Through a Howling Wilderness

A military history of the 1775 invasion of Quebec by Benedict Arnold and the Continental Army, a narrative of adventure, hardship, and survival.

Before Benedict Arnold was branded a traitor, he was one of the colonies' most valuable leaders. In September 1775, eleven hundred soldiers boarded ships in Massachusetts, bound for the Maine wilderness. They had volunteered for a secret mission, under Arnold's command to march and paddle nearly two hundred miles and seize British Quebec. But before reaching the Canadian border, hundreds died from hypothermia, lightning strikes, exposure, disease, and starvation. The survivors were forced to eat everything from dogs to lip salve just to survive, all the while struggling—undaunted—through a hurricane and then a blizzard to attack Quebec and almost take Canada from the British. With the enigmatic Benedict Arnold at its center, Through a Howling Wilderness is a timeless adventure narrative telling of heroic acts, men pitted against nature's fury, and a fledgling nation's fight against a tyrannical oppressor.

Praise for Through a Howling Wilderness

"Desjardin is able to portray fascinating, vivid characters, more human and more credible than the leaders who organized the expedition." —Associated Press


"Thoroughly researched and well written, this is likely to be the standard history of the campaign for some time to come." —Booklist

"Through a masterful use of the numerous accounts written by soldiers on expedition, he has fully preserved the harrowing, often tragic events that occurred." —The Bangor Daily News