The connection of Benedict Arnold with the Campaign is illustrated in his letters, beginning with those before he left the column advancing by Lake Champlain, and then following his progress on the expedition to coöperate by the Kennebec route, which Washington proposed to Schuyler in a letter of Aug. 20, 1775 (Sparks's _Washington_, iii. 63). On Sept. 14th Washington sealed his instructions to Arnold (Sparks, iii. 86; Dawson, 113; Henry's _Journal_, ed. 1877, p. 2). It is said that the route to be taken was suggested to Arnold by the journal of an exploration in that direction by Montresor in 1760.[638] That engineer had, by order of General Murray, made a survey of this route in 1761.[639] There are maps to illustrate Arnold's route in the _Atlantic Neptune, London Mag._, 1776, Marshall's Atlas to his _Washington_, and in the 1877 edition of Henry's _Journal_.[640] All the general histories and a few biographies and local records necessarily cover the story.[641] Arnold himself is the best contemporary authority.
[Illustration: CAPITULATION OF ST. JOHNS.
Fac-simile, slightly reduced, of the reproduction in Smith's _Amer. Hist. and Lit. Curios._, 2d series, p. xl., from the original in the collection of Ferdinand J. Dreer, of Philadelphia.]
A number of his letters respecting the expedition are in Bowdoin College library,[642] and they and others will be found in print in the _Maine Hist. Soc. Collections_ (1831), vol. i. 357, etc., and in Sparks's _Corresp. of the Revolution_, i. 46, 60, 88, 475, etc.[643] His journal of his progress is unfortunately rather meagre, and covers but a few weeks, Sept. 27 to Oct. 30, 1775. The original manuscript was left by Arnold at West Point when he fled, and extracts from it are printed in S. L. Knapp's _Life of Aaron Burr_, 1835; it is now owned by Mr. S. L. M. Barlow, of New York, and a copy, made from it when owned by Judge Edwards, of New York, is in the _Sparks MSS._ (lii. vol. ii.).
[Illustration: CONCLUSION AND ATTESTATION OF MONTGOMERY'S WILL.
Various other journals of the actors in the expedition have been preserved.[644]
Arnold's letters at the Point-aux-Trembles and before Quebec are in Sparks's _Corresp. of the Rev._ (i. App.), together with those addressed to Wooster,[645] Schuyler, and Washington after the failure of the assault on Quebec, Dec. 31, 1775.[646]