Overview
Without the benefit of formal military training or significant militia experience, Benedict Arnold rose through the officer corps to be one of the most senior Major Generals in the Continental Army. After switching sides, Arnold served as a Brigadier General in the British Army. His legacy and contributions are hotly debated among historians and the public.
While traditionally despised as America’s most notorious traitor, recent historians have partially resurrected his reputation. Twenty-first historians reinterpreted Arnold as an outstanding military officer mistreated by the Continental Congress. In this view, Arnold became a turncoat to escape Congress’s inability to recognize his contributions. In another interpretation, Arnold genuinely believed that the Americans were incapable of self-government, as evidenced by Congressional inaction, and therefore needed to rejoin the British Empire for effective governmental administration.
Primary Sources
Benedict Arnold Papers, 1765-1886 (MS Am 1446). Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Benedict Arnold Papers, relating to the Major John Andre’s apprehension, 1780. Library of Congress.
Biographies
Brumwell, Stephen. . New Haven, CT: YUP New Haven and London, 2018.
Hill, George Canning, 1825-1898. Benedict Arnold: a Biography. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1865.
A digital version is available through Hathitrust.
Flexner, James Thomas. The Traitor and the Spy. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1953.
Lefkowitz, Arthur S. Benedict Arnold’s Army: The 1775 American Invasion of Canada during the Revolutionary War. 1st ed. New York, NY ; El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2008.
Lefkowitz, Arthur S. Benedict Arnold in the Company of Heroes: The Lives of the Extraordinary Patriots Who Followed Arnold to Canada at the Start of the American Revolution. 1st ed. El Dorado Hills, Calif: Savas Beatie, 2012.
Arthur Lefkowitz portrays Benedict Arnold as a talented loner who needed mentorship and supervision and who could not avoid conflicts with superiors and subordinate officers. He regards Arnold’s legacy as the junior officers he led on the 1775 march to Quebec. Lefkowitz offers a unique assertion that if Gen. Richard Montgomery had survived the Quebec City attack, Arnold would have significantly benefited from his mentorship, and his course to treason could have been avoided.
While you can’t judge a book by its cover, Lefkowitz adds interest to his work with a clever cover design. He commissioned a painting by Dahl Taylor of Albany, NY which features Arnold inspecting a map. Creatively, Lefkowitz’s two Jack Russell Terriers are featured.
Malcolm, Joyce Lee. The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold: An American Life. New York and London: Pegasus, 2018.
Martin, James Kirby. Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Warrior Reconsidered. New York: New York University Press, 1997.
Merrill, Jane, and John Endicott. The Late Years of Benedict Arnold: Fugitive, Smuggler, Mercenary, 1780-1801. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2022.
Nelson, James L. Benedict Arnold’s Navy: The Ragtag Fleet That Lost the Battle of Lake Champlain but Won the American Revolution. Camden, Me.: International Marine/McGraw-Hill, 2006.
Palmer, Dave Richard. George Washington and Benedict Arnold: A Tale of Two Patriots. Washington, D.C., Lanham, MD: Regnery Pub. ; Distributed to the trade by National Book Network, 2006.
A former West Point superintendent, David Richard Palmer’s book is an easy-to-read narrative that covers the subjects’ lives in a short 400 pages. Written for the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, the duo biography tells the classic story of the father of the United States and the traitor without a country. Written without footnotes and bibliography, scholars will find Palmer’s work wanting in academic precision. However, the first-rate pictures, illustrations, maps, and large font sizes make the book engaging and highly readable. It is best read by those unfamiliar with the lives of George Washington and Benedict Arnold.
Philbrick, Nathaniel. Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution. New York, New York: Viking, 2016.
Randall, Willard Sterne. Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor. 1st ed. New York: Morrow, 1990.
Wilson, Barry K. Benedict Arnold: A Traitor in Our Midst. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2001
A Canadian journalist, Barry Wilson, demonstrates that there is more to Benedict Arnold’s story than his battlefield accomplishments during the American Revolution and his ignominious treason. He opens his Arnold biography with a captivating vignette of discovering Arnold’s British Army coat among his Canadian descendants. Amazingly, the coat is in remarkable shape, having been lovingly cared for over six generations. While describing Arnold’s well-known Revolutionary War exploits, Wilson describes Arnold’s post-war years in Canada seeking to build a merchant trading business. Arnold worked hard to establish his two sons as successful businessmen, even to his own detriment. Wilson also provides a unique perspective on Arnold’s allegedly illegitimate son which in its own right, is worth the read of this book. I recommend Benedict Arnold: A Traitor in Our Midst for its unique, non-American perspective and for the inclusion of material culture in a well-done biographical sketch. Wilson highlights important aspects of Benedict Arnold’s life which succeeding biographers continue to ignore.
Young Adult books
Fritz, Jean. Traitor, the Case of Benedict Arnold: The Case of Benedict Arnold. New York: Putnam & Grosset Group, 1997
Fictional Autobiography
Stimson, F.J. My Story: Being the Memoirs of Benedict Arnold: Late Major-General in the Continental Army and Brigadier-General in that of His Britannic Majesty. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1917.
Saratoga Battlefield Monument
Errors and Embellishments in the inscription on the Arnold Boot Memorial
- “the most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army” – Arnold never won a battle under his leadership. At Saratoga he was closely supervised by General Gates
- “desparately wounded” – wounded in the leg
- “Great Western Redoubt” – actually, Breymann Redoubt
- “winning the decisive battle” – Yorktown has a stronger claim
- “and for himselt the rank of Major General” – He was already a major general at the time of the Saratoga battle
Assault on the City of Quebec, December 31, 1775
Arnold’s Virginia Invasion as a British General
Researching the American Revolution 