Hector Cramahé. Before leaving, Carleton prevailed on Monsignor Jean-Olivier Briand, the Bishop of Quebec, to issue his own call to arms in support of the provincial defense, which was circulated primarily in the areas around Montreal and Trois-Rivières. Later actions near Ticonderoga In July 1775, General Philip Schuyler began using the fort as the staging ground for the invasion of Quebec that was launched in late August. In the winter of 1775–1776, Henry Knox directed the transportation of the guns of Ticonderoga to Boston. The guns were placed upon Dorchester Heights overlooking the besieged city and the British ships in the harbor, prompting the British to evacuate their troops and Loyalist supporters from the city in March 1776. Benedict Arnold again led a fleet of ships at the Battle of Valcour Island, and played other key roles in thwarting Britain's attempt to recapture the fort in 1776. The British did recapture the fort in July 1777 during the Saratoga campaign, but had abandoned it by November after Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga. Broken communications Although Fort Ticonderoga was not at the time an important military post, its capture had several important results. Rebel control of the area meant that overland communications and supply lines between British forces in Quebec and those in Boston and later New York were severed, so the British military command made an adjustment to their command structure. This break in communication was highlighted by the fact that Arnold, on his way north to Saint-Jean, intercepted a message from Carleton to Gage, detailing the military troop strengths in Quebec. Command of British forces in North America, previously under a single commander, was divided into two commands. General Carleton was given independent command of forces in Quebec and the northern frontier, while General William Howe was appointed Commander-in-Chief of forces along the Atlantic coast, an arrangement that had worked well between Generals Wolfe and Amherst in the French and Indian War. In this war, however, cooperation between the two forces would prove to be problematic and would play a role in the failure of the Saratoga campaign in 1777, as General Howe apparently abandoned an agreed-upon northern strategy, leaving General John Burgoyne without southern support in that campaign. War of words between Allen and Arnold Beginning on the day of the fort's capture, Allen and Arnold began a war of words, each attempting to garner for himself as much