2. Schuyler’s negotiations with the Oneidas led to the loss of Indian support for the British
Schuyler met with representatives of the northern Indian tribes during the summer, reaching an agreement with the Oneidas, who relayed it to the tribes which Carleton had recruited. The result, coupled with a skirmish near St. Johns in which British troops failed to support their Indian allies, was a withdrawal of the latter. The American troops advanced into Quebec under Brigadier General Richard Montgomery in August, 1775, to Ile aux Noix, from whence scouts reconnoitered St. Johns. Schuyler joined his command there, fell ill, and withdrew to Ticonderoga, leaving Montgomery in command.
In Cambridge Arnold, with Washington’s approval, assembled the force with which he would assault Quebec via the Kennebec. A force of 1,100 men, including New Hampshire troops under Henry Dearborn and Daniel Morgan’s Virginia riflemen, were assigned by Washington to the expedition. Arnold’s detachment sailed from Newburyport to Fort Western on the Kennebec, near what became Augusta, Maine. There Arnold was to be equipped with bateaux, large flat-bottomed boats, as well as accurate maps of the rugged country he was to traverse. The expedition was to travel by water, across a difficult portage, and back to water for the approach via the Chaudiere River to the Saint Lawrence and Quebec.