You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast. Hello and thank you for joining the American Revolution.

Today episode 133 the Peaks Gil raid.

Last week I went over all the confusion in London and with the British leadership

over who planned to attack what and where in 1777.

This week the British start moving out of their winter quarters

and begin their first tentative action for the spring of 1777.

As I hope I've stressed enough times by now,

British military leaders had long held that the key to victory

was cutting off New England from the rest of America by taking control of the Hudson River

Valley between Quebec and New York City.

By the end of 1776, the British had a large army in Quebec and an even larger one in New York City.

That the two armies had not created this link so far was due primarily to the heroic efforts of General

Benedict Arnold.

Remember, just after Lexington and Concord, Arnold scraped together an army and along with Ethan Allen captured Fort Ticonderoga, thus denying the British

that important launching off point into the Hudson Valley. Arnold then attempted to take Quebec.

The Continental Army's lack of resources and a scrappy last-minute defense by

Scottish immigrants in Canada prevented Arnold from taking that

stronghold before British reinforcements arrived. Even after the British deployed

an overwhelming force in Quebec and pushed the Patriots out of Canada,

Arnold still managed to control Lake Champlain with a small fleet,

effectively preventing the British from retaking Fort Ticonderoga throughout 1776.

To protect the Hudson Valley, the Continental's focused on securing Fort Ticondaroga to prevent an invasion

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