 |
| Major General Benedict Arnold, Continental Army. |
If
only he had died of his wounds after
the Saratoga Campaign—or better
yet, had completely recovered and
not fallen for the wiles of a teenage temptress or nursed the bitterness of a petty jealous grudge—Benedict
Arnold would be celebrated today
as one of the greatest military heroes
of the American Revolution on one
hand or risen on that reputation to
almost any political position he desired
after the war, perhaps to the Presidency
its self. But he threw it all away to die an un-trusted traitor exile in the lands
of his old enemy.
Young
Benedict Arnold, the most recent of
a long line of that name, was born
on January 14, 1741, the eldest
surviving son of an old colonial
family. His father, also named Benedict was a wealthy merchant and respected
citizen of their home town, Norwich,
Connecticut. The boy was schooled locally with the
intention that he should go to Yale
College to prepare to join his
father’s business.
But
after all but one of his sisters died in
childhood in the space of a few years, the elder Arnold took to drink and eventually lost
his business and his fortune.
Instead of being sent to Yale, his mother arranged for him to be apprenticed to an apothecary to help support the family. He was bound for seven years service.
In
1757 Arnold found relief from the
drudgery of shop life when he enlisted
in the Connecticut Militia at age 16 for service in the French and Indian Wars. He marched with an untrained Militia column to the front around Albany, New
York and Lake George. But the relief force got word that Fort William Henry had fallen after a siege and that French native auxiliaries had been allowed to commit atrocities on the survivors
including women and children who had taken refuge there. The Militia fell back in a near panic before ever contacting the enemy.
Muster rolls indicate that
Arnold served just 13 days giving rise to unsubstantiated
lore that he deserted out of disgust and
contempt for the rabble that was the Militia. In likelihood, however, he was released at the request of his mother
who had opposed his dreams of military glory, because he was the sole support
of his family.
Arnold’s
mother, to whom he was devoted, died
in 1759 worsening his father’s chronic alcohol
abuse—he was arrested for public drunkenness and denied communion in the local church, a sign of complete
pariah status. His young son buckled
down to support his sister and failing father.
After
his father finally died in 1761, Arnold moved to the capital of New Haven where
he opened his own successful pharmacy and book shop. The business prospered. Arnold borrowed
money from his mother’s wealthy kin the Lanthrops to repurchase the
family home that his family had squandered
away. Unsentimentally, he turned around and sold the property within a year at a tidy profit. After re-paying
the loan he had enough left over to form a trading
company with another young merchant, Adam
Babcock. They bought three ships and entered the lucrative West Indies Trade.
He
brought his surviving sister Hannah to
New Haven to manage the apothecary shop
while he was often away in command
of one of his own trading ships plying
waters as far north as Quebec
and all of the Colonial ports and
rich Caribbean isles.
Until
the Sugar and Stamp Acts curtailed his business, Arnold had taken no part in the growing political
restiveness with British in the Colonies.
Although he joined the Sons of
Liberty he took no part in public
demonstrations preferring to serve the cause—and his own purse by
continuing his trading operations as a smuggler.
Difficulties
in dodging the Royal Navy cut into his income and he was soon in debt to as much as £16,000, an enormous sum, and facing bankruptcy and
debtors’ prison. On January 27, 1768
Arnold watched, and likely supervised as a mob of Sons of
Liberty attacked and roughed up a would-be informant to the British of about
his smuggling activities. Arnold was arrested, found guilty of disorderly
conduct, and fined 50 schillings. It could have been much worse. And the publicity
around the prosecution made Arnold a local
celebrity and Patriot hero.
A
month later Arnold conveniently married
Margaret Mansfield, daughter of Samuel Mansfield, the Sheriff of New Haven. His new father
in law provided some shield from prosecution by Arnold’s creditors. The couple had three children, including yet
another Benedict, before she died while her husband was away at war during the
Revolution.
As
tensions rose, Arnold returned to his business only attending a Sons of Liberty
meeting while ashore and taking no leading role. He was at sea when the Boston Massacre and the event that came to be called much later the
Boston Tea Party happened, but took
note of hearing of them in his personal
journal.
He
was, however home in New Haven when actual
fighting broke out at Lexington and
Concord in April of 1775. Once
again he responded to the Militia call and this time as elected the Captain of
his company as befitted a man of his
station in life. Within a month
Connecticut troops were marching to join
the army besieging the British in Boston.
