On a cold December day along the frozen banks of the St. Lawrence River, two weary American commanders finally met at the small village of Point-aux-Trembles, roughly twenty miles southwest of Quebec City. General Richard Montgomery, fresh from his successful capture of Montreal, arrived to find Colonel Benedict Arnold and the ragged survivors of one of the most punishing military expeditions in American history. Their handshake that day marked the beginning of a new chapter in the American invasion of Canada, transforming two struggling operations into a unified force that would soon march on the last major British stronghold in the province.