Benedict Arnold’s Expedition Markers
In September 1775, Benedict Arnold led an expedition to invade Quebec. In Boston, Arnold selected 750 troops, who then marched to Newburyport, Massachusetts. From there they sailed to the mouth of the Kennebec River to Fort Western, where Reuben Coburn and his men were building bateaux for the expedition. Here are the markers that were placed along the trail of this ill-fated expedition.
| Samuel Grant Chapter placed this marker in Pittston, at the Reuben Coburn House, to mark where the expedition first loaded the bateaux. |  | |
| Fort Halifax Chapter placed this plaque on the bank of the Kennebec River opposite the Congregational Church in Winslow, to commemorate the arrival of Arnold and company on the evening of the 26th of September, 1775. |  | |
| Silence Howard Hayden placed this plaque in Castonguay Square, Waterville to mark the carrying spot at Tionic Falls |  | |
| Silence Howard Hayden also placed the monument in Fairfield at the intersection of Rt. 201, Upper Main, and Willow Streets. The expedition stopped here to make repairs to the bateaux. |  | |
| Eunice Farnsworth placed this boulder with plaque on Weston Avenue in Skowhegan, to commemorate the 1,100 men who carried bateaux around this spot. |  | |
| Ruth Heald Cragin placed this boulder on the corner of Main Street and Arnold Lane in Anson. This commemorates the road the expedition cut through the forest. |  | |
| This boulder (marker seems to be missing) placed by Abigail Chamberlain Whipple on Falls Road, in Solon, said: "Landing place of Colonel Benedict Arnold and his eleven hundred men on their expedition to Quebec October 7, 1775. This tablet placed by Abigail Chamberlain Whipple Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1913." |  | |
| Kennebec placed this marker on Rt 201 in Carratunk, about 10 miles north of Bingham, where the expedition left the Kennebec River — the Great Carrying Place |  | |
| Colonial Daughters placed a marker in Eustis, at the Flagstaff Memorial Chapel, Rt 27 just south of Perry Rd, Eustis, Maine. This marks the naming of the town. |  | |
| Colonial Daughters marked the western shore of Flagstaff Lake in Eustis to commemorate the expedition. |  | |
| Colonel Timothy Bigelow (Worcester MA) placed this marker in Eustis, North of Stratton, Maine, on Rt 27 near the entrance to Cathedral Pines Campground. This commemorates the first climber of Mount Bigelow. |  |
Built in 1765, this was the home of Reuben Colburn, a patriot and shipbuilder, from 1765 to 1818. The house, one of the first to be built in the area, is most notable as one of the staging area’s for Benedict Arnold’s 1775 Quebec expedition. It is operated by the state as the Colburn House State Historic Site and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
