[117] After her first voyage, Arnold returned to London in 1786 to bring his family to Saint John. He was extremely unpopular there and returned to London permanently in 1791, where he died ten years later. [38], General Washington assigned Arnold to the defense of Rhode Island following the British seizure of Newport in December 1776, where the militia were too poorly equipped to even consider an attack on the British. My family have voted conservative in most elections. He began to drink heavily, and . Arnold purchased large tracts of land in the Maugerville area, and acquired city lots in Saint John and Fredericton. [21] However, it is unknown whether this encounter actually happened or not. One colonel wrote to Clinton concerning Arnold: "There are many officers who must wish some other general in command. [45] He then distinguished himself in both Battles of Saratoga, even though General Gates removed him from field command after the first battle, following a series of escalating disagreements and disputes that culminated in a shouting match. He was well received by King George III and the Tories but frowned upon by the Whigs and most Army officers. He was on his way home from Ticonderoga when he learned that his wife had died earlier in June. In exchange for cash and a commission in the British army, Major General Arnold promised to betray his cause and hand over the American fort at West Point. In that era, people ate most of the common foods without. The September 21 meeting with British Major John Andre was a disaster for both men. Through his maternal grandmother, Arnold was a descendant of John Lothropp, an ancestor of six presidents. Before his name became synonymous with treason, Benedict Arnold was a bonafide hero of the American Revolutionary War. I used the widely accepted 1910 translation by the sinologist Lionel Giles, available in various . [63][64], Arnold had an extremely ambitious and jealous personality. Before it could be carried out, however, minutemen captured John Andr and informed General George Washingtonof the plot. [27] Margaret died on June 19, 1775, while Arnold was at Fort Ticonderoga following its capture. Crippled from his wounds, Arnold was placed in command of Philadelphia (June 1778), where he socialized with families of loyalist sympathies and lived extravagantly. Peggy came from a loyalist family in Philadelphia; she had many ties to the British. Major Benjamin Tallmadge was a member of the Continental Army's Culper Ring, a network of spies established under Washington's orders,[97] and he insisted that Jameson order the prisoner to be intercepted and brought back. Andr then drafted instructions to Stansbury and Arnold. [1] [7] Arnold was the fourth surviving member of his family named after his great-grandfather Benedict Arnold I, an early governor of the Colony of Rhode Island; his grandfather (Benedict Arnold II) and father, as well as an older brother who died in infancy, were also named for the colonial governor. -Benedict Arnold, January, 1780. [62], Arnold had been badly wounded twice in battle and had lost his business in Connecticut, which made him profoundly bitter. After Benedict Arnold betrayed the Continental Army, his British contact, Major John Andr, was captured by the Americans and hanged as a spy while Arnold escaped on a British ship. General Washington gave him a light reprimand, but it merely heightened Arnold's sense of betrayal; nonetheless, he had already opened negotiations with the British before his court martial even began. His ventures met with mixed success. His mother came from a wealthy family, but his alcoholic father squandered their estate. When his British contact, Maj. John Andr, was captured by the Americans, Arnold escaped on a British ship, leaving Andr to be hanged as a spy. Unable to obtain a regular commission in the British army after the war, Arnold pursued various business ventures like land speculation and privateering before permanently settling in London. He later revealed that he expected to obtain the command of West Point, New York, and asked the British for 20,000 for betraying this post. From there, he was ordered to Vermont where he met with Ethan Allen. [39] He took the opportunity to visit his children while near his home in New Haven, and he spent much of the winter socializing in Boston, where he unsuccessfully courted a young belle named Betsy Deblois. Washington refused his resignation and ordered him north to assist with the defense there. Born in 1867 in Hanley, Staffordshire (part of the famous 'Potteries' and now a district of Stoke-on-Trent), Enoch Arnold Bennett was named after his father, a solicitor. Meanwhile, in April 1779, Arnold married Margaret (Peggy) Shippen, a young woman of loyalist sympathies. On August 15, he received a coded letter from Andr with Clinton's final offer: 20,000[b] and no indemnification for his losses. S T I L L W A T E R, N.Y., June 14, 2001 -- Benedict Arnold, America's most infamous. General Parsons laid it aside, seeing a letter written as a coded business discussion. However, his actions at Saint-Jean and Valcour Island played a notable role in delaying the British advance against Ticonderoga until 1777. On August 13, Schuyler dispatched him with a force of 900 to relieve the siege of Fort Stanwix, where he succeeded in a ruse to lift the siege. Interview with Philbrick in Michael Dolan, "Hero And Villain,", Julie Courtwright, "Whom Can We Trust Now? 