Report on Benedict Arnold- Traitor

Report On Benedict Arnold

By Madison Nef

Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold was born on January 14^th of 1741 in a small town called Norwich in Connecticut. He was one out of 2 of his mom’s 11 kids to survive to adulthood. His mom was a poor widow before she met Benedict’s father, who was a merchant. Though his father was very kind, he could not handle money very well, and he was also a very bad alcoholic. Soon, the family had very little money and the father’s disease had gotten worse. Benedict was forced to quit school at a young age and start training to become an apothecary in the house of the Lathrop family to support his family.

In his teenage years, Benedict had a desire to join the French and Indian War after hearing a drummer play. His mother did not consent and neither did the Lathrops. He tried sneaking off several times when he was 16, and at one point, there were wanted posters up for him. At 17 he finally joined the army.  However, he resigned when he was 18 to be with his mother, who had fallen ill over the period of time. After awhile, he went on to become a merchant and a trader like his father. He was a very successful trader, though he was accused quite a few times of smuggling, and was quite well-known for his headstrong action-before-thinking attitude.  He got into 2 fights while on a trading boat.

When he was 26, he married Margaret Mansfield. Mansfield was the daughter of The New Haven Sheriff. (New Haven, Connecticut, was the town that Benedict had opened a pharmacy in when he was an apothecary.) He had 3 children with her before her untimely death early in the Revolution. He set out for the Connecticut militia when the first word of the Revolution came around.

He soon befriended George Washington, who was in charge of the militia. Even though he had not necessarily been invited to the militia (as he had a pretty BAD reputation at this time), he soon had his first official mission. His mission was to lead the troops in attack on Fort Ticonderoga the next month. While the mission was a complete success, almost all of the credit went to Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, who had accompanied Arnold on the trip.

Arnold’s second try at glory failed. He was to lead his troops to Quebec, Canada, along with Richard Montgomery. However, Montgomery ended up dead and Benedict left with a very hurt leg. After his injury healed, Benedict headed over to Lake Champlain in attempt to stop the British from using it as a trade route. He lost 2 battles to the British there, yet held them off for a while. In the same month he was promoted by the Congress to brigadier.

Luck did not get better for Arnold in the winter. In fact, I guess you could say it got WORSE. His anger problems got him into hot water with the Congress. He was accused of many things, such as misconduct and incompetence. Even worse, 5 generals that were below his level were raised up to MAJOR, which was above his level. Only George Washington begged for Arnold not to resign.

While visiting New Haven, he heard of a raid that was taking place in Danbury. He immediately went to try and stop the raid, but got there too late to save the goods.  However, he did manage to take the British off their guard, and forced them to give up their post there. The Congress, very grateful for the effort, promoted him once again, this time to major likes the other soldiers. But sadly, Arnold’s problems were not yet over.

He was accused of stealing from Montreal merchants when he had been in Canada. Though he was cleared of his charge, he was angry about being accused and resigned from the army. George Washington once again begged for him to rejoin the army, because he had another mission for him. Arnold resentfully rejoined. His mission was to go to New York and defeat the British. He ended up winning the battle, and as a reward, the Congress promoted him to a higher rank then the other soldiers.

In April of 1779, Arnold fell in love again. This time, it was with Peggy Shippen, the daughter of a local wealthy judge. They were married the next month. Living with the wealthy, Benedict spent more than he had, and was soon in heavy debt. Also, he was in trouble with the Congress for using his place in the military for his own advantage.

By this time, Arnold was fed up with ill treatment from the Congress. He had begun as early as May to pass on American movements to the British for some money. I suspect that he did this to get money because he was broke after over-spending. In the summer, Arnold came up with a master plan. He would surrender at West Point to the British, giving them control of a major base.  He would be rewarded 20000 pounds.

Now, this plan seemed to be working out perfectly fine until John Andre, the British undercover spy, was arrested dressed as a commoner in October. Naturally, the Americans were trying to raid him, and so they found the paperwork that proved that Arnold was a traitor. Andre was hung, and Benedict Arnold fled to the British to avoid the same fate.

Benedict spent the rest of the war fighting against his own country. He died after 20 years. Even though it has been hundreds of years since he was alive and the event occurred, to this day, calling someone a Benedict Arnold means they betrayed their side.