Posted on 07/06/2010 7:23:40 AM PDT by Pharmboy
...and when the General rode up to him as Lee was retreating at Monmouth, a witness describes Washington as quite voluble in his reprimand, and that “...the trees shook.” It was one of the very rare occasions that Washington lost his temper (one other was at The Battle of Manhattan when the militia retreated from the Brits and Hessians—really not much of a battle).
Gates took all the credit in the dispatches after Saratoga for himself, never mentioning Arnold’s contribution at all.
Some think that Arnold’s subsequent change into a traitor was caused by this.
I think it was one factor. A big one. He was also severly wounded at Saratoga and that wound took him out of active duty and got him appointed as military governor of PA. That was a mistake...he met and fell in love with a beautiful young tory and got a severe reprimand from Washington for how he conducted his office...even though Washington felt sympathetic to Arnold’s side. Taken all together you can see how Arnold would fall.
Chinese proverb: A journey of 1000 li begins with one step.
Arnold’s entire career might have been changed had Gates not hogged the limelight over Saratoga.
But I agree there could have been other contributing factors—promises of preference or money, a perception that the war was lost, etc.
I’m not persuaded that his love life was a primary cause since he couldn’t tell her of his change of allegiance without jeopardizing his life and of course there was the question about how she would react to his dishonorable acts in a era when a man’s honor and reputation were all important.
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