Arnold
had not been on the scene long before he conceived
of an audacious plan and took it to the Committee of Safety which was trying to organize an army. He proposed a surprise attack on Fort Ticonderoga at the southern end of Lake Champlain, probably the most important inland strategic point
in the Colonies, lying on the traditional
invasion rout from Canada. The fort
had been built by the French but
following the settlement of the Seven Years
War—the global conflict of which
our French and Indian Wars were just a part—the fort and French North America—Quebec
and Upper Canada—had been ceded to the British.
A
state of the art modern masonry star fort it should have been virtually impregnable. But Arnold somehow had information that it was lightly garrisoned and held—after all there
was no threat of a French invasion to defend against and troops were need
elsewhere to cow the upstart colonists.
The fort also housed a substantial
arsenal of powder and shot, stands of musket ready to arm militia forces or native auxiliaries,
and housed one of the largest
concentrations of heavy artillery in
the country.
The
Committee immediately saw the importance of such a mission and commissioned
Arnold to carry it out with the rank of Colonel. They did not however, have troops to spare
around Boston for the project. He was
sent out to scrounge men how ever he
could. He made for Bennington in the wilds of
the Hampshire Grants where he
knew of an already formed force
perfect for his raid.
The
Hampshire Grants, the territory now known as Vermont (The Green Mountain),
was claimed in whole or in part by
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York. It was settled by hardy pioneer farmers from Massachusetts and Connecticut largely on
the basis of questionable land warrants. When New York attempted to assert sovereignty and either oust or tax those who they considered squatters. Firebrand
Ethan Allen had organized his Green
Mountain Boys for virtual guerilla
war against New York surveyors, would-be
settlers, Sheriffs, bailiffs, tax assessors, and judges who
tried to assert control. The conflict
had been ongoing since 1770. The Green
Mountain Boys were tough, experienced,
relatively well disciplined, and from the point of view of New York as much
brigands as militia.
Allen
was known to be a fierce Patriot. Less
than two weeks before the fighting in Lexington and Concord, he had convened the Winchester Convention which drafted
a harshly worded declaration to the King.
Arnold
found Allen not only amenable to the
project, but found that he was already
contemplating it. In fact he had gathered a force that included irregular Connecticut and Massachusetts
Militia men in addition to his own for the project. The two strong
minded men joined forces, each not
entirely trusting the other. Allen insisted on command but agreed to
Arnold’s plan of operation and to
accept his advice.
The
combined force moved swiftly and without detection. They surrounded
the Fort before dawn on May 10, less than a month after the war broke
out. Only 83 men had made a boat crossing before the commanders
decided that it was too near dawn to
risk further boats being spotted. By agreement Arnold and Allen together marched at the head of a small unit and
surprised the lone sentry at the
gate, gaining admission into the wall of the Fort.
 |
| Popular images of the capture of Ft. Ticonderoga published after the American Revolution feature Ethan Allen demanding the surrender but omit Benedict Arnold who conceived of the plan and was at the side of the Green Mountain Boys leader. |
The
colorful Ethan Allen would claim—and
get—most of the credit for the raid.
But he and the Green Mountain Boys quickly left the Fort carrying with
them a modest amount of small arms and ammunition. The post was left under Arnold’s command and a small garrison of mostly
Connecticut militia men. Arnold was
concerned that when they discovered what had happened, that the English would mount an attack down Lake Champaign to
regain the Fort. He made what
preparations he could and pled for
reinforcements from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety.
But
those reinforcements came from an unexpected direction and source. In June 1000 Connecticut troops arrived under
the command of Colonel Benjamin Hinman who
asserted his authority to relieve Arnold
of command at Ticonderoga and the other near-by strong hold of Crown Point. Citing his Massachusetts commission and
orders, Arnold refused to be relieved.
He denied Hinman and his
troops access to the fort except under limited,
stringent conditions, interfered
with supply columns, and generally harassed
Hinman. Finally a delegation from Massachusetts
was summoned—and Arnold even impeded their journey when he discovered their
mission—to explain that Hinman and the Connecticut troops were acting in concert with
Massachusetts. Feeling his honor slighted, Arnold resigned his commission and left in a
huff.
