Benedict Arnold was a complex character, and his career has long prompted difficult questions. How could such a brilliant young patriot and successful fighting general in the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) become the most notorious traitor in US history? For many, the answer lies with the psychological flaws in Arnold’s personality: predominantly his greed for glory and wealth, and an egotistical view of his own abilities that wasn’t universally shared by his compatriots (although Arnold was a pampered pet of George Washington himself – at least until he betrayed his doting mentor in the most despicable way possible).
Born in Connecticut in 1741, Arnold grew up in a comfortably off New England family. The great-grandson of an early governor of Rhode Island, he was running a mercantile fleet when the Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775 – though his lifelong greed for gold was apparent even at this early stage, as he supplemented his legitimate income by smuggling on the side. Following the opening of hostilities at Lexington, Massachusetts, he immediately joined the revolutionary patriots, rising swiftly through the ranks to become one of the boldest and most successful young commanders in Washington’s armies, and eventually attaining the rank of major general.
In May 1775, within weeks of the outbreak of war, Arnold and a small force captured the British garrison of Fort Ticonderoga, New York, with a daring seaborne assault across Lake Champlain. That winter, he almost added Canada to the rebellious United States by an equally bold cross-border raid on Quebec, during which he was severely wounded in the leg. He was wounded again in 1777, while playing a key role in the devastating defeat of the British at Saratoga, and later in the war suffered two more injuries to his left leg, which left him permanently lame and walking with a cane, with one leg shorter than the other.
