Customer Reviews

Benedict Arnold's Navy: The Ragtag Fleet That Lost the Battle of Lake Champlain but Won the American Revolution

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

James Nelson is an author to be envied if the notion of putting pen to paper and telling a story, whether it be fact or fiction has ever occurred to you. In the fourteen books he has written he has done both fiction and non-fiction superbly.

His previous non-fiction efforts have focused on the civil war navies and in particular the Confederate Navy, which is a little told, but very interesting facet of that war.

His fiction pieces have dealt with pirates and with the Revolutionary War and hopefully there will be more of those forthcoming as well.

In his latest he takes a man whose name stands for treachery and tells of his role in helping America to ultimate victory during our war for independance.

Benedict Arnold, the ultimate traitor, was for 30 months one of America's most stalwart military figures enduring great sacrifice and exhibiting much bravery.

Those of us who live in Maine are familiar with the story of Arnold's March to Quebec and The Arnold Trail is a route through Maine which somewhat follows that daring and brave adventure. For a number of years, I have fished and hunted in the area of Chain of Ponds and Coburn Gore where Arnold and his men passed through and while it is generally known that it was a difficult passage, you have no idea until you have read Mr. Nelson's account of it.

This is a definitive account of a part of the Revoltionary War which has received scant attention until now, so if well written history interests you, let James Nelson take you through it. It is quite a trip!

In the past few years, I've read about 20 books about the Revolutionary War and all of its phases. Benedict Arnold's Navy is the first work I've read which links events from Ticonderoga in 1775 to Saratoga in 1777 as a coherent series of American and British moves and countermoves linked by a rational strategy on each side.

James Nelson uses his experience as a novelist to bring the characters and events to life. His command of the era's nautical terminology is excellent. This work has the kind of detail and analysis I enjoy.

I have read most of James L. Nelson's novels, and this work of non-fiction is just as exciting as any of them. It's obvious he has done his homework. Nelson makes use of many, many primary sources, letting the people who made history talk for themselves using numerous quotes. The action is almost nonstop, from Ticonderoga to Quebec to the battle of Valcour Island. What's more, Nelson puts the fight in perspective, showing why this seemingly minor battle was so imprortant historically. I recommend this book to anyone who loved 1776, Washington's Spys or just loves American history.

First, let me say that Nelson's work is an excellent, well written, fast paced, general history read...but its title: "Benedict Arnold's Navy" is (at least in my opinion) quite misleading.

If you are looking for an enjoyable introductory read on the subject of Benedict Arnold the patriot, I cannot think of a better book to recommend. If, however, you are looking for a book detailing Arnold's Navy, it is very possible that this book will miss your mark.

Nelson gives the names, dates and a compelling narrative of the naval events on Lake Champlain but, as only about a third of the book deals with its title subject, there is little of the depth I had hoped for.

The book gives a cursory background of Arnold's youth and the battles at Saratoga, but goes into 'story telling mode' for the period in Arnold's life between these two periods of time.

Begining with Arnold's election as Captain of the Governor's 2nd Company of Connecticut Guards at New Haven in 1775, Nelson gives a wonderfully paced account of Arnold's exploits leading up to and including the Champlain naval action and its aftermath.

It is important for me to stress the point that this book would be a 5 star general history read if it had been titled something along the lines of: "Benedict Arnold; In Service to his Country", its failing (and my 2 star demotion) comes from a title that confuses the content.

--Thom Shanken

* * Book recommendations from knowledgeable sources are getting harder to find. Please take the time to write a review about what you've read...Thanks! * *

This well written and interesting book focuses on two neglected but important aspects of the American Revolutionary War - Benedict Arnold and his campaigns in Canada and northern New York.

Arnold was, unquestionably, one of the most able and competent American commanders of the war. Strategically and tactically he overshadowed all his contemporaries and had he chosen not to betray his country to the British he would have gone down in history as one of this country's greatest military heroes.

It was the offensively-minded Arnold who took the war to the British in Canada and who defended the northern approaches into the United Colonies (later the United States) in northern New York. His abilities as a military planner, logistician, and combat commander - both on land and at sea - delayed the British in the north for more than a year, allowing Washington to first rebuild and strengthen his shattered Continental Army and later defeat the British at Trenton and Saratoga.

Arnold's war, far from the heart of America, thus ensured the survival of the Continental Army and the United States.

