Benedict Arnold

Encyclopedia : B : BE : BEN : Benedict Arnold

---

---

 

For other persons with the name, see Benedict Arnold (disambiguation).

Benedict Arnold (January 14, 1741 – June 14, 1801) was a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He is best known for plotting to surrender the American fort at West Point, New York, to the British during the American Revolution. Arnold had distinguished himself as a hero of the revolution early in the war through acts of cunning and bravery at Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 and at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. Arnold strongly opposed the decision by the Continental Congress to form an alliance with France, having experienced a bitter defeat at the hands of the French and their Indian allies during the French and Indian War (1754–1763).

Disaffected due to grievances with the Continental Congress and the military, suffering from mounting personal debt, and facing corruption charges filed by the Pennsylvania civil authorities, Arnold also faced pressure at home from his young second wife, a British Loyalist. In 1780, he formulated his scheme. If successful, this would have given British forces control of the Hudson River valley and split the colonies in half. The plot was thwarted, but Arnold managed to flee to England, where he was rewarded with a commission as a Brigadier General in the British Army along with a reduced award of £6,000 sterling. In the United States, Arnold's name remains synonymous with treason.

Early life

Benedict Arnold V was born the second of six children to Benedict Arnold III and Hannah Waterman King in Norwich, Connecticut. He was named after his great-grandfather, an early colonial governor of Rhode Island. His parents had another son, Benedict Arnold IV, who died in infancy before Benedict Arnold V was born. Only Benedict and his sister Hannah survived to adulthood, the other three siblings succumbing to yellow fever while children.

The Arnold family was financially well-to-do until Arnold's father made several bad business deals that plunged the family into debt. When this happened, the father turned to alcohol for solace. At 14, Benedict was forced to withdraw from school because the family no longer could afford the cost.

His father's alcohol abuse and ill health prevented him from training his son in the family mercantile business, but his mother's family connections secured an apprenticeship for him with two of her cousins, the brothers Daniel and Joshua Lathrop. The two ran a successful apothecary and general merchandise trade in Norwich.

At 15, Arnold ran away to enlist in the Connecticut militia, marching to Albany and Lake George to oppose the French invasion from Canada during the French and Indian War. (See Battle of Fort William Henry). It is not clear if Arnold actually fought in the battle. Some sources claim he deserted and made his way home alone through the wilderness. Another source states his mother used her influence to obtain his discharge because of his youth.

In any case, the British suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the French under the command of Louis Joseph Marquis de Montcalm. Subsequent to the British surrender, the native allies of the French were outraged by the easy terms offered to the British and Colonial forces. They had been promised scalps, arms and booty, and none was forthcoming. They fell upon the prisoners as they were being escorted away and massacred as many as 180 of them. The French regulars were powerless to stop them . This event may have created an abiding hatred for the French in a young and impressionable Arnold that influenced his actions later in life.

Benedict's mother, to whom he was very close, died in 1759. The youth took on the responsibility of supporting his ailing father and younger sister. His father's alcoholism worsened after the death of his wife and he was arrested on several occasions for public drunkenness and also was refused communion by his church. With his father's death in 1761, the 21-year-old Arnold resolved to restore his family name to the elevated status it had once enjoyed.

Pre-revolutionary activities

In 1762, with the help of the Lathrops, Arnold established himself in business as a pharmacist and bookseller in New Haven, Connecticut.

Arnold was ambitious and aggressive, quickly expanding his business. In 1763, he repurchased the family homestead that his father had sold when deeply in debt. One year later, he re-sold it for a substantial profit. In 1764, he formed a partnership with Adam Babcock, another young New Haven merchant. Using the profits from the sale of his homestead, they bought three trading ships and, by 1765, had established a lucrative West Indies trade. During this time, he brought his sister Hannah to New Haven and established her in his apothecary to manage the business in his absence. He traveled extensively in the course of his business, throughout New England and from Quebec to the West Indies, often in command of one of his own ships.

