George Canning Hill

“ A flag came over from the Vulture to Verplanck's Point while Hamilton was there, bringing a letter from Arnold to Washington. He still protested his love for his country, but believed he would be judged harshly by the world. He asked no favor for himself, but simply protection for his wife from every insult and injury that a mistaken vengeance of his country might expose her to. "She is as good," said he, "and as innocent as an angel, and is incapable of doing wrong." ”

“ The British were safely and snugly entrenched within a strongly walled town, with an abundance both of defences and provisions; while the little American force were shivering and half starved upon an elevated plain, with the wintry winds howling around them from every quarter, and the sullen skies promising them no more welcome visitants than the icy sleets and snows that were to blow out of them. ”

“ The moment Arnold caught the whispered hint, he was impatient to share the glory which such an expedition, if successful, would be certain to bring. So that as soon as he arrived at Cambridge with his handsomely uniformed company, he laid the plan before the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, as if it were altogether original with himself; and went on to show them how easy it would be to carry it out. He set forth his design with all the enthusiasm of his easily moved nature. ”

“ Still, Washington was merciful, even while sternly pursuing the course of his duty; since he could not grant André's last request, he saved his feelings as much as possible by keeping him ignorant of the mode of his death to the last.
The morning of the 2d came. André was as composed as ever; all around him were sensibly filled with a sympathy that gave them indescribable pain. His servant came into his apartment, the same who had come up with his uniform from New York to tend him in his last moments, and could not keep back the flow of tears as he looked at his still pleasant face. ”

“ Luzerne held him in the highest admiration, and Arnold thought he could take advantage of so favorable a fact. To him, therefore, he opened his heart freely; he rehearsed the history of his services for his country, the wrongs with which that country had visited him, and the persistent and groundless malice of his enemies; he said that the war had ruined him, and he must either obtain pecuniary aid, or relinquish the army altogether; in short, he made an outright proposal for the King of the French to purchase him, by favoring him with a loan of money. ”

“ Of course there could be no concert of action, when it was most needed, too, with such a state of feeling between the general officers. Arnold sought Gates, and told him plainly what he thought of his meanness in leaving him out of his despatches to Congress, and insisted that it not only did himself a wrong, but it was a greater wrong to the brave troops that had so successfully fought the battle. Gates had a high temper, as well as high self-esteem; they exchanged angry words, such as men never like to recall afterwards, and parted in the heat of their passion. ”

“ It was a curious, and a wretched picture; and yet it compelled admiration for the courage and pluck that were displayed on every side. Here was a poorly fed, poorly clad, and poorly supplied army, the mere remnant of what it was when it set out on this formidable winter expedition; they had no heavier ordnance than three mortars and a few light pieces of artillery; the snow was falling on their little half-protected encampment almost incessantly; their limbs were bitten with the severe frosts almost every night they lay down to their broken slumbers ”

“ So cool an action is very rarely recorded of any one in a time of great danger. It drew forth the admiration of all to whom it soon after became known. A few years ago, an old man, who was a boy at the time of this transaction, declared that himself and a few other boys skinned Arnold's horse, after the battle, and found nine bullet holes in his hide! It was wonderful that the brave rider should himself have escaped.
That night, the British stayed in Ridgefield. The Americans still hung on their rear, while Arnold again took the saddle and threw himself in the way of their advance. ”

“ Irving well says of André and his correspondence with Arnold through such a channel, "Various circumstances connected with this nefarious negotiation, argue lightness of mind and something of debasing alloy on the part of André. The correspondence carried on for months in the jargon of traffic, savored less of the camp than the counting-house; the protracted tampering with a brave and necessitous man for the sacrifice of his fame and the betrayal of his trust, strikes us as being beneath the range of a truly chivalrous nature." ”

“ So active a spirit as that of Arnold would not permit slumber to come near his eyelids on such a night. He hastily called a council of his officers, and it was resolved by them to try and make their way back to Crown Point before morning. It was a hazardous undertaking perhaps hardly a possible one. Yet it looked as if little else now was left them. The enemy were vastly their superior, both in the number of their vessels and their men, and would be more than likely, if they came to another engagement, to sink them, in their present shattered condition, without any trouble. ”

“ Encumbered with their arms, accoutrements, baggage, and provisions, at the very outskirts of a wild and untravelled forest, two hundred miles of the rockiest and sternest country imaginable stretching between them and the French settlements on the frontier, with fierce river currents and precipitous torrents offering their obstacles to their daily progress, it would not have been very much to be wondered at, if many of them had given out at the first appearance of such astounding difficulties and dangers. ”

“ Every such information tends to suppress our trade, so advantageous to the Colony, and to almost every individual both here and in Great Britain, and which is nearly ruined by the late detestable stamp and other oppressive acts--acts which we have so severely felt, and so loudly complained of, and so earnestly remonstrated against, that one would imagine every sensible man would strive to encourage trade and discountenance such useless, such Infamous Informers.
I am Sir, your humble servant,
BENEDICT ARNOLD."
The above account lets one pretty thoroughly into the real nature of the man. ”

