His father was a successful businessman and young Benedict had a comfortable childhood. He was well received by King George III and the Tories but frowned upon by the Whigs and most Army officers. [113] George Johnstone turned him down for a position in the East India Company and explained: "Although I am satisfied with the purity of your conduct, the generality do not think so. You may think it was odd that parents would name their newborn . He knew that he was distrusted and disliked by senior military officers on both sides. Angry and frustrated, Arnold resigned his military command of Philadelphia in late April. [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. His difficult time in New Brunswick led historians to summarize it as full of "controversy, resentment, and legal entanglements" and to conclude that he was disliked by both Americans and Loyalists living there. When American leaders discovered the plot, Arnold fled. [91][92] This action did little damage besides giving the captain, Andrew Sutherland, a splinter in his nosebut the splinter prompted the Vulture to retreat,[93] forcing Andr to return to New York overland. His physicians diagnosed him as having dropsy, and a visit to the countryside only temporarily improved his condition. [130] In Arnold's home town of Norwich, Connecticut, someone scrawled "the traitor" next to his record of birth at city hall, and all of his family's gravestones have been destroyed except his mother's.[131]. The band played a funeral march. However, British casualties were high; nearly one quarter of the force was killed or wounded, and Clinton declared that he could ill afford any more such victories. Lee Moran. The first man was a British major named John Andre. "Since the fall of Lucifer," General Nathanial Greene judged, "nothing has equaled the fall of Arnold." Yet Arnold's accomplishments for the patriot cause were extraordinary. Benedict Arnold served in the Connecticut militia and participated in the Siege of Boston. To raise money, he violated several state and military regulations, arousing the suspicions and, finally, the denunciations of Pennsylvanias supreme executive council. 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. [58] She married Arnold on April 8, 1779. [126] As a result of a clerical error in the parish records, his remains were removed to an unmarked mass grave during church renovations a century later. In December 1780, Arnold was given command of British forces sent to raid Virginia. [103], Washington remained calm when he was presented with evidence of Arnold's treason. [81], Early in April, Philip Schuyler had approached Arnold with the possibility of giving him the command at West Point. Arnold reopened the secret channels with the British, informing them of Schuyler's proposals and including Schuyler's assessment of conditions at West Point. He followed up that action with a bold raid on Fort Saint-Jean on the Richelieu River north of Lake Champlain. Benedict Arnold is an American Revolutionary War General who is known for being the best American Strategist during the war. Working as a spy, Armistead gained the trust of General Cornwallis and Benedict Arnold,. See the fact file below for more information on . [46] During the fighting in the second battle, Arnold disobeyed Gates' orders and took to the battlefield to lead attacks on the British defenses. [48] However, he interpreted the manner in which they did so as an act of sympathy for his wounds, and not an apology or recognition that they were righting a wrong. 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. As a teenager, Arnold's family faced financial hardship. During this time, Arnold brought his sister Hannah to New Haven and established her in his apothecary to manage the business in his absence. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Later,. Historians have several theories about why Arnold became a traitor: greed; mounting debt; resentment of other officers; a hatred of the Continental Congress; and a desire for the colonies to remain under British rule. Congress restored Arnold's command seniority in response to his valor at Saratoga. With the permission of his master, Armistead enlisted in the Revolutionary War under General Lafayette. [30] The household was dominated by Arnold's sister Hannah, even while Margaret was alive. [11], Arnold was very close to his mother, who died in 1759. Benedict Arnold began the Revolutionary War as a militia captain. Benedict Arnold's name is synonymous with the word traitor. The most famous of these occurred on May 10, 1775, when Ethan Allen and his band of Green Mountain Boys, accompanied by Benedict Arnold, who held a commission from . He died, age 60, and was buried in London. 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. His father's alcoholism and ill health kept him from training Arnold in the family mercantile business, but his mother's family connections secured an apprenticeship for him with her cousins Daniel and Joshua Lathrop, who operated a successful apothecary and general merchandise trade in Norwich. A Connecticut militia force arrived at Ticonderoga in June; Arnold had a dispute with its commander over control of the fort, and resigned his Massachusetts commission. [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". Washington Irving used it as part of an argument against dismemberment of the union in his 1857 Life of George Washington, pointing out that the unity of New England and the southern states which led to independence was made possible in part by holding West Point. On the morning of September 22, from their position at Teller's Point, two American rebels, John "Jack" Peterson and Moses Sherwood, under the command of Col. James Livingston fired on HMS Vulture, the ship that was intended to carry Andr back to New York. Peggy came from a loyalist family in Philadelphia; she had many ties to the British. Arnold returned to England in 1791, but he left to spend several years privateering in the West Indies before permanently settling in London. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defecting to the British side of the conflict in 1780. Benedict died of natural causes, maybe a fever. Before his name became synonymous with treason, Benedict Arnold was a bonafide hero of the American Revolutionary War. [62], Wetherell says that the shortest explanation for his treason is that he "married the wrong person". William Fitch Arnold (17941846) (Captain, Benedict Arnold, played by Curtis Caravaggio, is a one-time character in the episode "The Capture of Benedict Arnold" in the 2016-18 TV series, Courtwright, Julie. By. In the House of Commons, Edmund Burke expressed the hope that the government would not put Arnold "at the head of a part of a British army" lest "the sentiments of true honour, which every British officer [holds] dearer than life, should be afflicted". As the park's Facebook page explains, the hero's name was left off the monument for a reason. His fellow conspirator, Major Andre, was hanged by the Continental army for being a spy. 10 interesting facts about st benedict. Phillips led further raids across Virginia, including a defeat of Baron von Steuben at Petersburg, but he died of fever on May 12, 1781. For several years before he . 