This book is recommended for anyone wishing to learn more about a now forgotten American warrior and his equally forgotten campaigns in Canada and New York.

Written by award-winning historian and rig ship sailor James L. Nelson, Benedict Arnold's Navy: The Ragtag Fleet that Lost the Battle of Lake Champlain but Won the American Revolution is the true story of the Battle of Valcour Island, in which a hastily comprised American fleet led by Benedict Arnold stood against the superior numbers and power of the British navy during the War for Independence. Though the fleet was overwhelmed, the delay it engendered proved vital in enabling the first American triumph in the subsequent Battle of Saratoga, which in turn convinced France to ally with America and shifted the tide of war. Though Benedict Arnold is remembered today as a traitor, in the Battle of Valcour Island his charismatic and strategic leadership played and indispensable role in preventing America's defeat. Benedict Arnold's Navy spares no detail in its reconstruction of pivotal events in America's struggle to become its own nation, and is enthusiastically recommended for library and history shelves.

It may be a cliché to say that Benedict Arnold was a hero during the American Revolution before he became our country's most infamous traitor and would have remained so if he had died of his wounds at Saratoga, but it is also an important truth. One doesn't need to be an expert on that period to know about his attack on Fort Ticonderoga or the invasion of Canada he helped lead early in the war. But even many historians aren't aware of all of the intricate details of these events, especially the particulars of the naval battle on Lake Champlain that followed soon after.

Luckily, historians and members of the general public alike have James L. Nelson's book to assist in our understanding of the man and his actions during the first couple of years of the War for Independence. Nelson's thesis is apparent from the book's subtitle: that Benedict Arnold's small fleet of ships on Lake Champlain saved the American Revolution despite losing the actual Battle of Valcour Island. This may sound like a stretch, and obviously there were many more ingredients involved in the winning of the war, but Nelson's point is an important one. If it were not for that small naval battle in 1776, the British probably would have been able to invade New York from Canada, divide New England from the rest of the newly-minted United States, and attack General George Washington's small, bedraggled army while it was at one of its lowest points. Instead, the British chose to remain in Canada during the winter of 1776-77, a crucial time for the Continental Army to regroup and recover from its battles in the New York area.

The prologue reads more like prose than history, which serves to engage the reader from the beginning, and Nelson's style throughout is highly informative and to the point, while remaining accessible to any reader. Even the technical information on ships and artillery is written in a way that is interesting and easy to comprehend. The story is told from several points of view, with nearly every switch from one principle to another leaving us with a cliffhanger. This may bother some of the more analytical historians out there, but for most of us it's a delightful change from some of the dry, no-nonsense writing in the field. Pure history doesn't seem to be Nelson's primary concern, nor should it be. Nelson is an excellent storyteller, and his novels have been highly praised, including a blurb from none other than Patrick O'Brian, author of the popular Master and Commander series. He has won awards for both his fiction and non-fiction works, all of which relate to ships and navies during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Lest I give the impression that this book is akin to a historical novel, let me stress that Nelson obviously did his homework. His bibliography is extensive, and, although the book is not annotated in the strictest sense, he does provide sources for each main subject in every chapter, and nothing in the book appears to be fabricated, or even exaggerated. His acknowledgement section details where and how he did much of his research, and his many years as an actual sailor lend an added credibility to his writing.

Perhaps the most important accomplishment of this book is that it allows the reader to get to know Benedict Arnold as a person, rather than the basic caricature of the archetypical traitor he's become in our history textbooks. We've been taught that Arnold was vain, greedy, and self-serving...willing to sell out his country for some cash to pay his debts. Nelson exposes us to a different Benedict Arnold, however. This is a man who used his own money to pay for supplies for the small army he was helping to create, even after being cheated by the Massachusetts Committee on Public Safety when they had promised to repay him. This is a merchant who was willing to set his own ships (his means of income) on fire in an attempt to win a battle. This is a soldier who was at the forefront of a battle, leading his men, and at the tail end of a retreat. In fact, says Nelson, "Arnold was the last American soldier to leave Canada" (p. 217). It was not until a bitter rivalry with his commanding officer, General Horatio Gates, caused him to miss out on being given the commands he desired and the recognition he deserved, along with a second serious wound to his left leg with a long convalescence, that Arnold began to transform into the traitor willing to sell West Point and control of the Hudson River to the British.

