public service by america's cable television company. today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington dc and around the country. yourn is brought to you by cable and satellite provider. next, on american history tv, law professor and author joyce lee malcolm discusses benedict arnold's successes as an american army general in the revolutionary war and questions whether his legacy as a notorious american trader is entirely accurate. malcolm is the author of the tragedy of benedict arnold. this talk was hosted by the university of mary washington as part of the great lives lecture series. [applause]

>> what a nice crowd tonight. good evening everyone. [laughter] tonight's lecture on one of this country's most noted perhaps, though many will say noted for the wrong reasons. the generations -- for generations the name benedict arnold has elicited a one-word description for most americans. traitor. perhaps we are wrong. or perhaps partly wrong. the restwe will hear of the story. tois a special pleasure recognize the sponsor of

tonight's program, she and her husband have been the foremost supporters since the very beginning. it is in fact no exaggeration to say that the program it would not exist as we know it today without the extreme generosity of the chappell family. we are delighted that mary lou and john have joined us from philadelphia as it gives us the opportunity to express our deep appreciation for all that they have done for our program, not just tonight in particular but every night. john and mary lou, will you stand please? [applause] speaker, dr. joyce lee malcolm, earned her degree

phd.wed by an ma and she has taught at princeton, northeastern university, and cambridge university. she is currently the patrick henry professor of .onstitutional law acknowledged authority on constitutional history in the areas of gun control control, second amendment, and individual rights, she has published essays in the wall street journal, financial times, usa today, boston globe, and other newspapers. she has written eight books. is "the recent of which tragedy of benedict arnold. evaluating that book, one reviewer wrote that in clear engaging language, malcolm reconstructs the surroundings,

relationships, and political atmosphere of the revolution. is a vivid addition to revolutionary war literature. another called in a work of genuine excellence. it is persuasive in its argument as it is unsettling. ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to welcome dr. joyce malcolm. [applause] muchalcolm: thank you very , a pleasure to be here. it is a real treat to talk about this subject. let me get my act together here. i was going to say the state of the union and the time of benedict arnold was not good. [laughter]

is widely known , hetreason, but before that was one of the great heroes of the revolution. would like to get into the contexts of theact revolution. he has been blamed for being sense, but it didn't make about someone who risked his life for numerous battlefields, who when congress didn't pay his men, paid them from his own resources, and really took that opportunity to serve his country before he decided to change sides. there is a picture of the man in his younger days.

court-martial a -- by the way, he was court-martialed not for any military problem, but for some of the feeling that he had misused his position for financial gain after he was wounded serving in philadelphia as a commander there. he said i have suffered seeing the fair fabric of reputation with so much danger and toya il since the present war undermining prosperity will feel the blessed effects of my efforts. below that is a description by one of the men who fought the side him and who he led at the saratoga.e battle of he said "he was dark skinned with black hair and middling

height. timber in't any waste him. he was are fighting general, and a bloody fellow he was. he didn't care for nothing. he would ride right in. it was "come on boys." "t wasn't, "go boys. these judgments didn't make much sense and i wanted to have a better understanding of what he did before hand and why he decided to change size. a classic historian of the british army said this, "in natural military genius, neither washington nor green to my my mind are comparable with benedict arnold." sound strategic decision, welcome resort, a

swift and uncaring i come and true magic of leadership, it was --and no other for sir toca saratoga, and to command his militia, benedict arnold was the most formable opponent the could be matched against the british and the americans. now particularly advertised in lovelyseries, turn, his young wife has become equally notorious, and is sometimes regarded as the eve who attempted her husband -- tempted her husband into committing treason. i will say this about peggy when i get to the point in his story, but there are a lot of events and arnold's life that i won't be able to talk about unless you want to stay here for all night, so i would just highlight some of the particular points and key moments in his career.

