Infamous America - BENEDICT ARNOLD Ep. 4 | “Treason”

Episode Date: June 16, 2021

Benedict Arnold commands the fort at West Point and secretly works with the British to sabotage the American outpost. But when Arnold’s plan goes awry, his treason is discovered. He joins the British army and leads victorious campaigns against his former comrades in arms. After the war, Arnold must face the consequences of his actions. 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 late September 1780, an American colonel, James Livingston, looked out on the Hudson River from his post several miles south of West Point. He was worried because a British ship had been sitting in the river for hours. The night before, Livingston had ordered his men to bring two cannons to a spot that overlooked the ship. It was dawn now, and the ship hadn't moved, so Livingston ordered his men to fire. They pelted the ship with cannonballs, hitting the sails, the hull, and the rigging. After a time, the ship moved downriver and out of range. Livingston was satisfied, though he probably didn't know the name of the ship, and he certainly didn't know its purpose.

It was just a mysterious British ship that it appeared in his territory. It didn't attack anyone or perform any maneuvers. It just sat there. But whatever its mission, it was gone now. so Livingston likely went back to his usual duties. Maybe he learned later, or maybe the information was only available many years in the future. But the name of the ship was the HMS vulture,

and it was a transport for British spy chief John Andre. The ship had ferried Andre up the Hudson River for a secret nighttime meeting with the commander of West Point, Major General Benedict Arnold. From Blackbarrow Media, this is infamination. America. 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 four. Treesit. By August of 1780, Benedict Arnold had been secretly negotiating his defection to the British for more than a year.

As their correspondence developed, both sides decided it would be best for Arnold to find a way to become the commander of the fort at West Point. The fort guarded a critical spot on the Hudson River. If the British could take the fort, then they might be able to control the whole river. If they could control the Hudson, then they could divide America in two. They could separate the northern colonies from the southern colonies and cut supply lines and restrict troop movements. They could probably win the war. On August 5, 1780, Benedict Arnold took command. of West Point. The British needed Arnold to weaken the fort, and Arnold knew it was relatively weak already. Now he pushed it further. The fort was built at a bend in the Hudson River,

so that it not only protected a waterway that was important for transportation of troops and supplies, but it was the natural boundary between the northern and southern departments of the Continental Army. If the British controlled the Hudson, especially now that they'd captured Charleston, in South Carolina, they could break New York and two and potentially drive a fatal wedge between the colonies. In George Washington's words, West Point was the key to the continent. But according to Arnold, the area was poorly manned with only 1,500 soldiers. One of its key positions was poorly constructed, and those things formed the basis of Arnold's plan. To give the British the opening they needed, Arnold just had to let the garrison fall deeper into disrepair.

It was late August by now, and Arnold was still waiting for a response from the British High Command. He sent his list of demands weeks ago, but he had not received a reply. He'd been secretly working with the British for months, and now he was actively sabotaging an American fort, but Arnold still didn't know how much he'd be paid for his defection. Arnold wanted 20,000 pounds for his work in delivering West Point to the British. He wanted 10,000 pounds even if the plan failed, and he wanted a general's commission in the British Army. At the end of August, he finally heard from commanding general Henry Clinton. Clinton agreed to the 20,000 pounds for services rendered and the general's commission, but he said no to the 10,000 pounds if the

plan failed. Arnold accepted the terms and now began weakening the fort. It was already low on personnel, but Arnold sent hundreds of soldiers away to chop wood before the onset of winter. He refused to bring back others who had been dispatched elsewhere, despite official complaints. And when Washington needed men for his own expeditions, Arnold eagerly sent them from West Point. He also proposed pulling cannons down for maintenance. An enormous iron chain stretched across the Hudson River that was supposed to stop ships from moving through the waterway. Arnold ordered the chain to be hauled out of the river so it could be repaired.

It not only weakened the fort's defenses, but cleared the way for British ships. And while he worked on all the military steps, he also worked on his personal situation. his wife Peggy had stayed behind in Philadelphia with their son Edward, but the city was still full of patriots. If Arnold's defection was discovered or his plan failed, Peggy and Edward would surely be in danger. Arnold needed to get them up to West Point. In September, Peggy and their young son made the week-long

overland journey to the fort. Once there, she, Edward, and Arnold took up residence in the home of a loyalist who had a house in the Hudson Highlands. And a very short time later, British spy chief John Andre traveled to the West Point area to fully finalize Arnold's defection and the plan to deliver the fort. In the fall of 1780, the American Revolution was struggling.

