Before He Became a Turncoat: Benedict Arnold’s Invasion of Canada
On the snow-blasted Plains of Abraham, American forces prepared to launch an attack on the English citadel at Quebec. It was a recipe for disaster.
Here s What You Need to Know: The ambitious Canadian campaign ended in defeat, but the American forces had lived to fight another day.
Fresh from his capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Colonel Benedict Arnold in the summer of 1775 lobbied hard to the Continental Congress for authorization to lead an expedition to the lower St. Lawrence River and attack the English citadel at Quebec. He was prepared, said Arnold, “to carry the plan into execution and, with the smiles of Heaven, to answer for the success of it.” However, after careful consideration, Congress gave the command to Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler, a prominent New York landholder, with Brig. Gen. Richard Montgomery, an ex-British captain, serving as his second in command.
Anne S. K. Brown Collection at Brown University, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain
When the Revolutionary War broke out, Benedict Arnold became one of America’s first military heroes. But within a few short years, patriots were comparing him unfavorably to the man who betrayed Jesus. As a disgusted Benjamin Franklin wrote to the Marquis de Lafayette, “Judas sold only one man, Arnold three millions [sic].”
That Arnold defected to the British army in 1780 is common knowledge. But before he switched allegiances, he engineered some crucial victories for the colonist rebels and, by all accounts, led a pretty interesting life. Here are a few things you might not have known about one of America s most notorious traitors.