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. He presided over the rear of the Continental Army during its retreat from Saint-Jean, where he was reported by James Wilkinson to be the last person to leave before the British arrived. When Arnold learned the following morning that Andr had been caught and that . [6] In December 1780, he led a force of 1,600 troops into Virginia under orders from Clinton, where he captured Richmond by surprise and then went on a rampage through Virginia, destroying supply houses, foundries, and mills. 1:38. Letters were to be passed through the women's circle that Peggy Arnold was a part of, but only Peggy would be aware that some letters contained instructions that were to be passed on to Andr, written in both code and invisible ink, using Stansbury as the courier. While there, he disentangled himself from a lawsuit over an unpaid debt that Peggy had been fighting while he was away, paying 900[b] to settle a 12,000[b] loan that he had taken while living in Philadelphia. Or was it a kind of extreme midlife crisis, swerving from radical political beliefs to reactionary ones, a change accelerated by his marriage to the very young, very pretty, very Tory Peggy Shippen? A figure climbed down from the larger sloop, into the boat and quietly made his way up the Hudson River. Wikipedia Sign up to our newsletter. But despite all the financial and political reasons he had for his betrayal, it's possible it was actually about love. [13] A commonly accepted story that he deserted from militia service in 1758[14] is based on uncertain documentary evidence.[15]. The British promised 20,000[b] for the capture of West Point, a major American stronghold; Washington greatly admired Arnold and gave him command of that fort in July 1780. He hoped that this work would earn him wider respect and a new command; instead, it earned him and his sons a land-grant of 15,000 acres (6,100ha) in Upper Canada,[122] near present-day Renfrew, Ontario. 2. Washington refused his offer to resign, and wrote to members of Congress in an attempt to correct this, noting that "two or three other very good officers" might be lost if they persisted in making politically motivated promotions. With Benedict Arnold, he led the Green Mountain Boys to capture Fort Ticonderoga from the British in 1775. [98], Arnold learned of Andr's capture the morning of September 24 while waiting for Washington, with whom he was going to have breakfast at his headquarters in British Col. Beverley Robinson's former summer house on the east bank of the Hudson. After organizing an assemblage of volunteers, he seized munitions from the New Haven arsenal and led his group northward to fight the British. He died after four days of delirium on June 14, 1801, at the age of 60. . Benedict Arnold passed away on 3 March 1849. These letters were delivered by Samuel Wallis, another Philadelphia businessman who spied for the British, rather than by Stansbury. Some historians suggested an Arnold liaison in New Brunswick, but Canadian historian Barry Wilson noted the weakness of this traditional account. Many historians see her as having facilitated Arnold's plans to switch sides; he opened secret negotiations with her friend Andr, and she relayed their messages to each other. He also began to insist on a face-to-face meeting, and suggested to Arnold that he pursue another high-level command. Brown was particularly vicious, publishing a handbill which claimed of Arnold, "Money is this man's God, and to get enough of it he would sacrifice his country". [140], Canadian historians have treated Arnold as a relatively minor figure. . While en route to West Point, Arnold renewed an acquaintance with Joshua Hett Smith, who had spied for both sides and who owned a house near the western bank of the Hudson about 15 miles south of West Point. Early in May he made secret overtures to British headquarters, and a year later he informed the British of a proposed American invasion of Canada. One month after taking command, Arnold slipped the plans to British Major John Andr in exchange for 20,000 pounds of sterling, the equivalent of more than $4 million today. During the summer of 1778, he met Peggy Shippen, the 18-year-old daughter of Judge Edward Shippen (III), a Loyalist sympathizer who had done business with the British while they occupied the city;[57] Peggy had been courted by British Major John Andr during the British occupation of Philadelphia. [107], The pursuing American army included the Marquis de Lafayette, who was under orders from Washington to hang Arnold summarily if he was captured. He returned to the army at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in May 1778 to the applause of men who had served under him at Saratoga. Donald Trump has taken over from Benedict Arnold as "America's number one traitor," according to a group of veterans seeking to vote the president out of office this November. Benedict Arnold was an American Senior Officer during the Revolutionary War. He dared not tell me his name. Clinton was concerned that Washington's army and the French fleet would join in Rhode Island, and he again fixed on West Point as a strategic point to capture. Arnold remained there until July 1781 and then returned to New York. [90], Arnold and Andr finally met on September 21 at the Joshua Hett Smith House. [1][7] Arnold was the fourth surviving member of his family named after his great-grandfather Benedict Arnold I, an early governor of the Colony of Rhode Island; his grandfather (Benedict Arnold II) and father, as well as an older brother who died in infancy, were also named for the colonial governor. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [12] In 1757 when he was 16, he did enlist in the Connecticut militia, which marched off toward Albany, New York, and Lake George. Understand why Benedict Arnold spied for the British during the American Revolutionary War. At a prearranged rendezvous point on the shoreline his contact arrived just after midnight. Benedict Arnold is an epithet for traitor in the United States; calling a person a Benedict Arnold implies that they are a traitor. Benedict Arnold is an American Revolutionary War General who is known for being the best American Strategist during the war. [133] George Canning Hill authored a series of moralistic biographies in the mid-19th century and began his 1865 biography of Arnold: "Benedict, the Traitor, was born". Andr was captured the next day, near Tarrytown, with those plans tucked inside his boot. When and where was Benedict Arnold born? [b][6] He led British forces in the Raid of Richmond and nearby areas, and they burned much of New London, Connecticut, to the ground and slaughtered surrendering forces after the Battle of Groton Heightsjust a few miles downriver from the town where he had grown up. [67], Early in May 1779, Arnold met with Philadelphia merchant Joseph Stansbury[c] who then "went secretly to New York with a tender of [Arnold's] services to Sir Henry Clinton". "Arnold, Benedict (17411801)". Arnold eventually moved to England where he became a merchant. He was enrolled in a private school in nearby Canterbury, Connecticut, when he was 10, with the expectation that he would eventually attend Yale College. [34], Arnold then traveled to Montreal where he served as military commander of the city until forced to retreat by an advancing British army that had arrived at Quebec in May. [27] Their son Benedict was born the following year[28] and was followed by brothers Richard in 1769 and Henry in 1772. [24] Arnold initially took no part in any public demonstrations but, like many merchants, continued to do business openly in defiance of the Parliamentary Acts, which legally amounted to smuggling. Despite Arnold's defection to the British, he was a fierce patriot for . Benedict Arnold's name might be the first that comes to mind when we think of treason not just because he was a traitor, but because he was such an unlikely one. [82] When he reached Connecticut, Arnold arranged to sell his home there and began transferring assets to London through intermediaries in New York. [84], Arnold next wrote a series of letters to Clinton, even before he might have expected a response to the July 7 letter. For a time, he was a successful businessman, but after yellow fever took the lives of three of the Arnold children, the patriarch was devastated. [62], Wetherell says that the shortest explanation for his treason is that he "married the wrong person". Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. It is impossible to say when 37-year-old Benedict Arnold first met 18-year-old Peggy Shippen, but we do know that on September 25, 1778, he wrote her a love lettermuch of it an exact copy of . At his request, a court martial was held to clear his name. Needed repairs were never ordered on the chain across the Hudson. In the winter of 1782, he and Peggy moved to London, England. Benedict Arnold was born on January 14, 1741 in Norwich, Connecticut and named after his His mother was Hannah Waterman King, a rich widow. Four days later, Arnold sent a ciphered letter with similar content into New York through the services of the wife of a prisoner of war. [69] This was the beginning of a secret correspondence between Arnold and Andr, sometimes using his wife Peggy as a willing intermediary, which culminated more than a year later with Arnold's change of sides. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. He led a small contingent of militia attempting to stop or slow the British return to the coast in the Battle of Ridgefield, and was again wounded in his left leg. He then went to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and suggested to George Washington a second expedition to attack Quebec City via a wilderness route through Maine. [50] There he participated in the first recorded Oath of Allegiance, along with many other soldiers, as a sign of loyalty to the United States.