Infamous America - BENEDICT ARNOLD Ep. 3 | “Secrets, Spies and Lies”

Episode Date: June 9, 2021

As Benedict Arnold recovers from his battle wounds, American general George Washington offers him a prestigious post in Philadelphia. Arnold finds the new love of his life, but quickly faces charges of corruption. As Arnold grows further disillusioned, he begins secretly communicating with the British high command. Even before Arnold suffers the ultimate humiliation for a military man, he has made a decision that will enshrine him as the most infamous man in America. Thanks to our sponsor, Simplisafe. Get free security camera and a 60-day risk free trial at SimpliSafe.com/infamous Join Black Barrel+ for bingeable seasons with no commercials : blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join For more details, please visit www.blackbarrelmedia.com. Our social media pages are: @blackbarrelmedia on Facebook and Instagram, and @bbarrelmedia on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the fall of 1777, while battle raged in Saratoga, New York, the war was heating up 270 miles south in Pennsylvania. At the time, the city of Philadelphia was the political center of the American colonies. In September 1777, one week after the first battle of Saratoga, Philadelphia fell into British hands. General George Washington lost two battles in a row outside Philadelphia, and when he was forced to retreat, the British took the city with relative ease. They held Philadelphia for about eight months until mid-June of 1778.

That was when British troops in Philadelphia learned the Americans had won at Saratoga, thanks in no small part to Benedict Arnold. The British recognized the danger of the French potentially joining the Americans, so the British decided it was time to leave town. The transfer of the city back to the Americans was bloodless, and as the British marched out, Benedict Arnold marched in. George Washington needed a trustworthy man to run the city, so he appointed Arnold, military governor of Philadelphia.

Arnold had been wounded in the leg during the battles at Saratoga, and he needed time to recover before he could again lead men in combat. So this new post in Philadelphia was ideal. It was a relatively cushy job, and it allowed Arnold to remain part of the war effort while he healed. Or at least, that was the way it was supposed to work. Benedict Arnold was only days into his job when he set in motion the events that would completely change his life and turn him into the infamous figure we know today. My relentless sleep problems have always come from an overactive mind.

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I'm your host, Chris Wimmer. And this season we're telling a four-part story about one of the most infamous people in American history, Benedict Arnold. This is episode three, secrets, spies, and lies. Arnold's time in the military cost him a great deal. He sunk his own money into the war effort, and it was only partially reimbursed by Congress. The war hurt the shipping industry badly,

and Arnold's merchant business suffered as a result. By the time George Washington appointed Arnold to govern Philadelphia, Arnold was nearly broke. Arnold's sister was forced to sell her brother's assets to help pay the bills, but he still needed money. That's when he undertook deals that were not explicitly illegal, but they hurt his reputation while in office and led him down the road to treason.

In June of 1778, shortly after Arnold began his tenure as military governor of Philadelphia, an American merchant came to him with a request. The merchant was loyal to the British, or was at least a loyalist sympathizer, and he wanted a safe conduct pass for his ship. As a loyalist, he was worried that his ship would get seized by American ships as it sailed from Philadelphia to other American ports. Arnold gave the merchant a pass to guarantee the ship's protection from American.

and privateers. But then Arnold learned the ship was seized anyway. A court later decided the ship should be returned to its owners, so the merchant was obviously happy with that result. But now the man had a new problem. He still needed to transport his goods to other cities so he could sell them. The man was worried about another British invasion of the area, which meant his ship might get captured again, this time by the British. So the merchant and Benedict Arnold made a deal. Arnold would provide wagons, and the merchant would unload his cargo and move it over land to other destinations. Arnold would use his position to ensure safe passage of the wagons, and then they would split the profits when the merchant sold his goods. Arnold sent 12 wagons to the merchant ship, and they went ahead with the plan.

