 Chauncey had the advantage in ships and men once the ice melted.He and General Henry Dearborn, the commander-in-chief of the American armies in the north, had the opportunity to strike a blow before British seamen and officers from England could reach Canada and travel up the St. Lawrence River.An attack on Kingston would have been decisive, but Chauncey and Dearborn persuaded themselves that it was defended by 5,000 British regulars (there were in fact only 600).