 Arnold , whose business activities before the war had included sailing ships to Europe and the West Indies , carefully chose the site where he wanted to meet the British fleet . Reliable intelligence he received on October 1 indicated that the British had a force significantly more powerful than his . Because his force was inferior , he chose the narrow , rocky body of water between the western shore of Lake Champlain and Valcour Island ( near modern Plattsburgh , New York ) , where the British fleet would have difficulty bringing its superior firepower to bear , and where the inferior seamanship of his relatively unskilled sailors would have a minimal negative effect . Some of Arnold 's captains wanted to fight in open waters where they might be able to retreat to the shelter of Fort Crown Point , but Arnold argued that the primary purpose of the fleet was not survival but the delay of a British advance on Crown Point and Ticonderoga until the following spring . 
