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Show Time Softens the Harsh Verdict of His ! Contemporaries on an American Military Genius Who Was Born Just 200 Years Ago! I , , , - . 1 ! , v -VV f i .'!, HIGH TIDE IN THE CAREER OF A MILITARY GENIUS Benedict Arnold leads the successful attack on the Hessian redoubt at the Battle of Saratoga, October 7, 1777. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) ON THE battlefield of Saratoga in New York stands a monument that is unique. One side of the simple marble slab is adorned with a column, in bold relief, in the shape of a cannon. Carved at its top are a wreath, an epaulet and a boot! But there is no word engraved there to indicate why anyone should erect a' monument to a boot. Walk around to the other side of the monument and you will read on the smooth face of the stone these words: Erected by JOHN WATTS de PETSTER Brev: Maj: Gen: S.N.Y. 2nd. V?"Pres't Saratoga Mon't Ass't'n In Memory of the "most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army" who was desperately wounded on this spot, the sally port of BURGOYNE'S "GREAT (WESTERN) REDOUBT" 7th. October 1777, winning for his countrymen the Decisive Battle of the American Revolution and for himself the rank of has phrased it) is one of the chief points of interest on the battlefield and many Americans who see it are now inclined to think somewhat some-what differently of Benedict Arnold Ar-nold than to associate his name always with the word "traitor" as they learned from their school book histories to do. In fact, the passage of time has softened the harsh verdict which his contemporaries passed upon this man who was born just 200 years ago (January 14, 1741). Through the perspective of a century cen-tury and a half Americans are beginning to see more clearly the real tragedy that was the life of Benedict Arnold, and they are learning to share Washington's emotion sadness that a brilliant career should end so darkly rather than hatred for a man who, with good reason for being disap- v U '' j ' , , I .V " 1 r - ' Hi ' 1 patience with less impulsive men were responsible for most of them. They prevented his winning the recognition due him for one of the most brilliant exploits soon afterwards. aft-erwards. That was his epic march to aid Gen. Richard Montgomery Mont-gomery in the attack on Quebec late in 1775. Though the expedition expedi-tion was a failure, Arnold succeeded succeed-ed in bringing the remnants of his command back by way of Lake Champlain, beat off an attack by a British fleet and, although he had to beach his boats and burn them, he saved his army. "Surely a more active, a more spirited and sensible officer fills no department of the army" was Washington's praise of Arnold after aft-er this exploit. But it did not save him from the machinations of his enemies, who spread false reports about him. So when congress, in February, 1777, promoted five brigadier generals to major generals, gen-erals, Arnold's name was omitted from the list. That fall he was sent to aid Gen. Philip Schuyler in resisting Burgoyne's invasion. Then Gen. Horatio Gates replaced Schuyler as commander of the army of the north and the two armies came to grips at Saratoga on September 19. Arnold, commanding the left wing, distinguished himself while Gates was showing all the ineptitude inepti-tude that characterized his whole career. There was a furious quarrel quar-rel between the two generals which ended in Arnold's sending his resignation to Washington. He was replaced by General Lincoln but remained with the army. . On October 7 came the final great battle at Saratoga and when the tide seemed to be running against the Americans Arnold could no longer remain sulking in his tent. Mounting his horse, he rushed into the battle "with the fury and impetuosity of a tiger," led his men in a successful assault as-sault on the Hessian camp, and went down with a bullet through his leg. This was the turning point of the battle. Although Gates and his friends tried to disparage Arnold's great contribution to that victory, congress con-gress made him a major-general, Washington presented him with a "pair of elegant pistols" and he was named commander of the American forces in Philadelphia. Then the hatred of his enemies began to dog him again. Eight charges of personal and official misconduct were brought against him and although he was virtually virtual-ly acquitted by a court martial, he was sentenced to be reprimanded repri-manded by Washington, who carried car-ried out the distasteful duty as considerately as possible. But this was the last straw for the embittered, disappointed man. Soon afterwards followed his appointment ap-pointment as commander at West Point, his plotting with the British to hand that post over to them, the exposure