Raise your hand if you know anything about Benedict Arnold, beyond that he was a traitor.
He had his men string a cable up between the shore of Lake Champlain and Crab Island and laid in waiting for the British fleet. They thought they caught him off guard as they sailed from the north. The ships struck the cable and were torn apart at the water line. His men did rape and pillage a local town on the NY side before he made his way across the lake to Vermont where he scuttled and burnt his ships to keep the British from capturing them.
Or so I was told in my History of Clinton County class at SUNY-Plattsburgh.
Ediot: i guess I misremembered the cable part. That was later in the Battle of Plattsburgh in the War of 1812 when we kicked the Frog’s ass.
Another Ediot: it was Benedict Arnold but it was Valcour Island.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Valcour_Island