The Stamp Act of 1765 severely curtailed mercantile trade in the colonies. Arnold initially took no part in any public demonstrations, but like many merchants, by 1766, conducted trade as if the Stamp Act did not exist, in effect becoming a smuggler in defiance of the act.

On the night of January 31,1767, Arnold took part in a demonstration denouncing the acts of the British Parliament and their oppressive colonial policy. Local crown officials were burnt in effigy. He and members of his crew roughed up a man suspected of being a smuggling informant. Arnold was arrested and fined 50 shillings for disturbing the peace.

The oppressive taxes levied by parliament forced many New England merchants out of business. Arnold himself came near to personal ruin, falling £15,000 sterling in debt.

Arnold fought a duel in Honduras with a British sea captain, who called Arnold a "Darned Yankee, destitute of good manners or those of a gentleman". Arnold was shocked by the rudeness and challenged him to a duel. The captain was wounded and forced to apologize.

Arnold was in the West Indies when the Boston Massacre occurred on March 15, 1770, but later wrote he was "very much shocked" and wondered "good God; are the Americans all asleep and tamely giving up their liberties, or are they all turned philosophers, that they don't take immediate vengeance on such miscreants". This statement shows his original sentiment and his opposition to the control the mother country was exerting on its American colony.

On February 22, 1767, he married Margaret, daughter of Samuel Mansfield. They had three sons, Benedict, Richard and Henry. She died on June 19, 1775.

Wartime career

Battle of Ticonderoga

In March 1775, a group of 65 New Haven residents formed the Governor’s 2nd Company of Connecticut Guards. Arnold was chosen as their captain, and as such, he organized training and exercises in preparation for war. On April 21, 1775, when news reached New Haven of the opening battles of the revolution at Lexington and Concord, a few Yale student volunteers were admitted into the guard to boost their numbers, and they began a march to Massachusetts to join the revolution.

En route, Arnold met with Col. Samuel Holden Parsons, a Connecticut legislator. They discussed the shortage of cannons by the revolutionary forces and, knowing of the large number of cannons at Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, agreed an expedition should be sent to capture the fort. Parsons continued on to Hartford, where he raised funds to establish a force under the command of Capt. Edward Mott. Mott was instructed to link up with Ethan Allen and Allen's Green Mountain Boys at Bennington, Vermont. Meanwhile, Arnold and his Connecticut militia continued on to Cambridge, where Arnold convinced the Massachusetts Committee of Safety[link] to fund an expedition to take the fort. They appointed him a colonel in the Massachusetts militia and dispatched him, along with several captains under his command, to raise an army in Massachusetts. As his captains mustered troops, Arnold rode north to rendezvous with Allen and take command of the operation.

By early May, the army was assembled. On May 10, 1775, Fort Ticonderoga was assaulted in a dawn attack and taken without a battle, the colonial forces having surprised the outnumbered British garrison. (See Battle of Ticonderoga (1775)). Expeditions to Crown Point and Fort George were likewise successful, as was another foray to Fort St. Johns (now named Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec). But this fort had to be abandoned when British troops arrived from Montreal. Throughout the campaign, Arnold and Allen disputed who was in overall command. Allen eventually withdrew his troops, leaving Arnold in sole command of the garrisons of the three forts. However, a Connecticut force of 1,000 men under Col. Benjamin Hinman arrived with orders placing him in command with Arnold subordinate to him. This act by the Continental Congress incensed Arnold, who felt his efforts on behalf of the revolution were not being recognized. Arnold resigned his commission and returned to Massachusetts. [link]

The Ticonderoga expedition was considered an overall success. Together, Crown Point and Ticonderoga yielded 201 cannons, 100 of which, estimated at over 125,000 pounds combined, were retrieved by a group led by Henry Knox, and hauled back to Boston where they were positioned, in a single night, on the Dorchester Heights overlooking the city of Boston. Their presence forced the British army under Major Gen. William Howe to evacuate Boston, Gen. Howe having replaced Lt. Gen. Thomas Gage as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in America when Gage returned to England in October 1775. Gen. Howe was said to have exclaimed, "My God, these fellows have done more work in one night than I could make my army do in three months." The British Army retreated by sea to Nova Scotia on March 17, 1776, giving Gen. George Washington his and America's first victory of the Revolutionary War.

