It's the morning of October 11th, 1776 on Lake Champlain, where American gunboats await the arrival of their more powerful British counterparts.

The war of independence between Great Britain and the newly created United States of America

has been underway for over a year. Today will mark their first naval engagement.

Both sides understand the stakes at hand.

It is the British strategy early in the war to divide and conquer,

to attack from the north and sever supply lines between New England and the mid-Atlantic states.

Whoever controls Lake Champlain, which... between New England and the mid-Atlantic states.

Whoever controls Lake Champlain, which borders New York State and present-day Vermont, extending

north to Canada, then possesses clear passage to the Hudson River and further south.

For the Americans here on the water and their commander Benedict Arnold, losing Champlain

could guarantee British victory.

Throughout the summer, both sides worked feverishly

constructing their respective forces. The British planning for invasion, the

Americans for defense. Now Arnold has chosen his field of engagement in the narrow straight between the mainland of New York and an island called Valcor.

Here, they are sheltered from the strengthening autumn winds.

For the moment, Arnold and his men can only hope that his strategy will give them

advantage. But as the British gunboats round the southern tip of Valcourt Island

they see the heavy guns drawing closer.

This will be a battle on water

that will have everything to do with the fate of the war on land. Hey everybody welcome to American history hit. I'm Don Wildman. Benedict Arnold.

Though today that name is virtually interchangeable with the word traitor, Benedict Arnold began the American Revolution as one of George Washington's most trusted

and dynamic military leaders.

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