But the wagons were the problem. They were the property of the colony of Pennsylvania. It looked like Arnold was using public property to gain personal wealth. And then Arnold got into trouble with other merchants in Philadelphia. When American troops returned to the city, the army closed all the stores so it can take an inventory. And Arnold used the situation to his advantage. He made a deal with a general and the general's assistant. The officers bought supplies for the army using the army's funding.

But whatever the army does, didn't use, the officers and Arnold quietly sold for a profit. It was basically free money, and through his ventures, Arnold started living a lavish lifestyle. He hired a full staff of servants and bought an ornate carriage. He dressed in fancy clothes, frequently attended the theater, and hosted dinner parties for local business leaders and government officials. And as Arnold built a new life for himself, he became more involved with the loyal circles of Philadelphia society. Through those interactions, he met a young woman named Peggy Shippin. Arnold was 37, and Peggy was 18. Peggy's father was a judge and an influential citizen,

and the Shippin family had deep roots in the colonies. They were wealthy merchants, and two men in the lineage had served as mayor of Philadelphia. Peggy's father remained neutral during the war, but he had loyalist leanings. He believed, or at least hoped, that the British and the Americans could reconcile. During the British occupation of Philadelphia, he hosted both American and British officials in his home. And lots of men in the upper societies were eager to win the love of his daughter.

Peggy was an educated young woman. She was well-read and kept up with politics and current events. She was sociable and attractive. She went to parties and the theater. and Benedict Arnold fell hard for her. Shortly after meeting her and just months into his tenure as the governor of Philadelphia, Arnold wrote her a letter declaring his passion. Eight months later, on April 8, 1779, he married Peggy Shippen.

And with the benefit of more than 200 years of hindsight, we can theorize that that month might have been the most transformative of Benedict Arnold's life. At the same time he was marrying Peggy Shippen, he was on the eve of defending himself in a court-martial about his potentially illegal money-making schemes, and for the first time, he started communicating with the chief of spies for the British Army. In February 1779, two months before Arnold's wedding, he learned that charges of corruption had been filed against him by the president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, Joseph, Joseph. Reed. Reed was a successful lawyer in Philadelphia before he joined the Continental Army and served as an aide to George Washington. Washington and Reed had been close for a while, until Washington learned that Reed was criticizing him behind his back. They remained professional colleagues,

but the friendship was done. And if Reed could be critical about his superior officers, he could be downright hostile to those he felt were not sufficiently devoted to the patriot cause, people like Benedict Arnold. Two years after Reed's falling out with Washington, he was president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and he filed eight charges against Benedict Arnold. It was the beginning of a saga that lasted a year and a half, and probably did more than anything to drive Arnold to the British.

Arnold fought fiercely for the Continental Army, but he was by no means dogmatic about his politics. In fact, he made it a point not to be. He knew of the Shippin family's loyalist leanings when he courted Peggy. Early on, he wrote to her father and said he hoped their political differences wouldn't impede his relationship with Peggy. Two months before they were married, Joseph Reed brought eight charges against Arnold, most of which were based on rumors that Arnold used his military office to enrich himself. A congressional committee investigated the matter and dismissed six of the charges for lack of evidence. But Reed was fanatical and tenacious.

He threatened to withhold military aid from the Continental Army, so Congress brought four charges to a court-martial. Arnold wasn't opposed to the proceeding. It was an opportunity to clear his name. But even though Congress dismissed some of the charges, it didn't mean the representatives were on Arnold's side. Congress had taken an adversarial attitude toward military officers. The representatives were extremely worried that a popular general could seize political power and strangle the American democratic experiment before it even got started.

And Arnold still held a grudge against Congress for passing him over for promotion and not reimbursing him for the money he spent to fight the war. But even with those two realities, Congress's attitude toward generals and Arnold's attitude toward Congress, Arnold still had reason for optimism. A court-martial was a military proceeding. Arnold thought he had a home field advantage because he would face military officers instead of elected officials.

