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Benedict Arnold (January 14, 1741 - June 14, 1801), was a
Continental Army general best known for defecting to the British during the American Revolutionary War.
Born in Norwich, Connecticut, he was appointed a colonel in the Massachusetts militia in 1775. He and Ethan Allen captured Fort Ticonderoga, gaining needed supplies of cannon for the Americans in
the Siege of Boston. Later in 1775 Arnold also led an expeditionary force from Boston to Quebec and
participated in an unsuccessful attack in the Battle
of Quebec (1775).
Arnold was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and in
1776 oversaw the construction of America's first gunships on Lake Champlain, in the town of Whitehall, NY. This earned Whitehall the nickname
"Birthplace of the U.S. Navy" and under Arnold's leadership the new flotilla
defeated a vastly superior British enemy fleet near Valcour Island, NY
on October 11, 1776.
In 1777, Arnold was passed over by the Continental Congress for a promotion to a major
generalship. Without a command of his own, he still played a role in defeating the British at the Battle of Saratoga. He almost lost his leg in the battle.
He was a very good strategist who was well liked by many of his men and a friend of George Washington; however his political enemies caused him to be court-martialed several times,
including on June 1st 1779. Arnold was a
principled man who felt that the Revolutionary War should be a fight purely between Britain and her colonies. When General
Washington and the Continental Congress made an alliance with France against Britain,
he disagreed strongly and began to pass information to British forces. Arnold's Loyalist wife, Peggy Shippen, also played a significant
role in his betrayal. Through his wife, Arnold corresponded with British Major John André, a past suitor of Peggy.
In 1780, he negotiated with British General Henry Clinton to hand over the American fort at West Point,
New York to the British for 20,000 sterling (about $1,000,000 today). His plans
were discovered when his courier, British Major John André, was captured with incriminating documents. Learning of André's capture, Arnold escaped and joined
the British forces. He was appointed Brigadier General and led several subsequent attacks on American forces. On January 5, 1781 Richmond, Virginia was
burned by British naval forces led by Arnold.
When Arnold defected, his two subordinates at West Point, Richard
Varick and David Franks, aides-de-camp, fell under suspicion for
complicity. Both were subsequently cleared and continued to serve the American cause.
Within the United States, the name of Benedict Arnold has entered the English language as a synonym for "betrayer" or
"traitor". Outside the US, however, he is thought of in much more neutral terms. In nations such as Canada and the United Kingdom he is regarded as a traitor
who became a patriot, while Americans consider him to have done the reverse. Arnold defended his treacherous actions in a letter
to Washington, stating, "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 is buried in the crypt of St.
Mary's Church Battersea, London, in
the uniform of a Continental soldier.
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