Benedict Arnold

Arnold initially fought for the revolutionaries and made many military achievements, but later defected and defected to Britain. This makes him still a highly controversial figure in the United States.

Arnold was born in 1741 in Norwich, Connecticut Colony. Due to his family's decline, Arnold was still young and had to go out to make a living. When the French-Indian War broke out in 1757, Arnold briefly joined the British militia and later became rich by engaging in sea trade in the West Indies and Quebec.

In the 1760s, the North American colonies fell into trade difficulties due to the passage of the Sugar Act and the Stamp Duty Act by Britain, and Arnold was not spared. Therefore, when the battles of Lexington and Concord broke out, Arnold volunteered to join the revolutionary militia and took the lead in capturing Fort Ticonderoga. Later, Arnold led his troops on an expedition to Quebec. Although he failed in the Battle of Quebec, he was still able to hold Fort Ticonderoga and cover the flank of the Continental Army. The Battle of Saratoga broke out in 1777, and Arnold commanded two battles of Saratoga, eventually forcing John Burgoyne to surrender.

But by 1778, Arnold began to be disappointed with the revolution. At that time, in order to prevent Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, from having too much power, the Continental Congress often appointed titular and prestigious families as generals. Arnold, who came from a humble background, was repeatedly frustrated. As early as after the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Arnold was not appointed commander of the expedition to Canada, although he subsidized the militia's war expenses with his personal property and fought personally on the front line. On the eve of the Battle of Saratoga, Arnold was almost skipped by Congress to be promoted to major general. He was promoted only at Washington's insistence, but he still had to obey the name of the major general who had been promoted earlier. At the Battle of Saratoga, Arnold once again made outstanding military achievements. Washington learned that Arnold's left leg was injured again and became disabled. In May 1778, Washington appointed Arnold as commander of the Philadelphia Military Region. However, Arnold was still ostracized by Philadelphia's political celebrities, and his personal lifestyle began to cause more dissatisfaction, especially after Arnold married the daughter of a loyal businessman in Philadelphia. This led the Continental Congress to try him for improper management of the city, and then the chairman of the Pennsylvania Legislature called for a military court to try Arnold for misconduct, forcing Washington to reluctantly publicly issue a letter of reprimand to Arnold. As a result, shortly after Arnold was tried by the Continental Congress, he began to contact the British Army to provide Continental Army intelligence to Henry Clinton, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in North America.

After Arnold was court-martial in 1780, he once resigned from all Continental Army positions, but was later appointed by Washington as commander of Fort West Point. Arnold deliberately weakened the defenses and agreed to sell the entire Hudson River town to Henry Clinton. Just as the plan was about to succeed, Major John André, the messenger between Arnold and Clinton, was intercepted by the Continental Army and sent to Washington, exposing his defection. Arnold narrowly avoided arrest, later joined the British Army and was appointed brigadier general. Later, Arnold participated in two American Revolutionary Wars, doing business in New Brunswick and London after the war, and finally died in 1801.

Arnold defected halfway, which gave him a bad reputation in the United States and Britain, and remains controversial. Monuments commemorating the Revolutionary War in the United States often deliberately conceal their names, such as the Boot Monument in Saratoga National Historical Park.