It had been five years since the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord. It had been four years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Recent defeats in places like, Charleston and Camden left the Continentals on their last legs, and Benedict Arnold's plan was coming together. West Point was weakened. Soldiers and supplies were depleted. The army that remained was exhausted, and the final piece of the plan was an in-person meeting between John Andre and Benedict Arnold. They had been corresponding secretly for a year, but this would be their first face-to-face conversation. It would give Arnold an opportunity to confirm that his information was

getting through, and it would give Andre an opportunity to gauge Arnold's reliability. The meeting was originally scheduled for noon on September 11th, but a complicated plan to get the two men together ended in a false start. They postponed the meeting until September 22nd, when they could do it under the cover of darkness. John Andre traveled up the Hudson River on a sloop. called the HMS Vulture. It dropped anchor several miles south of West Point. Andre climbed into a rowboat that ferried him to shore. He hiked to a grove of pine trees where he found Arnold. Arnold repeated his request for the 10,000 pound indemnity in case the capture of West Point failed. Andre, who was probably exasperated at discussing this term yet again,

promised to convey it to General Clinton. And then Andre got to the point. He asked for information on how best to take West Point, and Arnold started talking. They talked for hours, and when the sky began to lighten in the east, they knew they'd stayed too long. This far north of New York City, Andre was behind enemy lines. If he tried to row back out to the HMS vulture, he would almost certainly be spotted by continental forces. Arnold recommended that Andre come with him to the house of a fellow spy, Joshua Smith. Andre would wait at Smith's house until evening and then go back to the vulture. Andre was understandably worried about staying in the area for a full day,

but he relented and followed Arnold to Smith's house. A short time later, they needed a new escape plan. At dawn, American Colonel James Livingston looked out at the Hudson River for from his post south of West Point. The British sloop that had arrived the previous night was still there. Livingston ordered two cannons to fire on the ship. The shots ripped through the vulture and forced its crew to flee downriver. It anchored out of range of the cannons and continued to wait for Andre to return.

But its crew didn't know that Benedict Arnold was convincing Andre to pursue a different escape route. John Andre was stranded on land, more than 40 miles from the safety of British forces. Arnold thought it was safer for Andre to travel south by land to New York City, rather than rendezvous with the HMS vulture, which was still sitting in the Hudson River. Arnold convinced Andre to disguise himself as an American informant. Andre put on rustic clothing, and Arnold gave him safe passage documents that identified him as an American agent, John Anderson. Andre and his host Joshua Smith rode south on horseback from Smith's house.

They took a ferry from the west side of the Hudson River to the east. They continued south until Smith decided he'd gone far enough. He turned around and headed home, and Andre kept moving south. At Terrytown, 30 miles north of New York, André encountered his first soldiers. One of the men ordered Andre to halt. Andre saw that the man wore the coat of a Hessian soldier, which was a relief because the Hessians were German troops

who were fighting with the British. For a brief second, Andre must have thought he was supremely lucky to find friendly forces. But then the man revealed that he and his comrades were Americans in the New York State militia. The man had probably taken the coat from a very moment. a dead Hesian soldier, and now John Andre was caught. The militiamen searched him and eventually found the safe passage documents written by Benedict Arnold, as well as plans for the fort at West Point.

The militiamen took John Andre to the office of the nearest American commander, a lieutenant colonel. The colonel listened to the militiamen's report and examined the plans for West Point and the safe conduct pass. The colonel was obviously concerned. He didn't know if Benedict Arnold, the commander at West Point, was aware that this suspicious traveler carried such valuable documents. The colonel initially decided to send Andre back to West Point with a letter that explained the situation. Hopefully Arnold could clear it up from there.

But then the American chief of spies arrived at the outpost and looked at the documents, and Benedict Arnold's secret plan was about to unravel with startling speed. The American spy chief recognized the handwriting in the documents as that of Benedict Arnold, and the lieutenant colonel immediately issued new orders. John Andre was no longer a suspicious traveler who would be sent back to West Point. He was now a British prisoner of war, and the documents raised a very real and very scary possibility. Benedict Arnold might be working with the British. The lieutenant colonel sent a rider to West Point with a letter for Arnold,

that told him John Andre had been captured. In addition, the colonel sent the documents that had been found with Andre. The colonel and the American spy chief needed Arnold to clarify the situation. While the messenger rode north to West Point, George Washington was also in route to the fort. He had promised Benedict Arnold that he would stop by to inspect the grounds. And now, the American General and the news of Arnold's treason were about, to collide at the garrison on the Hudson River.

