward, passing a concealed enemy, undetected, upon waters so perfectly well known as those of Champlain were; it having been the scene of frequent British operations in previous wars.  Owing to this, "Maria, because of her distant situation (from which Inflexible and Carleton had chased by signal) when the rebels were first discovered, and baffling winds, could not get into close action."  For the same reason Inflexible could not support Carleton.  The Americans, in the aggregate distinctly inferior, were thus permitted a concentration of superior force upon part of their enemies.  It is needless to enlarge upon the mortifying incident of Arnold's escape that evening.  To liken small things to great—always profitable in military analysis—it resembled Hood's slipping away from de Grasse at St. Kitts.

In conduct and courage, Arnold's behavior was excellent throughout.  Without enlarging upon the energy which created the flotilla, and the breadth of view which suggested preparations that he could not enforce, admiration is due to his recognition of the fact—implicit in deed, if unexpressed in word—that the one use of the Navy was to contest the control of the water; to impose delay, even if it could not secure ultimate victory.  No words could say more clearly than do his actions that, under the existing conditions, the navy was useless, except as it contributed to that end; valueless, if buried in port.  Upon this rests the merit of his bold advance into the lower narrows; upon this his choice of the strong defensive position of Valcour; upon this his refusal to retreat, as urged by Waterbury, when the full force of the enemy was disclosed—a decision justified, or rather, illustrated, by the advantages which the accidents of the day threw into his hands.  His personal gallantry was conspicuous there as at all times of his life.  "His countrymen," said a generous enemy of that day, "chiefly gloried in the dangerous attention which he paid to a nice point of honor, in keeping his flag flying, and not quitting his galley till she was in flames, lest the enemy should have boarded, and struck it."  It is not the least of the injuries done to his nation in after years, that he should have silenced this boast and effaced this glorious record by so black an infamy.

With the destruction of the flotilla ends the naval story of the Lakes during the War of the American Revolution.  Satisfied that it was too late to proceed against Ticonderoga that year, General Carleton withdrew to St. John's and went into winter quarters. The following year the enterprise was resumed under General Burgoyne; but Sir William Howe, instead of cooperating by an advance up the Hudson, which was the plan of 1776, carried his army to Chesapeake Bay, to act thence against Philadelphia.  Burgoyne took Ticonderoga and forced his way as far as Saratoga, sixty miles from Ticonderoga and thirty from Albany, where Howe should have met him.  There he was brought to a stand by the army which the Americans had collected, found himself unable to advance or to retreat, and was forced to lay down his arms on October 17th, 1777.  The garrison left by him at Ticonderoga and Crown Point retired to Canada, and the posts were re-occupied by the Americans.  No further contest took place on the Lake, though the British vessels remained in control of it, and showed themselves from time to time up to 1781.  With the outbreak of war between Great Britain and France, in 1778, the scene of maritime interest shifted to salt water, and there remained till the end.