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The Life of Gouverneur Morris Index < Prev      Page 54      Next > having been raised in the colony, nor any arrangements made for that object.  Arnold and Allen took possession of Crown Point and St John's, and for a few days they held a sort of divided reign on the lake, Arnold as commander of a sloop and a schooner, which were converted into armed vessels, and Allen as a self-constituted General in chief of the land forces.  Arnold soon grew dissatisfied, and returned to the army in Cambridge.  Allen remained at Ticonderoga till the middle of June, and contrived to keep together a small force there, consisting of volunteers from the thinly populated regions in that neighborhood. The following extracts of a characteristic letter from Allen to the New York Congress will show what projects he entertained, and will probably afford some indication of the views of the people generally on the northern frontiers. ‘Crown Point, June 2d, 1775. Gentlemen, ‘Before this time you have undoubtedly received intelligence, not only of the taking of the fortified places on Lake Champlain, and also the armed sloop and boats therein, and the taking possession of a schooner, which is the property of Major Skene, which has been armed and manned, and of the conversion of them, with a large train of artillery, to the defence of the liberty and the constitutional rights of America.  You have likewise undoubtedly been informed, that the expedition was undertaken at the special encouragement and request of a number of respectable gentlemen in the colony of Connecticut.  The pork forwarded to subsist the army by your directions evinces your approbation of the procedure; and as it was a private expedition, and common fame reports that there is a number of overgrown tories in the province, you will the readier excuse me in not taking your advice in the matter, lest the enterprise might have been prevented by their treachery.  It is here reported, that some of them have been converted, and that others have lost their influence. < Prev      Page 54      Next > From The Life of Gouverneur Morris: With Selections from His Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers; Detailing Events in the American Revolution, The French Revolution, and in the Political History of the United States, by Jared Sparks, Volume 1, Boston: Gray & Bowen, 1832, p 54. Some minor edits may have been made, but an attempt has been made to preserve the original spelling. Although some effort has been made to correct the limitations of OCR technology, if you find an error please report it to jvinci@colonialhall.com.     Designed and Edited by John Vinci Last modified August 20, 2006