i would like to go into some detail into the battle of lake champlain, and this is when people know less about than they do about saratoga and other battles. october, 1776. the british had amassed some 13,000 british, irish, and german troops in canada ready for an assault going down lake champlain in an effort to take albany. there was a lot of emphasis on trying to single out new york state separated from new england in order to give them an advantage. they had been bringing over ships, and the americans had no ships on lake champlain with which to combat the british. lake champlain itself is a beautiful lake, about 400 feet

deep in some spots, but also very shallow in the inlets. the new york committee of safety is desperate about trying to build a fleet to stop the british fleet from coming down lake champlain and taking albany. they asked arnold to build that fleet. i am from upstate new york. it is not the ideal place to build a fleet of ships. even in good weather. arnold had been brought up by a father who was a merchant seaman and spent summers on the sailing ships with his father going across to europe and up and down the coast of north america. a setther died after career where he became depressed, alcoholic, and hisrupt, and arnold started own business and became a merchant seaman as well, so he was an ideal person to ask to

build ships. he tried to recruit art assistance to build -- artisans to build the ships. it was hard to get seaman, because most were with washington trying to protect manhattan from the british. he personally selected 20,000 boards of timber to build the ships, and of course the timber as to the age because otherwise it will crack and be useless for the ships. this is the main ship that was going to be his flagship. that is called the royal savage, and he was responsible for taking it from the british after he took ticonderoga a year before, so he got the ship from canada. he also built a couple of schooners, galleys that were 80 feet by 20 feet with two masts.

then a series of ships called gondolas. these are not your venetian gondolas. ,hey are traditional gondolas and they actually carry a crew of 45. they have six cannons and one mast. they are very shallow, so they could be more maneuverable than the british ships and were very good for the waters there. months,e course of two he was able to build this fleet of some 15 ships. the british felt their fleet in canada -- built their fleet in canada in three months. one of the things they did that was quite amazing is that brought over prefab sections of ships in which they assembled when they got to canada and prepared to come down lake champlain.

this was the largest of the er.tish ships, thunder the british had a much bigger fleet, and these were there two largest ships. they had 20 gunships and five 400 23 pounds and was the largest ship seen on lake champlain. all of arnold's ships together had a combined counterweight, which is how they a valuate -- .valuate, 200 73 pounds the british ships had a combined canon weight of 1300 pounds, so almost twice the firepower of arnold's fleet. arnold had been surveying lake champlain to find the proper awaitto send his fleet to the british coming down from canada. he decided he would take his

fleet, and if you have a smaller force, you don't want to be in shadow ofto be in the an island, which you can see on the map. it looks bigger than it actually is, but arnold's ships are the clear ones in the shadow of that there until they hid thei he took his ships. he took 500 men to valcour island. they were painted red so they could blend with leaves, and camouflaged with spruce trees, sharpened and put around the ships to keep enemy sailors from boarding. islandayed behind that waiting for the british fleet to appear, and october 11, the british were spotted at 8:00 a.m. the british did not have valcour

island on their map. they came sailing down, and as arnold houck, they went beyond valcour island and didn't even see arnold's fleet until they were five miles south of valcour island, at which point they upstream inad to go order to fight the americans. to really get them into action, arnold was on the royal savage, and another of his ships went towards the british ships to lure them into the shallows around valcour island, but he got caught in the crossfire and his ship got stuck on a reef and just devastated, so he had to switch to another ship called the congress. by noon, the fighting was general, the noise of the cannon could be heard 30 miles to the south. the battle raged for six hours.

it is to his credit that this fleet was able to keep the , a bigger fleet with experience sailors and his by thes, fighting, but end, 80 men had been killed or wounded and the use of three quarters of their ammunition, and his ships were in really bad shape, so they retreated further into that channel next to the valcour island. as the british just assumed in the morning they would be able to finish off this little american fleet, but arnold had a plan. now unfortunately his route of escape was to the south down to crown point and ticonderoga, and the british ships were towards the south end of that island, so he had to figure out what to do. i'm going to read you a section from the book about this. "general water very and the

kernel road through the blackwater's that night to meet on the bore the congress. they were despond, but arnold had prepared for this moment and had a plan, desperate but doable plan. the fleet would escape by slipping between the british ships, blocking the valcour island channel, then -- to crown point safety. it was an exceedingly risky strategy, and their vessels were badly damaged and some were leaking. the little fleet with its 500 sailors had lost 80 men killed or wounded, including many officers, with 20 captured. if the british spotted them, they would be vulnerable and readily destroyed, but what other option did they have? it was a moonless night and they , i heavy autumn mist surrounded the american ships as they begin moving in single file. their oars with the men's shirts and kept the window below decks so their cries and