The two arrivals happened at the same time, but in different places. And that's probably the only thing that saved Benedict Arnold. George Washington arrived at West Point on September 25th. The messenger arrived the same day, but he went to the house where Benedict Arnold was staying. Arnold was at home waiting for Washington to join him for breakfast when the messenger arrived with the letter that informed him of John Andre's capture. Arnold read the letter and panicked. He had no way of knowing if Washington knew the information as well,

and Washington was due at his house any minute. Arnold needed to escape. He explained the situation to Peggy, and she agreed to buy him some time. Arnold hurried to the HMS vulture, the British ship that was still anchored in the Hudson River. He boarded the ship and fled to New York City. We have no way of knowing, but while he was sailing down the river towards safety and his treason was about to be exposed, he might have reflected on the incredible irony of his actions.

He had made it to the ship quickly and easily and was now on his way to the protection of the British Army. If he had allowed John Andre to do the same, it was quite possible that none of this chaos would have happened. Andre might have made it back to New York with the plans to West Point. George Washington would have arrived at West Point and inspected the fort. He probably wouldn't have liked the condition that it was in, but Benedict Arnold could have made promises and excuses until Washington left. Then Arnold might have been able to surrender the fort to the British, and the British would have controlled the Hudson River.

They would have divided the American colonies and the Continent Laramie in two. That one decision to send John Andre back to New York over land instead of by ship might have changed the course of both American history and British history. It might have, but we'll never know. Instead, John Andre was captured by American soldiers. Benedict Arnold fled to New York, and George Washington arrived at Arnold's house with no idea what was going on. He quickly learned that quite a lot had happened over the past three days.

Washington walked into the house with an important guest by his side, the young French officer, the Marquis de Lafayette. Anywhere in America, if there's a street or a park or a plaza or a town named Lafayette, it's almost certainly in honor of this man. When the two commanders arrived, Arnold wasn't there. What was there was the recently delivered packet of John Andre's documents. Washington read them and immediately understood the situation. Benedict Arnold had betrayed them. He was working with the British, and he had nearly delivered the most important fort in the colonies. Washington turned to the marquee and asked, whom can we trust now? As the two commanders digested the gravity of the news, Peggy Shippen flew into hysterics.

She'd promised her husband that she would delay Washington, and now she appeared to go crazy. Her hair was undone. Her clothes were half off. she behaved as though she were hallucinating. She claimed there was a burning iron on her head, and no one but Washington could remove it. In the moment, the men didn't doubt her. They probably didn't recognize it was a stalling tactic. Two days later, Washington allowed Peggy and her young son, Edward, to go to Philadelphia.

Then Washington received a letter from Benedict Arnold. Arnold asked for safe conduct for Peggy and Edward out of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, and he accepted full and exclusive responsibility for his actions. But he did not apologize. He used some paradoxical logic to justify his actions. He said he loved his country so much that he simply wanted the war to end. A couple weeks later, he repeated his explanation when he wrote and published an open letter called To the Inhabitants of America. In the letter, In the letter, Arnold said he had supported the war in the beginning as a means of gaining redress for the grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence.

But when the British offered terms for peace two years ago in 1778, which included self-rule and representation in Parliament, the war was no longer necessary. In the letter, Arnold said he was so opposed to the war, but also so disaffected by his experience with the Continental Congress, that he had joined the British Army in order to hasten the Continental's defeat and end the conflict. The letter alienated those who supported independence. In the early days of the war, there was a desire by many, including some of the founding fathers, for reconciliation with Britain.

But now, at this stage, the letter was just seen as an excuse for treason. On the British side, for all the blunders along the way, Arnold held up his end of the bargain to the best of his ability. He received a general's commission in the Army, and it was not an honorary position. He was about to command troops in battle against American soldiers. The first of Arnold's two main missions was in Virginia. As a southern colony in close proximity to northern colonies like Pennsylvania and New York, Virginia could be an important foothold for the British.

It was Arnold's job to clear the war. for the conquest of Virginia. His primary instructions were to capture and destroy as many continental stores as possible, which included plantations, warehouses, and gunpowder depots. The goal was to weaken the continental forces in Virginia to the point where the British could simply walk in and take it. The city of Richmond was the key to the plan. The governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, had named it the new capital of the college, It was further inland than the old capital, Williamsburg, which made it less vulnerable to attacks by sea.

And unlike Williamsburg, Richmond had a lower concentration of loyalists. It was Jefferson's belief that in Richmond, the revolutionary government would be easier to defend. Unfortunately for Jefferson, that wasn't the case. Arnold led a force of 1600 men, among them British regulars, Hessians, and American law. loyalists and sailed to Richmond late in December 1780. On the way, his troops destroyed plantations and warehouses along the James River and captured American soldiers. Arnold's men arrived in Richmond in early January 1781. A thin, 200-man militia met Arnold's force with musket fire, but Arnold's men chased them into the woods.