The
value of Ticonderoga would become
apparent in the coming months. Not only
did it become a jumping off point for
an invasion of Quebec later in the
year, but stout Henry Knox arrived from the Siege
of Boston to haul many of the Fort’s guns by sledge across the frozen New England landscape. The sight of their deployment on the heights across from the city forced the British
to abandon Boston to General George
Washington’s new Continental Army.
So
that summer Arnold found himself without commission or command as plans were
being drawn up to attack Quebec via the traditional Lake Champlain route using
Ticonderoga as a jumping off point and supply base. He lobbied
Congress in Philadelphia for command of that expedition. But Col. Hinman’s reports of Arnold’s shenanigans, which he reported as
bordering on mutiny and treason, soured powerful members of Congress on him. Command of the proposed invasion was given to
New York Patroon General Philip Schuyler
and Anglo-Irish General Richard
Montgomery
Instead,
Arnold went to Massachusetts to lay another project before Washington who was
settling into command of the Army. He proposed a second expedition against Quebec in support of the main attack. He would lead a force that would drive west across the wilderness of
what is now Maine to the St. Lawrence, perhaps provoke an uprising of the French settlers
against their new English masters, and lay siege
to Quebec City itself in conjunction
with Montgomery’s Army. The audacious plan met with the approval of
Washington, who always liked daring,
surprise maneuvers and coordinated,
multi-pronged attacks. He
commissioned Arnold a Colonel in the
Continental Army and gave him a force of 11 Continental troops to accomplish
the mission.
Arnold
had his men marched from Cambridge in
several contingents from September
8-11 to Newburyport where a small fleet was assembled to sail with
them to the mouth of the Kennebec River hopefully eluding
detection by the Royal Navy. Sailing was delayed by fog and bad
weather and the ships did not reach their destination until 20th of the
month and then spent another two days sailing up the river to Gardinerston where they spent another
couple of days transferring their
supplies to boats to proceed further.
Some of the force had to be put to work building the bateaux,
light, flat bottomed French style boats capable of being portaged.
Sending
some supplies by boat, Arnold marched some of his men along the banks of the
river for 45 miles. From that point he sent
out scouts to determine his route and began to hear reports of Mohawk and other English ally native
activity ahead. His forces were slowed down by the 12 mile portage known as The Great Carrying Place and then by boggy ground and rain. By now rations
were short and the large party was having a hard time feeding itself on game despite the presence of Daniel Morgan’s expert Pennsylvania
riflemen.
Arnold dispatched
messages
to both Washington and Montgomery detailing his slow progress. Unfortunately the letters to Montgomery were intercepted revealing the mission and
robbing it of essential surprise.
Ascending
the Dead River in October was arduous. Currents
were swift to pole against, then a torrential rain storm flooded their camp. Some of the party went up a tributary by mistake, fooled by the high water. Seven bateaux including those caring most of
the remaining food supplies over turned
and the stores were lost. The rain and
flooding dampened powder as
well.
Nearly
starving and lagging far behind the main force 450 men under Lt. Col. Enos turned back. Arnold had already sent some sick and
starving men from his lead force back to the Maine settlements.
Various
sections of the army staggered into Lake Mégantic in the St. Lawrence Highlands over several
days at the end of October. Most were
starving. Some had been reduced to boiling shoes. Captain
Henry Dearborn’s dog was eaten, even his bones crushed to make soup.
At
this point they finally made contact
with local French residents who
supplied the men with food, and told Arnold that his plans had been
discovered.
 |
| Arnold as a Continental Colonel with Quebec behind him. He snatched glory from defeat. |
On
November 9 Arnold and 600 remaining men of his force, many in wrenched
condition finally arrived on the St. Lawrence at a point across the river from the Quebec City. He managed to get his men across in a night crossing between picketing Royal
Navy ship two days later and formed
on the Plaines of Abraham in front
of the city on the 13th. The walled city on the heights above them was defended by a garrison of 150 Royal Highland Emigrants, 400 Royal Marines from the ships patrolling
the River, and several hundred untrained and unreliable French speaking militia
whose loyalty was suspect. Arnold advanced
a Flag of Truce to demand the
surrender of the City. Officers
there could plainly see the condition of Arnold’s forces and wisely refused. Without
any artillery to reduce the walls, Arnold had no choice but to fall back and wait on the arrival of Montgomery who had just
taken Montreal.
