The "Lancaster Resident & General-Turned-Traitor Benedict Arnold" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Typing the second half of my story about the very successful American Revolutionary War spy ring known as "The Culper Ring."  Yesterday I wrote of the spy ring while today I will tell you how Benedict Arnold and John André fit into the story.  The Culper Ring is believed to be the most successful chain of information on either side of the Revolutionary War.  It was responsible for uncovering the betrayal of Benedict Arnold as well as the capture of John André.  

Traitors Benedict Arnold and John André.

Without information from the Culper Ring, Lafayette's French troops would have been attacked by the British as soon as they arrived in the colonies, likely ending essential French involvement in the war.  General George Washington was known as a great soldier and President of our country, but very few know of his secretive past as a spymaster.  He worked with the secret group of friends know as the Culper Ring which I wrote about yesterday.  The secrets of this ring were so well guarded that it took over 150 years to discover the identity of Culper Jr.  The identify of "Agent 355" has never been known to this day.   The Culper Ring were ordinary people, like you and me, who were non-military people in a small New Jersey town that helped defeat the British in the Revolutionary War.  Benedict Arnold served in the militia during the French and Indian War who became a prosperous trader, married and had three children before his wife died suddenly.  When the Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, Arnold joined the Continental Army.  He partnered with Ethan Allen and Allen's Green Mountain boys to capture the unsuspecting British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga in New York on May 10, 1775.  A few month's later Arnold led an ill-fated expedition on a trek from Maine to Quebec to rally the Canadians behind the US cause and deprive the British of a northern base in Canada.  During the battle, Arnold received a grave wound to his leg and was carried to the back of the battlefield.  The assault failed with hundreds of American soldiers killed or wounded and captured.  Canada thus remained in British hands.  Arnold eventually resumed his duties and led a few other successful battles.  Despite his heroic service, he never received the recognition he deserved, according to him.  Then in 1777 Arnold led a group of American soldiers in an assault against the British which contributed greatly to the American victory which convinced France to enter the war on the side of the Americans.  

President's house in Philadelphia were Arnold made his
headquarters while he was military commander of Philadelphia.

Arnold's heroics brought America a step closer to indepen- dence.  Then, due to another wound of the same leg, he took the position of military governor of Philadelphia in 1778 and lost his field command.  At this time Arnold's loyalty began to be questioned.  He married Peggy Shippen, a native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania whose father was suspected of Loyalist sympathies.  

Lancastrian Peggy Shippen Arnold and daughter
Sophia in Lancaster, PA, circa 1787-1789.

Benedict and Peggy lived a lavish lifestyle in Phiadelphia, but accumulating substantial debt.  His debt and resentment for not being promoted in the military led to his becoming a turncoat.  He began helping the British and entered into secret negotiations with the British in 1779 to surrender the American fort at West Point, New York in return for money and a command in the British army.  Arnold's chief intermediary was British Major John André who was eventually captured in September 1780 while crossing between British and American lines disguised in civilian clothes.  Papers found on André revealed Arnold's involvement with the British.  Arnold fled to British lines while André was hanged as a spy.  Arnold served in several engagements against the Americans  and after the war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, he lived in England.  His name has forever become synonymous with the word "traitor."  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

1865 political cartoon depicting Benedict Arnold and Jefferson Davis in hell!