Benedict Arnold
Majed Khatib
Sons of the American Revolution Essay Contest
November 29, 2016
Out of the catastrophe of the Revolutionary war emerged a general, though tried for
treason may be one of the greatest military leaders of his time. Benedict Arnold experienced a
series of rough times leading up to the point where he was convicted of treason to the
Continental army for deserting to the British Army and taking up arms with them. Ignoring the
fact he was tried for treason for deserting his nation, he did phenomenal things during his time as
General of the Colonial Army such as the decisive battle of Lake Champlain although the
Colonial army's defense was overrun, it wasn't a total loss for because of the actions of Benedict
Arnold, he was able to slow down the British army's advancement towards Ticonderoga giving
enough time for the Continental army to prepare for the invasion.
Born on January 14, 1741 Benedict Arnold's childhood was a series of struggles,
although his father was a wealthy businessman, his family had 6 children only 2 of which
survived to adulthood. Leaving his father to become an alcoholic draining the financial wealth of
the family ending the young Arnold's dreams of going to study at Yale. But Arnold did have a
profound love for the military at such a young age. Motivating him to join the colonial militia
during the French-Indian war. Although Arnold's mother refused to let him join the colonial
militia he later went on to go against his mother's wishes and joined the colonial army at the age
of 16. Only being enlisted in the militia for only 13 days, Arnold never experienced combat, for
his company retreated after hearing the news of the disastrous siege the French and their Indian
counterparts bestowed upon the British held, Fort Williams. After the war Arnold followed
behind his father's footsteps, opening a company that traded on domestic and foreign lands,
experiencing an influx in financial improvement which was shortly outlived once the British
Parliament imposed stricter and harsher taxes on the Colonist. Ultimately, those taxes lead up to
Arnold joining the movement against the tyranny imposed by the British crown and Parliament
becoming apart of the famed secret organization the Sons of Liberty. Although he did not join in
on the public demonstration on the intolerable acts he did go against it by secretly going against
the stamp act and smuggling goods to sell which landed him a fine of 50 shillings, which is a
very small amount at this time.
Benedict Arnold's military career may not be the greatest for the amount of losses he
experienced and the fact that he deserted his nation thus being a traitor may not sound good, but
his military skill affected the outcome of the revolutionary war being praised by his men and
commanders around him.Being the leader that Arnold was he knew his men had no chance of
capturing Quebec from British forces, so instead of attacking the city he retreated a few miles
back in which he regrouped with General Richard Montgomery to prepare themselves for the
assault of Quebec, which was the first loss the Colonial army experienced, it was not because of
poor judgement by Arnold it was because of the snowy weather they were experiencing and they
weren't capable of setting up any trenches or heavy weapons to effectively draw the British out.
So the only possible way that Arnold's men had at a chance of winning was to charge into the
city in which Arnold was shot in the left leg shattering it while his men were surrounded by 500+
British Soldiers and those whose allegiance was with the British crown. After the Quebec
campaign Arnold retreated to reinforce the defense of New Jersey against the British army
advancing to his location. Arnold knowing that his men were poorly-supplied and lacking the
training his men need, Arnold refused to set up an offensive for the British invasion, and had his
men retreat because of the overwhelming amount of British soldiers in Newport (Arnold). But,
out of all the loses Arnold received the greatest idea that was ever conjured up at this time was
during the reinforcement of the besieged colonial fort Stanwix, in which Arnold told a well
respected British loyalist amongst the Native americans, Hon-Yost. Where Arnold gave false
information to Hon-Yost that 3,000 troops of the Colonial army were advancing (Nickerson)
towards the Indians position effectively having them retreat and removing the siege on Fort
Stanwix, while in reality Arnold only had 900 men. With this victory Arnold went on to win the
Battle of Saratoga which later affected the whole outcome of the civil war, for after this decisive
win France decided to join in with the Colonists to fight against the British.
Arnold, after being assigned control of Philadelphia began to exploit the city for his
financial needs in which the people and congress demanded for Arnold to be court martialed
which enraged him and he began to negotiate deals with the British Army for his countrymen no
longer appreciated him. It wasn't until Henry Clinton's spy, was caught smuggling incriminating
evidence of Arnolds deals with the British across the New York border, having Arnold seek
refuge with the British Army and later told them all the spots the Colonial Armies supply depots
and stuff of that matter. After Cornwallis defeat in Yorktown was when Arnold gathered up his
family and went to Britain to escape persecution for fleeing and committing acts of treason
towards his nation and its countrymen. Instead of joining back into the ranks of the military,
Arnold saw this as enough and reopened his merchant business and began trading to places
abroad and the newly founded United States.
Although, Benedict Arnold's final moments were treasonous and omit to the nation he
once swore his allegiance to, its for sure he was the greatest general to lead in the Colonial
Armies. Even though some argue George Washington was the greatest, Arnold experienced
losses which forever changed the men he fought alongside with and the Colonial army as a
whole.
Works Cited
Arnold, Isaac N. The Life of Benedict Arnold; His Patriotism and His Treason. Chicago: Jansen,
McClurg, 1880. Print.
"Benedict Arnold." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.
"Benedict Arnold." Benedict Arnold - New World Encyclopedia. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.
Martin, James Kirby. Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Warrior
Reconsidered. New York: New York UP, 1997. Print.
Nickerson, Hoffman. The Turning Point of the Revolution: Or, Burgoyne in America. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1928. Print.
Personal Biography
At a young age, I found a very profound love for the History of the United States during
the Revolutionary war for it highlighted the effortless moments the Generals and Militiamen
needed to overcome and establish the government that they felt was right for the people and the
inhabitants of foreign nations. I currently do not uphold any Academic Awards for all throughout
Middle School I wasn't a very outgoing in the time and the only things I did and felt proud of
during Middle School year was when I signed up in the school's Geography bee, in which I
lasted to the second to final round after I was asked a very peculiar question that no one knew.
My College goals is pretty much straight forward I want to become a pre-law graduate from
UCLA and move on to Whittier Law School to finish up my learning and hopefully become a
Politician. Community wise I volunteered at a mosque to supply the homeless with basic
necessities such as toothpaste/brushes, hand sanitizer, etc.
“Let me die in this old uniform in which I fought my battles. May God forgive me for ever
having put on another.”
-Benedict Arnold