[51]. [116] Delivery of his first ship the Lord Sheffield was accompanied by accusations from the builder that Arnold had cheated him; Arnold claimed that he had merely deducted the contractually agreed amount when the ship was delivered late. The French had besieged Fort William Henry in northeastern New York, and their Indian allies had committed atrocities after their victory. Samuel Spring carried him to the makeshift hospital at the Htel Dieu. [1] Wilson believes that the explanation most consistent with the available documentation is that Sage was either the result of a liaison before Arnold left England or that he was Arnold's grandson by one of his older children. [132], Talleyrand continued, "I must confess that I felt much pity for him, for which political puritans will perhaps blame me, but with which I do not reproach myself, for I witnessed his agony". Omissions? [104] He justified his actions in an open letter titled "To the Inhabitants of America", published in newspapers in October 1780. It is what happened after 1775 that began to wear him down and bring on his disillusionment. Name: Ethan Allen; Birth . The second was Benedict Arnold. "[108] Cornwallis ignored Arnold's advice to locate a permanent base away from the coast, advice that might have averted his surrender at Yorktown. [113] Other attempts all failed to gain positions within the government or the British East India Company over the next few years, and he was forced to subsist on the reduced pay of non-wartime service. Odell was a Loyalist working with William Franklin, the last colonial governor of New Jersey and the son of Benjamin Franklin. Arnold's role in the war was controversial, with some supporting his actions and others supporting the Patriots. [118] The family moved to Saint John in 1787, where Arnold created an uproar with a series of bad business deals and petty lawsuits. He joined the growing American army outside of Boston, and distinguished himself by acts that demonstrated intelligence and bravery: In 1775, he captured Fort Ticonderoga. See the fact file below for more information on . [81], Early in April, Philip Schuyler had approached Arnold with the possibility of giving him the command at West Point. Arnold said that it would have been better had it been in the chest instead of the leg. [8] His siblings were, in order of birth: Benedict (17381739), Hannah (17421803), Mary (17451753), Absolom (17471750), and Elizabeth (17491755). By. [44], Arnold returned to the Hudson where General Gates had taken over command of the American army, which had retreated to a camp south of Stillwater. Arnold's name had become synonymous with the word traitor. Arnold returned to England in 1791, but he left to spend several years privateering in the West Indies before permanently settling in London. That autumn he was appointed by Gen. George Washington to command an expedition to capture Quebec. Clinton refused this suggestion; after a military tribunal, Andr was hanged at Tappan, New York, on October 2. The Portrayal of Benedict Arnold in American History", Shy, John. By Joyce Lee Malcolm. "Whom Can We Trust Now? [29] She is buried in the crypt of the Center Church on New Haven Green. A pharmacist by trade, the 34-year-old Arnold joined the rebellion in 1775. Benedict Arnold Is America's Most Famous Traitor. [35], During these actions, Arnold made a number of friends and a larger number of enemies within the army power structure and in Congress. "[115], In 1785, Arnold and his son Richard moved to Saint John, New Brunswick, where they speculated in land and established a business doing trade with the West Indies. [79], Shortly after Washington's rebuke, a Congressional inquiry into Arnold's expenditures concluded that he had failed to account fully for his expenditures incurred during the Quebec invasion, and that he owed the Congress some 1,000,[b] largely because he was unable to document them. He arrived before Quebec City in November, after a difficult passage in which 300 men turned back and another 200 died en route. He would be an apprentice in the mercantile trade for seven years. [a][133] Historical markers in Danvers, Massachusetts, and Newburyport, MA commemorate Arnold's 1775 expedition to Quebec. Before his betrayal Benedict Arnold was a legitimate hero and a competent officer. Arnold was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on January 14, 1741. Word of the siege's disastrous outcome led the company to turn around, and Arnold served for only 13 days. Andr had spies and informers keeping track of Arnold to verify his movements. Because of the constant agony of two battlefield wounds in an already gout-ridden leg? [142] His descendants are spread across Canada, most of all those of John Sage, who adopted the Arnold surname. The Hudson River Chain today His subordinates, some long-time associates, grumbled about Arnold's unnecessary distribution of supplies and eventually concluded that he was selling them on the black market for personal gain. The house where Arnold lived at 62 Gloucester Place in central London bears a plaque describing him as an "American Patriot". Did he become a traitor because of all the injustice he suffered, real and imagined, at the hands of the Continental Congress and his jealous fellow generals? Thereupon I expressed the desire of seeing that gentleman, and, shortly after, I was introduced to him. [87], Once Arnold established himself at West Point, he began systematically weakening its defenses and military strength. 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