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But even yet the leaders of the country hoped to avoid a war. The
second Continental Congress met at Philadelphia on the 10th of
May and the members talked anxiously of ways and means to restore
peace. But it was already too late. For the gathered army was no
longer to be restrained, and the very day upon which Congress met
a British fortress had been seized by the colonists.
The chain of lakes and rivers connecting the Hudson with the St.
Lawrence was felt to be of great importance to the colonists. For
if Britain had control of it it would cut the colonies in two, and
stop intercourse between New England and the south. It would also
give the British an easy route by which to bring troops and supplies
from Canada.
Among those who felt the importance of this route was Benedict Arnold,
and the day after he arrived at Cambridge he laid his ideas before
the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, and asked to be allowed to
attack the forts guarding this waterway. His request was granted.
He was given the rank of colonel, and authority to raise a company
of four hundred men for the purpose.
Arnold set out at once, but he soon found that he was not first in
the field. For the people of Connecticut, too, had felt the value
of this waterway and Ethan Allen with a hundred and fifty volunteers
who went by the name of Green Mountain Boys had set out for the
same purpose.
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