Why is Benedict Arnold considered the biggest traitor in American history?

themonarch

In July 1780, Arnold sought and obtained command of the fort at West Point. He already had begun a year-long correspondence with General Sir Henry Clinton in New York City through Major André and was closely involved with Beverley Robinson, a prominent loyalist in command of a loyalist regiment. Arnold offered to hand the fort over to the British for £20,300 and a brigadier's commission. He chose West Point for its strategic importance. The Americans had been using its position to prevent British ships from moving northward from New York City up the Hudson and connecting with British forces in Canada - a move that would have split the north from the south. His plans were thwarted when André was captured with a pass signed by Arnold. André was carrying documents that disclosed the plot and which incriminated Arnold; André was later hanged as a spy. Arnold learned of André's capture and fled to Vulture, a British ship waiting for him on the Hudson River, with the help of John Borns. Arnold wrote a letter to Washington, requesting that Peggy be given safe passage to her family in Philadelphia, a request Washington ensured. The British made him a brigadier general in the British forces, with an annual income of several hundred pounds, but only paid him some £6,315 (plus an annual pension of £360) because his plot had failed. Had the plot succeeded, British forces would have been in position to divide the northern and southern American forces, and potentially end up defeating the revolution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold Jan 08 08, 9:20 PM

AyatollahK

The Wiki article has the facts. It doesn't capture the feel of the event, though -- exactly why Arnold was considered the biggest traitor ever. It isn't just because Arnold changed sides. It's because his troops and his subordinates considered him to be the best general in the entire Northern Army. He led the original expedition that captured Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point from the British in 1775 (with Ethan Allan trying to grab credit). He led the incredible mapless march up the Kennebec River to Quebec, which at the time was considered blundering on his part, but which those people who made it with him and historians in retrospect consider to be a phenomenal achievement. He almost took Quebec in 1775, which might have crushed the British before the war ever got started. He then fought a great strategic retreat back through Crown Point and Ticonderoga, stalling the British by means of the Battle of Valcour Island for an entire winter. Again, his men and historians acknowledge what a great campaign he'd fought, but Congress refused him recognition -- and treated him as a blunderer. Arnold actually resigned from the army at this point, but Washington prevailed upon him to go back. He then managed to deceive a much larger British force besieging Fort Schuyler in upstate New York about the size of his own force and panicked them into retreat. Then came his crowning achievement, the Battle of Bemis Heights, after he had been stripped of his command by the fat blunderer General Gates, in which Arnold, acting without orders in what started out as a scouting skirmish but turned into a general engagement without General Gates ever realizing it, crushed the British flank, permitting the colonials to encircle and capture the entire British northern army. However, as Arnold was seriously injured during the battle, Gates' reports to Congress never mentioned Arnold, even though most of the officers (such as Daniel Morgan, later the hero of Cowpens) knew of Arnold's critical role. Although Congress still thought of Arnold as a blunderer, Washington and the troops thought of Arnold as the best general in the army. An apt comparison would be to George Patton, the WWII general who wasn't appreciated by anyone except for his troops. Now imagine that Patton, after being sidelined by military politics after the conquest of Italy, had decided to switch sides and join the Germans prior to D-Day. Imagine how betrayed his supporters and his troops would have felt. Oh, and to top it off, imagine that Patton had been plotting to hand over Dover, England to the Germans, so that the Germans could attack the troops waiting for D-Day -- troops that had once been under Patton's command. Well, that's basically the same situation as Arnold's. His soldiers idolized Arnold, just as Patton's did. To find out that Arnold, America's preeminent war hero, had turned traitor? It's no surprise that he was considered so evil that to this very day, when his heroism is basically forgotten (there's a memorial to Arnold at the Battle of Saratoga that doesn't even have his name on it, for Pete's sake), his villainy is still remembered. Jan 09 08, 12:23 AM

themonarch

I didn't realize you were such a history buff AyatollahK. Jan 09 08, 12:52 AM

AyatollahK

I'm afraid so. Here's the memorial to Arnold (or, rather, to Arnold's leg) at Saratoga, on the site of the Battle of Bemis Heights. http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/popup_arnoldsleg.html The monument was erected after the centennial of the battle, when historians (whom by that time had finally started to re-evaluate Arnold) complained that there was no monument to the real hero of the battle. The monument was built in 1887, but Arnold was still so controversial that his name and image had to be left off of it. The monument itself gets its inspiration from a comment reputedly made to Arnold after he switched sides. Supposedly he was told that if he were captured, the rebels would bury his injured leg with full military honors and then shoot the rest of him. Jan 09 08, 8:18 AM