Benedict Arnold. A biography/1

A traitor is despised of all the world. I have stated in my preface, that it is the design of the Biographical Series of which this volume is a part, to "furnish from the pages of the world's history a few examples of true manhood, lofty purpose, and persevering effort, such as may be safely held up either for the admiration or emulation of the youth of the present day; and I am sure it is needless to add that the life of Benedict Arnold offers no such example. On the contrary, his memory will be detested as long as time shall help to keep it alive. Yet it is not impossible that the highest forms of manhood may be studied, sometimes, by the contemplation of their strongest contrasts; especially, in cases where it was just as easy for men to be heroes as villains, and all attending influences should have nerved them to deeds of patriotism and nobility. And I have thought it may be so in the present case. Arnold had opportunities such as few men are offered; but he threw both them and himself away. The treason of Arnold is known wherever the English tongue is spoken. The details of the story, however, have been in a great degree forgotten, or merged in that universal sentiment of detestation of the man, which seems to have swallowed all else up; and even those honorable services which he did render his country on certain occasions, are willingly, but quite wrongfully, left out of the account. It is the purpose of this narrative to do justice to his merits, while sparing in no manner his unparalleled crimes; for in no other way than by comparing one side of his character with the other, can one hope to make up a judgment that will be either just or lasting. The ancestors of Benedict Arnold settled originally in Rhode Island. One of them, after whom he was named, was the president of the colony immediately succeeding Roger Williams. His father emigrated from Newport to Norwich, in Connecticut, together with another brother, Oliver, not long after the year 1730. They both followed the trade of coopers, which Benedict very soon after left for a commercial life. It is said that he sailed to England, in the prosecution of his new business, and likewise carried on a very thriving trade with the West Indies, for which the town of Norwich was in those days much noted. As soon as he had secured a sufficient amount to furnish him with a reliable business capital, he left his voyaging and foreign trading, and betook himself to the occupation of a merchant. For a long time he enjoyed uninterrupted success. His profits came in steadily, and his prospects and position in the world ought to have been good enough to satisfy any man of reasonable desires; yet it appears that he was regarded with feelings of suspicion by his fellow citizens, and failed to secure anything like that respect for himself that gives life one of its highest values. In time, therefore, he became insensible to the good opinion of others; neglected his business; took to drinking and dissipation; and, in the natural order of things, grew to be poor, idle, and a burden in the public mind. During the years of his prosperity, however, he had married a widow lady of Norwich, Mrs. Hannah King by name; and the fruit of this union was six children, three boys and three girls. The oldest was a boy named Benedict; but as he died in his infancy, the same name was given to the next son, who is the subject of this narrative. It appears that Benedict had for many generations been a favorite name with the Arnolds, and it was to be finally illustrated, in the case of the child who last took it, by a record of infamy from the very thought of which the upright mind shrinks with an instinct of dismay. Benedict Arnold, was born, on the 3d day of January, 1740; which made him forty years old at the time of the consummation of that stupendous villany with which his name will ever be associated. All of the other children, except himself and his sister Hannah, died in infancy. Very little is positively known as to the sort of education Arnold was permitted to get from the schools of his native town, although it is highly probable, from the fact of his father's being in such affluent circumstances during his early youth, that he certainly had the advantages of all that could be reached. Besides this, his mother was a lady of exemplary piety and of a highly consistent Christian character; and sought on every occasion to instil into his nature those lessons of virtue and purity which should have finally made the boy a noble man. The following is a fragment of a letter written by Arnold's mother to her son, in these days while he was away from home in Canterbury, twelve miles from Norwich :

"NORWICH APRIL 12 1754.

" dear childe. I received yours of 1 instant and was glad to hear that you was well : pray my dear let your first consern be to make your pease with god as itt is of all conserns of y' greatest importence.  Keep a stedy watch over your thoughts, words and actions, be dutifull to superiors obliging to equalls and affibel to inferiors.

HANNAH ARNOLD.

" P. S. I have sent you fifty shillings youse itt prudently as you are accountable to God and your father. Your father and aunt joyns with me in love and servis to Mr Cogswell and ladey and yourself.  Your sister is from home.