Montgomery
arrived at Pointe-aux-Trembles on
December 3 and the combined forces now under Montgomery’s over-all command laid
siege to the city. Weather continued to
deteriorate through the month of December.
The arrival of a major winter
storm would make the exposed
positions of the besieging army untenable. Finally Montgomery ordered a desperate attack on December 31.
It
was a disaster. Montgomery was killed, becoming the first
American General to die and becoming something of a folk hero, his death commemorated
in a heroic painting. Arnold’s leg was shattered. Morgan and 350 of other men were captured. The army was forced to fall back on Montreal
where Arnold assumed command and learned that he had been promoted to Brigadier General.
When the British advanced on the city, Arnold led a brilliant rear guard action knowing that the English would
not stop short of Ticonderoga.
James Wilkinson, a young
officer who in later life would also become a notorious traitor, noted that Arnold was the last man to depart the
defenses at Saint Jean as the
reinforced Red Coat Army advanced. Then Arnold hastily constructed his mosquito
fleet of gun boats on Lake Champlain. The little fleet was overwhelmed by the Royal Navy in October 1776 but by that time the
snow was beginning to fall and the English had to scrub plans to attack Ticonderoga for the year.
But
in 1777 they would make another try with an even bigger Army under the command
of General James “Gentleman Jim”
Burgoyne.
Although
somewhat overshadowed by the death of
the gallant Montgomery, Arnold found himself a national hero and held in high
esteem by both Washington and the Commanding
General of the North Department, General Schuyler. Of course being Arnold, he not so secretly thought that he should
have that new command. Back at
Ticonderoga with not much to do Arnold quickly entered controversies with fellow officers narrowly escaping arrest on charge brought by an officer he had
brought charges against. Some complained of his lavish spending and
suggested to Congress that his accounts
were not in order. Then he made particular enemies of two junior
officers with significant political
connections to Congress.
Washington
rescued him from the hot water by giving him a new assignment—the defense of Rhode Island following the British
seizure of Newport in December
1776. On the way there he visited his
children who had lost their mother while he was away. He wintered
mostly in Boston where he learned that he had been passed over for a promotion to Major
General. He offered Washington his
resignation which was refused and Washington wrote Congress in an attempt to
have the decision reversed.
Arnold
decided to personally visit
Philadelphia to lobby on his own behalf. But on his way south, he learned that a British
column was marching on the Continental supply base at Danville, Connecticut. Arnold
quickly gathered a force of Militia and Along with General David Wooster and Connecticut militia General Gold S. Silliman met the British at the small but significant
Battle of Ridgefield in which they intercepted the enemy column as it
attempted to return to the coast. In the
sharp engagement Wooster was killed and Arnold was wounded for a second time in his left
leg.
At
Philadelphia given the vacancy left by Wooster and Arnold’s gallant service, Congress relented and
granted him his Major General commission.
But he was not granted seniority
retroactive to the earlier round of promotions over him. In a snit, he wrote another resignation to
Washington, who received it on the same day news arrived that Ticonderoga had fallen.
Instead Washington ordered him north to assist in the defense against
the advancing British.
On
July 24, 1777 Schuyler at Fort Edward ordered
him to take a force of 900 men to lift
the siege of Fort Stanwix. As Arnold closed in, he dispatched an Indian messenger who spread word among Brigadier General Barry St. Leger’s
large force of native auxiliaries that his force was treble its actual size and much nearer than they were. The auxiliaries who were savvy about picking their fights, melted away leaving St. Leger’s force exposed and forcing him to lift the siege and retreat.
When
Arnold returned to the Hudson, he
found that the army had retreated to a camp south of Stillwater and that General
Horatio Gates had assumed command.
Being Arnold, he once again felt
snubbed for being passed over.
Washington, from his headquarters, decided to maneuver aggressively to meet the British advance. He sent forces under Arnold and General Benjamin Lincoln north during
the summer. When Washington discovered
that much of British Commanding General Lord
Howe’s forces had been sent by ship
to the South rather than being available to drive north up the Hudson to joined up with Burgoyne, he reinforced the army in the north with
hundreds of men under General Israel Putnam
and the 400 elite men of Daniel Morgan’s Rifle Corps, Morgan having been released from British custody in a prisoner swap.