The Quebec expedition

Shortly after the formation of the Continental Army in June 1775, Major General Philip Schuyler, commander of the Northern Department, developed a plan to invade Canada overland from Fort St. Johns at the northern end of Lake Champlain, down the Richelieu River to Montreal. The objective was to deprive the Loyalists of an important base from which they could attack upper New York. Gen. Richard Montgomery was given command of this force.

Arnold, on hearing of these plans, proposed a second force, in unison with Schuyler’s, attack by traveling up the Kennebec River in Maine, portaging, then descending the Chaudiere river to Quebec City. With the capture of both Montreal and Quebec City, he believed the French-speaking colonists of Canada would join the revolution against their British masters. The Commander in Chief, Gen. George Washington, and the Continental Congress, approved this amendment and commissioned Arnold a colonel in the Continental Army to lead the Quebec City attack.

Just prior to leaving for Maine, Arnold learned of the death of his wife, Margaret. He stopped in New Haven to see to the welfare of his children. His sister Hannah took over the role of surrogate mother at his request.

The force of 1,100 recruits embarked from Newburyport, Massachusetts, on September 19, 1775, arriving at Gardinerston (now Gardiner), Maine on September 22, where Arnold had made prior arrangements with Maj. Reuben Colburn to construct 200 [[Wiktionary:bateau|bateaux]]. These were to be used to transport the troops up the Kennebec and Dead Rivers, then down the Chaudiere river to Quebec City. A lengthy portage was required over the Appalachian range between the upper Dead and Chaudiere rivers.

The expedition was beset with problems from the start. The bateaux had been constructed out of green wood and soon started to fall apart, the weather was extremely foul, much of their food was spoiled and had to be abandoned along the trail, and they suffered an outbreak of smallpox that decimated their ranks. By the time they reached the Saint Lawrence River across from Quebec City on November 9, the half-starved force had been reduced to less than 700 by smallpox and desertion. Furthermore, the habitant settlers did not support their cause as expected; indeed, for the most part, they openly opposed the invasion.

The British were aware of Arnold’s approach and destroyed most of the serviceable watercraft on the southern shore. Two warships, the frigate Lizard (26 guns) and the sloop-of-war Hunter (16 guns), kept up a constant patrol to prevent a river crossing. Even so, Arnold was able to procure sufficient watercraft, crossing to the Quebec City side on November 11, but realizing his force was not strong enough to capture the city, sent dispatches to Montgomery requesting reinforcements.

Meanwhile, Brig. Gen. Richard Montgomery marched north from Fort Ticonderoga with about 1,700 militiamen on September 16, 1775. He captured Montreal on November 13. Montgomery joined Arnold in early December and, with their combined force of about 1,325 soldiers, attacked the city on December 31, 1775. The colonial forces suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of Gen. Guy Carleton, Governor of Canada and commander of the British forces. Montgomery was killed, Arnold was wounded, many others were killed or wounded, and hundreds more were taken prisoner. (See Battle of Quebec (1775).)

The remnants, reduced to some 350 volunteers and now under the command of Col. Arnold, continued an ineffectual siege of the city until the spring of 1776, when reinforcements under Brig. Gen. David Wooster arrived. Upon being relieved of command, Arnold retreated to Montreal with what remained of his forces. [link] [link]

Retreat from Canada and the Battle of Valcour Island

Following the failure of the Americans' Quebec expedition, the British launched a counteroffensive in the latter part of 1776 intended to gain control of the Hudson River Valley. This would have enabled the British to link their Canadian forces with those in British-occupied New York City, dividing New England from the South, potentially ending the revolution.

Col. Arnold received a promotion to Brigadier General after the Quebec invasion and was given the job of preventing a British invasion from the north. (For details of the ensuing campaign, see Battle of Valcour Island and [link].)

