My six year-old son loves gadgets. The other day he found my dad’s old Bose Wave music CD player, put a new battery in the ma-rote (remote), and voila! The long dead machine came back to life! There was never a prouder boy.
The song that played was George Jones’ classic country song, ‘Choices,’ essentially his true-life story about alcohol and drug addiction. Jones ‘lived and died with the choices [he] made.’ Indeed, the choices we make define us and, in some cases, can seal our legacies.
As fate and a little boy would have it, I was writing a post about a man who has fascinated me since I first heard his story: Benedict Arnold, the infamous traitor. Resourceful, respected, and fearless, he could have been remembered as one of America’s greatest heroes. But he made an epic choice to throw it all away.
After five years serving valiantly as a Continental Army officer, Benedict Arnold, then commander of the strategic fort at West Point, conspired to hand over the fort to the British. The conspiracy failed, but had it succeeded, the enemy would have received a major strategic asset. For his efforts, the British paid Arnold $20,000 and gave him a commission in the British Army.
When told of Arnold’s treachery, George Washington is said to have cried out in dismay, “Whom can we trust now?”
Paradoxically, the man who nearly sold out his country twice played a pivotal role in saving the American cause. Arnold was one of America’s bravest and most talented military officers. He was Washington’s “fighting general.” If not for Arnold’s leadership and valor at the Battles of Valcour Island and Saratoga, the British would have cut off the northern colonies and effectively ended the revolution.
Each time I read Arnold’s story I am left with the same questions: How could he do it? How could a hero beloved throughout the country commit such treachery? And, is history right to judge him as it has?
From Arnold’s viewpoint, the Continental Congress and his military superiors had wronged him several times during the war. Why should he show them loyalty? And he had a point.
Arnold led and personally financed a perilous military expedition to Quebec, received a severe bullet wound in the leg, and, when he returned, Congress denied him a promotion he richly deserved.
At Saratoga, General Horatio Gates removed Arnold as his second-in-command because Arnold openly disagreed with Gates’ strategy. Gates wanted to fight defensively; Arnold wanted to attack. History shows that Arnold’s approach was correct.
Benedict Arnold, though, wasn’t the only mistreated officer. Others were denied promotions. Others had to deal with petty and deceitful politicians. Even George Washington’s leadership was ridiculed and questioned. In fact, Arnold’s nemesis Gates was part of a group of senior Continental Army officers, the Conway Cabal, that tried to discredit and replace Washington as commander-in-chief. But neither Washington nor any of the other wronged officers betrayed their country as a result of their mistreatment. They fought on, despite all they faced. Their loyalty to their country never wavered.
History cannot deny Arnold’s contributions to the cause of American independence. And it cannot forgive his treason.
At West Point, Arnold stood at a critical crossroads. Had he resigned his commission out of principle and walked away from the war, he would have ended his military career honorably and been remembered as a patriot and hero.
Instead, Arnold did the unforgiveable. Believing the British would eventually prevail, and seeing his personal wealth and social status tied to the winning side, bitterness and greed consumed him. After switching sides, Arnold led raids in which British troops burned farms, pillaged, and shed the blood of his own countrymen, including men he likely knew and fought with from his home state of Connecticut.
Legend has it that the turncoat Arnold asked a captured American officer, “What will the Americans do to me if they catch me?” The officer replied, “They will cut off the leg which was wounded when you were fighting so gloriously for the cause of liberty, and bury it with the honors of war, and hang the rest of your body on a gibbet.”
Indeed, at Saratoga, there is the Boot Monument, a somewhat reluctant acknowledgement to Arnold. On it is inscribed:
In memory of the most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army, who was desperately wounded on this spot, winning for his countrymen the decisive battle of the American Revolution, and for himself the rank of Major General.
The monument, which does not include Arnold’s name, serves as a perfect damnatio memoriae, or “condemnation of memory.” History cannot deny Arnold’s contributions to the cause of American independence. And it cannot forgive his treason. As the George Jones song goes, Benedict Arnold had choices. When Arnold chose loyalty to himself over loyalty to his country, he sealed his legacy forever.
Sources:
Benedict Arnold: The Dark Eagle by Brian Richard Boylan
Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor by Willard Sterne Randall
Benedict Arnold, Biography.com
Boot Monument, Wikipedia
wow, I learned more about BA that I never knew, excellent historical read