8. Arnold’s men resorted to eating shoe leather and whatever else they could find
As Arnold’s remaining men struggled through the swamps towards Lake Megantic, what remaining food supplies they had were exhausted. Henry Dearborn had brought with him a dog, his prized Newfoundland, which became food for some of his men. Dearborn described the event in his diary, as well as noting that he had agreed to it only because the dog was starving to death too. According to the diary entry, the dog’s bones were retained, to boil into a broth for later consumption. By the time Arnold reached Lake Megantic, he could attest to the inaccuracies of the maps which the men had followed, and he sent word back to the units still struggling in the swamps of the correct passage.
By the end of October, Arnold established contact with French Canadian settlements, which sent what aid they could, and sheltered the sickest of the expedition as they arrived. On November 9, Arnold’s advance parties reached the banks of the Saint Lawrence River across from Quebec. By Arnold’s reckoning, the journey had been just over 350 miles. When he and Washington had planned the route, they had been led to believe it was just over half of that distance. It was one of the greatest achievements of military history that any of the men completed the march. About 500 did not. Arnold encamped at Pointe-Levi with 600 tired, hungry, and severely weakened men.