Benedict Arnold
army officer who betrayed America to the British during the Revolutionary War (1740–1801)
Biography
Benedict Arnold was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defecting to the British in 1780. General George Washington had given him his fullest trust and had placed him in command of West Point in New York. Arnold was planning to surrender the fort to British forces, but the plot was discovered in September 1780, whereupon he fled to the British lines. In the later part of the war, Arnold was commissioned as a brigadier general in the British Army and placed in command of the American Legion. He led British forces in battle against the army which he had once commanded, and his name became synonymous with treason and betrayal in the United States.
Occupation
Benedict Arnold is recorded as a military commander, a apothecary, a merchant and a military officer, born in Connecticut (1741–1801).
Connections to Connecticut
Benedict Arnold was born in Norwich, Connecticut in 1741. Explore other notable figures from Connecticut, historic sites connected to this era, and the full colonial and statehood history of the state using the links below.
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Biographical content adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Source: Wikipedia.
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