Patriot on the Kennebec:: Major Reuben Colburn, Benedict Arnold and the March to Quebec, 1775

by Mark A. York

Overview

In late 1775, a few months a ¬fter the first shots of the Revolution were fired, Benedict Arnold led more than one thousand troops into Quebec to attack the British there. Departing from Massachusetts, by the time they reached Pittston, Maine, they were in desperate need of supplies and equipment to carry them the rest of the way. Many patriotic Mainers contributed, including Major Reuben Colburn, who constructed a flotilla of bateaux for the weary troops. Despite his service in the Continental army, many blamed Colburn when several of the vessels did not withstand the harsh journey. In this narrative, the roles played by Colburn and his fellow Mainers in Arnold's march are reexamined and revealed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609495008
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	02/17/2012
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Mark A. York is a journalist, biologist and novelist. He has worked as a carpenter, actor and fisheries biologist all over the West and Alaska and was a full-time reporter at the Livingston Enterprise in Livingston, Montana. He has written a blog that focuses on environmental issues since 2003 and wrote special projects in 2011 for the Idaho Mountain Express in Ketchum, Idaho, where he resides. He is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 9

1 American Beginnings 15

2 Old Colburntown (Pittston) 20

3 The Trader from Norwich 25

4 Brothers in Arms: The Colburns of New England 31

5 March to Quebec 49

6 Into the Swamps of Chaudière Pond 68

7 Point Levis 77

8 Attack on Fort Quebec 82

9 Revolutionary Brothers 102

10 Maine Operations 106

11 The Claim 112

12 The Twilight 123

Epilogue 127

Postscript 129

The Genealogy of the Colburn Family of Pittston, Maine 131

Notes 137

Bibliography 153

Index 157

About the Author 160