They had not come and the only thing for Carleton to do was to
build a flotilla which could carry an army up the lake and attack
Crown Point. The thing was done but skilled workmen were few and
not until the 6th of October were the little ships afloat on Lake
Champlain. Arnold, too, spent the summer in building boats to
meet the attack and it was a strange turn in warfare which now
made him commander in a naval fight. There was a brisk struggle
on Lake Champlain. Carleton had a score or so of vessels; Arnold
not so many. But he delayed Carleton. When he was beaten on the
water he burned the ships not captured and took to the land. When
he could no longer hold Crown Point he burned that place and
retreated to Ticonderoga.
By this time it was late autumn. The British were far from their
base and the Americans were retreating into a friendly country.
There is little doubt that Carleton could have taken Fort
Ticonderoga. It fell quite easily less than a year later. Some of
his officers urged him to press on and do it. But the leaves had
already fallen, the bleak winter was near, and Carleton pictured
to himself an army buried deeply in an enemy country and
separated from its base by many scores of miles of lake and
forest.
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