" To Mr

benedict arnold

at

canterbury

"Your father put twenty more

Benedict is said to have been placed at one time under the instruction of a Dr. Jewett, of Montville, -- a little country town some half dozen miles below Norwich. He was afterwards bound out to serve an apprenticeship with a couple of gentlemen in Norwich, named Lathrop, who were very extensively engaged in the drug and medicine business. He was still quite a lad when he went into their store, and it is likely that he was taken away from school as early as he was, in consequence of the fast sinking character of his father. The Messrs. Lathrop, too, were distantly related to his mother, and she no doubt thought her son would receive at their hands as good a training as it was possible for her circumstances to allow him. All accounts agree that Benedict was a perverse young fellow, from the very beginning. There are several stories in existence that go to show this fact beyond dispute. His heart was bad, at the outset. He possessed a vicious temper, which he would neither control himself, nor suffer any one else to control. He loved mischief, not, like some boys, for the sake of mere roguery and fun, but rather because he had a decided love for visiting other persons with his malice. All the teachings and precepts of his mother seemed to have made but a slight impression upon him. Very few boys, at his age, could take much delight in robbing birds' nests, unless they were really bad at heart. But he would go out into the orchards and fields, and tear them from the trees with an inward chuckle of maliciousness, crushing the eggs he found, and pulling the helpless and unfledged young cruelly limb from limb. He took a downright pleasure in making the young birds cry out with his savage torments, that he might see the old ones flying around him in distress, wailing for the destruction of their innocent offspring. He would likewise, when he began his apprenticeship in the drug store, strew broken bits of glass, pieces of vials and bottles, in the road near the school-house, in order to mangle the feet of the unsuspecting boys who went bare-foot through the summer weather. The odd vials that came in the crockery crates were the property of the apprentices, according to the custom of those days; and young Benedict used to place them not far from the store where the school children would be likely to pick them up, not supposing that any one would ever claim them again : and as soon as they had started off with their treasure, he would dart out from his hiding place with a whip in his hand, shout after them that they were little thieves, and commence laying the lash about them without any compunctions. Mixed in with this mischief, was a dash of boldness, or recklessness, which occasionally drew forth the wonder and admiration of all the boys of the town. Most boys, with a temper like his, are apt to be arrant cowards; but it cannot be said that Arnold was a coward in any sense. He delighted in doing what no one else would dare to do, or even seriously think of. For example: when he carried the corn to the town gristmill for his employers, and while waiting for it to be ground, he sometimes caught hold of the great water-wheel at the mill, which was exposed to view, and, going round and round with it on its circuitous journey, displayed himself to the astonished crowd, now in the water, and now high up on the very top of the wheel. Such a feat as this gave him real delight. He loved applause, no matter how it was obtained; and when he failed to secure that, it was all the same if he was only able to make himself notorious, and generally talked about. One who carefully studies marked traits of boyish character like these, cannot very well help tracing out the future career of the man who still possesses them. Arnold showed himself a reckless, bad boy; it is easy to conclude that as a man he would prove to be not very much changed. He soon grew tired of the business to which his mother had apprenticed him, and formed the determination to run away. About this time, the Old French War broke out, in the year 1755, which is described in the biography of Gen. Israel Putnam; and the next year, 1756, Arnold being only sixteen years of age, he was so captivated with the thought of being a soldier, that he cherished the secret purpose of going off to the wars with the others who were at that time drafted from all parts of the Connecticut Colony. He saw in a military career something to excite and inflame his imagination; the irregular mode of life in a camp had many attractions for a spirit so uneasy and impatient of restraint as his; his young mind found much to desire for its own enjoyment, in the stirring scenes of battle, in hard and trying journeys through the wilderness whither the armies had already gone, and beneath the glories of an open sky; and no sooner was his impulsive purpose taken, than he was in equal haste to carry it into execution. Men were flocking to the colonial head-quarters from all directions, to join the army that was then forming against the French in Canada; and Arnold managed to reach Hartford safely with the rest. He let none of his friends know a syllable of his intention, not even his employers, or his mother; but, slinging such few clothes as he could hastily collect across his shoulder, he went off on foot to the rendezvous whence the Connecticut men were to start for Lake George and its vicinity. His poor mother was in great distress; so much so that she went to the minister of the parish, Dr. Lord, and prevailed upon him to interest himself, with others, in her design of getting the boy back before he should finally march away into the wilderness. The minister exerted himself to perform the office which the boy's mother so eagerly desired, although he cared little enough, probably, whether he returned into the town or not, such a name for mischief and malice had he succeeded in establishing; the result was, that he very soon came back to his mother and his employers, having been discharged from the army on the strength of the representations of his mother's friends. But he was restless and uneasy still. Already he pined again for some such novel excitement as he had just had a taste of. It was but a little while after his return that he took it into his head to try it once more, and this time he ran away in downright earnest. It was not worth while to send for him again, and so he was allowed to go. He very soon reached the region around Lake George where the fighting between the two hostile armies was going on, and found himself a soldier in reality. The times were dull, however, and he grew as impatient of restraint as before. His restless spirit chafed at the thought of lying idle through the season, when so much bloody excitement might easily be had. Coming to the conclusion that camp life, after all, was by far too monotonous and inactive for him, he deserted the army of his own accord, found his way back to Hartford, and thence returned to Norwich and his friends. His mother was overjoyed to recover him, as may be supposed; and no doubt she thought that this brief experience which he had gone through would be of essential service to him. The Messrs. Lathrop were willing to receive him back into their store, admiring his courage and spirit, even if they had little confidence in the steadiness of his character. One day not long after his return, an officer of the British army came into the town to look around after deserters, who were quite easily to be found in some places at that time. Arnold's friends heard that such a person was in the place, and immediately took him and hid him away in a cellar during the day, and at night sent him off several miles into the country, where he remained until all danger of detection was over. The mother of young Arnold was tried with him in every way. His conduct was so different from what she had hoped for in the only son that was left her, there is little doubt that her heart was overburdened with grief and sorrow, and her hold on life became less and less strong in consequence. She died not a great while afterwards, disappointed in her cherished hope of having a son to lean upon in her declining years, of whom she might be as fond as she was proud. At twenty-one, according to the legal articles by which he was bound out to learn the trade of a druggist, he became his own master, having served out his apprenticeship. About this time he left home and went off to New Haven, where he determined to set up in the business for himself. The Lathrops helped him, probably because of their feeling of interest in one of their own relations, and because they likewise knew this would be the best method of saving him to society; so that he began his career in his new and enlarged sphere of action under very favorable and encouraging auspices. He had money, and he had friends; and that is more than many a young man could say in those times. In the garret of the house he occupied while in New Haven, the sign was recently found that hung over the door of his store. It is black, with white letters, and painted alike on both sides. The lettering is as follows :

