subject: Who Is Benedict Arnold [print this page] Benedict Arnold was an American general in the Revolutionary War. He is remembered as a brave and skillful soldier, but unfortunately he is also remembered as a traitor who betrayed his country and went over to the British side. He was born in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1741, so he was only 34 years old when fighting broke out in 1775 between the American colonies and the British. He had been a druggist and bookseller in New Haven, and had sailed to the West Indies on a trading ship. Now he raised a company of soldiers and helped Ethan Allen to capture Fort Ticonderoga (see the article on Ethan A l l e n ) . In 1776, when he was barely 35 years old, he was made a brigadier general, and he fought bravely for America in several battles. Though he was so young, Arnold became angry when five other men were appointed to the rank of major general ahead of him. Even though he was made a major general soon after, he remained dissatisfied. He was put in command of American troops at Philadelphia, and while he was there he married a beautiful young woman who sympathized with the British. This may have had some effect on what he did later. Anyway, in 1780 when he was put in charge of the American fort at West Point, in New York (where the United States Military Academy now is), he decided to go over to the British side and gave the plans of the fort to the British Major John Andrf. (about whom there is a separate article). Andre was caught, but Arnold escaped to England. The British, too, despised him as a traitor and he lived a very unhappy life in England until he died there, in 1804.