The British marched into Richmond with little resistance. Arnold set up his headquarters in a tavern and wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson. Arnold offered to leave the city untouched in exchange for Richmond's supply of tobacco and military goods. Jefferson refused. In response, Arnold ordered the city sacked and its warehouses burned. The Virginia Assembly fled to Charlottesville, and Jefferson fled to his plantation, Monticello. Jefferson ordered a militia to strike back. 200 American soldiers managed to chase Arnold and his men all the way to Portsmouth on the coast, but Arnold destroyed more plantations and warehouses along the way.

Benedict Arnold's second mission as a British general came a few months later in September of 1781. At the time, American General George Washington was marching his combined French and American Army south into Virginia, partially in response to the successful campaigns like Arnold's raid on Richmond, and more directly, to stop the British Army led by Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis. But the British overall commander didn't want to send the bulk of his troops south to counter Washington's movements. He had a different strategy, the same one that would be used 80 years later by the Confederate overall commander in the American Civil War, Robert E. Lee. The British commander wanted to attack a colony in New England to force Washington to bring his troops back to the north.

Under this plan, Benedict Arnold was assigned to attack his home colony of Connecticut. The target was a valuable port city called New London. The goal was to destroy the ships of American privateers. At the time, New London occupied both. sides of the Thames River, and yes, that's the way it's pronounced in Connecticut. On the east side of the river was Fort Trumbull. On the west side was Fort Griswold. Arnold sent half his 1700 men to Fort Trumbull and the other half to Fort Griswold.

Trumbull was small and poorly garrisoned. The Americans abandoned the position and sailed across the river to Griswold. After Arnold's men easily captured Trumbull, he ordered them to capture Griswold. to capture Griswold. The British offered the Americans in Fort Griswold the chance to surrender twice, but the Americans refused. The British attacked. During the bloody and chaotic battle, the American commander was killed in potentially controversial fashion, possibly while he was trying to surrender. But we don't know for sure. With the mayhem of the fighting and the passage of time, the true details will probably never be known for certain.

Regardless, the battle killed dozens on both sides and left many others wounded, and it spread beyond the confines of Fort Griswold. Arnold's men set fire to buildings and ships throughout New London. In one of the buildings, or on one of the ships, there was a stockpile of gunpowder. It exploded and the wind carried the flames across the city and burned New London to the ground. It was known as the Battle of Griswold. Broughton Heights, and it was considered one of the more tragic events of the war because of the loss of life and the destruction of the city. It was all the more tragic with the benefit of hindsight.

It came so late in the war that it did nothing for the British. At the end of the month, September 1781, the combined French and American army trapped British General Cornwallis' army at Yorktown, Virginia. The siege of Yorktown lasted three weeks, and then Cornwallis. Wallace surrendered. The resulting victory for the Continental Army effectively ended the Revolutionary War. The Americans and the British began negotiations. They agreed on a peace treaty in Paris two years later in 1783 that officially recognized the sovereign and independent nation of the United States of America. And now, Benedict Arnold was a man without a home. Arnold received praise from his superiors in the British Army

for the Richmond and New London campaigns, but it didn't help much. He was never fully liked or trusted by the British High Command. And it could be argued that Arnold's actions at West Point led directly to the death of British spy chief John Andre. One month after Andre was captured and Arnold's treason was exposed, Andre was executed by the American Army.

Benedict Arnold was a traitor to the Americans and reviled by those who supported the revolution. When the American public learned of Arnold's betrayal at West Point, the news caused riots in his hometown of Norwich, Connecticut. Locals burned effigies of Arnold alongside effigies of the devil. In the public memory, his name is synonymous with treason. After the war, Arnold and his family went to London. They briefly moved to Canada but then returned to London in 1791. He passed away 10 years later on June 14, 1801 at the age of 60. The common legend about his death is that he was wearing his generals uniform from the Continental Army and said,

May God forgive me for wearing any other, though that story is probably too romantic to be believed. Thanks for listening to the saga of Benedict Arnold here on. on Infamous America. We'll be back in three weeks with a new series, and I'm sure you're going to like this one. It's the story of the Lifanza Airline heist in New York City in 1978. And if that doesn't ring a bell, go re-watch the classic movie Goodfellas with Ray Leota, Joe Pesci, and Robert De Niro. That's next time 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.

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