moans would not be heard and alert the enemy. was completely dark except for a small lantern in the stern and a shrouded one in the bow. it was lit by a split in the lantern that made the vessels just visible to the ship immediately behind. by one, the gondolas and smaller vessels followed. the congress with arnold aboard and the washington were last in line. the procession passed so close to the carlton that one of the british ships that they could hear the sailors chatting as they glided beside it. the british move their three largest man-of-war a mile up from the western shore of the lake, inadvertently leaving a passageway for the american ships to slip through. they got through that night, and the next morning when the british admiral was convinced he would be able to finish off this american fleet, he discovered

that they were gone, now he assumed that they would have gone north to the channel, but they could not have done that because it was far too shallow, but he didn't know that comes so he went north looking for them, and when he couldn't find them, he turned around and went south. the american ships had gone about seven miles to another island to repair some of the ones that were repairable, then they headed for crown point, 28 miles to the south. as they were going, the british eventually caught up with them, and so two of the ships, the congress washington was on and the other ship turned to fight the british fleet, while the rest got away. the washington was really badly hit and its commander finally surrendered, leaving arnold and the congress alone against the british fleet. they fought until their masks were torn to pieces, the don't

, eventuallyflag they ran out of ammunition, and with the ship torn to pieces, he broke through on some of these gondolas and made for a creek on the from onshore them and then waded ashore with their weapons, their ships -- and burned their ships of the british would not be would it take them. they then began a march through woundeds, carrying the in letters made of the sales from the ships. crown point, to they realized it was unsafe and went on to ticonderoga curing these winded and finally reached it on october 15. carlton, the admiral in charge of the british fleet, had caught , nownd most of the fleet

late in october. he did not have any supplies in that part of lake champlain in vermonter new york. he didn't know what to do and whether to wait through the spring and stay there through the winter or not, and he decided it was too risky and his ships might get frozen into the ice, so he turned around and went back to canada, and the result was that even though arnold's little fleet was destroyed, they were able to hold the british off long enough that they saved new york and albany for another year. it wasn't until the following year that you have the battle of saratoga. general gates, who was the overall commander of the american army in that area, wrote to one of the other generals and said if it pleases province to preserve general arnold. few men ever met with so many escapes in so short a time. then his general orders on that day as the man to give thanks to

general arnold and the officers, seamen, and mariners in the fleet for the gallant defense they made against the great superiority of the enemies force. the historian of the british army was scathing about carlton having decided to go back to canada. very different it would have been the british had been commanded by such men as arnold, he said, whose amazing skill, gallantry, make him the hero of the short campaign. after that, arnold went with gates south to washington's camp, and he was there about the time that washington decided to cross the delaware and attacked trenton. by the way, washington had to do that because the men were on such short enlistments that if he waited any longer, his army would have gone home to us a while he had them under his

command, they crossed the delaware and were able to conquer trenton, and it was a great victory for that time. that it wasided really important to give washington an army with longer enlistments, but they exacted something from him for that. they deprived washington of the power of appointing or discharging any of his general officers. we've read about all of the soldiers of fortune from france and germany coming across to join the continental army. they were given commands by , andess, not washington there was a lot of disgruntlement among the officers of the american army that these people were brought in over and put in superior positions over them. at any rate, they took from washington this ability to appoint and discharges officers, and then they promoted five

junior officers to major general ahead of arnold. some of these people had never done anything, and washington was really amazed the congress had done that and wasn't sure why. it turned out that apparently you were only allowed to have so many major general's, depending on the number of men that were in regiments from your state, but at any rate, he was very disgruntled about that and upset and ready to resign, and of course there are a lot of people now who write he was too prickly , his feelings were hurt, someone was promoted over him, but it was considered them a polite way of telling you that you are no longer wanted, and i was thinking that even today sometimes when somebody is appointed over you that there is this sense that maybe this is a nice way of saying, we are sorry. at any rate, he was ready to resign, but washington asked him

