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CHAPTER 1
The Patriotism of Benedict Arnold
"We ... do Associate under all the ties of religion, honour, and love to our Country, to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatever measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress ... for the purpose of preserving our Constitution [English law] and opposing the execution of the several arbitrary and oppressive acts of the British Parliament."
— From Benedict Arnold's Declaration of Principles dated "Crown Point, 15th June, 1775"
The American Revolution lasted for eight years (1775-1783) and, for the first five years of the war, Benedict Arnold was seemingly a staunch patriot and probably the best combat officer in the Continental Army. In 1780, Arnold defected to the British, and his change from patriot to traitor is one of the most compelling narratives in American history. Various explanations have been offered to account for Arnold's transformation, which include his need for money, the influence of his wife, his disillusionment with the patriot cause, and the entry of France into the war on behalf of the Americans. Arnold called the French "the enemy of the Protestant faith" and maintained that, while the Court of Versailles advocated "an affection for the liberties of mankind, she holds her native sons in vassalage [i.e., serfdom] and chains."
Some of these factors may have influenced him, but I believe that Benedict Arnold turned to treason as revenge against his fellow countrymen who had been working to humiliate him since the start of the war. While it is true that Arnold had numerous powerful enemies within the patriot movement, the cause of their hostility was often his own belligerent behavior. In fact, Arnold had been heedlessly destroying his military career ever since the start of the war, due to his lack of diplomacy, neglect in cultivating influential friends in government, and belief that he was smarter than most of the people around him.
As the Revolutionary War progressed, Arnold's arrogance caused his list of enemies to grow. By the fifth year of the war (1780), he was an angry and vindictive man, and, with the encouragement of his 19-year-old wife, resorted to treason to get even. His plan was spectacular in its potential to damage the patriot cause. Arnold used his goodwill with George Washington to obtain command of the strategic American fortress of West Point, with the intent to deliver the stronghold to the enemy in exchange for money and a commission as a British general. When Arnold's treachery was accidentally discovered on September 25, 1780, he managed to reach safety just ahead of the American troops who had been sent to arrest him for treason. He escaped by boarding the ironically named Royal Navy ship Vulture that was anchored in the Hudson River.
There is a trend today to treat Arnold sympathetically. His supporters point out that his exploits as an American officer, prior to his treason, were significant. Also, despite his victories on the battlefield and being twice wounded in combat, Arnold was ignored or passed over for promotion by Congress. The alliance between France and the United States had not altered the course of the war, which was dragging on as the British made inroads in the Southern colonies. With the possibility of a negotiated peace to end the war, Arnold may have believed that he had a more promising future in the British rather than the Continental Army.
However, while Arnold's anger may have been partially justified, his treason was reprehensible. It came at a time when American morale was probably at its lowest point in the eight-year conflict. Devastating events just prior to Arnold's intrigue included the surrender of Charleston in May 1780 to General Sir Henry Clinton, with the loss of over 3,000 patriot troops; the defeat of General Horatio Gates by Lord Cornwallis in August of that same year at the Battle of Camden, which gave the British control of South Carolina and threatened North Carolina; the failure of the French to commit their army to the war; growing pessimism; and runaway inflation, exhausted credit, and an American economy teetering on the verge of collapse. Had Arnold's sinister plot succeeded, it might have been the crippling blow that would have ended the war with a negotiated settlement unfavorable to the Americans.
The origin of Arnold's belligerent behavior can be traced all the way back to his formative years. It may have started when his father's humiliating bankruptcy and drinking forced young Benedict to leave school at the age of fourteen to become an apprentice in his uncle's apothecary and general merchandise business. It was under these circumstances that he apparently acquired some of those qualities (industry, sharp wits, belligerence, and an authoritarian attitude) that allowed him to rise rapidly from a lowly apprentice to a wealthy and socially prominent merchant and shipowner in New Haven, Connecticut. Sometimes he took personal command of one of his merchant ships, sailing it to the West Indies or Quebec, where he sold horses. As a business owner and ship's captain, Arnold became accustomed to making decisions, giving orders, and expecting to be obeyed without question.
With the newly acquired wealth from his business and borrowing on credit, Arnold built a mansion overlooking New Haven's harbor. It was one of the largest and most beautiful houses in the town. He also indulged in wearing bespoke (custom-made) clothing and expensive shoes to gratify his enormous ego and flaunt his success. Business was complicated in colonial America, and it took a smart, quick-witted person to be successful. Arnold's rise to wealth is particularly impressive considering that he began his career as a destitute apprentice.