It was around this time period that Arnold met and courted Betsy Deblois, the daughter of a well known loyalist of Boston. She was described at the time as the belle of Boston. Arnold tried, at length and unsuccessfully, to woo Deblois to marry him. However, she rebuffed him at all points even after the presentation of an engagement ring .

Eastern Department

Late in 1776, Arnold received orders to report to Maj. Gen. Joseph Spencer, newly appointed commander of the Eastern Department of the Continental Army. On December 8, 1776, a sizeable British force under Lt. Gen. Henry Clinton captured Newport, Rhode Island. Arnold spent a week with his family (who he had not seen for over a year) in New Haven, Connecticut, and arrived at Providence, Rhode Island, on January 12, 1777, to take up his duties in the defense of Rhode Island as Deputy Commander of the Eastern Department. Unfortunately, the ranks of the Rhode Island force had been depleted to about 2,000 troops in order to support Washington’s assault on Trenton, New Jersey. Since Arnold was facing 15,000 redcoats, he was forced to go on the defensive.

On April 26, 1777, Arnold was on his way to Philadelphia to meet with the Continental Congress and had stopped in New Haven to visit his family once again when a courier notified him a British force 2,000 strong under Maj. Gen. William Tryon, the British Military Governor of New York, had landed at Norwalk, Connecticut. Tryon marched his force to Fairfield on Long Island Sound and inland to Danbury, a major supply depot for the Continental Army, destroying both towns by fire. He also torched the seaport of Norwalk as his forces retreated by sea.

Arnold hurriedly recruited about 100 volunteers locally and was joined by Maj. Gen. Gold S. Silliman [link]and Maj. Gen. David Wooster of the Connecticut militia, who together had mustered a force of 500 volunteers from eastern Connecticut.

Arnold and his fellow officers moved their small force near Danbury so they could intercept and harass the British retreat. By 11 a.m. on April 27, Gen. Wooster’s column had caught up with and engaged Tryon’s rear guard. Arnold moved his force to a farm outside Ridgefield, Connecticut, in an attempt to block the British retreat. During the skirmishes that followed, Wooster was killed. Arnold injured his leg when his horse was shot and fell on him.

Philadelphia

After the Danbury raid, Arnold continued his journey to Philadelphia to meet with congressional members, arriving on May 16. Gen. Schuyler also was in Philadelphia at that time but soon left for his headquarters at Albany, New York. This left Arnold as the ranking officer in the Philadelphia region, so he assumed command of the forces there. But Congress preferred Pennsylvania's newly promoted Maj. Gen. Thomas Mifflin. (Brig. Gen. Arnold earlier had been passed over for promotion.) This caused further resentment, and it appeared to Arnold that Congress did not want him, no matter how well he did. Consequently, Arnold resigned his commission on July 11, 1777. But very shortly, Gen. Washington urgently requested Benedict be posted to the Northern Department because Fort Ticonderoga had fallen to the British. (See Battle of Ticonderoga (1777).) This demonstrated Washington's faith in Arnold as a military commander, and Congress complied with his request.

Saratoga Campaign

The summer of 1777 marked a turning point in the war. The Saratoga campaign was a series of battles fought in upper New York that culminated in the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga and the capture of a large contingent of the British army led by Lt. Gen. John Burgoyne on October 17, 1777. Brig. Gen. Arnold played a decisive role in several of these battles. The battles are listed below with links to the main articles. The operations in which Arnold participated are flagged.

