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Guide To, History of Arnold Trail of Interest to Franco-Americans

June 03, 2009 - AUGUSTA -- Travel combined with Franco history is an interesting combination for the local tourist. One historic trek worth a try is the expedition followed by American Gen. Benedict Arnold in 1775, when he valiantly tried to capture Quebec.

"Following Their Footsteps: A Travel Guide and History of the 1775 Secret Expedition to Capture Quebec," by Stephen Clark of Shapleigh, is a historic travel guide that re-creates the grueling experience. Clark describes each segment of the route Arnold and his soldiers traveled when they began in September 1775 to push toward Quebec during the American Revolution.

Clark is a retired teacher who also wrote "Katahdin: A Guide to Baxter State Park and Katahdin." Clark traveled the Arnold expedition trail numerous times to accumulate the detail he published in the history guide.

Each page of the book is printed in side-by-side columns. One column depicts the route's progressive terrain, while the other describes the history markers. All of the most interesting stops in the complete journey are pictured and fairly easy to find because the landmarks are well-mapped. Moreover, a set of 16 brilliantly colored and easy-to-read trip maps are among several helpful appendixes featured in the travel guide.

French-Canadian families living in the Beauce region, around St. Georges, helped Arnold during his advance on Quebec. Eventually, some of the same families who aided Arnold and his soldiers migrated to New England.

Following Clark's travel guide is like a time voyager's historic re-enactment. Each section of the arduous journey vividly transports a reader back to the events in the siege.

You don't even need to take the journey to appreciate reading about the difficult prospects faced by the 1,100 soldiers who agreed to accompany the expedition. Clark explains the challenging terrain, which raised enormous obstacles to the movement of the men and artillery, especially as they struggled through Maine and into Quebec.

Many men died along the way or turned back home. Horrible weather conditions, including a hurricane, made the travel conditions even worse.

By November, Arnold reached the outskirts of Quebec with only 600 men.

Clark's travelogue offers suggestions on where to stay when traveling overnight and notes points of interest along the route. A trekker can either follow parts of the trip, taking sections at a time, or make the entire journey at a comfortable pace.

Clark says the complete journey, uninterrupted, takes about one week.

Beginning in Cambridge, Mass., a history traveler retraces the footsteps of the brave Colonial soldiers who participated with Arnold's mission.

"Some historians compare the expedition led by Arnold to Hannibal and his Carthaginians crossing the Alps into northern Italy in 218 BC during the ancient Punic Wars with Rome," wrote Clark. As with Hannibal, the attack on Quebec ended in defeat. Nevertheless, the expedition is one of the great adventure stories of the American Revolution, he said.

Barry Rodrigue from the University of Southern Maine, Maine's Franco-American historian, said one of the most interesting sections of the journey is the 12-mile passage northwest of Fort Fairfax (now in Winslow) called the Carrying Place. This trail allows travelers to move between the Kennebec and Dead rivers while avoiding treacherous falls and rapids they would otherwise encounter.

A history reader to accompany the journey is "Through A Howling Wilderness: Benedict Arnold's march to Quebec 1775," by Thomas A. Desjardin.

Clark's expedition guide is available in most Maine bookstores and online.

JULIANA L'HEUREUX / LES FRANCO AMERICAINS June 3, 2009


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