Although Arnold was a man of vast ambition, he apparently never sought public office or made an effort to cultivate the friendship of influential politicians. In fact, other than his fellow Connecticut merchant Silas Deane, who was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Arnold had no powerful friends in public office to speak out on his behalf. Even Deane's support was short-lived as a result of his failure to be re-elected to Congress at the end of 1775. Deane was next sent on a secret mission to France, leaving Arnold vulnerable to wild accusations about his character and military record.
Besides Deane, Arnold enjoyed the wartime friendship of Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler, the commander of the patriots' Northern Army during the opening years of the war. Schuyler was a man of great wealth, enviable family background, education, and military experience. He was one of the few men whom Arnold recognized as his superior and, with their common interests in business and military affairs, the two men got along famously. However, Schuyler's army career was sabotaged by the hostility of the New England troops and government functionaries who despised his wealth and aloof character. Arnold's alliance with Schuyler eventually became a liability.
Arnold was also admired for his courage and aggressiveness by George Washington, the most powerful and savvy political player of the era. However, Washington was too experienced a politician to risk his own reputation by getting involved in his hot-headed subordinate's altercations. Where Arnold was headstrong and confrontational, Washington was impassionate and respectful. He methodically built and maintained a cadre of influential friends in Congress and state governments to defend him against his critics. Washington also refused to take the handsome salary that was offered to him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. His famous statement that "no pecuniary [financial] consideration could have tempted me to have accepted this Arduous emploiment [sic] ..." was viewed as a genuine act of patriotism, and protected him from any criticism of trying to profit from the war. While many other American officers insisted on being paid their salary, allowances, and immediate reimbursement of expenses, Arnold in particular gained a reputation as a money-hungry crook. With few friends in government to dispute the outrageous stories spread by his enemies, Arnold was viewed as "introducing a series of extravagant charges in his own favor and robbing that very public, which, under the guise of a hypocritical patriotism, he pretended to serve from disinterested motives, and at a great sacrifice."
The concept of honor, or what we would today call reputation, is another important factor in understanding Arnold's personality. His full name was Benedict Arnold V, and his namesakes had been among the wealthiest and most respected men in New England. While every officer and gentleman was concerned with protecting his honor, Arnold seemed obsessed with restoring his family's good name and reputation, and the slightest affront to his character elicited a hot-tempered response.
At the start of the American Revolution in 1775, Benedict Arnold was 34 years old and married (1767) to the former Margaret Mansfield. They had three children, all boys, named Benedict VI (born 1768), Richard (1769), and Henry (1772). Arnold was of medium height, with a muscular, robust body. Dr. Benjamin Rush described him as "low [short] but well made," with a handsome face. He had dark hair and a swarthy complexion, but his most-mentioned physical features were his hawk-like nose and black, penetrating eyes.
Arnold's business connections in the West Indies served him well as the American colonists prepared to defend themselves from what they saw as a "regular, systematic plan of oppression" by the British government to "fix the shackles of slavery" upon them. The Dutch island of St. Eustatius, for example, was a major source for the European-made weapons, tents, blankets, gunpowder, etc., which were offered for sale to Americans by shrewd importers. Arnold's skill at negotiating the purchase of weapons in the islands and his high standing back home got him elected (March 15, 1775) as the captain and senior officer in the 2nd Connecticut Foot Guards, a New Haven militia company. Arnold was typical of the 65 men who joined the unit: young, affluent, and passionate in their belief that England, like Rome in its decline, had fallen "from being the nursery of heroes, to become the residence of musicians, pimps, panderers and catamites."
Captain Arnold's militia company had the money to hire a British Army deserter named Edward Burke to teach its members how to maneuver as a detachment and load and fire their weapons in formation. Like other militia companies throughout New England, the 2nd Connecticut Foot Guards were preparing to fight to preserve their hard-won liberties should the British troops stationed in nearby Boston attempt any hostile acts. The militia system dated from the time of the establishment of the colonies. With few British troops to defend them against the French, Spanish, and Indians, the colonists had revived the medieval system of armed citizens who could be called out in a military emergency. It is ironic that the system of colonial self-defense, which had been encouraged by the British government, was turned against it, especially during the opening months of the American Revolution.
British troops had occupied Boston since mid-1774 following the so-called Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773) and the closing of the port of Boston in retribution. Massachusetts was also placed under martial law, with British Army units periodically marching into the countryside to flex their authority. However, the British regiments in Boston were not facing a London mob brandishing clubs and pitchforks, but armed and well-organized militia companies led by officers with combat experience from the French & Indian War.