Date	Battle	British Commander	American Commander	Result	General Arnold's Role
July 5	Fort Ticonderoga	Lieutenant General John Burgoyne	Major General Arthur St. Clair	Americans ceded the fort without engaging battle	none
July 7	Battle of Hubbardton	Brigadier General Simon Fraser	Colonel Seth Warner	British victory, (Considered American tactical victory)	none
Aug 6-21	The Siege of Fort Stanwix	Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger	Colonel Peter Gansevoort	Standoff, but failure by British to advance neutralized Mohawk expedition	Employed subterfuge that lifted the siege
Aug 6	Battle of Oriskany	Sir John Johnson	General Nicholas Herkimer	British victory	none
Aug 15	The Battle of Bennington	Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum (Hessian Mercenary)	General John Stark	American Victory	none
Sep 19	Battle of Freeman's Farm	Lieutenant General John Burgoyne	Major General Horatio Gates	Indecisive battle result, American tactical victory	Initiated the battle which prevented British advance on main American force
Oct 7	Battle of Bemis Heights	Lieutenant General John Burgoyne	Major General Horatio Gates	British defeat ending in capitulation	No command, but jumped into the fray without orders and played important role in rallying troops despite the orders of General Gates not to(wounded)

The Battle of Bemis Heights was the final battle of the Saratoga Campaign. Outnumbered, out of supplies, and cut off from retreat (largely by Arnold's doing), Gen. Burgoyne was forced to surrender on October 17, 1777.

Gen. Arnold suffered a wound to the same leg as he had at Quebec during the fray.

Historians agree Arnold played an instrumental role in the outcome of the Saratoga campaign, showing courage, initiative and military brilliance. He is said to have almost single-handedly cut off Burgoyne's attempt to escape in the decisive Battle of Bemis Heights. But because of bad feelings between him and Gen. Gates, Arnold received no credit. (Gates had deliberately left him out of the command structure of the final battle plan). Instead, he was vilified for exceeding his authority and disobeying orders. Arnold, always an innovator, made no secret of his contempt for Gates' military tactics (before, during and after the battle), which he considered too cautious and conventional.

Military command of Philadelphia

By mid-October 1777, Arnold lay in an Albany hospital, convalescing from the wound he had received at Saratoga. His left leg was ruined, but Arnold would not allow it to be amputated. Several agonizing months of recovery would leave it 2 inches shorter than the right. He spent the winter of 1777-78 with the army at Valley Forge, recovering from the injury.

After the evacuation of the British from Philadelphia in June 1778, Washington appointed Arnold military commander of the city. It was in June he learned of the Franco-American alliance, but due to his experiences fighting the French in the Seven Years' War, Arnold was strongly opposed to the alliance. Ironically, it was the victory at Saratoga, in which Arnold had played a decisive part, that convinced France's King Louis XVI to agree to the alliance and aid the Americans in their war.

By then, Arnold was an embittered man, resentful toward Congress for not approving his wartime expenses and bypassing him for promotion. A widower, he threw himself into the social life of the city, hosting grand parties and falling deeply into debt. Arnold's extravagance drew him into shady financial schemes and into further disrepute with Congress, which investigated his accounts. On June 1, 1779, he was court-martialed for malfeasance. "Having ... become a cripple in the service of my country, I little expected to meet (such) ungrateful returns," he complained to Washington.

At the end of March 1779 he met Peggy Shippen, the boisterous 18-year-old daughter of Judge Edward Shippen. [link] She and Arnold wed quickly on April 8, 1779. Interestingly, Peggy had previously been courted by British Maj. John André during the British occupation of Philadelphia.

West Point and later

In July 1780, Arnold sought and obtained command of the fort at West Point. He already had begun correspondence with Gen. Sir Henry Clinton in New York City through Maj. André (the same man who had previously wooed his young bride). Arnold offered to hand the fort over to the British for £20,000 sterling and a brigadier's commission. His plans were thwarted when André was captured with documents that disclosed the plot and incriminated Arnold. Maj. André later was convicted of being a spy and hanged.

Arnold learned of André's capture and fled to the British. They made him a brigadier general but only paid him some £ 6,000 sterling because his plot had failed. The British never really trusted him, although he saw some action in the American Theater. In December, under orders from Clinton, Arnold led a force of 1,600 troops into Virginia and captured Richmond, cutting off the major artery of materiel to the southern patriot effort. In the Southern Theater, Lord Cornwallis marched north to Yorktown, which he reached in May 1781. Arnold, meanwhile, had been sent north to capture the town of New London, Connecticut, in hopes it would divert Washington away from Cornwallis. While in Connecticut, Arnold's force captured Fort Griswold on September 8. In December, Arnold was recalled to England with various other officers as the crown de-emphasized the American Theater over more probable wins in others.

