Perhaps, maybe say noted for the wrong reasons. For generations the name Benedict Arnold has almost universally illicited a one elicited a oneword descriptor traitor. Today were here to hear the rest the story. The program would not exist today without the extreme generosity so were delighted they join us tonight as it give us the opportunity to express our deep appreciation of all they have done with our program. Not just for tonight in particular, but everyone. Please stand. [ applause ] todays speaker earned her degree from in comparative history. She is published widely including essays in the wall street journal, financial times, usa today and other news groups. Ladies and gentlemen, its a pleasure to welcome to the podium, j. Joyce. Dr. Joyce. Thank you very much. A pleasure to be here. I want to thank the professor and the sponsors for inviting me. Its a real treat for me to be able to talk about this subject. The state of the union at Benedict Arnolds time was not good. [ laughter ] hes widely known as professional crawly said, for treason. Before that, he was one of the great heros of the revolution. And i would like to get into some of the details and the context in which hes it was acting in that revolution. It didnt really seem to make sense about someone who actually risked his life on numerous battle fields who, the congress didnt pay his men, he paid them from his own resources, and really took that opportunity to serve his country before he decided to change sides. Theres a picture of the man in his younger days. He sat during a court marshall. By the way, he was court marshalled not for any military problem but for some of the feeling he had misused his position for financial gain after he was wounded and serving in philadelphia as the commander there. He said i have suffered in the same fabric of reputation, which i have been with so much danger and toll raising since the present war. Undermined by those whose posterity as well as themselves will feel the blessed effects of my efforts. Below that is a description of one of the men who fought besides him and who he lead at the battle which was the beginning of the battle of saratoga. He was dark skinned with black hair. There wasnt any waist temper in him. He was our fighting general in a bloody fellow he was. He didnt care for nothing. At any rates, these damning judgments about him didnt seem to make much sense and i wanted to have a better understanding of what he did before and why he decided to change sides. The sort of classic historian of british army said this about arnold. He said in natural military genius, neither washington comparable to arnold. He possessed all the gifts of a great commander to Boundless Energy and enterprise and united quick insight into a situation. And command this. Benedict arnold was the most formidable opponent that could be matched against the british in america. Now, and particularly, i guess, advertised in that tv series turned his lovely young wife has become equally notorious and regarded as the eve who tempted her husband into committing treason. Ill say a bit about peggy when i get to that point in history, but, obviously, there are a lot of events in arnolds life. Im not going to be able to talk about unless you want to stay here all night. Im going to highlight some of the particular points. I want to go into the battle of lake channel plain and start in october of 1776. The british had amassed some 13,000 british, irish, and german troops in canada ready an assault going down champagne. Theres a lot of emphasis on trying to single out new york state and separate it from new england in order to give them an advantage. They had bringing over ships and the americans had no ships on the lake to combat the british fleet. It was four miles wide at the widest point and about 400 feet deep in some spots but also very shallow in the inlets. The new York Committee of safety was desperate about trying to build some kind of a fleet in order to stop the british fleet from coming down the lake and taking albany. They asked arnold to build that fleet. Im from upstate new york, its not the ideal place to be building a fleet of ships. En in good weather. But arnold had been brought up by a father who was a merchant seaman. As you can see, he spent summers on the sailing ships with his father going across europe and upanddown the coast of north america. His father died after a career where he became depressed and alcoholic and bankrupt and arnold started his own business and became a merchant seaman, as well. He was an ideal person to ask to build ships. He tried to recruit artisans to build the ships. It was hard to get seamen because most of the people who were experienced seamen were with washington trying to protect manhattan from the british. He personally selected 20,000 boards of timber to build the ships. The timber has to be aged because otherwise its going to crack and be useless for the ships. This was the main ship that was going to be his. Its called the royal savage. He was responsible for snatching it from the british after he took ticonderoga the year before. They got the ship from canada. He also built a couple of skooners and galleys that were oil 80 feet by 20 feet and two masts. And the series of ships were called gondolas. They are traditional gondolas. They actually carry a crew of about 45. They have six cannons and then one mast. Theyre shallow. Prepared to come down Lake Champlain. This was the largest of the british ships, thunderer. The british had much bigger fleet, as you can imagine. Flexible and thunderer were the two larger ships. They each carried six 24pound guns. They 20 gunships and five large vessels. And thunderer was the largest ship ever seen on Lake Champlain. All of arnolds ships together had a combined cannon weight which is the way they evaluate. The cannon weight of 2 703 pounds. The british ships by contrast had a combined cannon weight of 1300 pounds. They had almost twice the firepower arnolds fleet. Arnold is surveying Lake Champlain to find a proper place to send his fleet to await the british coming down from canada. He decided that they