[Bird cawing] Voice: Our commander, Arnold, was of a remarkable character.

Brave and beloved by the soldiery, he possessed great powers of persuasion.

Private John Joseph Henry.

♪ Narrator: Benedict Arnold and his men had made slow progress on their way up the Kennebec River as part of the American invasion of Canada.

Their provisions had been packed into 220 flat-bottomed "bateaux," built for them at George Washington's orders.

All Arnold knew about the forests his men were about to penetrate came from a crude 15-year-old British map that seemed to suggest Quebec City was 180 miles away and could be reached in just 20 days.

♪ The real distance turned out to be 270 miles.

[Wind blowing] Nothing could have prepared Arnold for the ordeal he and his men were about to endure.

[Water spraying] The Kennebec turned out to be punctuated by waterfalls and rapids.

Submerged rocks tore the bottoms of their boats.

Within 72 hours, 1/4 of their provisions were lost or ruined.

In the mornings, wet clothes were glazed with ice, one man wrote, thick as a pane of glass.

On the 10th day, Arnold began rationing the remaining food-- just salt pork and flour.

It snowed on the 19th day and rained relentlessly for days afterwards.

Then, it snowed again.

Philbrick: America is this huge continent.

There's tornadoes, there's hurricanes, there's winter storms.

Turns of weather that we know are coming for weeks on end hit the people of the 18th century completely by surprise.

They're not just fighting each other.

In a profound way, they are fighting the American climate and geography and topography.

This is a difficult place to conduct a war.

♪ Narrator: After a month of hardship, the officer leading the battalion that had been bringing up the rear declared the mission suicidal, turned his 300 men around, and started for home with many of the remaining provisions.

♪ Arnold's men were now forced to subsist on candles, tree bark, and soup made by boiling rawhide.

One company killed and ate their captain's Newfoundland dog.

♪ Of the 1,100 men who set out from Cambridge, more than 1/3 had turned back, been escorted home as invalids, or died along the way.

[Bell rings] Finally, 45 days after setting off--not 20-- Arnold's men saw the spires and walls of Quebec City looming across the St.

Lawrence River.

Philbrick: No one, particularly the British, can believe that suddenly they are there.

Arnold, because of this, would have a reputation now.

He would be known as the "American Hannibal" for his ability to move men over mountains, to achieve seemingly impossible things.

Narrator: Meanwhile, American forces led by General Montgomery had easily taken Montreal.

Then, with 300 of his men, Montgomery set out along the St.

Lawrence to meet up with Arnold.

Together, they planned their assault on Quebec City.

They realize that they've got a hard decision to make.

We either attack now, or many of our men are going to leave.

Their enlistments are up.

They're cold.

It's mid-winter in Canada.

♪ Narrator: There were only some 300 British regulars stationed in the fortified city.

So, General Guy Carleton, the royal governor of Canada, ordered every able-bodied man within its walls to prepare for battle.

Anyone who refused had to leave or be prosecuted as a spy.

The city's ramparts were soon guarded by some 1,800 men.

The American plan called for two small, noisy diversionary feints to draw defenders away from the attack's real targets.

Meanwhile, Arnold and his men would circle around Quebec City from the north, while General Montgomery would approach from the south.

Together, they would storm the citadel's steep walls.

♪ Voice: Dear Father, if you receive this letter, it will be the last this hand will ever write you.

Heaven only knows what will be my fate.

But whatever it may be, I cannot resist the inclination I feel to assure you that in this cause I feel no reluctance to venture a life, which I consider as only lent to be used when my country demands it.

Your very affectionate son, John Macpherson.

[Wind blowing] Voice: The storm was outrageous.

Covering the locks of our guns with the lapels of our coats and holding down our heads... [Gunshot] we ran in single file.

John Joseph Henry.

[Men shouting, gunfire] Narrator: The Americans launched their attack at 4 in the morning on December 31st, 1775, under the cover of a howling blizzard.

Many men had pinned to their hats slips of paper with the words "Liberty or Death."

[Gunfire] Everything went wrong.

[Gunfire continues] The diversionary attacks fooled no one.

Arnold's men came under merciless fire from the ramparts above-- and the enemy had placed formidable barricades in their way.

[Gunshot] When a ricocheting bullet fragment tore through Arnold's left leg, he had to be carried back to camp.

Captain Daniel Morgan of Virginia took over.

He managed to lead his men past one barricade only to be blocked by another.

He tried 4 times to scale it, then decided to wait for Montgomery and his men to break through.

♪ But Montgomery never made it.

[Gunshot] Within moments of making his way into the city, he, John Macpherson, and 11 others were killed.

[Gunfire] Voice: The enemy, having the advantage of the ground in front, a vast superiority of numbers, and dry and better arms, gave them an irresistible power.

About 9:00 a.m., it was apparent to all of us that we must surrender.

[John Joseph Henry] ♪ Narrator: 30 Americans lay dead.

389 were taken prisoner, including Daniel Morgan.

♪ Arnold, though badly wounded, was not captured and vowed to try to take the city again before it could be reinforced.

Voice: I have no thoughts of leaving this proud town, until I first enter it in triumph.

Providence, which has carried me through so many dangers, is still my protection.

Benedict Arnold.