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. He also faced financial ruin, falling 16,000[b] in debt with creditors spreading rumors of his insolvency, to the point where he took legal action against them. [66] Biographer Nathaniel Philbrick argues: Peggy Shippen did have a significant role in the plot. [149] The faculty club at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton has a Benedict Arnold Room in which letters written by Arnold hang on the walls. He arrived before Quebec City in November, after a difficult passage in which 300 men turned back and another 200 died en route. From there, he was ordered to Vermont where he met with Ethan Allen. His father was also called Benedict Arnold and his mother's name was Hannah Waterman King. [103] Legend has it that, when he was on his deathbed, he said, "Let me die in this old uniform in which I fought my battles. [80] Many of these documents had been lost during the retreat from Quebec. [108], On his return to New York in June, Arnold made a variety of proposals for attacks on economic targets to force the Americans to end the war. [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. The British withdrew from Philadelphia in June 1778, and Washington appointed Arnold military commander of the city. In April of 1775, after learning about the conflicts at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, Arnold organized his men in preparation for a march to Cambridge to aid in the fight against the British . 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 . [70] This initial letter opened a discussion on the types of assistance and intelligence that Arnold might provide, and included instructions for how to communicate in the future. [137] A moralistic children's tale entitled "The Cruel Boy" was widely circulated in the 19th century. [19][20] The captain was wounded in the first exchange of gunfire, and he apologized when Arnold threatened to aim to kill on the second. After trying and failing to hand the fort at West Point over to the British, he joined the Royal Army and took . [103] He had suffered from gout since 1775,[124] and the condition attacked his unwounded leg to the point where he was unable to go to sea. Benedict Arnold is an epithet for traitor in the United States; calling a person a Benedict Arnold implies that they are a traitor. In the winter of 1782, he and Peggy moved to London, England. 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. The other leg ached constantly, and he walked only with a cane. What does it mean to call someone a Benedict Arnold? [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". Updates? Benedict Arnold was a patriot officer who served the cause of the American Revolution until 1779, when he shifted his allegiance to the British. Wikipedia Sign up to our newsletter. [123], In January 1801, Arnold's health began to decline. Arnold lost most of his siblings to yellow fever, calamitous events that triggered alcoholism in his father. Arnold escaped; Andr was hanged. He marched with 700 men by way of the Maine wilderness, a remarkable feat of woodsmanship and endurance, and, reinforced by Gen. Richard Montgomery, attacked the well-fortified city. 10 interesting facts about st benedict. 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. [52] Historian John Shy states: Arnold began planning to capitalize financially on the change in power in Philadelphia, even before the Americans reoccupied their city. He had established a decent relationship with George Washington, as well as Philip Schuyler and Horatio Gates, both of whom had command of the army's Northern Department during 1775 and 1776. He was also convicted of two minor charges of using his authority to make a profit. Arnold became a shrewd and prosperous trader in New Haven while also joining the local militia in 1774 and being named its captain soon thereafter. Benedict Arnold led the attack at the British Fort of Ticonderoga. Soon after Ticonderoga, Arnold brought his men on a dangerous trek through the . She was a close friend of British major John Andr and kept in contact with him when he became head of the British espionage system in New York. . He grew resentful of several rival and younger generals who had been promoted ahead of him and given honors which he thought he deserved. [26], On February 22, 1767, Arnold married Margaret Mansfield, daughter of Samuel Mansfield, the sheriff of New Haven and a fellow member in the local Masonic Lodge. One critic said that he was a "mean mercenary, who, having adopted a cause for the sake of plunder, quits it when convicted of that charge". Saint Benedict once lived in a hermit cave. Benedict Arnold passed away on 3 March 1849. 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? She was the conduit for information to the British. Arnold resented this affront, and only Washingtons personal persuasion kept him from resigning. [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. Peggy Shippen had barely turned eighteen when in June of 1778, following the evacuation of Philadelphia by a British army, Major General Benedict . On July 12, he wrote again, making explicit the offer to surrender West Point, although his price rose to 20,000[b] (in addition to indemnification for his losses), with a 1,000[b] down payment to be delivered with the response. Benedict Arnold was born a British subject, the second of six children of his father Benedict Arnold III (16831761) and Hannah Waterman King in Norwich, Connecticut, on January 14, 1741. 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. During this time, Arnold brought his sister Hannah to New Haven and established her in his apothecary to manage the business in his absence. He dared not tell me his name. He also peppered Washington with complaints about the lack of supplies, writing, "Everything is wanting. They issued him a colonel's commission on May 3, 1775, and he immediately rode off to Castleton in the disputed New Hampshire Grants (Vermont) in time to participate with Ethan Allen and his men in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga. [120] The family left Saint John to return to London in December 1791. Congress restored Arnold's command seniority in response to his valor at Saratoga. Neither side knew for some days that the other was in agreement with that offer, due to difficulties in getting the messages across the lines. Benedict Arnold is an American Revolutionary War General who is known for being the best American Strategist during the war. 