of
eleven transports, and, on the nineteenth of September, sailed for the
Kennebec. I must confess, I didn't like the idea of starting so late in
the year, because I knew we'd meet with some of the coldest kind of
weather before we reached Canada; but I had to be satisfied. At the end
of two days, we had entered the Kennebec and reached the town of
Gardiner. The only accident we had met with was the grounding of two of
our transports; but we got them off without much difficulty. I forgot to
mention, however, that two hundred carpenters had been sent up the
river, before we started from Cambridge, with orders to build two
hundred batteaux at Pittston, opposite Gardiner. Well, when we arrived
at that place, we found the batteaux ready, and immediately transferred
our baggage and provisions to them, and pushed up the river to Fort
Western. At that place our real work was to commence. Colonel Arnold
knew a great deal about the route, and he had undertaken it because he
knew what he had to encounter, and how much glory he would win if he
succeeded; but we men, who were to work and suffer most, knew nothing
about the route; except that it was through a wilderness where few white
men had set foot. Before the army started from Fort Western, two small
parties were sent forward to survey and reconnoitre the route as far as
Lake Megantic and the Dead River. Next, the army began to move in four
divisions. Morgan and his riflemen went first; next day, Green and
Bigelow, with three companies; next day, Meigs, with four companies; and
the next day, Colonel Enos, with the three other companies. You see, the
divisions started a day apart, so as to prevent any difficulty in
passing rapids and falls. Colonel Arnold waited to see all the troops
embarked, and then passed the whole line till he overtook Morgan. On the
fourth day after our party--that is, Green and Bigelow's--started from
Fort Western, we arrived at Norridgewock Falls. You may recollect, there
used to be a tribe of Indians called the Norridgewocks, who had a
village near these falls. I saw the plain where the village stood, and
the ruins of the church which was destroyed by Captain Moulton during
the war with the tribe. At the falls, all the batteaux had to be taken
out of the river and transported a mile and a quarter by land. You may
suppose, there was some work about that part of the journey. The banks
on each side of the river were very rugged and rocky; and we had to
carr