Unfortunately for Arnold, things didn't go the way he envisioned. The court-martial was scheduled for May 1779, right after Arnold's wedding. But Joseph Reed pressed for a postponement. He claimed he needed more time to collect evidence. Arnold was quick to remind George Washington that Reed had already failed to collect enough evidence for most of the charges to stick the first time. But Washington granted the delay, and then more delays. And during the next eight months, until the court-martial finally happened,

happened, Benedict Arnold began the slow and secretive process of communicating with the British chief of spies, John Andre. John Andre had a loose connection to Benedict Arnold, though probably neither knew it in their earliest days of communication. Andre had been stationed at a fort outside Montreal in the fall of 1775 during the American invasion of Canada. Benedict Arnold led a column that slogged through the wilderness toward Quebec. and Richard Montgomery led a column toward Montreal.

Montgomery captured the fort where John Andre was stationed, right before he, Montgomery, captured Montreal. Andre was taken prisoner and sent to Pennsylvania for internment. He was freed about a year later, toward the end of 1776, and then he moved to Philadelphia during the British occupation of the city. Andre left Philadelphia with British forces in June 1778, right before Benedict Arnold became military governor. Prior to Arnold's arrival, while the British still controlled Philadelphia,

John Andre became a local celebrity. He lived in Benjamin Franklin's vacated home and was known for his love of the arts. He socialized with Americans who were loyal to the British crown, and that's how he met Peggy Shippen, the future wife of Benedict Arnold. John Andre took Peggy to the theater, spent time in the Shippin home and became a close acquaintance of the family. But then the Americans reclaimed Philadelphia and André fled to British-held New York City.

A little less than a year later, in April 1779, while Benedict Arnold was marrying Peggy Shippen, John Andre became the chief of spies for the British Army. By that time, Benedict Arnold was already disillusioned. He'd fought patriotically for the American cause, but he'd suffered slights from the Army and the Congress, and now he was about to face a court-martial a few days after his wedding. The conduit between Benedict Arnold and John Andre developed quickly. Arnold's marriage to Peggy drew him further into loyalist circles, and it's likely the Shippin family recommended an introduction to the Loyalist merchant,

who became a messenger between Arnold and Arnold. Andre. Arnold met the merchant in May of 1779, after his court-martial was postponed for the first time. The two men talked about politics, and over the course of the conversation, Arnold made it clear that he was curious about defecting to the British. In particular, he wanted to know how much he'd be paid. After the meeting, the merchant went to New York and spoke to John Andre.

Andre told the British commanding general about Arnold's offer to defect. Over the next few months, Arnold and Andre secretly traded letters, using the merchant and Arnold's wife Peggy as couriers. The letters were encrypted, either written in invisible ink or in coded language, or in a more complex code that required a separate book as a cipher. So over the course of 1779, while the court-martial was delayed, Benedict Arnold secretly negotiated with the British High Command. Arnold said his defection depended on two things. First, he wanted to know if the British were committed to staying in America.

Second, he wanted to know how much the British would pay for his information. John Andre answered both questions. He told Arnold that the British were fully. committed to staying in America. They were simply waiting for reinforcements to arrive from overseas. And if Arnold's action and information helped the British defeat a large section of the American Army, Arnold would be handsomely rewarded. Benedict Arnold accepted the deal. He was now a British spy. But it wasn't a huge celebratory event for either Arnold or the British. Arnold didn't trust the British commanders and the commanders didn't really like Arnold. This was a business relationship.

And as such, Arnold reminded his handlers that he was risking a lot to help them, possibly his own life, and he wanted to know precisely what he could expect in return. But he continued to receive only vague assurances that he would be compensated. Sometime after July 1779, communication broke down. Arnold went dark for about ten. two months. As summer passed into early autumn, the British must have been wondering about the allegiance of their newest spy, and Benedict Arnold might have been wondering if he was actually going to go through with this. The much delayed court-martial was now drawing near. The result would humiliate Arnold, but he made his decision about the British long before he felt one

