Benedict Arnold is the most infamous figure in United States history. His notoriety is such that the name Benedict Arnold has entered the lexicon as a synonym for a traitor. While his betrayal of our country is well known, the details of his life and the betrayal itself are rarely described. Arnold was a complicated man whose place in history warrants a closer examination than has commonly been afforded.
Benedict was born January 14, 1741 in Norwich, Connecticut, to Benedict and Hannah King Waterman Arnold. Arnold’s mother was a wealthy widow from a previous marriage and as such, Benedict grew up in comfortable surroundings for much of his childhood.
Arnold’s easy existence, however, came to an end at the age of 14 when poor business deals led to financial problems for his family. With money short, Benedict’s parents withdrew him from school and Hannah Arnold arranged for Benedict to serve as an apprentice in the successful apothecary business of her cousins, Daniel and Joshua Lathrop. Hannah hoped that Benedict would apply himself to learning the craft and eventually find success in that field.
Such a mundane life was not for a man like Benedict Arnold. He repeatedly left his apprenticeship for considerable periods of time in order to join the army and fight in the French and Indian war. Despite earning recognition for his bravery in battle, the tug of family obligations always drew Arnold back to the employ of his cousins.
After his parents’ deaths, Arnold sought fulfill the wishes of his mother that he settle down. Benedict traveled Europe, collecting supplies for his own apothecary business, which he set up in New Haven upon returning to the Colonies. Arnold married an upstanding woman named Margaret Mansfield in 1767 and they had three children. Meanwhile, Arnold was extremely successful as an apothecary and he became one of the wealthiest citizens of New Haven as well as Captain in the Governor’s Second Company of Guards, a local militia. It seemed that Benedict Arnold was well on his way to becoming a pillar of the community that would have made his parents proud. The world changed, however, in 1775.
Few Americans realize that prior to an official declaration of independence by the Colonies in 1776, hostilities had already broken out with England. In May, Arnold got news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord and asked the Massachusetts Commission of Safety, the organization in charge of the local militias, for permission to join the cause with his men and capture Fort Ticonderoga. Permission was granted.
Upon reaching Fort Ticonderoga, Arnold and his men met up with Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys. Both were there to achieve the same goal. Arnold, like many great military leaders, had an inflated ego. He had concocted the plan to storm the fort and was very concerned that Allen was there to steal credit for the victory. Despite that fact that Arnold had official orders to command the attack on Ticonderoga, Allen refused to yield control of his men. The attack eventually commenced successfully with the two groups cooperating while still retaining two separate commanders.
After the battle was over, the Green Mountain Boys celebrated victory by looting the rum stores and getting inebriated. Arnold did not approve of Allen allowing his men to behave in this manner and he was not shy about expressing his displeasure. This disapproval only earned Benedict the contempt of the Green Mountain Boys, who jeered him mercilessly.
Upon his return to Massachusetts, things continued to go downhill for Arnold. He had submitted a rather sizeable reimbursement form for personal expenses incurred while carrying out the campaign against Fort Ticonderoga. The legislature was suspicious that Arnold was exaggerating his expenses and ordered an investigation into the matter. This slap in the face made Arnold furious.
This was just the first of many political battles Arnold would fight over the ensuing years. He proved himself a brilliant military tactician, but he was not cut out for the kind of diplomacy necessary to succeed as a high-ranking military official. Throughout all his tribulations, however, he always had a strong ally in George Washington. Washington knew that Arnold was a man of action and determination and never hesitated to entrust Arnold with crucial missions.
So it was that Washington gave Arnold the duty of aiding the American forces in northern New York in their fight against the British based in Canada. In typical Benedict Arnold fashion, it wasn’t long before he found himself butting heads with General Gates, the officer in charge of American forces during the Battle of Saratoga. Arnold felt that an aggressive attack on the British could yield a clean victory while Gates favored a more conservative approach. The argument reached a breaking point when Gates conveniently failed to mention Arnold’s contributions to numerous tactical victories in his reports back to Congress.
Upon hearing of this snub, Arnold threatened to take his troops and leave the battle. Rather than deal with the complications this could cause, Gates preemptively revoked Arnold’s command. Arnold was not a man to go quietly into the sunset, however, and decided that with nothing left to lose he would do what he had wanted to from the beginning. Despite having no official authority to command troops at this point, Arnold got on his horse and rushed into the battle, exhorting the troops to charge at the center of the British lines.
Through fierce fighting, Arnold and the American forces managed to burst through the enemy fortifications and put an end to any meaningful British resistance in this battle. Unfortunately, just as the fighting was nearing an end, Arnold’s horse was shot and it fell over, severely injuring his leg.
In recognition of his bravery during the Battle of Saratoga, Washington appointed Arnold commandant of Philadelphia after the British were forced out of the city. Arnold, however, was so bitter against his fellow officers who ostracized him and against the Congress that badgered him, that the seeds for his betrayal were already planted.
Arnold initiated contact with the British, promising that he could arrange the surrender of the crucial West Point military outpost in exchange for the equivalent of $1,000,000 in today’s money. In addition to the riches, Arnold wanted a commission in the British Army as a brigadier general. The British agreed to these terms.
In order to facilitate this plan, Arnold requested and was granted a transfer to command of West Point by George Washington. Unfortunately for Arnold, the British officer with whom he was corresponding, Major John Andre, was captured by an American patrol, with evidence of the plot in his boot, before the surrender could occur.
With his plan compromised, Arnold fled to the British lines. For the remainder of the war, Arnold was given minor military commands in small battles against his former compatriots. After the British retreat from the Colonies, Arnold returned with them to England with his family and died there in obscurity in 1801.
That Benedict Arnold was a traitor to the cause of American Independence is beyond dispute. This does not change the fact that a great disservice has been done to the man in the way he is unthinkingly vilified by history. As far as most people are concerned, Arnold may as well have been born the day before his act of treachery and died the day after. No consideration is given to the fact that he was a military hero of the Revolution before his betrayal. Even less is given to the fact that he was justified in feeling enmity towards those in power within the Revolutionary movement. Benedict Arnold was not a perfect human being nor was he the monster that he is often made out to be. He is simply a man who made a big mistake and has had his life boiled down through the years to consisting of only that one mistake.
