grain from Virginia and salted pork and fish from Connecticut.33 He sent and answered hundreds and hundreds of letters, requests, and orders.34 His job was not an easy one and was praised by Washington, who said, “Few Armies, if any, have been better and more plentifully supplied than the Troops under Mr. Trumbull’s care.”35 Having the governor of Connecticut as his father helped, and his mother, Faith, supported local charities, instituted clothing drives for the troops and kept up morale among the wives left at home.36
Under Governor Trumbull’s zealous management, Connecticut became a model of a functional war state, with daily and weekly ration schedules for beef, pork, flour, molasses, milk, coffee, chocolate, rice, peas, beans, butter, corn meal, sugar, rum, beer, soap, candles, and tobacco. Clothing was supplied by establishing quotas in each town, and these efforts led to supplying not only the Connecticut troops but others throughout the colonies.37 The state produced gunpowder at a far more rapid rate than any other, despite trouble importing saltpeter and sulfur. Muskets were put together by skilled craftsmen for five shillings a gun, enough so that almost all the Connecticut militia and troops in the Continental army were armed. The Salisbury foundry in the far northwest of the state produced cannon, grapeshot, and round shot for the fortifications around New York and along the Connecticut coast. Trumbull’s operation became by far the most productive per capita of any colony.38 While in New York, Arnold told his aide Richard Varick to get supplies directly from Connecticut, because his home state was so reliable.39
Governor Trumbull also supervised the daunting job of recruitment for the Continental army and local militia. Connecticut’s population was about two hundred thousand, and one-fifth saw military service during the war, almost all men of military age. However, just as in every other state, there were many desertions. Trumbull offered bounties, though they still struggled to keep the Continental army recruitment up to a respectable level. Rather than lacking interest in the cause of liberty, the soldiers were frustrated by intermittent pay, inadequate provisions, and other problems that plagued the army.40 Hale reported a private deserting to the enemy as early as October 1775, but it was rare enough to mention.41 Two months later, though, when the Connecticut troops completed their initial enlistments, many chose to leave the siege of Boston and go home. Upon hearing about this disgraceful desertion of troops, Gideon Saltonstall wrote to Hale from New London, saying, “The behavior of our Connecticut Troops makes me Heartsick—that they who have stood foremost in the praises and good wishes of their Countrymen, as having distinguished themselves for their Zeal of Publick Spirit, should more shamefully desert the Cause, and at a critical Moment too, is really unaccountable—amazing.”42 Washington cursed the troops’ “dirty, mercenary spirit,” and despite the early valiance of Arnold, Putnam, and others, Connecticut briefly lost its reputation.43 Indeed, when many of the militia returned home they found a hostile reception from their families and colleagues. Perhaps because of this pressure, many joined up again, and by the beginning of 1776 Connecticut’s regiments were almost at full strength.44
Trumbull also commissioned two hundred privateers, which would capture more than five hundred enemy ships. But he had help with this job from an old friend’s son, Nathaniel Shaw Jr. He was the richest patriot in the best harbor in the state, which Silas Deane proposed to the Continental Congress as the future home of the American navy.45 Shaw himself owned several unarmed ships and an astonishing ten armed vessels, including the General Putnam, a privateer with twenty guns that took fourteen prizes.46 He and the other owners or captains were able to auction off the captured ships and inessential supplies, while all the necessary food, clothing, and arms were sent to the army.
But Shaw did much more than this, keeping up the now-dangerous Caribbean trade to gather more supplies. On July 12, 1775, he told his agent to sell goods in Philadelphia and then take the ship to Hispaniola to purchase gun powder, and if there was none, then to bring back coffee and brown sugar. He tells him to burn the letter “for Fear of Accidents.”47 By January 1776 the prosperous businessman had felt the financial effects of war and moaned that “all our Trade is now at an end, & god knows whether we shall ever be in a Situation to Carry it on Again, no Business now but preparation for Warr, Ravaging Villages, Burning of Towns &c.”48 But he persevered, commissioning another ship to collect gunpowder and by the following June sent a supply of the precious powder to Washington, along with cases of guns and flints and cutlasses.49
Shaw was a businessman through and through and kept a clipped, professional attitude in his correspondence. His stark letters gave clear information, such as sending flour up the river to Norwich “as soon as the river opens,” delivering powder to Providence, or informing others that “a great number of French troops are daily arriving.”50 But as the richer son of a rich man, Shaw had grown up with an opportunity for leisure that few in the eighteenth century had. He saved his emotions for hunting expeditions into the coves and bays of the Sound, searching for ducks and other waterfowl. Perhaps he considered these small holidays necessary for his effectiveness and came back to his huge stone house ready to make more money.
Trumbull’s friend John Ledyard had died, but his younger brothers, William and Ebenezer, continued the family business. Though much less prominent in the interconnected Connecticut community, they were a vital part of the New London and Groton war effort. William and his brother sent supplies to the army, probably at a great loss, complaining once that “we don’t mean to sell one article only to take some for the families. The remainder to lay by until we hear from the company…. We don’t believe anything about Boston prices.”51 They also worried about the inefficiencies of government and the meanness of the common people at the same time, saying, “I must fear we shall ruin ourselves while we are striving to support our Liberties against our mother country we shall lose it among ourselves.” Yet William and his brother kept faith, saying to Joseph Trumbull, “We hope and pray that union will increase throughout the Continent since on that our all depends.”52
William Ledyard had married Anne Williams of Stonington, and together they lived happily on the large hill in Groton, giving birth to child after child. Ledyard was not as passionate as Silas Deane, as ambitious as Benedict Arnold, or as religiously devoted as Governor Trumbull. He had a classically moderate patriot attitude, desiring liberty from England but concerned about the cost and the consequences. He wrote to Joseph Trumbull that many of the “country people” were not Tories but felt as if “we have got between two fires.”53 Nevertheless he wanted “to hear of the welfare of our friends and Country Men” and told their overworked friend, “you have our best wishes for your health and prosperity and we hope that a kind Providence will preserve you in all your undertaking.”54
Meanwhile, Benedict Arnold returned to his house on Water Street in New Haven, where his three motherless children and sister, Hannah, met him. His business had already suffered as well, even though Hannah had tried to take over, with the occasional help from their friend Silas Deane.55 She never lost sight of her brother’s welfare, sending him a horse on one occasion, “anxious” to have him know that she was looking out for him.56 But Arnold was too passionate about the war to think of business anyway and could not sit idle for long.
There was not much opportunity to achieve distinction at the ongoing siege, but the American invasion of Canada offered a better chance. While the main invasion up Lake Champlain toward Montreal staggered under delays, Arnold proposed a new line of attack up the Kennebec River of Maine. He received approval on August 27, 1775, and put together an expeditionary force from the troops stationed around Boston, including his comrade from the foot guard Eleazar Oswald, who continued his friendship with the newly promoted Colonel Arnold. By September 13 Arnold had gathered his troops and George Washington himself had given him instructions, saying, “you are entrusted with the command of the most consequence to the interest and liberties of America.”57
Arnold and his troops struggled through the backwoods of Maine, heading for the fortress of Quebec City. He and Eleazar Oswald learned
