[16] He was hardworking and successful, and was able to rapidly expand his business. Arnold's name had become synonymous with the word traitor. A historical marker in Danvers, Massachusetts commemorates Benedict Arnold's 1775 expedition to Quebec Bayley Seton Hospital in the Clifton section of Staten Island was named in part for Richard Bayley, father of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Arnold was born in Connecticut. [9], Arnold's father was a successful businessman, and the family moved in the upper levels of Norwich society. Needed repairs were never ordered on the chain across the Hudson. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Arnold's Family Life Was Messy By The Time He Was 20. "Whom Can We Trust Now? He could not cope with failure and disgrace. [23] The Stamp Act prompted Arnold to join the chorus of voices in opposition, and also led to his joining the Sons of Liberty, a secret organization which advocated resistance to those and other restrictive Parliamentary measures. Benedict Arnold was a patriot officer who served the cause of the American Revolution until 1779, when he shifted his allegiance to the British. He followed up that action with a bold raid on Fort Saint-Jean on the Richelieu River north of Lake Champlain. However, Arnold was a prominent figure in the American Revolution and, for a time, was a distinguished war hero who simply became . [117] After her first voyage, Arnold returned to London in 1786 to bring his family to Saint John. Lee Moran. Arnold was let off with just a slap on the wrist, but again his pride had been wounded. Washington also infiltrated men into New York City in an attempt to capture Arnold. The September 21 meeting with British Major John Andre was a disaster for both men. His grandfather, after whom he was named, was one of the founders of the Rhode Island colony, but Arnold's father was the opposite of the upstanding Benedict Arnold I. [27] Their son Benedict was born the following year[28] and was followed by brothers Richard in 1769 and Henry in 1772. When American leaders discovered the plot, Arnold fled. [77] Arnold worked over the next few months to publicize this fact; however, Washington published a formal rebuke of his behavior in early April, just one week after he had congratulated Arnold on the birth of his son Edward Shippen Arnold on March 19:[78], The Commander-in-Chief would have been much happier in an occasion of bestowing commendations on an officer who had rendered such distinguished services to his country as Major General Arnold; but in the present case, a sense of duty and a regard to candor oblige him to declare that he considers his conduct [in the convicted actions] as imprudent and improper. [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. These letters were delivered by Samuel Wallis, another Philadelphia businessman who spied for the British, rather than by Stansbury. He was again severely wounded in the left leg late in the fighting. [6][103] Among his bequests were considerable gifts to one John Sage, perhaps an illegitimate son or grandson. [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. Washington refused his resignation and ordered him north to assist with the defense there. His first name was actually Enoch. A figure climbed down from the larger sloop, into the boat and quietly made his way up the Hudson River. [30] The household was dominated by Arnold's sister Hannah, even while Margaret was alive. 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. [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. It is what happened after 1775 that began to wear him down and bring on his disillusionment. 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. [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. As a young man, Arnold. 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. His mother came from a wealthy family, but his alcoholic father squandered their estate. Benedict Arnold, despite his bravery on the battlefield, eventually switched sides and became the most infamous traitor in American history. Arnold resented this affront, and only Washingtons personal persuasion kept him from resigning. 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. Unable to find a new military or. He performed operations that provided the Americans with relief during the Siege of Fort Stanwix, and key actions during the pivotal 1777 Battles of Saratoga, in which he sustained leg injuries that put him out of combat career for several years. By. He sent an Indian messenger into the camp of British Brigadier General Barry St. Leger with news that the approaching force was much larger and closer than it actually was; this convinced St. Leger's Indian allies to abandon him, forcing him to give up the effort. British reinforcements arrived in late March led by William Phillips who served under Burgoyne at Saratoga. One plaque bears only a rank and a date but no name: "major general born 1740". However, his betrayal overshadowed his accomplishments in the wars he fought and won. 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. in George Athan Billias, ed., This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 10:05. [73] By October 1779, the negotiations had ground to a halt. 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 wrote that he was "very much shocked" and wondered "good God, are the Americans all asleep and tamely giving up their liberties, or are they all turned philosophers, that they don't take immediate vengeance on such miscreants? [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. 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. 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. 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. [118] The family moved to Saint John in 1787, where Arnold created an uproar with a series of bad business deals and petty lawsuits. 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. The other leg ached constantly, and he walked only with a cane. He returned a hero, but his rash courage and impatient energy had aroused the enmity of several officers. Arnold said that it would have been better had it been in the chest instead of the leg. The fourth niche is pointedly empty. Phillips led further raids across Virginia, including a defeat of Baron von Steuben at Petersburg, but he died of fever on May 12, 1781. 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. His performance in the Battle of Ridgefield in Connecticut prompted his promotion to major general. Especially galling was a long feud with the civil authorities in Philadelphia which led to his court-martial. In real life: Arnold left for England in late 1781, before the official surrender, in an unsuccessful bid to persuade the Crown to keep the war going in America. He was a war hero who persistently fought for America's independence. Clinton refused this suggestion; after a military tribunal, Andr was hanged at Tappan, New York, on October 2. He proposed an action to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety to seize Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York, which he knew was poorly defended. He died after four days of delirium on June 14, 1801, at the age of 60. [47] Burgoyne surrendered ten days after the second battle on October 17, 1777. Benedict Arnold's reasons for betraying America were extraordinarily complex. After formal inquiries, he was usually acquitted, but Congress investigated his finances and determined that he was indebted to Congress, and that he had borrowed money heavily to maintain a lavish lifestyle. Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold was an American Senior Officer during the Revolutionary War. In May 1775, Arnold's forces eventually clashed with the British at Fort Ticonderoga - nestled along the shores of Lake . [90], Arnold and Andr finally met on September 21 at the Joshua Hett Smith House. I used the widely accepted 1910 translation by the sinologist Lionel Giles, available in various . (Benedict Cumberbatch doesn't count; he's British.) [83], Andr returned victorious from the Siege of Charleston on June 18, and both he and Clinton were immediately caught up in this news. Andr was captured the next day, near Tarrytown, with those plans tucked inside his boot. When Arnold learned the following morning that Andr had been caught and that . Benedict Arnold was named brigadier general by the British government and sent on raids to . 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 . [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. Andr had spies and informers keeping track of Arnold to verify his movements. [18] On one of his voyages, he fought a duel in Honduras with a British sea captain who had called him a "damned Yankee, destitute of good manners or those of a gentleman". "[144] The victory monument at Saratoga has four niches, three of which are occupied by statues of Generals Gates, Schuyler, and Morgan. Odell was a Loyalist working with William Franklin, the last colonial governor of New Jersey and the son of Benjamin Franklin. [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. It was invoked again as sectional conflicts increased in the years before the American Civil 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". Again he tried to resign, but in July he accepted a government order to help stem the British advance into upper New York. [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 Hudson River Chain today Arnold mingled with Loyalist sympathizers in Philadelphia and married into a Loyalist family when he wedded Peggy Shippen. [66] Biographer Nathaniel Philbrick argues: Peggy Shippen did have a significant role in the plot. Besides, I would argue that even if the British d. Benedict Arnold is an American Revolutionary War General who is known for being the best American Strategist during the war. 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