Crummy Cousin: Benedict Arnold

 

Welllllll, they can’t all be winners. Take, for example, our 2nd cousin 10x removed, Benedict Arnold. His great-grandparents, John & Elizabeth (Rogers) Turner, are our 11th great-grandparents. You can find him by going up Lydia Mae Stewart’s branch (she was Jesse Ray Green’s mother).

 

Benedict Arnold didn’t start out as a traitor. Less than a month after the Battles of Lexington and Concord he, alongside Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British. In the fall of 1877, Arnold distinguished himself at the Battles of Saratoga, where on October 7 he was gravely wounded in his left leg. A monument to his leg can be found at Saratoga today.

 

Arnold’s injury put him out of commission, allowing the duplicitous Major General Horatio Gates to advance his own career in the Continental Army. Arnold resented this, which ultimately led to his plot to surrender West Point (which in 1780 he commanded) to the Redcoats. But on September 23, before Arnold could implement his plan, British Major John André (more on him in a blog post to come) was captured near Tarrytown, New York. Inside his stockings, André was carrying a letter from Arnold telling the British just how to do it. Busted!

 

Arnold skedaddled downriver to the (aptly named) HMS Vulture, a Royal Navy sloop-of-war waiting for him in the Hudson River, and was promptly awarded a commission as a brigadier general. He went on to lead raids on Richmond, Virginia, and New London, Connecticut, which he burned to the ground on September 6, 1781.

 

Do you think the residents of New London have forgiven Arnold for his treachery? Hardly! If you’re available tonight, join the angry rabble as they burn an effigy of our cousin. It's an annual tradition! However, before they burn the effigy they cut of its leg—wounded in honorable service to this nation—and give it a symbolic burial. And if you think this is unseemly, if you think this is inappropriate for children and more sensitive viewers, check out this video from an adorable 5-year-old history lover named Oshie who took in last year’s celebration—he loved it!