Benedict Arnold's Treason
By 1780 Benedict Arnold was, by almost any measure, the most capable battlefield commander the Continental Army possessed. He had saved the army at Valcour Island (1776), driven through the wilderness to relieve Fort Stanwix, and delivered the decisive blow at Saratoga (1777) that brought France into the war. He was also embittered, physically crippled from his Saratoga wound, financially ruined by the war's demands, and convinced that Congress had systematically passed him over for promotion in favour of lesser men. After the fall of Philadelphia Arnold was appointed military commandant, where he socialised with loyalist families and courted Peggy Shippen, daughter of a loyalist judge. Through Peggy, Arnold made contact with British intelligence officer Major John André, aide to General Henry Clinton. Negotiations began in 1779; Arnold agreed to surrender West Point — the Hudson River fortress whose loss would sever New England from the rest of the colonies — in exchange for £20,000 and a commission in the British Army. On the night of 21–22 September 1780, Arnold met André behind American lines to finalise the plan. André was returning to British lines in civilian clothes when he was stopped by three American irregulars near Tarrytown on 23 September. The papers concealed in his stocking — Arnold's hand-drawn plans of West Point — revealed the conspiracy. Washington, who had been on his way to inspect West Point, arrived to find Arnold's suspicious absence. A letter was brought to him; he read it, turned to his aides, and said: 'Arnold has betrayed us. Whom can we trust now?' Arnold escaped to the British warship Vulture. André was tried by a military court, found guilty as a spy, and hanged on 2 October 1780. Arnold received his commission and £6,315 (roughly half the agreed sum), commanded British raids on Virginia and Connecticut, and spent the rest of his life in exile, reviled in America and never fully trusted by the British.
- Year: 1780 CE
- Category: Political
