Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor

Benedict Arnold should have died in battle. For the first half of the American Revolution, he fought brilliant and successful campaigns. He built an American fleet on Lake Champlain, repulsed the British at Valcour Island, won the battle of Saratoga and nearly succeeded in making Canada the 14th state. So why did he turn coat?

Motives are difficult, but there was something almost too ambitious about Arnold. Was he unstable? Overly ardent? Grandiose? Whatever the vice, it visited him fatally late in the war. In 1880 he sold himself and his secrets to the Brits. He got 6000 pounds, the contempt of his allies and a name that means "traitor" to this day.

"A tale of high tragedy." (The Quarterly Journal of Military History)