MapPROLOGUE: October 11, 17761775CHAPTER 1 The War BeginsCHAPTER 2 The Road to TiconderogaCHAPTER 3 A Gathering of StrengthCHAPTER 4 The Taking of TiconderogaCHAPTER 5 To the VictorsCHAPTER 6 The Northern TheaterCHAPTER 7 A Change in CommandCHAPTER 8 Command of the Northern DepartmentCHAPTER 9 North to QuebecCHAPTER 10 Invading CanadaCHAPTER 11 Into the WildernessCHAPTER 12 MontrealCHAPTER 13 The March to QuebecCHAPTER 14 Quebec BesiegedCHAPTER 15 Forces JoinedCHAPTER 16 The Attack on QuebecPhotographs and Illustrations1776CHAPTER 17 The AftermathCHAPTER 18 A Frozen WarCHAPTER 19 The Early FleetCHAPTER 20 The Commission to CanadaCHAPTER 21 "God of Armies, Help Us"CHAPTER 22 "An Army Broken"CHAPTER 23 Three RiversCHAPTER 24 Birth of Two FleetsCHAPTER 25 The Gondolas of SkenesboroughCHAPTER 26 The Summer of 1776CHAPTER 27 A Most Deserving and Gallant OfficerCHAPTER 28 The Fleet Comes TogetherCHAPTER 29 Arnold in CommandCHAPTER 30 A Line of BattleCHAPTER 31 A Place to Make a StandCHAPTER 32 The British Head SouthCHAPTER 33 The Battle of Valcour IslandCHAPTER 34 "The Battle was Verrey Hot"CHAPTER 35 South Wind and Open WaterCHAPTER 36 End of the Campaign SeasonCHAPTER 37 Winter Quarters1777CHAPTER 38 The Road to SaratogaCHAPTER 39 SaratogaEPILOGUE: Turning PointsACKNOWLEDGMENTSNOTES ON SOURCESBIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX

An epic story of one man’s devotion to the American cause In October 1776, four years before Benedict Arnold’s treasonous attempt to hand control of the Hudson River to the British, his patch-work fleet on Lake Champlain was all that stood between British forces and a swift end to the American rebellion. Benedict Arnold’s Navy is the dramatic chronicle of that desperate battle and of the extraordinary events that occurred on the American Revolution’s critical northern front. Written with captivating narrative vitality, this landmark book shows how Benedict Arnold’s fearless leadership against staggering odds in a northern wilderness secured for America the independence that he would later try to betray. Praise for James L. Nelson: "James Nelson is a master both of his period and of the English language." --Patrick O'Brian, author of Master and Commander "James L. Nelson tells this story with clarity and literary skill and with such ease and order that the reader feels he is attending a dissertation on history given by a consummate lecturer." --Ron Berthel, Associated Press, on Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, winner of the American Library Association’s 2004 Award for Best Military History "It is, by far, the best Civil War novel I’ve read; reeking of battle, duty, heroism and tragedy. It’s a triumph of imagination and good, taut writing . . . " --Bernard Cornwell on Glory in the Name, winner of the W. Y. Boyd Literary Award His name is synonymous with treason, yet few men did more to prevent America’s defeat in 1776 The story of America’s fight for independence has been dominated by accounts from the battlefields where George Washington fought the British, but one of the most critical and least remembered battles of 1776 was a bloody, lopsided fight on a wilderness lake hundreds of miles north. In a war marked by improbable turning points, that one naval battle would, in the end, prove the key to America's ultimate victory. Award-winning historian James L. Nelson weaves a thrilling narrative around the Battle of Valcour Island, in which a cobbled-together American fleet, led by the bold and resourceful Arnold, stood up to the might of the British navy, only to be destroyed in the end by overwhelming odds. Setting the desperate battle in its context, Benedict Arnold ’s Navy describes the strategic importance of the Hudson River and Lake Champlain, the ambitious and largely successful American invasion of Quebec in 1775, and the bloody retreat of the following year. The one-year delay of the subsequent British invasion from Canada won by Arnold’s gallant, overmatched fleet made possible an American triumph in the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, the first significant victory of the Revolution. This success finally convinced France to join America in arms and turned the tide of war. Using storytelling skills honed by a dozen novels, including the popular Revolution at Sea Saga and the W. Y. Boyd Award-winning Glory in the Name, Nelson brings to life a new image of Benedict Arnold. He is not the vainglorious traitor of popular imagination but a fearless and talented officer, a favorite of General Washington, and a man who, in thirty months of fighting, led troops into hell and back. This suspenseful drama is a salutary reminder that the American Revolution between 1775 and 1778 was a two-front war. Benedict Arnold ’s Navy is a much needed look at the less-celebrated front to the north, where armies clashed in the wilderness and on the cold waters of Lake Champlain in battles that would determine the outcome of the war as surely as the fighting at Trenton and Yorktown.