Gates
ordered the now united army north to take up a position astride the route
the Burgoyne must take unless he made a long detour. Engineers
trained by the Polish officer Thaddeus
Kosciusko had time to dig in and
erect elaborate field fortifications at Bemis
Heights, just north of Stillwater
and about 10 miles south of Saratoga. Gates had nearly 9000 troops both Continental
Regulars and Militia. Burgoyne who was
approaching with only the head of his
Army had about 7000. Since the
Militia was considered unreliable in
open field combat, Gates planned to wait
for a frontal attack by the enemy and cut
them to pieces from behind his fortifications.
Burgoyne
for his part was blind as most of
his “eyes”, his native auxiliaries,
had deserted after Arnold’s Fort Stanwix ruse.
He suspected a trap but could
not confirm it.
As
the enemy approached on the morning of September 19, Arnold realized that the left of the American line on the heights
was vulnerable to a flanking maneuver
through the woods. He pleaded with Gates
to allow him to take a significant force down from the heights to meet such an
attack using the American’s superior
skills in fighting from the cover of woods.
Gates was reluctant but finally partially relented and allowed Arnold to
send out a reconnaissance in force led
by Daniel Morgan’s riflemen with support from Henry Dearborn’s light infantry.
 |
| Gilbert Suart's post-Revolution portrait of Major General Horatio Gates, commander of the forces sent to stop General John Burgoyne's invasion army in Up State New York. Gates and Arnold clashed bitterly. |
As
he anticipated, Burgoyne split his
forces into three columns and sent his right, under General Simon Frazier to flank the American left. Morgan’s men advanced down to an open field
on John Freeman’s farm where they
saw advance units from the center column
under General James Hamilton which
had arrived ahead of the delayed Frazier and was beginning to advance through
the thick woods and across a deep ravine. Carefully choosing their targets, the
expert riflemen picked off nearly every
officer and many non-commissioned
officers of this advance guard sending them reeling in confusion. Morgan
ordered his men to charge, unaware
that Frazier was arriving on the scene and they were attacking the main column. Some of Hamilton’s retreating men were fired
on by Frazier’s troops in the confusion.
Morgan had to retreat back to the woods where he resumed picking off
advancing troops.
The
fighting delayed the whole advance and frustrated the flanking plan. After a two hour lull, while Hamilton’s force
formed up for an assault and reinforcements in the form of several regiments
arrived from Gates. When the attack
resumed American fire, especially again from Morgan’s riflemen, picked off more
British officers, and perhaps even more importantly, artillery crews. Several guns were at least temporarily
overrun by the Americans. The
English center almost broke. Later in
the day the tide of battle turned somewhat and the English were able to
threaten both the American right and left, which Arnold defended with
additional reinforcements from Gates.
When
darkness fell ending the fighting, the Americans fell back on their
entrenchments leaving the British in control of the battle field, the
traditional definition of a tactical
victory. But an extremely costly one.
Instead
of renewing the attack, Burgoyne delayed to bury his dead and reorganize. Then he received a days old message from Henry Clinton in New York that he might possibly be able to attack American posts on
the Hudson, Fort’s Montgomery and Clinton then proceed north to relieve
Burgoyne. Gentleman Jim elected to wait for Clinton. But Clinton dallied in New York then finally took the American Forts on October
6 and his advance guard got no farther
north than the Livingston Estate Claremont
on the 16th. Clearly Clinton would
be no help to Burgoyne.
Meanwhile
Benjamin Lincoln and an army from Massachusetts set out to retake
Ticonderoga. They rolled up several minor British outposts, spend a few days bombarding the fort, then decided to bypass it and proceed to link up with Gates.
While
all of this was going on Gates and Arnold were having a monumental falling out.
Gates failed to even mention
Arnold in his official report of the
battle to New York Governor Henry
Clinton despite the fact that Arnold was in effective field command during the entire battle as Gates remained well behind the lines in his
tent and the officers of the army all
credited him with the defacto victory.
The two generals got into a raging
shouting match and Gates relieved Arnold of his command. Arnold requested re-assignment to Washington’s main army, which Gates gladly
granted. But Arnold did not leave. He kept
to his tent, biding his time.
