“So Captain, you now know more about our mission to Quebec than any of the others will know until we get to Maine. What does your situational awareness—and all your experience—tell you about our upcoming expedition?”

Our Captain looked him straight in the eye and said, “Colonel, the sooner we leave here for Quebec, the better. The days are getting shorter. The nights are getting longer. And most assuredly, the days and nights ahead will get much, much colder.”

Their conversation was abbreviated by the arrival of the seven commanders and four other men who were not at yesterday’s meeting. Lt. Humphrey and I retired to the outer row of chairs while the Lieutenant Colonels, Majors, Captain Jones, and the four strangers took seats at the table with Col. Arnold and Captain Morgan.

The colonel began by introducing the four strangers: Capt. Christian Febiger, his Adjutant; Capt. Benjamin Catlin the expedition’s quartermaster; Dr. Isaac Senter, our physician; and Rev. Samuel Spring, our Chaplain.

He then directed all attendees to give his Adjutant the rosters of their respective units, insisting, “Every name on your list must be a volunteer who has either had smallpox or been inoculated within the last twelve months and have an enlistment that expires at year end or later or they cannot go with us.”

I gave our roster of the “Advance Guard,” which included all 100 of Capt. Morgan’s Virginia Rifle Company, names from the two Pennsylvania Rifle Companies and a handful from Capt. Stephenson’s Virginia Rifle Company—268 names in all—to Capt. Febiger. I watched as he began to assemble a stack of ­different-sized pieces of paper and whispered to him, “Sir, if you need any help with this, let me know and I will do so.”

Col. Arnold adjourned the meeting shortly thereafter with the command: “Each one of you, post a reliable, trusted aide or messenger here at our headquarters, by three o’clock this afternoon so I can notify you quickly of any new orders from General Washington. Have your messengers report here to Capt. Febiger and he will billet them in tents behind this building where there is a ‘latrine.’

“They need not bring water or victuals. We will feed them two good meals a day and we have ‘good water.’ Unless I inform you otherwise, we will meet here again at eight o’clock, Sunday morning, September 3rd.”

After conferring quickly with Capt. Morgan and Lt. Humphrey, I stayed behind to help Capt. Febiger assemble the rosters. By noon we had compiled an alphabetical list for every unit in the expedition, a total of 1,373 names.

Among the four units: Advance Guard, 1st Infantry Battalion, 2nd Infantry Battalion, and Rear Guard, there were 169 duplications­—­meaning at least that many men volunteered to serve under different commanders at least twice—some, three times!

By dark, thanks to the messengers who arrived at Col. Arnold’s Headquarters as ordered, we winnowed the roster to 1,207 men. Or so we thought.

Endnotes