The Latin motto means--for himself and for the whole.

As his business increased, in consequence of the close attention he gave to it, he extended his operations to other branches of trade. He went into the sale of merchandise of all kinds. At length he engaged in the West India trade, and began to ship horses and cattle, mules and provisions, to the islands that compose the group known by that name, which was a great business in New Haven at that day, and continued to be for some time afterwards. This same business, too, his father had followed in Norwich before him, and became the possessor of his wealth in consequence. Like his father, too, he commanded his own vessels, and made voyages to the West Indies on his own account. He was considered a very hard captain, and did not seem to multiply his friends anywhere very fast. It is recorded that he fought a duel with a Frenchman, while absent on one of these trading voyages, and was likewise engaged in difficulties of all sorts with those around him. Hardly less than this was to be expected from his overbearing, hot, and impulsive temper. Perhaps it was in consequence of these same traits that his ventures in the West Indies finally turned out unsuccessful. His speculations all proved unfortunate, and he ended his career in that quarter with bankruptcy and the utter loss of his reputation. There were plenty of people who believed him dishonest and knavish. He at once returned to his old business in New Haven, at which he worked as hard as ever. He was a man of great energy when he set before himself some particular object for accomplishment, and pretty sure to recover, under favorable circumstances, from his misfortunes. In New Haven he soon got into trouble again. He was still carrying on his business as usual, and I copy an advertisement of his from the "Connecticut Gazette," a paper which was started in New Haven during the year 1755. It reads thus:--

" BENEDICT ARNOLD.-- Wants to buy a number of large genteel fat Horses, Pork, Oats, and Hay. And has to sell choice Cotton and Salt, by quantity or retail; and other goods as usual. New Haven, January 24th, 1766." The trouble alluded to was the whipping of a sailor who had served with him on one of his vessels to the West Indies, and who now came forward and openly accused Arnold of having smuggled goods into the port, and thereby defrauded the custom-house. Arnold gave him a severe thrashing, and forced him to make a solemn promise to leave the town and never come into it again. The sailor, however, did not go as he engaged, and Arnold took him in hand for failing to keep his word. As Arnold tells the whole story himself in a letter which he wrote to the publisher of the Connecticut Gazette, it will be more interesting to give it in his own words, as follows :

