Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 6.djvu/17

 BENEDICT ARNOLD 207 BENEDICT ARNOLD* By Edgar Fawcett (1741-1801) Some of Arnold's biographers have declared that he was a very- vicious boy, and have chiefly illus- trated this fact by painting him as a ruthless robber of birds'-nests. But a great many boys who began life by robbing birds'-nests have ended it much more creditably. The aston- ishing and interesting element in Benedict Arnold's career was what one might term the anomaly and incongruity of his treason. Born at Norwich, Conn., in 1741, he was blessed from his earliest years by wholesome parental influences. The education which he received was an excellent one, considering his co- lonial environment. Tales of his boyish pluck and hardihood cannot be disputed, while others that record his youthful cruelty are doubtless the coinings of slander. It is certain that in 1755, when the conflict known as "the old French war" first broke out, he gave marked proof of patriotism, though as yet the merest lad. Later, at the very beginning of the Revolution, he left his thriving business as a West India mer- chant in New Haven and headed a company of volunteers. Before the end of 1775 he had been made a commissioned colonel by the authorities of Massachu- setts, and had marched through a sally-port, capturing the fortress of Ticonde- roga with tough old Ethan Allen at his side and 83 "Green Mountain Boys" behind him. Later, at the siege of Quebec, he behaved with splendid courage. Through great difficulties and hardships he dauntlessly led his band to the high- perched and almost impregnable town. Pages might be filled in telling how toil- some was this campaign, now requiring canoes and bateaux, now taxing the strength of its resolute little horde with rough rocks, delusive bogs, and all
 * Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.