of the plot, the capture of, Maj. John Andre, adjutant-general adjutant-general of the British army and Arnold's fellow-conspirator, and Arnold's flight to the British. After the war was over Arnold went to London to live. Although the king received him graciously he found that the English had little lit-tle admiration or liking for the "American traitor." When he walked the streets, he was always conscious of their sneers as much as he was of the undisguised hostility hos-tility of Americans in the British capital. Later he engaged in trading in the West Indies, then lived for a time in St. John, New Brunswick, where many American Ameri-can Loyalists had settled. But they had little more use for him than the English andeventuallyh went back to London, where he died June 14, 1801, a broken-hearted, poverty-stricken old man. Major General If, as this inscription says, the monument was erected in memory memo-ry of the "most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army" who won for his countrymen "the Decisive De-cisive Battle of the American Revolution," then why isn't his name mentioned? The answer is, of course, that if it were, this would become a monument to treason, also. For the name which would be engraved here would be "Benedict Arnold" and, for a century and a half, that has been synonymous with "treason." As for the boot, it is a replica of the one worn by Arnold on his left leg which was wounded at Quebec and at Saratoga. The story back of this unusual monument monu-ment is this: In 1877 when the Saratoga Monument Mon-ument association was organized to erect a monument on the site of battle which was the "Turning Point of the Revolution," it planned a monument with four niches. In three were to be statues stat-ues of Generals Horatio Gates, Philip Schuyler and Daniel Morgan Mor-gan of the American army, but the fourth was left vacant a silent si-lent memorial to one of the heroes of Saratoga who later turned traitor to the Patriot cause. But General de Peyster, one of the vice presidents of the battle monument association, was not satisfied with this negative gesture. ges-ture. He believed that even though Arnold had been a traitor, there should be some recognition of his services at Saratoga. Even though he could not honor Arnold by name, or the whole of him in a statue, he could honor Arnold's Ar-nold's leg which had received two bullets in the cause of liberty. So he commissioned George Edwin Ed-win Bissell, a noted American sculptor, to carve the memorial to Arnold and it was set up in 1877. At that time the land on which it stood was private property prop-erty and could be reached only by a footpath across a swamp. Consequently, few visitors to the battlefield ever saw it. In 1929 this land was taken over by the state of New York and incorporated incorporat-ed in the memorial park which includes approximately 1,700 of the 3,400 acres over which the British and American armies fought so desperately in 1777. Today the Saratoga battlefield is one of the best-known "shrines of American liberty," visited annually an-nually by thousands. The Arnold memorial, "touching in its simplicity sim-plicity and symbolism" (as R. L. Duffus of the New York Times BENEDICT ARNOLD pointed and embittered, betrayed his trust. Without seeking in any way to excuse his treason, they can more readily understand why he acted as he did and they can recognize the fact that not even his one great act of faithlessness can obscure his greatness as a military genius. Arnold proved that he was a great soldier many a time before that fatal day in 1780 when his plot to hand the stronghold of West Point over to the British was foiled. At the outbreak of the Revolution he led a company of militia from his native state of Connecticut to Cambridge to join Washington's army. But, tiring of the inactivity of the siege of Boston, Bos-ton, he obtained permission to enlist en-list men for an expedition against Crown Point and Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. This resulted in his first frustration. frus-tration. For another spirit as bold as himself Ethan Allen with his Green Mountain Boys from Vermont was ahead of him. So Arnold took part in the capture of Ticonderoga as a simple volunteer with Allen but he did lead an expedition ex-pedition which pushed forward and captured St. John's. However, How-ever, when a committee came from Massachusetts, it was not "to praise him for his feat but to inquire in-quire into his conduct. Disgusted at this, Arnold resigned from the service and returned to his home. This inauspicious start to his military career was prophetic of the suspicion and jealousy that was to pursue him from that time forward. For Benedict Arnold always al-ways had enemies and his hot temper, his arrogance and his im- |
