Benedict Arnold

Ol' Bennie, he seems like he was a disgruntled person all his life.  If you ask me, that's a person who never learned to count his blessings.  I don't care how crummy your life is, or how crummy people treat you day in and day out, if you will just allow God to show you HIS blessings, you won't end up being a grouch and a downer of a person.  Let me rephrase that:  if you will just allow yourself to SEE God's blessings... you won't end up being a grouch and a downer.

Start by listening to yourself - not any one else - just yourself.  Are you mumbling about the rain? or are looking for a rainbow or pretty clouds or the flowers that bloom and plants that literally spring up because of the rain?  If you're mumbling, then you have turned inward and "it's all about you."  Das not good, my friend.  Look outside of yourself at what God has given you, not what the sinful nature of man is doing to you.

Arnold's life started out pretty good.  His parents were in good financial shape.  Over the course of time you would be able to trace back to their lineage four future American presidents!  That's pretty cool! 

Arnold was born January 14, 1741, the second of six children.  Unfortunately four died of yellow fever (malaria).  That set his daddy to drinking, and by the time Arnold was 14 they were pretty much destitute.  The alcoholism kept his dad from training Arnold for business, so his momma finally apprenticed him out to two of her cousins.  They did good, he did good, and life began to look up again.  Then the pesky British had to go pass the stupid Sugar and Stamp Acts...

Actually, Arnold's first brush with the military was during the French and Indian War in 1757, when he was sixteen.  Fort William Henry in the Albany, New York area, had been taken by the French and Indians.  The Indian atrocities after the capture were so horrendous that it caused Arnold's band of militia to hightail it home.  He served for a grand total of thirteen days!

Then Arnold's momma died, so his daddy drank even more!  He was arrested for public drunkenness, refused communion by their church, and died in 1761.  Very shameful stuff back then  (ought to be today, too!)  Here's a clue to Arnold's future though:  he was accused of desertion from his militia service, the documentation was pretty shaky, though, so the matter was just dropped.

During this time Arnold partnered with some friends, bought three ships, and established himself in the West Indies trade.  He was very hard-working and became quite successful.  While in the West Indies (he occasionally captained his own ship) Arnold had his first brush with the British.  Seems that down in Honduras, there was an insult and a challenge to a duel and shots were fired.  Arnold hit his mark, but it wasn't a kill shot.  After Arnold's threat to kill with the second shot, the British sea captain apologized.


1764 and 1765, respectively, saw the British impose the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act.  Both wreaked havoc on American merchant's business (i.e. Benedict Arnold's business!)  Arnold joined the Sons of Liberty, defied those Acts and therefore became a smuggler.  Even so, the financial legs were being kicked out from under him - just like when his daddy started drinking.

After the Boston Massacre in 1770, Arnold wrote from the West Indies that he was "very much shocked" and wondered "good God, are the Americans all asleep and tamely giving up their liberties, or are they all turned philosophers, that they don't take immediate vengeance on such miscreants."  You go, Bennie!!!  Love it!!

Arnold's military career kind of went up and down like his life always had.  He was at the top of his game, then had to fight for recognition, at the top of his game and then had to fight to clear his name of some carping nonsense fellow officers threw at him, at the top of his game and then had to go to Congress to fight over financial stuff.  You know, if  it hadn't happened so often I might be inclined to feel sorry for the guy - but the ups and downs were just so consistent...

Fighting the British, Arnold was actually wounded in the same left leg three different times, with the last wound resulting in a bad patch up that left the leg 2" shorter than the other.  No recognition for his wounds (no Purple Heart back then) left him kinda chapped.  He wrote his friend, George Washington, in 1779:  Having become a cripple in the service of my country, I little expected to meet [such] ungrateful returns.

His first wife died, his second wife was a British sympathizer, and, well, every American knows the rest of the story.  He was made commander of West Point, (WEST POINT!) and made plans to turn it over to the British.  His plans were discovered when his British spy chief was intercepted and written communications between Andre and ol' Bennie were exposed.  Arnold escaped to England where he died in 1801.  (Good riddance to bad guys!)