|
|battles = American Revolutionary War Continental Army: * Capture of Fort Ticonderoga * Arnold's expedition to Quebec * Battle of Quebec * Battle of The Cedars * Battle of Valcour Island * Battle of Ridgefield * Relief of Fort Stanwix * Battles of Saratoga British Army * Raid of Richmond * Battle of Blandford * Battle of Groton Heights |awards = Boot Monument |relations = |laterwork = |signature = Benedict Arnold Signature.svg |signature_size = 190 }} Benedict Arnold (〔Brandt (1994), p. 4〕〔June 14, 1801) was a general during the American Revolutionary War who originally fought for the American Continental Army but defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fortifications at West Point, New York (future site of the U.S. Military Academy after 1802), overlooking the cliffs at the Hudson River (upriver from British- occupied New York City), and planned to surrender it to the British forces. After the plan was exposed in September 1780, he was commissioned into the British Army as a brigadier general. Born in Connecticut, Arnold was a merchant operating ships on the Atlantic Ocean when the war broke out in 1775. After joining the growing army outside Boston, he distinguished himself through acts of intelligence and bravery. His actions included the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, defensive and delaying tactics despite losing the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in 1776, the Battle of Ridgefield, Connecticut (after which he was promoted to major general), operations in relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix, and key actions during the pivotal Battles of Saratoga in 1777, in which he suffered leg injuries that ended his combat career for several years. Despite Arnold's successes, he was passed over for promotion by the Continental Congress while other officers claimed credit for some of his accomplishments.〔Martin (1997)〕 Adversaries in military and political circles brought charges of corruption or other malfeasance, but most often he was acquitted in formal inquiries. Congress investigated his accounts and found he was indebted to Congress after spending much of his own money on the war effort. Frustrated and bitter at this, as well the alliance with France and failure of Congress to accept Britain's 1778 proposal to grant full self-governance in the colonies, Arnold decided to change sides and opened secret negotiations with the British. In July 1780, he was offered, continued to pursue, and was awarded command of West Point. Arnold's scheme to surrender the fort to the British was exposed when American forces captured British Major John André carrying papers that revealed the plot. Upon learning of André's capture, Arnold fled down the Hudson River to the British sloop-of-war ''Vulture'', narrowly avoiding capture by the forces of George Washington, who had been alerted to the plot. Arnold received a commission as a brigadier general in the British Army, an annual pension of £360, and a lump sum of over £6,000.〔 He led British forces on raids in Virginia, and against New London and Groton, Connecticut, before the war effectively ended with the American victory at Yorktown. In the winter of 1782, Arnold moved to London with his second wife, Margaret "Peggy" Shippen Arnold. He was well received by King George III and the Tories, but frowned upon by the Whigs. In 1787, he returned to the merchant business with his sons Richard and Henry in Saint John, New Brunswick. He returned to London to settle permanently in 1791, where he died ten years later. Because of the way he changed sides, his name quickly became a byword in the United States for treason or betrayal.〔Rogets (2008)〕 His conflicting legacy is recalled in the ambiguous nature of some of the memorials that have been placed in his honor. ==Early life== Benedict was born the second of six children to Benedict Arnold (1683–1761) and Hannah Waterman King in Norwich, Connecticut, on January 14, 1741.〔 Like his father and grandfather, as well as an older brother who died in infancy, he was named after his great-grandfather Benedict Arnold, an early governor of the Colony of Rhode Island.〔 Only Benedict and his sister Hannah survived to adulthood; his other siblings succumbed to yellow fever in childhood.〔Brandt (1994), pp. 5–6〕 His siblings were, in order of birth: Benedict (August 15, 1738April 30, 1739), Hannah (December 9, 1742August 11, 1803), Mary (June 4, 1745September 10, 1753), Absolom (April 4, 1747July 22, 1750) and Elizabeth (November 19, 1749September 29, 1755). Through his maternal grandmother, Arnold was a descendant of John Lothropp, an ancestor of at least six U.S. presidents.〔Price (1984), pp. 38–39〕 Arnold's father was a successful businessman, and the family moved in the upper levels of Norwich society. When he was ten, Arnold was enrolled in a private school in nearby Canterbury, with the expectation that he would eventually attend Yale. However, the deaths of his siblings two years later may have contributed to a decline in the family fortunes, since his father took up drinking. By the time he was fourteen, there was no money for private education. His father's alcoholism and ill health kept him from training Arnold in the family mercantile business, but his mother's family connections secured an apprenticeship for Arnold with two of her cousins, brothers Daniel and Joshua Lathrop, who operated a successful apothecary and general merchandise trade in Norwich.〔Brandt (1994), p. 6〕 His apprenticeship with the Lathrops lasted seven years.〔Brandt (1994), p. 7〕 In 1755, Arnold, attracted by the sound of a drummer, attempted to enlist in the provincial militia for service against the French, but his mother refused permission.〔Flexner (1953), p. 7〕 In 1757, when he was sixteen, he did enlist in the Connecticut militia, which marched off toward Albany and Lake George. The French had besieged Fort William Henry in northeastern New York, and their Indian allies had committed atrocities after their victory. Word of the siege's disastrous outcome led the company to turn around; Arnold served for 13 days.〔Flexner (1953), p. 8〕 A commonly accepted story that Arnold deserted from militia service in 1758〔Randall (1990), p. 32〕 is based on uncertain documentary evidence.〔Murphy (2007), p. 18〕 Arnold's mother, to whom he was very close, died in 1759. His father's alcoholism worsened after the death of his wife, and the youth took on the responsibility of supporting his father and younger sister. His father was arrested on several occasions for public drunkenness, was refused communion by his church and eventually died in 1761.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Benedict Arnold」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|