Lawrence almost to the cliffs of Quebec.
Canada seemed indeed an easy conquest.
The adventurous Benedict Arnold went on an expedition more
hazardous. He had persuaded Washington of the impossible, that he
could advance through the wilderness from the seacoast of Maine
and take Quebec by surprise. News travels even by forest
pathways. Arnold made a wonderful effort. Chill autumn was upon
him when, on the 25th of September, with about a thousand picked
men, he began to advance up the Kennebec River and over the
height of land to the upper waters of the Chaudiere, which
discharges into the St. Lawrence opposite Quebec. There were
heavy rains. Sometimes the men had to wade breast high in
dragging heavy and leaking boats over the difficult places. A
good many men died of starvation. Others deserted and turned
back. The indomitable Arnold pressed on, however, and on the 9th
of November, a few days before Montgomery occupied Montreal, he
stood with some six hundred worn and shivering men on the strand
of the St. Lawrence opposite Quebec. He had not surprised the
city and it looked grim and inaccessible as he surveyed it across
the great river. In the autumn gales it was not easy to carry
over his little army in small boats.
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