Obviously, no book is perfect, but this one's flaws are few and far between. In fact, my only real complaint, which is the title, is probably as much a result of my own preconceptions as it is any fault of the author's. While the creation of a navy from scratch for the defense of Lake Champlain is certainly a major focus of the story, most of the book deals with how Arnold ended up in the position of having to accomplish such a feat, rather than how he did it. Since my primary interest is in naval battles of the American Revolution, I was hoping for some setup, followed by extensive details regarding the Battle of Valcour Island. What I found was a detailed history of Benedict Arnold from the moment of his commission by the Massachusetts Committee on Public Safety in 1775 to his part in the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. In hindsight, I can't think of a better name for the book myself, and in no way did it detract from the overall experience once I was fully aware of what I was getting.

I enjoyed the photographs and primary source maps at the books center, although it might have been helpful if some modern maps were included. Having grown up in New England and visited Quebec, I am very familiar with the areas involved in the book, but I don't know how many others would be able to visualize the geography without consulting an atlas. Perhaps some pictures of some of the other primary people in the book would have been a good idea as well, since, as it stands, there are only engravings of Arnold himself and General Phillip Schuyler.

But I didn't choose the book for the pictures; I chose it for the subject matter and the writing, both of which I found to be superb. I learned a great deal about not only Benedict Arnold, but also the entire Canadian Campaign during the early part of the American Revolution, and I'm sure most other readers will as well. I only wish all the history books I've read and will read in the future were this exceptional.

I enjoyed reading Benedict Arnold's Navy which covered the early years of the American Revolution in the north. Here for the brief period in our nation's history, we owed the arch-traitor of American history, a true debt of graditude for his skilled leadership, force of character and his total determination to the American cause. This book explained skillfully how Arnold deserves such acclodes and why a man who could have become one of our nation's greatest paragon of heroes, became one of its greatest Judas goats.

The book read like Benedict Arnold's military biography during this important period. From the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, through the Canadian invasion and finally the building of the American fleet on Lake Champlain which forced the British to built one as well, delaying their invasion plans for one important year which set up the Saratoga campaign. Battle of Valcour Island was a battle lost by Arnold but he won the campaign in the end.

The book proves to be well written and research. By giving the reader the whole scope of the northern campaign, we were able to understand the importance of the control of Lake Champlain and why the fleet Arnold commanded was cruical. In retrospect, battle of Valcour Island wasn't as important as forcing the British to spent valuable summer months building up a fleet of their own.

Only major weakness lies in the lacks of maps, photographs and diagrams of various different ships. Author should have at least inserted a photograph of the gondola, Philadelphia which was rise back in 1935!

But overall, this book come highly recommended for anyone interested in the American Revolution. It should also enlightened anyone about Benedict Arnold as well and the important role he played in winning the Revolutionary War for our nation.

This book probably doesn't break any new ground, but it is quite readable with short chapters and subheadings within each chapter. The only problem I had was that the author talks about the various kinds of vessels involved without illustrating what they are. What exactly does a "row galley" look like? How does a sloop differ from a schooner and a frigate? Some illustrations comparing vessel types would have been helpful.

I had the pleasure of purchasing the book from the author while taking part in the 225th Yorktown Reenactment last year. I thought the these of the book was interesting and unique. As a result, i felt it should be worth adding to my collection. What i got, was much more than I could have ever hoped.

The book provides one of the best and detailed accounts of the initial taking of Fort Ticonderoga by Arnold and Allen. The book details the make up of the men that were present and not just centering on the leaders themselves.

The work goes into detail regarding the invasion of Canada in 1775, the portion on the western attack may be the best and most in debth coverage ever given. While the book is not the first to cover Arnold's march to Quebec, it may be one of the first to so detail the other half of the invasion and the fights that took place there.

In the end, the book does cover the retreat from Canada and the building of the Navies on the lake. The detailed descriptions of the ships involved was very well worth the read.

The great dramatic detail in the work gives you the feel of reading a novel, but for the notes detailing the sources betraying it as a non-fiction book. Of course, this simply means that a work of non-fiction can be every bit as exciting as a work of fiction...that is what sets Nelson a part.

If you are greatly interested in filling your shelf with an easy read that would give you plenty of information on a part of the war most histories forget (1776 outside of Washington v Howe) this is the book to do it. Buy the book, read the book and keep it. This will be the main source on the subject matter for years to come.