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ARNOLD, BENEDICT (1741-1801)

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 634 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ARNOLD, See also:BENEDICT (1741-1801) , See also:American soldier, See also:born in See also:Norwich, See also:Connecticut, on the 14th of See also:January 1741. He was the See also:great-See also:grandson of Benedict Arnold (1615-1678), thrice colonial See also:governor of Rhode See also:Island between 1663 and 1678; and was the See also:fourth in See also:direct descent to See also:bear the name. He received a See also:fair See also:education but was not studious, and his youth was marked by the same waywardness which characterized his whole career. At fifteen he ran away from See also:home and took See also:part in an expedition against the See also:French, but, restless under See also:restraint, he soon deserted and returned home. In 1762 he settled in New Haven, where he became the proprietor of a See also:drug and See also:book See also:shop; and he subsequently engaged successfully in See also:trade with the See also:West Indies. Immediately after the See also:battle of See also:Lexington Arnold led the See also:local See also:militia See also:company, of which he was See also:captain, and additional See also:volunteers to See also:Cambridge, and on the 29th of See also:April 1775 he proposed to the See also:Massachusetts See also:Committee of Safety an expedition against See also:Crown Point and See also:Ticonderoga. After a delay of four days the offer was accepted, and as a See also:colonel of Massachusetts militia he was directed to enlist in the west part of Massachusetts and in the neighbouring colonies the men necessary for the undertaking. He was forestalled, however, by Ethan See also:Allen (q.v.), acting on behalf of some members of the Connecticut See also:Assembly. Under him, reluctantly waiving his own claim to command, Arnold served as a volunteer; and soon afterwards, Massachusetts having yielded to Connecticut, and having angered Arnold by sending a committee to make an inquiry into his conduct, he resigned and returned to Cambridge. He was then ordered to co-operate with See also:General See also:Richard See also:Montgomery in the invasion of See also:Canada, which he had been one of the first to suggest to the See also:Continental See also:Congress. Starting with 'too men from Cambridge on the 17th of See also:September 1775, he reached See also:Gardiner, See also:Maine, on the loth, advanced through the Maine See also:woods, and after suffering terrible privations and hard-See also:ships, his little force, depleted by See also:death and See also:desertion,, reached See also:Quebec on the 13th of See also:November. The See also:garrison had been forewarned, and Arnold was compelled to await the coming of Montgomery from See also:Montreal.

The combined attack on the 31st of See also:

December 1775 failed; Montgomery was killed, and Arnold was severely wounded. Arnold, who had been commissioned a brigadier-general in January 1776, remained in Canada until the following See also:June, being after April in command at Montreal. Some See also:time after the See also:retreat from Canada, charges of misconduct and dishonesty, growing chiefly out of his seizure from merchants in Montreal of goods for the use of his troops, werebrought against him; these charges were tardily investigated by the See also:Board of See also:War, which in a See also:report made on the 23rd of May 1777, and confirmed by Congress, declared that his " See also:character and conduct " had been " cruelly and groundlessly aspersed." Having constructed a flotilla on See also:Lake See also:Champlain, Arnold engaged a greatly See also:superior See also:British See also:fleet near Valcour Island (See also:October 11, 1776), and after inflicting severe loss on the enemy, made his See also:escape under See also:cover of See also:night. Two days later he was overtaken by the British fleet, which however he, with only one war-See also:vessel, and that crippled, delayed See also:long enough to enable his other vessels to make See also:good their escape, fighting with desperate valour and finally See also:running his own See also:ship aground and escaping to Crown Point. The engagement of the 1th was the first between British and American fleets. Arnold's brilliant exploits had See also:drawn See also:attention to him as one of the most promising of the Continental See also:officers, and had won for him the friendship of See also:Washington. Nevertheless, when in See also:February 1777 Congress created five new See also:major-generals, Arnold, although the ranking brigadier; was passed over, partly at least for sectional reasons—Connecticut had already two major-generals —in favour of his juniors. At this time it was only Washington's urgent persuasion that prevented Arnold from leaving the service. Two months later while he was at New Haven, Governor See also:Tryon's descent on See also:Danbury took See also:place; and Arnold, who took command of the militia after the death of General See also:Wooster, attacked the British with such vigour at Ridgefield (April 27, 1777) that they escaped to their ships with difficulty. In recognition of this service Arnold was now commissioned major-general (his See also:commission dating from 17th February) but without his former relative See also:rank. After serving in New See also:Jersey with Washington, he joined General See also:Philip See also:Schuyler in the See also:Northern See also:Department, and in See also:August 1777 proceeded up the See also:Mohawk Valley against Colonel St Leger, and raised the See also:siege of Fort Stanwix (or Schuyler). Subsequently, after See also:Gates had superseded Schuyler (August 19), Arnold commanded the American See also:left wing in the first battle of See also:Saratoga (September 19, 1777).

