Thus the immediate and grinding pressure was presently relieved, but the staple of war still remained pitifully and perilously meagre all through the winter.
Meantime, while thus overwhelmed with the cares immediately about him, Washington was watching the rest of the country.

He had a keen eye upon Johnson and his Indians in the valley of the Mohawk; he followed sharply every movement of Tryon and the Tories in New York; he refused with stern good sense to detach troops to Connecticut and Long Island, knowing well when to give and when to say No, a difficult monosyllable for the new general of freshly revolted colonies.

But if he would not detach in one place, he was ready enough to do so in another.

He sent one expedition by Lake Champlain, under Montgomery, to Montreal, and gave Arnold picked troops to march through the wilds of Maine and strike Quebec.

The scheme was bold and brilliant, both in conception and in execution, and came very near severing Canada forever from the British crown.