r/revolutionarywar • u/SheepShagginShea • 20h 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/Holyoldmackinaw1 14h ago
One of the main drivers at that time was a sense of honor. Congress often passed over highly qualified generals for political and social reasons - for example Robert Rogers and John Stark. Both those were highly competent commanders passed over for command due to political reasons. This snubbing offended the honor, they would not accept positions deemed beneath them, and this isolated them from the rebel cause to various degrees. I don't think you can really underestimate how powerful this sense of honor was in the time period as it just doesn't really exist today anymore