between the battle lines of the opposing fleets and, with her rigging shot through, uncontrollably ran aground where, that night, the British burned her. The gundelo Philadelphia , in the thick of the fight, her hull holed through by British cannonballs, sank in the Valcour straight after the cannonade had ceased. To their credit, the concentrated fire of the Americans had badly damaged the Carleton and silenced her guns, leaving her helpless with two feet of water in her bilge, eight men killed and eight men wounded. The British gunboats too, had paid a high price. Badly battered by American grapeshot, the gunboats were ordered to withdraw as the Inflexible finally moved into range just as night fell and delivered five heavy broadsides, silencing American guns and ending the day's hostilities in twilight. On top of everything else, throughout the battle, the Americans had been harassed by the arrows and musket fire of England's Indian allies from both shores. Fortunately Arnold had anticipated this tactic, and, using young evergreens, effectively barricaded the sides of his ships. That night, Arnold surveyed his precarious position: ships had been lost, others badly damaged, many officers and men had been killed and wounded, ammunition was running dangerously low, and the Colonials were seemingly trapped. Indeed, Pringle fully anticipated destroying the American squadron the next morning. But Arnold had other plans. Hugging the western shore, under cover of darkness and dense fog, and helped along by a northeast breeze, the American fleet slipped by the British. In dead silence, in single file , showing only a carefully shaded stem light, the badly battered squadron got underway.
By dawn, October 12, 1776, after sailing all night they had reached Schuylers Island, some ten miles south of Valcour. All day, frantic but fruitless efforts were made to save the foundering gundelos. Ultimately, two of the already sinking boats were scuttled. Spotted by the British on the morning of October 13, Arnold aboard the Congress, with Washington covering the rear, headed south toward Crown Point with the remaining gundelos ahead./ nflexible, Carleton and Maria in pursuit, the battered Washington had to strike her flag . As the British inexorably closed on the Congress and the last of the gundelos, Arnold and his crews kept up a ragged fire until there was no chance of escape left. Then a surpri se maneuver- he brought his fleet up on a reach and headed for what is now known as Arnold ' s Bay, on the Vermont shore. Once again, the British oversailed him and had to beat back. In the delay, Arnold ordered the gundelos run up on the beach. The Congress kept up a covering fire until all the crews were ashore. Then she too, was beached. Finally, with flags flying defiantly, the remnants of the American Valcour encounter fleet were fired, and Arnold, with his men , successfully beat a hasty retreat to Crown Point and safety. Survivors of the American fleet, including the schooner Revenge, the sloop Enterprise, and the row galley Trumbull, safely put in at Ticonderoga, where they joined the schooner Liberty, which had been dispatched for provisions, and the unfinished galley Gates, neither of which took part in the Valcour engagement. This nondescript, undermanned squadron, with many of the crew walking wounded, was all that stood between the British fleet and complete control of Lake Champlain.
On the 13th of October, 1776, Arnold ran the remnants of his fleet aground on the Vermont shore. Under fire from the British fleet, the Americans removed their swivel guns, torched the fl eet and escaped to Crown Point. Painting by Col. Charles H. Waterhouse , USMCR , courtesy Marine Corps Museums Art Collection.