|
|
||
|
by Holly Benedict Arnold was born in 1741, in Norwich Town, Connecticut. He won quite a few battles and became a general of the colonial army. He was one of those people nobody knew by the good things he had done, but by the crimes everybody claimed he committed. He was also a successful battlefield commander. He built the first American fleet on Lake Champlain, and fought back the British invasion fleet at Valcour Island. He won the battle of Saratoga, and almost succeeded in making Canada the fourteenth colony. His victorious service was not paid or honored by the Congress. After the victory of Valcour, Richard Henry Lee, part of the Continental Congress, spread rumors that Arnold was not the heroic general that everybody thought he was. Lee claimed that Arnold had been caught by the British Naval Attack, and sent his men out to die. From all the rumors Lee had started, they ruined Arnold's reputation which caused junior officers of both rank and seniority to be promoted before and higher that himself. That was the Congress's way of telling him, it's time to resign, but Arnold stayed instead. Major John Brown demanded that Arnold be arrested for thirteen crimes and demanded a full scaled court hearing because he didn't resign. On June 27, 1776, the Congress approved a hearing on the charges against Arnold. Arnold was punished by his continued harassment by jealous American officers. After the death of his second wife, Peggy Shipton, he met Mess Betsy De Blois, a sixteen year old that thirty-six year old Benedict Arnold had fallen in love with. He tried to impress Betsy, so that's one of the reasons that Benedict Arnold was a traitor. Besides the fact that he wanted the girl, he was an all around good guy. Then, he died at 60 years old in 1801.
Works Cited Willardsterne, Randall, Benedict Arnold Patriot and Traitor, New York, Warrow, 1990 "Arnold, Benedict" Compton's Encyclopedia 1965ed.,A. pl 585 Arnold, Benedict. CD ROM. Norwichtown, CT.:Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.2002. |
|
