Battle of Valcour Island
The naval
Battle of Valcour Island, also known as the
Battle of Valcour Bay, took place on
11 October 1776 on
Lake Champlain in a narrow strait between the
New York mainland and
Valcour Island. It is generally regarded as the first
naval battle fought by the
United States Navy. Although the American ships under the command of
Benedict Arnold were largely destroyed, the campaign delayed by one year the British attempt to
cut the colonies in half and eventually led to the British military disaster at
Saratoga in
1777.
Following the failed American
invasion of Canada, the British launched a counteroffensive intended to gain control of the
Hudson River Valley, which extends southward from
Lake Champlain. Control of the upper Hudson would have enabled the British to link their Canadian forces with those in British-occupied
New York City, dividing the American colonies of New England from those in the South and Mid-Atlantic, and potentially finishing the revolution.
Access to the river's source was protected by American strongholds at
Crown Point and
Fort Ticonderoga, and elimination of these defenses would require the transportation of troops and supplies from the British-controlled
St. Lawrence Valley 150 kilometers to the north. Roads were either impassable or nonexistent, making water transport over Lake Champlain the only viable option, but the only ships on the lake were in American hands, and even though they were lightly armed, they would have made transport of troops and stores impossible for the British. The two sides therefore set about building fleets; the British at
St Johns in
Quebec and the Americans at the other end of the lake in Skenesborough (now
Whitehall, New York). The British had adequate supplies, skilled workmen, and prefabricated ships transported from England, including a 180-ton warship they disassembled and rebuilt on the lake. All told, the British fleet (30 vessels) had roughly twice as many ships and twice the firepower of the Americans' 16 vessels.
Forces assembled
Benedict Arnold's flagship was initially the
Royal Savage, a two-masted
schooner, but he transferred to the
Congress, a row galley. Arnold's fleet included
Revenge and
Liberty, also two-masted schooners, as well as the
Enterprise, a
sloop, and 8
gondolas:
New Haven,
Providence,
Boston,
Spitfire,
Philadelphia,
Connecticut,
Jersey,
New York, and the
galley Trumbull.
Facing them were the ships of the
Royal Navy constructed in
Quebec: The flagship
Inflexible, reassembled from pieces and measuring 80'; the
schooners
Maria,
Carleton,
Royal Convert, the two-masted
ketch Thunderer, as well as over 20 single-masted gunboats armed with a single cannon.
Arnold came from a seafaring
Connecticut family. He shrewdly chose to force the British to attack his inferior forces in a narrow, rocky body of water between the coast and Valcour Island, where the British fleet would have difficulty bringing its superior firepower to bear (and where the inferior seamanship of his unskilled sailors would have a minimal effect).
The British fleet took up positions at noon around 300 yards in front of the American battle line with the small gunboats forward, and the five main ships around 50-100 yards behind the gunboats. The British then opened up a huge broadside against the American ships which continued for the next five hours. During the exchange of cannon fire,
Revenge was heavily hit.
Philadelphia, was also heavily hit and sank later at around 6:30 pm.
Royal Savage, ran aground and was set on fire by the crew to prevent the ship from falling in British hands.
Congress, and
Washington were heavily damaged, and
Jersey and
New York, were also badly hit. On the British side, casualties began mounting too. HMS
Carlton was heavily hit as it tried to land a boarding party on the grounded
Royal Savage and was forced to withdraw under heavy fire. One small gunboat, commanded by Lt. Dufais, blew up and sank from a direct hit. Most of the other small gunboats were also hit, forcing them to withdraw and reform their battle line 700 yards from the American line. Two of the gunboats were so heavily damaged that they were forced to be scuttled after the action.
Nonetheless, the battle was not going well for the Americans when the sun set on
October 11. Most of the American ships were damaged or sinking and the crews reported around 60 casualties. The British reported around 40 casualties on their ships. Aware that he could not defeat the British fleet, Arnold decided to withdraw. Arnold managed to sneak his fleet past (and through) the British fleet during the night and attempted to run for the cover of the shore batteries situated at the American-held fort at Crown Point at the south end of the lake. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate, and the Americans were caught short of their goal.(a minor aside is the supposed attack by British forces on an American 'ship' later found to be a small rocky island, later named
Carleton's prize) After sailing only eight miles on
October 12, Arnold drove
Providence ashore in the shallow water of
Buttonmold Bay off Schuyler Island where the heavier British ships could not follow, and the American ship was then stripped of guns, powder and everything else of use.
New Jersey also ran aground while the crew from the
Lee did likewise. On
October 13, the British fleet finally caught up to the American fleet off Split Rock where
Washington was captured and the
Congress sank attempting to flee. Arnold led about 200 men from the lost ships on foot to Crown Point where the remaining ships -
Trumbull,
Enterprise,
Revenge,
New York, and
Liberty - finally reached safety. Arnold was forced to burn his remaining ships and withdrew further towards Ticonderoga. American losses were listed as over 80 killed with 120 captured, many of them wounded. Aside from the 40 reported dead and wounded, there appeared to be no British casualties in the two days after the October 11 engagement.
Although the British had cleared the lake of American ships, establishing naval control, snow was already falling as Arnold and his men reached Ticonderoga on
October 20. The British commander
Guy Carleton had no choice but to defer the attacks on Crown Point and Fort Ticonderoga and withdrew to a winter camp in Canada by early November, a decision with profound consequences. The next year in
1777, a better-prepared American army would eventually stop the British advance at
Saratoga and bring
France into the war on the American side.
*
Gardner W. Allen,
A Naval History of the American Revolution (
Houghton Mifflin, 1913), chap. 6
*
William M. Fowler, Jr.,
Rebels Under Sail: The American navy during the Revolution (
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976), chap. 10
*
Brendan Morrissey,
Quebec 1775, The American invasion of Canada (
Osprey Campaign, 2003) p. 73-86
*
James P. Millard's detailed historical charts, list of ships, period images, and modern photographs*
Battle of Valcour Island with pictures*
The Story of Lake Champlain's Valcour Island*
Valcour Bay Research Project at Archaeological Projects]