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. It is what happened after 1775 that began to wear him down and bring on his disillusionment. 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. [109] They also attacked and captured Fort Griswold across the river in Groton, Connecticut, slaughtering the Americans after they surrendered following the Battle of Groton Heightsand all these deeds were done just a few miles down the Thames River from Norwich, where Arnold grew up. Crippled from his wounds, Arnold was placed in command of Philadelphia (June 1778), where he socialized with families of loyalist sympathies and lived extravagantly. And those of us with long memories can take some comfort that things didn't go much better for Arnold once he left the colonies to live in . [80] Many of these documents had been lost during the retreat from Quebec. Arnold was rebuffed by Congress and by local authorities in requests for security details for himself and his in-laws. He grew resentful of several rival and younger generals who had been promoted ahead of him and given honors which he thought he deserved. Benedict Arnold Is America's Most Famous Traitor. They bought three trading ships, using the profits from the sale of his homestead, and established a lucrative West Indies trade. [106] This activity brought out Virginia's militia led by Colonel Sampson Mathews, and Arnold eventually retreated to Portsmouth to be reinforced or to evacuate. [141] Historian Barry Wilson points out that Arnold's descendants established deep roots in Canada, becoming leading settlers in Upper Canada and Saskatchewan. [41], Arnold was on his way to Philadelphia to discuss his future when he was alerted that a British force was marching toward a supply depot in Danbury, Connecticut. 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. He was convicted of disorderly conduct and fined the relatively small amount of 50 shillings; publicity of the case and widespread sympathy for his views probably contributed to the light sentence. After the war, he petitioned to have Vermont become a state. He arrived before Quebec City in November, after a difficult passage in which 300 men turned back and another 200 died en route. Arnold was promoted to brigadier general for his role in reaching Quebec, and he maintained an ineffectual siege of the city until he was replaced by Major General David Wooster in April 1776. He could not cope with failure and disgrace. In a July 11 letter, he complained that the British did not appear to trust him, and threatened to break off negotiations unless progress was made. [127] His funeral procession boasted "seven mourning coaches and four state carriages";[103] the funeral was without military honors. At a prearranged rendezvous point on the shoreline his contact arrived just after midnight. He had his leg crudely set, rather than allowing it to be amputated, leaving it 2 inches (5cm) shorter than the right. During the Revolutionary War, West Point was known as Fort Arnold, but after Benedict Arnold's betrayal, it became known as Fort Clinton. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The two-story edifice occupied a lot on the west side of Market between East Main and Division Streets. Arnold benefited from his relationship with Mansfield, who became a partner in his business and used his position as sheriff to shield him from creditors. Clinton refused this suggestion; after a military tribunal, Andr was hanged at Tappan, New York, on October 2. 3 January 1740][1][a] June 14, 1801) was an American-born military officer who served during the Revolutionary War. 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. 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? -Benedict Arnold, January, 1780. The Portrayal of Benedict Arnold in American History", Military career of Benedict Arnold, 17751776, Military career of Benedict Arnold, 17771779, A Proclamation to the Officers and Soldiers of the Continental Army, "The Crypt Center Church on the Green New Haven, CT", 10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0200008, "Independence National Historical Park: History of the President's House", "The Culper Spy Ring American Revolution", "Loyal American Regiment Historical Treks", "Native Norwich Is Ignoring Benedict Arnold", "Benedict Arnold: The Aftermath Of Treason", Saratoga National Historical Park Tour Stop 7, "In Commemoration of Arnold's Expedition to Quebec", "Letter: Some recognize Gen. Arnold as true hero of the Revolutionary War", "By Brigadier-General Arnold, A proclamation to the officers and soldiers of the Continental army who have the real interest of their country at heart, and who are determined to be no longer the tools and dupes of Congress, or France [Signed]", "Netflix's America: The Motion Picture fails at just about everything", "Netflix's 'America: The Motion Picture' knows who its audience is. Benedict Arnold's reasons for betraying America were extraordinarily complex. Washington was one of the few who genuinely liked and admired him, but Arnold thought that Washington had betrayed him. Among others, he shared the name with his father and. Benedict Arnold betrayed the Continental Army to the British when he made secret overtures to British headquarters in May 1779 and, a year later, informed the British of a proposed American invasion of Canada. [118] The family moved to Saint John in 1787, where Arnold created an uproar with a series of bad business deals and petty lawsuits. In 1776, he deployed defensive and delay tactics at the Battle of Valcour Island in Lake Champlain that gave American forces time to prepare New York's defenses. Yet as every elementary school student knows, Benedict reneged on his original commitment and defected to England. . Arnold demanded a court martial to clear the charges, writing to Washington in May 1779: "Having become a cripple in the service of my country, I little expected to meet ungrateful returns". "Arnold, Benedict (17411801)". [105] He also wrote in the letter to Washington requesting safe passage for Peggy: "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. Arnold mingled with Loyalist sympathizers in Philadelphia and married into a Loyalist family when he wedded Peggy Shippen. 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