Arnold, Benedict
(b. January 14, 1741; d. June 14, 1801) General of the American Revolution; traitor.
Benedict Arnold, born in Norwich, Connecticut, and who died in England, was one of America's most courageous generals during the Revolution. He became, however, a symbol of treachery, and his name has come to mean deceit and treason in American culture.
Arnold's early years were just a taste of the upheaval and difficulty that would mark much of the rest of his life. He was still a young man when his father managed to squander a great deal of the family fortune (much of it had come to Hannah Arnold, Benedict's mother, from a former marriage) on ill-advised business ventures. In despair, the elder Arnold drank himself to death. Soon after, young Arnold was removed from school and fell into the sort of trouble typical of boys who lack discipline and structure. He was adrift.
Rescue came in the form of an apothecary (the precursor to today's pharmacy) owned by two cousins who were willing to take Arnold in and make an apprentice of him. It was during these years, too, that Arnold made his first attempts at soldiering, in the colonial militia in New York and during the French and Indian Wars. In 1762 he opened his own apothecary in New Haven, Connecticut, and prospered. In 1767 he married Margaret Mansfield, and the couple would have three sons. In possession of his own ships, he became one of the wealthiest citizens in New Haven. Never one to shy away from trouble, Arnold even dabbled in smuggling.
Shortly after the start of the Revolution, Arnold was named colonel of the new patriot army. In 1775 he led American forces into Canada but failed in his attempt to occupy Quebec, in addition to taking a bullet in the leg. Nevertheless, his courage—some would say stubbornness—under impossible conditions led to his promotion to brigadier general.
More victories and defeats followed. Particularly useful to Arnold was a knowledge of ships acquired during his years as a merchant. His feats with the burgeoning American fleet at Valcour Island, New York, earned him widespread recognition and led some to predict that he would become the grandfather of American naval warfare.
He fought other, more personal battles as well, and it may have been these that proved Arnold's undoing. In 1777 Arnold watched as several junior officers were promoted ahead of him. It took the special pleas of Arnold's friend, George Washington, to persuade him not to resign his commission. Throughout his career, Arnold was often at odds with his fellow officers. Because he was at times openly hostile toward official opinions and orders, he faced several courts-martial.
In 1778 Arnold, now unable to fight because of injuries suffered in the fight against British General John Burgoyne during the Battle of Saratoga, was named commander of Philadelphia. Margaret had died some years earlier, leaving Arnold free to marry a young woman named Peggy Shippen, the daughter of a family with loyalist tendencies. By then, it may have been that Arnold's own tendencies had been irretrievably altered. In addition to his combative relationship with Congress and many of his fellow officers, the decision of the French to ally themselves with the patriots seems to have turned him against the Revolution.
In 1778 Arnold was court-martialed for misuse of government property and received a reprimand from Washington himself. Nevertheless, Arnold was given command of the fort at West Point, New York. Shortly thereafter, he agreed to hand it over to the British for 20,000 pounds sterling. His disloyal tendencies, long festering, now became an act of treason. Unfortunately for Arnold, the courier given the task of relaying his schemes to the British was apprehended in possession of incriminating documents, and Arnold was forced to abandon his plans and flee. For this service, though incomplete, the British Crown named Arnold brigadier general to command forces against his former compatriots.
In 1782 Arnold journeyed to England to hold court with an appreciative George III. But he was never trusted again, even among his new friends, who balked at giving him important or sensitive work. Returning to the merchant trade, Arnold split his exile between England and Canada, where the British government had rewarded him with a sizable estate. Over the years, he volunteered again for service, but no one would have him. In 1801, his merchant business in collapse, Benedict Arnold died.
It has often been said of Benedict Arnold that, had he died early on in the Revolution—during the doomed but courageous Canadian expedition or after being wounded (again, in the same leg) at Saratoga—his historical fortunes might have been better. As he did not,
Benedict Arnold.his name has become a byword for treason and inconstancy of the worst order, a name reviled.
Association Test; Hewes, George Robert Twelves; Loyalists; Monroe, James.
Bibliography
Brandt, Clare. The Man in the Mirror: A Life of Benedict Arnold. New York: Random House, 1994.
Fritz, Jean. Traitor: The Case of Benedict Arnold. New York: Putnam, 1981.
Randall, Willard Sterne. Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor. New York: Morrow, 1990.
Wilson, Barry. Benedict Arnold: A Traitor in Our Midst. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001.
This is the complete article, containing 848 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