final sting from the American Congress and the Army. The court-martial finally had to be. The court-martial finally happened in December 1779, a full year after Joseph Reed originally filed eight charges against Benedict Arnold. In the end, it all came down to two charges. The first was that Arnold gave a safe conduct pass to a ship that was owned by men with loyalist leanings. Arnold defended himself by saying the ship posed no danger to the Americans. The second was the related charge that he used public wagons to move private property that was then sold to put money into his own pocket. Arnold responded by saying he had offered to pay for the use of the wagons himself, and they weren't being used anyway. It wasn't like he had taken them away from an important

military campaign, but Arnold's defenses didn't work, and the new year started in humiliating fashion. In January 1780, the military court recommended to Congress that, that Arnold received an official reprimand from General George Washington. That February, Congress approved. Two months later, on April 6th, 1780, George Washington wrote an official reprimand of Benedict Arnold. Washington called it reprehensible that Arnold gave a safe conduct pass to a ship owned by loyalists,

and it was imprudent and improper for Arnold to use the Pennsylvania wagons to move goods off the ship. Arnold was stunned. He'd spent years sinking treasure, blood, and time into the revolution. He had ably and eagerly gone where he was commanded, and his presence was a decisive factor in battles like Saratoga and Lake Champlain, and now he received an official reprimand. But this seems to show some of the complexity of Benedict Arnold. Even as he felt the pain of a public rebuke by the commanding general of the American Army, he was working with the British to sabotage the American war effort. After Arnold cut off communication with the British for a couple

months, he resurfaced through his wife Peggy. British spy chief John Andre sent her a communication to ask about the status of Arnold's defection. Peggy replied on behalf of her husband, he was still in. And in December 1779, while Arnold was defending himself in the court-martial, he gave the British new information. He previously told them that the American base in Charleston, South Carolina was poorly provisioned. Now, in December, he said that was still the case, and the base could probably be taken with ease. With that knowledge, the British began the siege of Charleston in March 1780, right before Arnold received the official reprimand from George Washington.

The British Army blocked all nearby escape routes and bombarded the city until May when the Continental Army was forced to surrender. The British now had a key port city in the American South, and it was largely thanks to Arnold's information. As Charleston was falling, George Washington was trying to backpedal a little bit in private from his official reprimand. He sent a personal letter to Benedict Arnold. Washington urged Arnold to calm himself and said,

Exhibit anew those noble qualities which have placed you on the list of our most valued commanders. Washington also promised that he would try to give Arnold a chance to repair his image after the public embarrassment of the reprimand. To Arnold, on the surface, that meant getting away from Philadelphia. And in secret, the British probably agreed. There was only so much Arnold could do as a kind of military politician. The British needed victories on the battlefield, and it just so happened that around the same time as the official reprimand,

Arnold was approached about potentially commanding a valuable fort that many referred to as the key to the continent. There was a fort on the Hudson River that protected a sharp curve in the waterway. Benedict Arnold began orchestrating an effort to sabotage West Point. 60 miles north of New York City, there's a narrow bend in the Hudson River that's shaped like an S.

Ships had to slow down to pass through the area, which made them vulnerable. But the river also ran all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, which made it valuable. If the British controlled the river, they could cut off the northern colonies from the southern colonies. So the Americans were determined to hold the river.

To do so, they built a series of forts along the waterway, and the most important was West Point, which meant the British wanted it badly. The British made a move in that direction in May of 1779, while Benedict Arnold was beginning his secret discussions with John Andre. British troops marched up the Hudson River and captured two outposts that were just 10 miles south of West Point. The Americans quickly retook them, but it was a scary wake-up call. The British didn't have the manpower to make it all the way to West Point, but they came

really close. And coincidentally, those movements by the British caused some of the delay of Arnold's court-martial. The officers who were supposed to participate in the court-martial had to rush away to rescue the forts on the Hudson. So in the spring of 1780, after months of deterioration between Benedict Arnold and American leaders, the British now had a chance to take Weston's. West Point from the inside.