By
October 7, with Lincoln’s arrival Gates now had 12,000 men. The unreinforced Burgoyne’s forces were
reduced to 6,600, many of them beginning to suffer from hunger as supplies
dwindled. Burgoyne, ignoring advice from some senior officers to retreat, decided to
test the American left at Bemis Heights again
with a reconnaissance in force. With
Arnold relieved of duty, Gates took personal command of the left. Fighting began around 2 pm with Morgan’s men
once again doing their deadly work. The on
the right the Americans repelled a Grenadier bayonet charge with devastating
volleys at close range from behind tree cover.
Then they counter charged breaking
the flank and capturing senior
officers. On the left Morgan swept
aside Canadian militia and native auxiliaries and engaged the main attacking
body under Frazier, who was killed in the action, and Burgoyne’s hat and coat were peppered with Yankee balls. The English fell back in confusion on their
own entrenchments.
At
this point the enraged Arnold, who
had been drinking in camp, could no
longer contain himself. He rode out to join the action, chased by an
officer sent by Gates to order his return to camp. Arnold arrived in time to ride to the front
of Brigadier General Enoch Poor, men
who were in pursuit of the English falling back on two redoubts of the British camp and the thin line of Canadian Militia
between them. He led an attack on the
first redoubt under the command of Lord
Balcarres which was repulsed after furious fighting.
 |
| Arnold falls in the Battle of Bemis Heights in the Saratoga Campaign leading his second assault on a British strong point that day. He assumed field command against the direct orders of General Gates but was credited with the dramatic and decisive American victory. His severe leg injuries would have far reaching consequences. |
Arnold
then rode through the Canadians, dodging their bullets to lead men under
Brigadier General Ebenezer Learned
on an attack on the second redoubt, which was taken and whose commander, Hessian Heinrich von Breymann was
killed. In one of the last vollies fired by the defenders
before they were overwhelmed, Arnold was shot in the leg and his horse killed. The wounded leg was crushed under the falling horse.
As he lay bleeding on the field,
Gates’s messenger finally caught up to him with his orders to return to
camp. The gravely wounded Arnold was carried there.
As
darkness fell Burgoyne’s Army was clearly
defeated. An attempted night raid by German troops to retake the fallen redoubt
was the last action.
Arnold’s
actions that day awed the army. His presence
on the field had electrified the
troops. And it was undoubtedly the single
most extraordinary act of mutinous bravery in American military
history. Gates, of course, was unimpressed and unamused.
Burgoyne
retreated under cover of darkness later that night. He had lost over 1000 men in the two battles
including many of his most capable senior officers. On October 13 the pursuing Americans caught up to him near Saratoga and he had to surrender his army to Gates on the
17th. The cut off troops at Ticonderoga
had to negotiate a tricky retreat to
Quebec as well.
It
was a stunning and complete American
victory and considered the turning
point of the war. In France news of the victory pushed the King into open alliance with the
American’s—and alliance that would be critical
to ultimate victory.
Despite
Gate’s voracious protests, Arnold
was recognized as the hero of the
Campaign. As a reward he was restored to seniority as a Major
General. But he was gravely wounded and unfit
for field command. After months of
recovery he rejoined the Army at winter
quarters at Valley Forge in May
1778 in advance of the coming campaign season.
He was cheered by the Army,
particularly those who had served under him in the Saratoga campaign. That spring he participated along with other
officers in taking and signing a symbolic Oath of Allegiance to the United States.
He
was walking painfully with a limp, his shattered oft-wounded left leg now 2½
inches shorter than the other. He
ask Washington for assignment as military
commander of Philadelphia after the British retreated from the city in
June.
 |
| 18 year old Philadelphia belle Peggy Shippen, daughter of a wealthy Tory family, won Arnold's heart and put him in contact with British agent Major John Andre, a former suitor. |
From
the beginning, he planned to use this
position to enrich himself. He
considered it as no more than due for
his sacrificial service. He quietly entered several business deals, took bribes to favor some merchants over
others as suppliers to the Army, and may have privately sold Army stores.
Meanwhile he lived lavishly
and allowed himself to be entertained at
the most fashionable homes in the city, including those known to be British sympathizers. At one such home he met lovely 18 year old Peggy
Shippen whose father had done business with the British during their
occupation of the city. Arnold wooed and won her. The two were married in April 1779.
