Why do people hate benedict arnold

Andre had to walk back to the British lines in civilian disguise, and he was confronted by three American militiamen while Andre believed he was on British territory. The Americans quickly discovered the plot and Arnold was able to flee on the same ship that carried Andre up the Hudson River. Washington reportedly authorized kidnap plots to seize Arnold for execution, or for Arnold to be killed on sight.

As a British commander, Arnold led forays into Virginia and Connecticut, and he was able to flee to Britain after the war concluded. Later in life, Arnold failed in several business ventures in Britain and Canada, and he died in England in Toggle navigation.

Sign up for our email newsletter. A Congressman wrote Arnold while he was on Lake Champlain warning him about petty backbiting directed toward him in Congress, to the effect that your best friends are not your countrymen. Being passed over by Congress in Feb. George Washington agreed but urged Arnold not to resign.

Wounded seriously twice, a near cripple the rest of his life, Benedict Arnold, as just noted, started to have serious doubts about the cause even before he met the bewitchingly beautiful Peggy Shippen. In June , George Washington, knowing the recovering Benedict Arnold could not take a field command, named him the military governor of Philadelphia. Reed was one of those people who could find something to dislike in everyone else but himself.

Reed, in fact, had bad mouthed Washington as a bumbling commander while serving him as an aide back in He wanted to get even with suspected tories in Philadelphia who had aided the British during their occupation of the city September June Benedict Arnold met Peggy and fell in love with her Arnold lost his first wife to an early death back in Peggy in turn felt attracted to this man who was twice her age.

Reed saw it as Arnold playing up to the very loyalist types he wanted to punish. So Arnold and Peggy married in April , much to the chagrin of Reed and his followers. And for many writers, Peggy took over and played the role of Eve feeding the great hero Benedict Arnold the poison fruit. These charges became public around the time of their marriage, and Benedict Arnold had finally had enough. As such, the record really has no basis for showing Peggy as the corrupting biblical Eve, although she had to know what was going on.

The court martial was in response to the eight charges lodged against Benedict Arnold by Reed and his followers. Benedict Arnold was acquitted of all charges except two: allowing a vessel to clear port in Philadelphia when the port was closed Arnold had an investment in the vessel and the trade goods it was carrying. And the other charge was using public wagons to move trade goods belonging to him. Benedict Arnold did acknowledge this charge and was paying for their use.

The court martial hearing board recommended to Congress that Benedict Arnold be publicly reprimanded and gave the assignment to Washington, who did so only in orders of the day. But that was it. To Arnold, now even Washington seemed like an enemy.

Trying to ameliorate matters, Washington offered Arnold command of a wing of the Continental army. But Arnold insisted on the West Point command, and the rest is history. There was no turning back for Benedict Arnold once that reprimand took place. Disillusionment had morphed into bitterness. Arnold firmly believed that the patriot cause had ruined him and his good name, despite giving his all, including his good health and much of his personal fortune.

By Stephen Brumwell. Get our History Newsletter. Put today's news in context and see highlights from the archives. Please enter a valid email address. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now. An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later. Check here if you would like to receive subscription offers and other promotions via email from TIME group companies.

You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder. Yale University Press. Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team.