On this day in 1780, during the American Revolution, American General Benedict Arnold meets with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British, in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army.
Arnold was born in Connecticut. In 1775, when the war began, he was a merchant operating ships in the Atlantic Ocean. He joined the growing American army outside of Boston and distinguished himself by acts that demonstrated intelligence and bravery.
Arnold repeatedly claimed that he was being passed over for promotion by the Continental Congress and that other officers were being given credit for some of his accomplishments.
Some among those in his military and political circles charged him with corruption and other bad acts.
Arnold mingled with Loyalist sympathizers in Philadelphia and married into a Loyalist family when he wedded Peggy Shippen. She was a close friend of British major John André and kept in contact with him when he became head of the British espionage system in New York.
Many historians see her as having facilitated Arnold's plans to switch sides; he opened secret negotiations with her friend André, and she relayed their messages to each other.
The British promised £20,000 for the capture of West Point, a major American stronghold; Washington greatly admired Arnold and gave him command of that fort in July 1780. His scheme was to surrender the fort to the British, but it was exposed in September 1780 when the revolution militia captured André carrying papers that revealed the plot. Arnold escaped; André was hanged.
Arnold received a commission as a brigadier general in the British Army, an annual pension of £360, and a lump sum of over £6,000. He led British forces in the Raid of Richmond and nearby areas, and they burned much of New London, Connecticut, to the ground and slaughtered surrendering forces after the Battle of Groton Heights—just a few miles downriver from the town where he had grown up.
In the winter of 1782, he and Peggy moved to London, England.
He was well received by King George III and the Tories but frowned upon by the Whigs and most Army officers. In 1787, he moved to Canada to run a merchant business with his sons Richard and Henry. He was extremely unpopular there and returned to London permanently in 1791, where he died ten years later.
#ThisDayInHistory
September 21, 1780
#ThisDayInHistory Plot To Overturn WestPoint To British Was Foiled
Once you choose a side, you gotta stick it out.
Is it me or does that picture of Arnold look like Adam Schiff?