Benedict Arnold

Today, the name Benedict Arnold is a synonym for traitor. But in the early years of the American Revolution, Arnold was a hero. He led a daring attack on Quebec in 1775, and in 1777 his boldness and bravery helped win the Battle of Saratoga.

Why did Arnold turn traitor? First, he was deeply in debt and desperate for money. Second, he believed he had not been treated fairly. He felt he deserved more recognition and higher rank. The British promised to pay him handsomely for his treachery and give him high ranking in the British army.

Arnold began passing military information to the British in 1779. After he was named commander of the fort at West Point, a strategic post on New York’s Hudson River, he plotted to turn West Point over to the British.

Major John Andre, a British officer, met secretly with Arnold on September 21, 1780, but was captured by American soldiers, who found incriminating papers in his boot. Andre was hanged as a spy, and Arnold fled to safety aboard a British ship. After his treachery was exposed, Benedict Arnold led small British forces in destructive raids on Richmond, Virginia, and New London, Connecticut.

Although Arnold fought for the British against his own countrymen in the final years of the war, the British didn’t give him the high position or all the money they had promised him.

He died in England a bitter man.