he would take his fleet. If you have a smaller force, you dont want to be out in the open. You want somewhere where youre protected to be in the shadow of an island called valker island which you can see on the map. Looks much bigger on that map than it actually s but arnolds ships are the little clear ones in the shadow of that island. And they hid there from august until september 23rd when he took his ships with 500 men to the island. They were painted red so they would blend with the leaves that autumn. And camouflaged with spruce trees which were sharpened on points and put around the edges of the ships to keep enemy sailors from boarding. They waited for the british fleet to appear. The british were spotted at 8 00 in the morning. The british didnt have that island on their map. They came sailing down and they went beyond the island, you can see the dots going down. And didnt even see arnolds fleet until they were about five miles south of the island. At which point they turned and had to go upstream in order to fight the americans. They went toward the british ships to lure them into the shallows around the island. But he got caught in the crossfire and his ship got stuck on a reef and just devastated. He had to switch to another ship called the congress. By noon the fighting is general, the noise of the cannon could be heard 30 miles to the south. The battle raged for six hours. Its real why to his credit that this little fleet was able to keep the british, this much bigger british fleet filled with experienced sailors and offers fighting for six hours. By the end of it, 80 men were killed or wounded. They used up three quarters of the ammunition. And the ships were in really bad shape. They retreated further into that channel next to it valker island. And the british were just assumed that in the morning they would be able to finish off this Little American fleet. Arnold had a plan. Unfortunately, his route of escape was to the south, down to crown point and then the british ships were, as can you see towards the south end of that island, you had to figure out what to do. Im just going to reach a little section from the book about this. This is that evening. They rode through the black waters. Arnold prepared for this moment. He had a plan, a desperate but doable plan. The fleet would escape that evening by slipping between the british ships blocking the Island Channel then dash south to crown point to safety. It was an exceedingly risky strategy. Many of the vessels were badly damaged and some were leaking. The little fleet with its 500 sailors had had lost 80 men, killed or wounded including officers with 20 others captured. If any of the british crew spotted them, they would be vulnerable and readily destroyed. But what other option do they have . It was a moonless night and they set out at 7 00. A heavy autumn mist shrouded the american ships as they began moving in single file. The mens shirts and kept the wounded below deck so that their cries and moans would not be hurt and alert the enemy. Each ship is completely dark except for a small lantern and the shrouded one in the bow. A chalk mark on the rear rails lit by a slit in the lantern made the vessels turn just visible to the ship immediately behind. Wiggleworth and the galley trum bled, one by one the gondolas and smaller vessels followed in silence. The congress with arnold aboard and the washington were last in line. The procession pass sod close this he could here the sailors cheering. They unlocked the three largest men of war a mile out from the western shore of the lake inadvertently leaving a passage way for the american ships to slip through. They got through that night. The next morning when the british admiral was convinced he would be able to just finish off the American Fleet, he discovered that they were gone. They could not have done. That he didnt know. That first went north looking for them and then when he couldnt find them, he turned around and went south. The american ships had gone about seven miles to sky letters island in order to try to repair some of the ones that were repairable. And then they head ford crown point which is 28 miles to the south. As they were going, the british eventually caught up with them. And so two of the ships, the congress that washington was on and the ship washington turned to fight the british fleet, well, the rest of them got away. The washington was really badly hit and its commander surrendered leaving arnold and the congress alone against the british fleet. They fought until the masts were torn to pieces with little flag flying with the tread on the flag were so familiar with in virginia. And eventually ran out of ammunition and with the ship torn to pieces, he broke through on some of the little gondolas and made for a creek that was on the vermont shore. The men waited ashore with the weapons. The ships and burned the ships so that british would not be able to take them. They then began a march through the woods. They finally reached it on october 15th. The admiral in charge of the british fleet had caught up and destroyed most of the American Fleet but it was now late in october. He didnt have any particular supplies up in that part of Lake Champlain and in new york. He didnt know what to do, whether to wait and through the spring and, you know, stay there right through the winter or not. He decided it was too risky staying there. His ships might get frozen into the ice. So he turned around and went back to canada. The result was that even though arnolds fleet was destroyed, they were able to hold the british up long enough that they saved new york and albany for another year. For the gallant defense they made against the great superiority of the enemys force. The historian was scathing about carlton having to go back up to canada. After that, arnold went with gates south to washingtons camp. And he was there about the time that washington decided to cross the delaware and attack trenton. By the way, washington actually had to do that. Because the men were in such shorten short enlistments, while he had them under the command, they crossed the delaware and