It was a bit of a long shot, but it was possible. The British wanted intelligence and the plans to the fort and ultimately its surrender. So Arnold focused his attention on becoming the commander of West Point. But he couldn't just ask George Washington for the job. First, Arnold needed to get General Philip Schuyler on board. Schuyler had been the commander of the North Department early in the conflict. and was now serving on a congressional committee for matters related to the war. Skyler promised to talk to Washington.

A month passed, but Arnold heard nothing from Skyler. Then in June 1780, Skyler reported that Washington still held Arnold in high regard. The commander-in-chief said he would consider Arnold's request. Arnold viewed the communication as a strong sign, and he wasted no time putting plans in motion. He was about to pass the point of no return. He started preparing to move all his assets to London. He took a trip to West Point to inspect the fort.

He eagerly wrote to British spy chief John Andre that he would soon be in command of the garrison. But Arnold also stressed that before he took any real tactical steps, he had to settle the matter of his compensation. Until now, Arnold had provided his services practically free of charge. He hadn't exactly been given a choice, which was no doubt frustrating, but he had been patient nonetheless. Now his patience was gone.

If Arnold became the commander at West Point, he knew his duties to the British would go far beyond passing information. He would have to actively sabotage the Continental Army. Before he took that step, he needed to finally find. analyze his deal with the British. In the event that Arnold could deliver West Point, he wanted 20,000 pounds. It's difficult to calculate what that would be today in U.S. dollars, but it would be hundreds of thousands, if not more than a million. In addition, Arnold stated that because this plan posed such a danger to his family, he wanted 10,000 pounds in the event that it failed.

He also wanted the first thousand in advance because shortly after his court-martial, he was investigated by Congress yet again and fined a thousand pounds for unaccounted expenses from his failed invasion of Quebec five years earlier. Arnold sent his requests to the British High Command, and now he waited for a reply. While he waited, he learned that his job at West Point was nowhere near a done deal. All his plans were in jeopardy when George Washington summoned him to an urgent meeting. Washington had learned that the British overall commander, with whom Arnold was secretly negotiating, left New York City on an expedition.

Washington wanted to take advantage of the commander's absence. He wanted to attack and retake New York, and he wanted Arnold to lead the left wing of the assault. Arnold was distraught. He was already in so deep with the British that he fell silent when Washington gave him the news. Washington grew concerned. Before the conversation began about a role at West Point, Arnold had said that he wanted to return to active duty. He'd lobbied for a position in the Navy because his injured leg might not hold up to the strain of leading troops on a battlefield. So Washington almost certainly expected a jubilant reaction.

Arnold now had the perfect chance to get back to active duty and repair his public image. Sure, the opportunity was with the Army instead of the Navy, but it was also a chance for more glory. Arnold turned down the position. He claimed his leg wasn't healed enough for him to command an army in the field. But Washington was unmoved. In his general orders, issued August 1, 1780, he placed on. Arnold in command of the left wing of the assault force. But then, surely in the view of the British and Benedict Arnold, a miracle happened.

Two days later, Washington called off the attack. British troops returned early from their expedition. They were back in New York, and Washington had missed his chance to reclaim the city. So, on August 3rd, Washington issued new orders that gave Benedict Arnold again. exactly what he wanted. The command of West Point. Next time on Infamous America, Benedict Arnold defects to the British. He develops a plan to sabotage West Point, but George Washington learns of the treachery. Arnold becomes a British general and then leads British troops against American forces with deadly success. That's next week on the final

episode of the story of Benedict Arnold here on Infamous America. And members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week. They receive early access and the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships begin at just $5 per month. This season was co-produced by Stephen Walters in association with ritual productions. Research and writing by Dante Flores. original music by Rob Valier

audio editing and sound design by Dave Harrison I'm your host and producer Chris Wimmer find us at our website blackbarrelmedia.com or on our social media channels or black barrel media on Facebook and Instagram and B barrel media on Twitter and you can stream all our episodes on YouTube just search for Infamous America podcast

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