Meanwhile
Arnold’s plundering drew unwelcome
attention. Other officers had
benefited similarly in their commands, it was even considered, marginally by
some, as an acceptable and expected
benefit of office. But Arnold’s
dealing were more flagrant than most
and done under the very nose of Congress
which had returned to the city. When charges of impropriety were publicly
leveled, Arnold demanded a court
martial to clear his name.
By
that time, under the influence of
the Tory Shippen family the aggrieved Arnold was toying with the idea of changing sides. Peggy was able to put him in touch with a former beau, the dashing Major John
André who became a go-between in
tricky negotiations with General
Clinton in New York. André had just been
placed in charge of Clinton’s espionage
operations.
By
July Arnold was passing along
information on American troop deployment and supply depots through the use of codes and invisible ink
in letters sent via Peggy and her ladies circle to André. He requested
£10,000 for his services. Clinton demurred at that sum, but passed on
indications that it might be forthcoming if Arnold could provide information on American defenses and dispositions along the Hudson as he planned another drive to the
north hoping to cut New England off from the lower colonies.
Negotiations
broke off however. Arnold was stuck in Philadelphia where feeling was rising against Tories like the Shippen family and his own high
handed business dealings. His court
martial was finally convened in December 1779.
Despite prejudice against him by some members of the court, however, he
was cleared of all but two minor charges
of corruption in January. Arnold
launched a letter writing campaign to
publicize the results and characterize them as a vindication.
Despite
Washington’s personal fondness for
Arnold—he sent a private letter
congratulating him on the birth of his son that spring—the General was
forced to issue a short, public censure:
The
Commander-in-Chief would have been much happier in an occasion of bestowing
commendations on an officer who had rendered such distinguished services to his
country as Major General Arnold; but in the present case, a sense of duty and a
regard to candor oblige him to declare that he considers his conduct [in the
convicted actions] as imprudent and improper.—George Washington, April 9, 1780.
That
rebuke was deeply humiliating. Then
Congress reopened old charges that
he had misspent funds on the Quebec invasion years earlier and concluded that
he owed £1,000. Enraged, Arnold resigned his position in Philadelphia but not yet in the Army.
About
the same time old friend Philip Schuyler offered him an out—command of the critical American garrison at West Point on the Hudson, the key to
defenses to the north. Schuyler took
the mater up with Washington who at first would not commit. But on the strength of the possibility,
Arnold reopened his channels to
André and Clinton. He stopped at West
Point to inspect its defenses and
sent a detailed report as a sign of good faith along with other intelligence.
He
returned to Philadelphia to sell his
house and began to arrange the transfer
of his assets to London. By July 12 after a flurry of messages
Arnold made clear that he would
surrender West Point upon taking command for a price of £20,000, £1,000 payable
immediately in cash.
On
August 3, Washington finally made the appointment to the West Point
command. On the 22nd Peggy received word
that Clinton had agreed on the terms. Almost comic
misadventures followed as the two sides attempted to work out details. One coded letter ended up in the hands of Connecticut authorities, but could not be read.
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| In this 19th Century engraved illustration, Arnold passes the defensive plans to West Point to Major John Andre and even advises the spy to hide them in his boot where they were discovered when Andre was captured. |
Arnold
and André finally met secretly face to face to work out the details on October
21. André was in civilian clothes. The boat he was supposed to take back to the city was fired upon and damaged by American
troops forcing André to attempt to return
overland. Arnold wrote out passes to get him through the lines.
André
was captured by a militia patrol
near Tarrytown on October 23. Incriminating
papers exposing the plot were immediately sent to Washington. Meanwhile André was sent by the officer in
charge of him who knew nothing of the
content of the papers, back to Arnold at West Point. Washington’s spy chief quickly sent a rider to retrieve him but the escort was inexplicably allowed to proceed to West
Point to inform Arnold of the arrest.
Despite
Washington’s best efforts, Arnold was able
to slip away from West Point and was rowed down river to be picked up the damaged ship HMS
Vulcan, which had failed to retrieve André.