His See also:

ill-treatment at the hands of General Gates, whose See also:jealousy had been aroused, led to a See also:quarrel which terminated in Arnold being relieved of command. He remained with the See also:army, however, at the urgent See also:request of his See also:brother officers, and although nominally without command served brilliantly in the second battle of Saratoga (October 7, 1777), during which he was seriously wounded, For his services he was thanked by Congress, and received a new commission giving him at last his proper relative rank. In June 1778 Washington placed him in command of See also:Philadelphia. Here he soon came into conflict with the See also:state authorities, jealous of any outside See also:control. In the social See also:life of Philadelphia, largely dominated by families of Loyalist sympathies, Arnold was the most conspicuous figure; he lived extravagantly, entertained lavishly, and in April 1779 took for his second wife, See also:Margaret Shippen (1760-1804), the daughter of See also:Edward Shippen (1729-1806), a moderate Loyalist, who eventually became reconciled to the new See also:order and was in 1799-1805 See also:chief-See also:justice of the state. See also:Early in February 1779 the executive See also:council of See also:Pennsylvania, presided over by See also:Joseph See also:Reed, one of his most persistent enemies, presented to Congress eight charges of misconduct against Arnold, none of which was of any great importance. Arnold at once demanded an investigation, and in See also:March a committee of Congress made a report exonerating him; but Reed obtained a reconsideration, and in April 1779 Congress, though throwing out four charges, referred the other four to a See also:court-See also:martial. Despite Arnold's demand for a speedy trial, it was December before the court was convened. It was probably during this See also:period of vexatious delay that Arnold, always sensitive and now incited by a keen sense of injustice, entered into a See also:secret See also:correspondence with See also:Sir See also:Henry See also:Clinton with a view to joining the British service. On the 26th of January 178o the court, before which Arnold had ably argued his own See also:case, rendered its See also:verdict, practically acquitting him of all intentional wrong, but, apparently in deference to the Pennsylvania authorities, directing Washington to reprimand him for two trivial and very venial offences. Arnold, who had confidently expected See also:absolute acquittal, was inflamed with a burning anger that even Washington's kindly reprimand, couched almost in words of praise, could not subdue. It was now apparently that he first conceived the See also:plan of betraying some important See also:post to the British.

With this in view he sought and obtained from Washington (August 178o) command of West Point, the See also:

key to the See also:Hudson See also:River Valley.. Arnold's offers now became more explicit, and, in order. to perfect the details of the See also:plot, Clinton's See also:adjutant-general, Major See also:John See also:Andre, met him near Stony Point on the night of the 21st of September. On the 23rd, while returning by See also:land, Andre with incriminating papers was captured, and the officer to whom he was entrusted unsuspectingly sent See also:information of his See also:capture to Arnold, who was thus enabled to escape to. the British lines. Arnold, commissioned a_ brigadier-general in the British army, received £6315 in See also:compensation for his See also:property losses, and was employed in leading an expedition into See also:Virginia which burned See also:Richmond, and in an attack upon New See also:London (q.v) in September 1781. In December 1781 he removed to London and , was consulted on American affairs by the See also:king and See also:ministry, but could obtain no further employment'in the active service. Disappointed at the failure of his plans and embittered by the neglect and scorn which he met in See also:England, he spent the years 1787-1791 at St John, New See also:Brunswick, once more engaging in the West See also:India trade, but in 1791 he returned to London, and after war had broken out between Great See also:Britain and See also:France, was active in fitting out privateers. Gradually sinking into See also:melancholia, worn down by depression, and suffering from a See also:nervous disease, he died at London on the 14th of June 18o1. , Arnold had three sons—Benedict, Richard and Henry—by his first wife, and four sons—Edward Shippen„ See also:James See also:Robertson, See also:George and See also:William Fitch—by his second wife; five of them, and one grandson, served in the British army. Benedict (1768-1795) was an officer of the See also:artillery and was mortally wounded in the West Indies. Edward Shippen (1780-1813) became See also:lieutenant of the See also:Sixth See also:Bengal See also:Cavalry and later paymaster at See also:Muttra, India. James Robertson (1781-1854) entered the See also:corps of Royal See also:Engineers in 1798, served in the See also:Napoleonic See also:wars, in See also:Egypt and in the West Indies, and See also:rose to the rank of lieutenant-general, was an aide-de-See also:camp to William IV., and was created a See also:knight of the Hanoverian Guelphic order and a knight of the See also:Crescent. George (1787-1828) was a lieutenant-colonel in the Second Bengal Cavalry at the time of his death.

William See also:

Fitch (1794-1828) became a captain in the Nineteenth Royal Lancers; his son, William Trail (1826-1855) served in the See also:Crimean' War as captain of the Fourth See also:Regiment of See also:Foot and was killed during the siege of See also:Sevastopol.

End of Article: ARNOLD, BENEDICT (1741-1801)

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