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By: Ashley Colby Isaac Senter played an extremely important role as a doctor on Benedict Arnolds march to Quebec. Senter was a doctor that studied medicine in Rhode Island. He joined the Rhode Island troops during the battle of Lexington. Later Isaac was ordered to work under Benedict Arnold. In the march from Cambridge to Quebec there were 100 troops and 11,000 men that joined the march. In Issac Senter's journal, he wrote a lot about how early in the march they would have to stop at a certain point and wait for all of the other transports. Friday the 22nd, and the 23rd, 1775 ...Since the men were on the Kennebec River it seemed pretty appropriate to use bateaux or boats. The troops found the bateaux waiting for them in Pittston. The first real waiting place where the men could rest was Fort Western. Issac went up the river on land. He did that because it was only five miles to Fort Western. On Monday the 25th, the men got ready to march to the fort. Half went by land the other half went by the river. Issac Senter was to command one of the bateaux that held all of the medical equipment. About 600 people had to march by land. They arrived at Fort Halifax on the 26th tired and sick. On the 28th the end of the army still had not arrived. Colonel Arnold was at the back. Finally on the 30th, the rear of the army appeared. Isaac Senter was given orders to proceed ahead. One division of the army Colonel Enos's division had still not arrived. On Thursday the 5th, the men were four and a half miles from Norridgewock. The men saw some"savages" who had followed the army. They lost some of their food at the Skowhegan Falls because the bateaux were damaged on the rocks at the falls. The troops stayed in Norridgewock for a little while to repair the bateaux. On the 9th, the men left Norridgewock and marched by land. The marching line was so long, men were seen for ten or twelve miles. On the 15th, most of the army was sick again and things just got worse. The water was bad and they were ordered not to drink any yellow water. They were also ordered not to eat their meat with salt on it. On the 16th the men decided to erect a hospital building because so many men were getting sick. The hospital was called Arnold's Hospital. It wasn't even completely built before men were being treated in it. A big discussion occurred on the 25th. The men were debating whether or not to go onto Quebec. It was decided, some men were to return to the falls and others would proceed onto Quebec. The men were put into their groups based on if they were in good health, and could fight well. The men were issued one bateaux if they were among the proceeding group. However, the people proceeding weren't satisfied and asked for more supplies. The people that were returning to the falls had to go with what they had. If they were going further they were not to "impart any." Colonel. Enos was one of the men who had voted to proceed but instead he was ordered to command the ones returning. The returning group got out of hand. The commander of the returning group was later court- martial. That was just one of the many problems on the long difficult journey. All of the forwarding party was to meet at the Chaudiere Pond except of course Colonel. Arnold. All of the army decided to proceed together from there. That night the men had supposedly imagined smoke to the west of them. A scouting party was ordered to go out and examine the "so called" smoke. They made no discovery of the smoke or of an enemy . Later people figured that the reported smoke had to have been made by the Indians. The next day a message from Colonel Arnold. He requested that the process be as fast as possible. They were ordered to be in motion as soon as the back end of the army arrived. Colonel. Arnold and the army that had marched up with him had sent bread and other food to speed things up and help the other army. The men were required to travel one hundred miles as quickly as possible so they could get to Colonel. Arnold and his officers. The men split up and took different routes. Colonel Green and some other men including Isaac Senter, took a different route using Montressors map. Some men on the expedition got so tired with hunger and despair, that they were left behind in the river and were never to be heard from or seen again. Finally, the men had found the lake that they were looking for. Soon they found a small footpath made by the other army. On the 31st, they found the river with their bateaux wrecked and ruined. That was caused by the men who went by the river "loosing everything but their lives". All of the men who went by the river were saved by swimming ashore. A five mile march that night brought them to the Colonel's quarters. "Savages" were there to meet the Colonel. The "Savages" had an interpreter with them so they could speak to each other. The Colonel. spoke to the "savages" and told them, "I feel myself very happy in meeting you." A long speech followed. The speech ended with, "Now, if the Indians, our brethren, will join us, we will be very much obliged to them, and will give the one Portuguese per month, two dollars bounty". On Sunday the 5th the men received a message that that the English were determined to destroy and burn all inhabitants of Quebec. Every captain was given strict orders to hurry the troops along as fast as possible. They were also not allowed to leave a man behind unless he was unfit for duty. On November 8th they arrived at Point Levi at 11:00. The St. Lawrence River separated the two armies. On November 12th, Isaac Senter found a note on a chapel door a Point Levi that said Every Soldier is only allowed to have two hundred acres of land in any province of North America. The king has to pay the patent fees, Secretary's fees. Each married man was to get fifty acres of land for his wife and fifty for each child. The letter was written by Allen Mclean Lt. Colonel. Commander. The letter means that they were trying to get men to sign up to fight for the English Army. Meanwhile the other men were trying to get ready to cross the river. The commanders told the men to be ready at a minutes notice. When they finally got word to cross the river the boats had to keep being sent back and forth to get all of the men across the river. One man fired at an upcoming barge as Senter said. Thayer, another man on the trip who wrote a journal, stated that the boat was lead by Benedict Arnold and four more. Senter said that the city gates were all closed so they could not get through to storm the city like they had planned. Another mans' journal (A man named Mr. Henry ) said that St. Johns gate was unbarred and open. Henry's writing was probably based on the intelligence that had reached Benedict Arnold the night before. The battle took place one snowy night, Dec. 31st and Arnold was shot in the leg. Many soldiers were wounded and taken prisoner. It was no victory for the men who had marched for so long and had barely survived the expedition. Isaac Senter was a very good doctor who was later acknowledged for his abilities as a doctor on Benedict Arnolds march. He helped most of the army and he later became a notable doctor in the State of Rhode Island.
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