Arnold
boldly wrote to Washington requesting safe passage out of Philadelphia
for Peggy and his family, which the gentlemanly
Commander granted, not yet aware of the depth of her own involvement in the plot. Washington wrote to Clinton offering to exchange André for Arnold
but the request was rebuffed. André was tied and hung as a spy
in early October, his fate sealed by the earlier British execution of Patriot officer Nathan
Hale.
Washington
sent agents to the city to attempt
to kidnap Arnold, and they nearly succeeded but he changed his quarters. Late in October he sailed from New York to take up a British command in the
South. About the same time he sent a public letter attempting to defend his
actions to the American people. It
was not well received.
Arnold
was given a commission as a British
Brigadier General with an annual
income of several hundred Pounds, but paid him only £6,315 plus an annual
pension of £360 for his treason because
his plot had failed.
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| Arnold as a British Brigadier who captured Williamsburg and sent Governor Thomas Jefferson fleeing. He then played a cat and mouse game with Continental forces under the Marquis de Lafayette until the arrival of the main armies under Lord Cornwallice and General Washington arrived. |
In
December 1780 Arnold commanded a force of more than 1,600 men which captured the Virginia capital of Richmond
sending the legislature and Governor Thomas Jefferson fleeing. Arnold’s force was pursued by Virginia
Militia and Continental troops under the Marquis
de Lafayette who was under the personal
orders of Washington to summarily
hang Arnold if captured. Arnold fell
back until reinforced and then raided in Virginia until Lord Cornwallis and the southern army arrived and relieved Arnold
of command.
Arnold
returned to New York where he proposed various aggressive raids on American economic
interests, almost all denied by Clinton.
But Clinton finally agreed to a raid on New London Connecticut causing damage estimated at $500,000 when
Arnold burned the town and its warehouses and captured Fort Griswold. But Arnold lost a third of his 1,700 man command in the attack. Clinton concluded he could afford no more such victories.
When
word of Cornwallis’s surrender
reached Clinton in New York in October 1781, he gave leave for Arnold and his
family to sail for London.
His
active role on both sides of the
American Revolution was over.
In
England he was celebrated by the Tories, reviled by the Whigs who
were in the ascendency, and mistrusted in the Army. Public
opinion held him to be a traitor who could not be trusted. Every attempt to gain a new command, a position
in the government, or a sinecure
in the East India Company was turned down. He had a hard
time getting along on a Brigadier’s half pay and pension given Peggy’s lavish spending.
In
1785 leaving Peggy and the younger children in London he and his son Richard from his first marriage
emigrated to Saint John, New Brunswick where they speculated in land and Arnold returned
to sea as a merchant trader. After a
successful first voyage, Arnold retrieved Peggy and the children, settled various law suits in London and
Philadelphia and settled them in St. Johns.
He was soon embroiled in still more law suits and controversy about his
business dealings and was so unpopular
that a mob burned him in effigy in
front of his home. The family was forced
to return to London in 1791.
Controversy
and law suits dogged him. He fought a bloodless duel with the Earl of Lauderdale for impugning his honor in the House of Lords.
With
the outbreak of the French Revolution he
outfitted a privateer to prey on French shipping and their Caribbean islands. He was
captured and imprisoned on Guadeloupe charged
with spying for the British and avoided hanging in a daring escape to the blockading
British ships. Then he organized
militias on British held islands to repel French threats. He was rewarded for this service with a large land grant held jointly with son
Richard in Upper Canada.
Back
in London in 1801 his health began to
fail. Gout crippled his good leg and he could no longer go to sea. He suffered dropsy and by summer was lapsing
into periods of fever and delirium. Arnold died on June 14, 1801, at the age of
60. He left Peggy a woefully small
inheritance and a bad reputation. He was, however, buried with full British military honors.
In
America Arnold’s name became literally synonymous
with treason. His real contributions to the Revolutionary
war effort have been forgotten in the
public mind except for military
historians and Revolutionary period specialists. Still, there was a lingering affection for their old
commander among some of his troops despite it all. And some later admirers thought his contributions deserved some recognition. But it was always dicey.
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| A boot on a nameless monument commemorates the battlefield heroics of Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Bemis Heights. |
On
the old Bemis Heights battle ground of the Saratoga Campaign a small monument stands with a carved boot on it. 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.” It omits
a name. The monument was paid for by General John Watts DePeyster, a New
York Militia officer and noted military
historian.
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