" MR. PRINTER : Sir--As I was a party concerned in whipping the Informer, the other day, and unluckily out of town when the Court set, and finding the affair misrepresented much to my disadvantage and many animadversions thereon, especially in one of your last by a very fair, candid gentleman indeed, as he pretends; after he had insinuated all that malice could do, adds, that he will say nothing to prejudice the minds of the people.--He is clearly seen through the Grass, but the weather is too cold for him to bite.--To satisfy the public, and in justice to myself and those concerned, I beg you'd insert in your next, the following detail of the affair. "The Informer having been a voyage with me, in which he was used with the greatest humanity, on our return was paid his wages to his full satisfaction; and informed me of his intention to leave the town that day, wished me well, and departed the town, as I imagined.--But he two days after endeavored to make information to a Custom House Officer; but it being holy time was desired to call on Monday, early on which day I heard of his intention, and gave him a little chastisement; on which he left the town; and on Wednesday returned to Mr. Beecher's, where I saw the fellow, who agreed to and signed the following acknowledgment and Oath.

" I, Peter Boole, not having the fear of God before my Eyes, but being instigated by the Devil, did on the 24th instant, make information, or endeavor to do the same, to one of the Custom House Officers for the Port of New Haven, against Benedict Arnold, for importing contraband goods, do hereby acknowledge I justly deserve a Halter for my malicious and cruel intentions. " I do now solemnly swear I will never hereafter make information, directly or indirectly, or cause the same to be done against any person or persons, whatever, for importing Contraband or any other goods into this Colony, or any Port of America; and that I will immediately leave New Haven and never enter the same again. So help me God. NEW HAVEN, 29th January, 1766. "This was done precisely at 7 o'clock, on which I engaged not to inform the sailors of his being in town, provided he would leave it immediately according to our agreement. Near four hours after I heard a noise in the street and a person informed me the sailors were at Mr. Beecher's. On enquiry, I found the fellow had not left the town. I then made one of the party and took him to the Whipping Post, where he received near forty lashes with a small cord, and was conducted out of town; since which on his return, the affair was submitted to Col. David Wooster and Mr. Enos Allen, (Gentlemen of reputed good judgment and understanding,) who were of opinion that the fellow was not whipped too much, and gave him 50 shillings damages only. " Query.-- Is it good policy; or would so great a number of people, in any trading town on the Continent, (New Haven excepted,) vindicate, protect and caress an informer--a character particularly at this alarming time so justly odious to the Public? Every such information tends to suppress our trade, so advantageous to the Colony, and to almost every individual both here and in Great Britain, and which is nearly ruined by the late detestable stamp and other oppressive acts--acts which we have so severely felt, and so loudly complained of, and so earnestly remonstrated against, that one would imagine every sensible man would strive to encourage trade and discountenance such useless, such Infamous Informers. BENEDICT ARNOLD." The above account lets one pretty thoroughly into the real nature of the man. Unquestionably he had been guilty of certain illegal practices, of which the sailor knew, and which he did not himself deny. But he was irritated at the thought of exposure, and resolved to silence his informer by driving him out of town; and after administering to him the second whipping, he appears in a card in the newspapers, and tries to divert public attention from the meanness of the act by showing the citizens what a lasting injury informers like this sailor could inflict upon the interests of trade. The whole affair illustrates Arnold's impetuous temper, and his determination to brook control at the hands of no one. A story is also told of him, at about this time, that one day he was engaged with his men in driving some cattle on board a vessel, when an ox of an obstinate temper refused to go. The animal finally turned on his tormentors with fury, and fled beyond their reach. Arnold instantly mounted a horse in pursuit, overtook the runaway, seized hold of him by the nostrils,--which is a very tender place, and thus held him fast until he was subdued. Arnold had three sons while he lived in New Haven, Benedict, Richard, and Henry. The former died while quite a young man, in the West Indies. It is believed that he came to an untimely and violent death, in consequence of his uncontrollable temper. In this respect he was very much like his father. Mrs. Arnold, who was originally a New Haven lady, died about the time the Revolutionary War commenced. Hannah, the only sister of Arnold, removed from Norwich to live with her brother, whom she loved with all a sister's devotion. And not until the whole world was assured of his deep and irreparable disgrace, did she give him up. She died at last somewhere in Canada.