The Story of Whitehall's being 
the Birthplace of the US Navy.

Whitehall NY makes the claim to be the “Birthplace of the US Navy” because in Summer of 1776 The Americans overran what was than Skenesborough and captured Phillip Skeen’s schooner the Katherine and renamed it the Liberty. To add to the fleet Benedict Arnold built a fleet of bateaux’s in Whitehall's harbor on Lake Champlain. On October 11, 1776 his fearless crew rowed the boats up to Valcor Island in Lake Champlain. Instead of fighting the British on the open lake where they had the advantage, he created a crescent formation from the mainland to the island. The large ships had to come in one at a time to fight the Americans. When they did this the smaller bateaux’s would clobber them. He did not win this battle but because of the damage done to the enemy they went back to Canada for the winter which gave the Americans time to muster up their troops and win the decisive battle of Saratoga the following year. .

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