Massachusetts was a powder keg of pent-up anger, which exploded into armed rebellion on April 19, 1775, when a column of British troops under the command of Lt. Col. William Smith marched 16 miles from Boston out into the countryside to the village of Concord to destroy military equipment being gathered there by the Massachusetts militia. In one of history's most pivotal events, the local militia turned out in force to repel the Redcoats' incursion. The first shots were exchanged in the village of Lexington, and the fighting intensified throughout the day as scores of additional militia companies arrived on the scene. By late afternoon the colonial militia was engaged in a running battle with Smith's column along the road back to Boston. The British had to rush reinforcements and artillery to the scene to prevent a massacre. The daylong event, which became known as the Lexington Alarm, ended with the Redcoats staggering back into Boston, feeling lucky to be alive.
A courier arrived in New Haven on the afternoon of April 21 shouting, "To arms, to arms, the war has begun!" and carrying a hastily written account of the Lexington Alarm. The Foot Guards eagerly gathered on New Haven's village green the following day, determined to march to Boston "for the relief of our brethren and defense of their as well as our just rights and privileges." Passions ran high as some students from Yale College joined their ranks and, with Captain Arnold in the lead, seized additional weapons and gunpowder from the town's magazine. After listening to some fiery speeches and sermons, the Foot Guards' field musicians (on fifes and drums) struck up a lively tune as they set out for Boston, to the hallooing (shouting) and cheering of the local patriots. En route, each man signed articles of agreement drafted by Silas Deane asserting that they "were not mercenaries ... wading through the blood of their countrymen; but men acquainted with, and feeling the most generous fondness for the liberties and unalienable rights of mankind."
The organizational structure of the rebels following the Lexington Alarm was confusing. Boston was held by the British Army under the command of Gen. Thomas Gage. The rest of Massachusetts was controlled by the insurgents, whose extralegal governing body was called the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. This assembly delegated the Massachusetts Committee of Safety to administer the day-to-day operations of the Provincial Army of Observation, the name given to the militia force from the various New England colonies that gathered outside Boston following the Lexington Alarm. Cooperation between the colonies during these opening weeks of the war was enthusiastic but voluntary. Each colony had its own civilian government, militia organization, and committees involved in the insurrection. Adding to the excitement of the time was a so-called rage militaire that was sweeping the colonies: the romantic idea of soldiering for a noble cause. Many young men marched to Boston with their militia companies eager for a chance to fight in an uprising that was expected to last only a few months. Besides defending their liberties, status-conscious Americans such as Benedict Arnold viewed service as an officer in the insurrection as a means of gaining upward mobility and prestige in their communities.
The Provincial Army of Observation, headquartered in the town of Cambridge near Boston, was being supplied by the fervent efforts of Massachusetts and her neighboring colonies. Delegates from all the colonies had gathered the previous year (1774) in Philadelphia in the First Continental Congress to discuss the political situation in America, and had sent petitions to the King and his government summarizing their grievances. A Second Continental Congress was planned for Philadelphia. However, it too was voluntary, a gathering of the colonies with no authority to raise or direct an army. The outbreak of fighting in Massachusetts on April 19, 1775, occurred prior to the opening of the Second Continental Congress, which was scheduled to convene in mid-May. With a New England militia presence building outside Boston, many influential colonists advocated for assertive military action, while others counseled calm and respectful negotiations with the King and his government.
Captain Arnold and his Connecticut militia company marched into this imbroglio on April 29, 1775. The American Revolution was ten days old when Arnold and his Foot Guards joined other New England militia companies under the loose coordination of the Provincial Army of Observation. Despite the army's impressive name, the rebels were a ragged lot, with few uniforms, little discipline, and a hodgepodge of weapons. The Foot Guards were an exception: they were well-armed and disciplined, with new uniforms consisting of red regimental coats with buff facings (lapels, collars, and cuffs) and white waistcoats (vests) and breeches. There were some other similarly equipped and trained insurgent units in the rebel camp at the time, but Arnold's company was one of the most impressive.
After arriving at Cambridge, Arnold devoted his time to finding comfortable quarters for his men. He found billets for them in the abandoned mansion of a Loyalist (as colonists who sided with Britain were called, also known as Tories). Arnold's concern for the welfare of his troops was typical of his command style throughout the war.
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Excerpted from "Benedict Arnold in the Company of Heroes"
by .
Copyright © 2012 Arthur S. Lefkowitz.
Excerpted by permission of Savas Beatie LLC.
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