Arnold's Treason 193 1779-80] Monmouth was the last important engagement in the North; thenceforward the British contented themselves with plundering expeditions, whose only result was to keep alive a keen sense of injury on the part of the Americans. The latter, on their side, performed one brilliant exploit,- the capture of a British stronghold, Stony Point, on the Hudson. The movement was carefully planned by Washington and splendidly executed by the Light Infantry of the Line under Anthony Wayne, one of the most dashing commanders of the war. Wayne's assault on Stony Point. Arnold. America, VI, 447-468; 155. Arnold's Treason, 1779-80. Benedict Arnold, the Benedict hero of Quebec and Saratoga, was careless of money and given to lavish expenditure. Although the ablest leader of a division on the American side, his habits aroused the distrust of Congress, and other men of less ability and less experience were promoted over his head. Washington II, ch. xiv. exerted all his influence in Arnold's favor, and as soon as a wound received at Saratoga permitted, he was given the command at Philadelphia. There he became acquainted with many persons who were hostile to the American cause, and misused his official position for purposes of private gain. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to be reprimanded by Washington. In performing this unpleasant duty, the commander in chief said: "Our profession is the chastest of all; even the shadow of a fault tarnishes the lustre of our finest achievements. . . . I reprimand you for having forgotten that in proportion as you have rendered yourself formidable to our enemies, you should have been guarded and temperate in your deportment towards your fellow-citizens. Exhibit anew those noble qualities which have placed you on the list of our most valued commanders. I will myself furnish you . . . with opportunities of regaining the esteem of your coun André captured. 1780. His trial. Chandler's Criminal Trials, II, 157-265; Winsor's America, VI, 467, 468. try." To enable him to do this, Washington appointed Arnold commander of West Point, the most important station of the Americans on the Hudson. Arnold already had been in correspondence with the British authorities, and probably he asked for this command that he might have something of value to betray to his new employers. At all events, the negotiations went on apace until the cap ture of John André, the British agent in the affair, disclosed all. Arnold escaped to New York and received his promised reward of office and money, although he had not performed his part of the nefarious bargain. After the close of the war, he lived in England, one of the most despised men in the world. Lafayette Far more interesting is the discussion which has arisen over the execution of John André. To understand his career, the student should compare his motives and his actions with those of Nathan Hale, a noble American, whom the British hanged as a spy, or with those of two young foreigners, Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette. André was an agreeable young man who knowingly placed himself in the position of a spy, and suffered the penalty of death without flinching, as hundreds of men. have suffered before and since. There was nothing remarkable in his career; it was only by a bold stretch of the imagination that one could have held him worthy a place in Westminster Abbey, among the heroes of the English 1776] The Southern Campaigns 195 race; and nothing save the sickliest sentimentalism could have induced an American to erect a monument to his memory on American soil. After his capture, André's status was examined by a very competent Court of Inquiry, presided over by Nathanael Greene; among its members were Steuben, a Prussian veteran, and Lafayette, a general officer in the French army. It is idle to contend that their finding was not sound. André passed the American lines in disguise, under an assumed name, with papers betraying military secrets concealed in his boots. He had a pass from Arnold, giving safe conduct to John Anderson; the document was conceived in fraud, was used for a fraudulent purpose, and could not for a moment have protected André against Arnold's commanding officer. The war in the South, 1776-82. 156. The Southern Campaigns, 1776-81.-The British had early directed their attention to the conquest of the South. In the winter of 1776, while the siege of Boston Winsor's 1780] The Southern Campaigns 197 and ch. vi; Fiske's was still in progress, Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Parker America, had led an expedition to the conquest of Charleston. Their VI, 168-172, ignominious failure and the conflict in the North had diverted the British from any further attempts in that direc- Revolution, tion, until toward the close of 1778, by which time they seem to have become convinced that the South would offer less resist- General Greene and ch. xv to p. 268. |