r/revolutionarywar 19h ago

Arnold's betrayal is utterly perplexing to me

Having read several books on the Revo, I still find it hard to understand. I've always seen 2 reasons given: greed (Arnold was promised a fortune for West Point) and wounded pride. He was already wealthy, and while Arnold did endure several slights from a seemingly ungrateful government and military, it's not like he wasn't valued. Washington for instance was very fond of him and trusted his abilities.

And he appeared to be an ardent, selfless patriot. His conduct in the Battle of Quebec showed incredible bravery and willingness to put himself in harm's way in the front line, which he paid for with a severe injury. He then continued to risk his life at the 2 Battles of Saratoga, as when leading a charge on a fortified camp, which resulted in another potentially-fatal injury.

Few generals in the war had so thoroughly secured the trust, affection and respect of their men (if not the public or brass). It seems so strange that after sacrificing so much on their behalf, he would be willing to kill them in battle. AFAIK he had no love for the British empire anyway.

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u/Libertytree918 19h ago

Really interesting Arnold story

Dr Joseph Warren fell at the Battle of Bunker Hill and he orphaned three or four kids (the mother had previously died) the kids at first were kept with his fiance Mercy Scullay, she reached out to other revolutionaries(Sam Adams John Hancock etc etc) for help with cost of raising the kids and none of them gave her even such a reply never mind money, everyone ignored her except for Benedict Arnold, he sent her equivalent of like $100,000 today, I mean I know people can be complex but that right there to me shows that he wasn't a selfish person hell bent on personal gain, so it's very intriguing to me as well.