ose of carrying the
troops up the Kennebec River, a force of carpenters was sent ahead to
build two hundred bateaux, or flat-bottomed boats. To Arnold, as
colonel, was given the command of the expedition. For the sake of
avoiding any ill feeling, the officers were allowed to draw lots. So
eager were the troops to share in the possible glories of the
campaign that several thousand at once volunteered.

About eleven hundred men were chosen, the very flower of the
Continental army. More than one half of {21} these came from New
England; three hundred were riflemen from Pennsylvania and from
Virginia, among whom were Daniel Morgan and his famous riflemen from
the west bank of the Potomac.

On September 13, the little army left Cambridge and marched through
Essex to Newburyport. The good people of this old seaport gave the
troops an ovation, on their arrival Saturday night. They escorted
them to the churches on Sunday, and on Tuesday morning bade them
good-by, "with colors flying, drums and fifes playing, the hills all
around being covered with pretty girls weeping for their departing
swains."

On the following Thursday, with a fair wind, the troops reached the
mouth of the Kennebec, one hundred and fifty miles away. Working
their way up the river, they came to anchor at what is now the city
of Gardiner. Near this place, the two hundred bateaux had been
hastily built of green pine. The little army now advanced six miles
up the river to Fort Western, opposite the present city of Augusta.
Here they rested for three days, and made ready for the ascent of the
Kennebec.

An old journal tells us that the people who lived near prepared a
grand feast for the soldiers, with three bears roasted whole in
frontier fashion, and an abundance of venison, smoked salmon, and
huge pumpkin pies, all washed down with plenty of West India rum.

Among the guests at this frontier feast was a half-breed Indian girl
named Jacataqua, who had fallen in {22} love with a handsome young
officer of the expedition. This officer was Aaron Burr, who
afterwards became Vice President of the United States. When the young
visitor found that the wives of two riflemen, James Warner and
Sergeant Grier, were going to tramp to Canada with the troops, she,
too, with some of her Indian friends, made up her mind to go with
them. This trifling incident, as we shall see later, saved the lives
of many brave men.

The season was now far advanced. There must be no d