Arnold certainly saw the danger ahead. The British, he warned Washington in late June, “will doubtless become masters of the lake unless every nerve on our part is strained to exceed them in a naval armament.” Not a moment should be lost in replenishing the Northern Army and assembling carpenters, timberjacks, shipwrights, smiths, sailors, and others needed to build an inland fleet capable of challenging the Royal Navy on Lake Champlain. A back door had swung open, imperiling New York and New England, and threatening the American cause.