were able to conquer trenton and waits one great victory for that time. Congress decided. They deprived him of any of his general officers. We read about soldiers of france and germany coming across, you know, to join the army, they were given superior commands by congress, not by washington. And there was a lot of disgruntlement among the officers of the American Army that these people were brought in over the, you know, put in superior positions over them. They took from washington this ability to appoint and discharge the officers. Then they promoted five Junior Officers to Major General ahead of arnold. Most some of the people had never done anything and washington was really amazed that congress had done that and wasnt sure why. It turned out that apparently you were only according to Congress Allowed to have so many Major Generals depending on the number of men that you were in regiments from your state. It was considered a polite way of telling you were no longer wanted. I was thinking that even today sometimes when somebody is appointed over you, theres this sense that maybe this is a nice way of saying were sorry. So at any rate, he was ready to resign. But washington asked him to stay on and he said he would stay as long as washington felt the services were needed. He went back to connecticut where he had his wife had died but he had three children who were being looked after by his we read about soldiers of france and germany coming across, you know, to join the army, they were given superior commands by congress, not by washington. And there was a lot of disgruntlement among the officers of the American Army that these people were brought in over the, you know, put in superior positions over them. They took from washington this ability to appoint and discharge the officers. Then they promoted five Junior Officers to Major General ahead of arnold. Most some of the people had never done anything and washington was really amazed that congress had done that and wasnt sure why. It turned out that apparently you were only according to Congress Allowed to have so many Major Generals depending on the number of men that you were in regiments from your state. It was considered a polite way of telling you were no longer wanted. I was thinking that even today sometimes when somebody is appointed over you, theres this sense that maybe this is a nice way of saying were sorry. So at any rate, he was ready to resign. But washington asked him to stay on and he said he would stay as long as washington felt the services were needed. He went back to connecticut where he had his wife had died but he had three children who were being looked after by his sister and his business that she was looking after, not in a very good way. She sold off virtually all of the equipment and supplies that he had. But that was her way. At any rate, he was treated as a hero in new haven and hartford and middletown. But while he was there, he got a message that the well, he was at home trying to figure out his finances, he got a message that the british had landing troops in connecticut and were on their way to take some of the supplies that the americans had been gathering there. A currier had arrived at home with his news. Some 26 ships were spotted off of shore south of new haven. Danbury was lightly defended. Two generals were leading 600 militia and had already marched off hoping to protect the supplies at danbury and arnold rushed from his home to join them and rallied the militia to help him. The officers and men arrived about four miles from danbury at 2 00 in the morning only to learn the depot was already in flames along with many houses in the town. And the british led by the governor of new york accomplished their goal and they were gone. The americans werent sure which way they had gone and were determined to head them off before they got back on their ships. So they divided their exhausted troops to take them on. Pursuers and pursued struggled through driving rain. Members of the connecticut militia were proud to rally hund arnold and joined him. The british were heading for ridgefield, town of ridgefield. Apparently they had some really good information. They set homes of known patriots ablaze and the church where the munitions were stored. A lot of People Living around that were happy to tell them who they should be looking for to harm. One of the men who had taken some of the troops had taken two men along another route than arnold. In fighting this elderly gentleman, he received a fatal wound. Arnold and another general began a march to ridgefield with 500 militia and they caught up with the regulars about 11 00 in the morning. They had 500 men but the troops were outnumbered by about 2,000. Im losing my here it s 2,000 of the british regulars. Arnold ordered his men to make a make shift barrier. Here we go. Heres ridgefield. We didnt want it to be arnolds horses. He was always having horses shot under him. When youre brave and on a horse that, horse doesnt have a very long lifespan. In his case, this case the horse fell and it trapped his leg under it. A young local dashed up to him shouting surrender, youre my prisoner. And with the mighty effort, he freed had himself saying, not yet. And drawing his pistol he shot the man in the chest. He then lept over a fence and bullets were spraying around him. The following day sent off a message to waylay the regulars from the front while the men attacked him from the breer. The british learned and they were able to get away. After this rallying of the troops and trying to protect connecticut, congress relented and they gave arnold his promotion to be Major General. But they did not restore the seniority. But at least they decided to give him that promotion. They were talking about how grateful for the things hes done. This is the major one. When he was at saratoga, washington sent him because he felt that the militia would follow him. It took selfconfidence and a spirit to rally people in order to do that. The officer would was in charge of the army at saratoga was general gates. Who would like arnold when he built the little fleet on Lake Champlain.