“Three days ago, a Lieutenant Steele came through here and told us Colonel Arnold’s Expedition to liberate Quebec would be coming to Fort Halifax from Fort Western. There are ten wagons and carts behind me. We have come to help you on this part of your journey. Because we are very poor, we hope to be paid for our service.”

Within a half-hour Captain Morgan and Mr. Coolidge consummated an agreement to compensate Mr. Coolidge and his neighbors one eighth Spanish dollar1 for every 500 pounds of cargo they delivered from Fort Western to Fort Halifax. I wrote two copies of a “contract” to that effect and both Captain Morgan and Mr. Coolidge signed them.

I gave one copy to Mr. Coolidge. The other I placed in an envelope with a brief note, a sketch map describing the places where we camped, spots found to be challenging, and addressed the wax-sealed envelope: “Please pass to Captain Febiger, Expedition Adjutant.”

I then handed the package to Corporal Sullivan with instructions to take another of his Riflemen and one of the Indians in the canoe, paddle back down the river and pass the package to Lieutenant Colonel Greene with a request he relay the message downstream to Colonel Arnold’s Expedition Headquarters.

While I was doing this, the Riflemen in each Company were removing gear from each batteau and loading it aboard the wagons and carts accompanying Mr. Coolidge. As this was being accomplished, he shared with Captain Morgan, 1st Lt. Humphrey, and me how his nineteen-year-old son was killed on Bunker’s Hill in June and his hope this sacrifice would not be in vain.

Mr. Coolidge also gave us some good advice for the rest of our journey. “There is no road north of Fort Halifax, and the rapids upstream will require portaging the cargo and the batteaux. If you are not receiving reports back from Lieutenant Steele (we are not), I recommend you send some of your Indians and a few of your men to reconnoiter three or four miles ahead so you know what to expect. The few remaining Indians in this part of the country will do you no harm but are unlikely to be helpful.”

After looking at the copy of the map Captain Febiger and I made back in Cambridge, he told us, “The distances on the route you have chosen seem to be way off. For example, the notation you have here indicates ten days to move from Fort Halifax to Lake Mégantic. That might be possible by foot, but with all the batteaux and cargo, it could be twice as long.”