“ Arnold immediately wrote back to Washington, on receiving his letter, "I am greatly obliged to your Excellency for interesting yourself so much in respect to my appointment, which I have had no advice of, and know not by what means it was announced in the papers. Congress undoubtedly have a right of promoting those whom, from their abilities, and their long and arduous services, they esteem most deserving. Their promoting junior officers to the rank of major-generals, I view as a very civil way of requesting my resignation, as unqualified for the office I hold. ”

“ Arnold at once took command of the remnant of the little army, which now numbered only eight hundred men. The moment Congress heard the news of this gallant storming of Quebec, they made Arnold a brigadier-general, as a token of their appreciation of his skill and bravery. He had well earned so significant a compliment. They likewise reinforced him with more troops, taken from New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts; and these new troops reached Quebec only by walking on snow-shoes and carrying their own provisions. ”

“ While thus enveloped in the insignia of a glorious and successful Revolution, and no doubt smitten with remorse at the thought of the crimes for which he was answerable, alternately toying with the honored uniform and deploring the depth of infamy into which he had plunged himself, life took its departure, and the soul of the traitor went to another world. ”

“ It is not difficult for those who are given to trace the line of cause and effect, to see in this transaction of Congress, yielding as they did to the virulent prejudices of Pennsylvania, the natural stimulus and inducement to that crime which will make the name of Benedict Arnold forever detestable.
Washington reprimanded him; but he did it in as mild a way as possible, knowing something himself of the sensitiveness of the brave soldier. His words were these :-- "Our profession is the chastest of all; even the shadow of a fault tarnishes the lustre of our finest achievements. ”

“ Let me hope, sir, that if aught in my character impresses you with esteem towards me; if aught in my misfortunes marks me as the victim of policy and not of resentment, I shall experience the operation of these feelings in your breast by being informed that I am not to die on a gibbet. ”

“ Arnold during his stay with the British army in Philadelphia, and before her marriage, he made use of so fortunate a circumstance to cover his correspondence now with her husband. It was not, however, what a man with the highest and most delicate sense of honor would have permitted himself to do. Mrs. Arnold afterwards rested under the stigma of being privy to the nature of this correspondence; but there is nothing to show that it was more than an unfounded suspicion. Had André been alive, he would have set the matter right with a word. ”

“ The British officer represented that unless Arnold would consent to this proposal, which Major Sherburne had already signed, he could not answer for the consequences; the savages could not be restrained from putting all the prisoners to death.
This was truly a horrible alternative. Common humanity compelled Arnold to do all that lay in his power to save his countrymen who were in the enemy's hands; and still he flatly refused to be bound by any such terms as that they should never again, if released, take up arms against the British. ”

“ A sentinel, who was thunderstruck by what he saw, hastily snapped his fusee at Allen, but fortunately it missed fire, and he ran off through a covered way within the fort. Rushing on close behind him, the assailants pushed their way to the parade within the barracks, where they at once found themselves masters. The garrison were of course aroused from their sleep by the loud shoutings and hallooings of the victorious party, and sprang from their beds in a state of great alarm. ”

“ The leaves in the forest were changing rapidly, furnishing the most gorgeous colorings on which the eye could desire to rest. The waters in the ponds they came to were calm and unruffled, and in the placid bosom of each the spacious dome of the sky was perfectly reflected. And the stained leaves of Autumn scattered themselves over the surface of the ponds as they fell, forming a beautiful mosaic pavement around their borders which heightened indescribably their sequestered beauty. ”

“ Very few boys, at his age, could take much delight in robbing birds' nests, unless they were really bad at heart. But he would go out into the orchards and fields, and tear them from the trees with an inward chuckle of maliciousness, crushing the eggs he found, and pulling the helpless and unfledged young cruelly limb from limb. ”

“ Not a sound was to be heard within the building, and they concluded that the men who served the guns must have fallen asleep on their watch. Montgomery stepped forth in the gray of this winter's morning, with the snow sifting down all around them, and cried out, in a loud voice, "Men of New York ! you will not fear to follow where your General leads! march on !" and at once rushed forward to charge the battery. ”

“ Lafayette and General Knox, however, turned off with Washington; but Colonel Hamilton and the aide of Lafayette kept on, and presented to the fair hostess their commander's apology. They sat down to breakfast as desired, Arnold and his wife, and Hamilton and McHenry. Mrs. Arnold had been there not more than four or five days, having come from Philadelphia with her infant child, some six months old. She was as agreeable and chatty as ever; but Arnold himself sat at the table gloomy and taciturn. ”

“ Washington said of the address, "I am at a loss which to admire most, the confidence of Arnold in publishing it, or the folly of the enemy in supposing that a production signed by so infamous a character will have any weight with the people of these States, or any influence upon our officers abroad." No such desertions followed from his proclamation as he expected. It was all nothing more than a trick to make Clinton and the British think him a person of vastly more influence and importance than he was. ”