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. He led a force of more than 1,700 men which burned most of New London to the ground on September 4, causing damage estimated at $500,000. [46] During the fighting in the second battle, Arnold disobeyed Gates' orders and took to the battlefield to lead attacks on the British defenses. "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. [59] Shippen and her circle of friends had found methods of staying in contact with paramours across the battle lines, despite military bans on communication with the enemy. Arnold said that it would have been better had it been in the chest instead of the leg. The fourth niche is pointedly empty. [72] Clinton was pursuing a campaign to gain control of the Hudson River Valley, and was interested in plans and information on the defenses of West Point and other defenses on the Hudson River. It was invoked again as sectional conflicts increased in the years before the American Civil War. His father was arrested on several occasions for public drunkenness, was refused communion by his church, and died in 1761. The house where Arnold lived at 62 Gloucester Place in central London bears a plaque describing him as an "American Patriot". [3] Arnold was buried at St. Mary's Church in Battersea, England. Once the former Revolutionary War hero . Benedict Arnold was an American Senior Officer during the Revolutionary War. 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. Word of the siege's disastrous outcome led the company to turn around, and Arnold served for only 13 days. After his leg healed, Benedict Arnold was named Military Governor of Philadelphia. [141] Historian Barry Wilson points out that Arnold's descendants established deep roots in Canada, becoming leading settlers in Upper Canada and Saskatchewan. Some historians suggested an Arnold liaison in New Brunswick, but Canadian historian Barry Wilson noted the weakness of this traditional account. "[88] At the same time, he tried to drain West Point's supplies so that a siege would be more likely to succeed. 0:00. 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. July 27] 1742 - June 19, 1786) was an American military officer and planter who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.He emerged from the war with a reputation as one of George Washington's most talented and dependable officers, and is known for his successful command in the Southern theater of the conflict. Benedict Arnold (14 January 1741 [O.S. "[108] Cornwallis ignored Arnold's advice to locate a permanent base away from the coast, advice that might have averted his surrender at Yorktown. He would be an apprentice in the mercantile trade for seven years. During the American War for Independence, several engagements were fought at the five-pointed star-shaped Fort Ticonderoga. He was the second of the couple's six children. The first major biography of his life was The Life and Treason of Benedict Arnold, published in 1832 by historian Jared Sparks; it was particularly harsh in showing how Arnold's treacherous character was formed out of childhood experiences. [25] On the night of January 28, 1767, he and members of his crew roughed up a man suspected of attempting to inform authorities of Arnold's smuggling. "[144] The victory monument at Saratoga has four niches, three of which are occupied by statues of Generals Gates, Schuyler, and Morgan. [22], The Sugar Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765 severely curtailed mercantile trade in the colonies. He followed up that action with a bold raid on Fort Saint-Jean on the Richelieu River north of Lake Champlain. Samuel Spring carried him to the makeshift hospital at the Htel Dieu. 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. 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 . John Andr was executed for spying. After the usual exchange of greetings I ventured to request from him some letters of introduction to his friends in America. An epidemic of yellow fever ravaged Arnold's family in the 1750s, however, claiming three of his . [22] In a strange twist of fate, "the second most hated British . 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". In the later part of the conflict, Arnold was commissioned as a brigadier general in the British Army, and placed in command of the American Legion. "Whom Can We Trust Now? "No one has betrayed those in uniform like Donald Trump ," said the voiceover in the latest ad . 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 then directed the construction of a fleet to defend Lake Champlain, which was overmatched and defeated in the October 1776 Battle of Valcour Island. During the American Revolution, British Major John Andr joined with American General Benedict Arnoldin a scheme to secure British control over the American fortification at West Point, New York. 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. His company marched northeast the following month to assist in the siege of Boston that followed the Battles of Lexington and Concord. 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. [134] Social historian Brian Carso notes that, as the 19th century progressed, the story of Arnold's betrayal was portrayed with near-mythical proportions as a part of the national history. Mo talks with author Nathaniel Philbrick about the now . [citation needed], He then continued on to Philadelphia where he met with members of Congress about his rank. 1:38. . The first man was a British major named John Andre. Through his maternal grandmother, Arnold was a descendant of John Lothropp, an ancestor of six presidents. "[32], Arnold began the war as a captain in the Connecticut militia, a position to which he was elected in March 1775. A figure climbed down from the larger sloop, into the boat and quietly made his way up the Hudson River. Arnold was born on January 14, 1741, in Norwich, Connecticutthe fifth person in his family to be named Benedict Arnold. In an ironic twist, Heron went into New York unaware of the significance of the letter and offered his own services to the British as a spy. Benedict Arnold, shown on the left concealing his plans in John Andr's boot, has become synonymous with treason but before he betrayed America, he saved it. According to W. D. Wetherell, he was: [A]mong the hardest human beings to understand in American history. 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. Benedict Arnold, (born January 14, 1741, Norwich, Connecticut [U.S.]died June 14, 1801, London, England), patriot officer who served the cause of the American Revolution until 1779, when he shifted his allegiance to the British. 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