While in London, he met with various cabinet officers and King George III, trying to convince them to continue fighting in spite of the defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He was, as at Quebec, too late. The Crown already was sending peace feelers. Distraught, Arnold moved to Canada (Saint John, New Brunswick) with Peggy in an attempt to reestablish his earlier maritime successes. He loaned out great amounts of money to various loyalist families that had relocated from the colonies, but when he ran into financial hardship, no one would pay him back. He was forced to move back to London with Peggy and their four sons in 1792. Arnold spent his time in London attempting to make a go at the West Indies trade. With the coming of the French Revolution, he tried to obtain a command, but despite the backing of Clinton and Cornwallis, Arnold lacked the necessary social connections. He died on June 14, 1801, poor and with almost no fanfare. He was buried in a crypt of St. Mary's Church, Battersea, which at that time was located in Surrey. According to some reports, while on his deathbed he asked God for forgiveness in betraying the Patriot cause, and requested to be buried in the uniform of a Continental soldier.

Legacy

Arnold attempted to justify his actions in an open letter titled To the Inhabitants of America. In a letter to his former friend Washington, he stated, "Love to my country actuates my present conduct, however it may appear inconsistent to the world, who very seldom judge right of any man's actions."

Benedict Arnold is a paradoxical figure in American history. While there can be no doubt as to his eventual patriotism to the British Empire, neither can there be any doubt as to his crucial role in the Battle of Saratoga, and thus the Revolution. It was Saratoga which persuaded the French, who had been skeptical of the colonists' chances, to intervene in the war on the American side. This alliance tipped the balance and ensured the ultimate American victory.

On the battlefield at Saratoga, a lone monument stands in memorial to this man, but there is no mention of his name on the engraving. The inscription reads: "In memory of the most brilliant soldier of the Continental army, who was desperately wounded on this spot, winning for his countrymen the decisive battle of the American Revolution, and for himself the rank of Major General."

Another memorial to Arnold resides at the United States Military Academy. It bears only a rank, "major general," and a date, "born 1740." The name has been left out. That the plaque exists at all is tribute to the undeniable contribution he made to American independence, a contribution fatally tarnished by an infamous act of betrayal.

"Benedict Arnold" became a U.S. English expression used to describe traitors and remains widely recognized as such even in 21st century America. From a British perspective, he is not considered a 'traitor', though according to many sources the British never fully trusted him^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

Science fiction writer H. Beam Piper paid tribute to Arnold's crucial role in his story He Walked Around the Horses, an Alternative History in which Arnold was killed during the attack on Quebec in 1776, and as a result of his absence the British won Saratoga and subsequently the entire war, keeping their rule over the 13 colonies.

References

See also

• Arnold Cipher - A message sent by Arnold to John André
• Boot Monument
• Newport Tower (Rhode Island)

Further reading

• Barry K. Wilson, 2001, Benedict Arnold: A Traitor in Our Midst, McGill Queens Press. ISBN 0-7735-250-X (This book is about Arnold's time in Canada both before and after his treachery)

• James L. Nelson, 2006, Benedict Arnold's Navy: The Ragtag Fleet that Lost the Battle of Lake Champlain but Won the American Revolution, McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-07-146806-4 (This book shows how Benedict Arnold's leadership against the British forces on Lake Champlain secured for America the independence that he would try later to betray.)

External links

• [Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online]
• [Some details from ushistory.org]
• [Biographical profile of Arnold written in the 1880s]
• [Another biography - with more ancestry details]
• [Biographical sketch by a contemporary, reflecting American sentiment towards Arnold]
• [Benedict Arnold's Portraits]
• [usahistory site - includes details on Arnold's escape]

 

---

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

---

Search Titles

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

?