to stay on, and he said he would stay as long as washington felt his services were needed. he was sent to rhode island, but , and heay he went home was from connecticut, so he went back to connecticut, where he had, his wife had died, but he had three children being looked after by his sister and his business she was looking after, not in a very good way. she sold overtly all of the equipment and supplies they had, but that was her way. at any rate, he was treated as a hero in new haven, hartford, and middletown. while he was there he got a message that while he was at home trying to figure out his finances, he got a message that the british had, were landing troops in connecticut and were on their way to take some of the

supplies the americans had been gathering there. a courier arrived at his home with the news, and some 26 ships , 20 spotted off of norwalk miles south of new haven, and their object was the supply depot at dan very. dan very. two of those generals were leading 600 militia and had already marched off, hoping to attack the supplies at danbury. arnold rushed to rally the militia and help them. the officers and men arrived inr from danbury at 2:00 the morning, and the british led by the governor of new york had accomplished their goal and they were gone. the americans weren't sure which way they had gone, and were determined to head them off before they got back on the ships, so they divided their

exhausted troops to take them on , pursuers and pursued struggle to driving rain. members of the connecticut alicia were proud to rally behind arnold and join him. the british were heading for richfield, and apparently they had some really good information because they scorched the presbyterian church where the munitions were stored, so they were a lot of people happy to tell them who they should be looking for. taken the men who had some of the troops, one had taken two men another route aiming to get behind the enemy, but received a fatal wound. arnold and another general again the march to richfield with 500 militia and caught up with the regulars at about 11:00 a.m. they had 500 men, but their

troops were outnumbered by 2000. i am losing my -- 2000 of the british regulars. arnold ordered his men to make a makeshift barrier -- there we go. here is richfield. out of wagons and other materials so they could basically hold off the british behind that makeshift barrier, and they did hold off three charges. they were forced to retreat when a british force flanked him. during one charge, arnold's horse was shot. he was always having horses shot under him. when you are brave and on a horse, that horse does not have a long life span. in his case the horse fell and trapped his leg under it. a young local -- that to him and said, surrender, you are my

prisoner. with a mighty effort, arnold friedman himself, saying, not yet, and drawing his pistol he shot the man in his chest and fence and ran through a swamp with bullets around him, and the following day sent a message to one of the generals to waylay the regulars from the front -- the men attacked them from the rear, but they learned about it and were able to get away. after the rallying of these troops and trying to protect connecticut, congress relented and gave arnold his promotion to major general, but they did not restore the seniority, but at least they decided to give him that promotion. now 1777, and later that year, as the very decisive battle of certain ogre, and i would like to read you a bit about that battle. that was one of the major

achievements of arnold, when he talked about how we would all be grateful for some of the things he has done. this is the major one. ,hen he was at saratoga washington had sent him because he felt that the militia would follow him. he had that tremendous charisma that men would follow him right in to the face of death. it takes a tremendous amount of both self-confidence and a spirit of being able to rally people in order to do that. the officer who was in charge of the army at saratoga was general gates, who liked arnold when he built the little fleet on lake champlain, but arnold was a protége of washington, and gates was someone who really wanted to replace washington, so he was jealous of arnold and had, in fact, then consigned to his camp during the battle by general gates and left without any

command, while the ground was shaking from the pounding of the great guns. tent being confined to his , and i will go into why that happened to him he could tolerate no more and mounting his horse, he dashed to the battlefield, shouting to his aides, no man shall keep me in my tent today. if i am without command, i will fight in the ranks, but the soldiers will follow my lead. come on, victory or death. i galloped into the thickest of the fighting, pursued by major john armstrong, who general gates had order to bring him back in the but arnold was faster and catching up to the brigade. he asked the men who their officer was. a soldier shouted colonel latimer. god bless you. i am glad to see you. come on, boys. the day is long enough, we will have them all inhale by night. galloping back and forth on his

splendid horse, brandishing his sword over his head, what amazes me, having taught military history is the idea that someone without any official command could get out on that battlefield and the men would follow him. and they did. that he had no command was, as i say, that general gates was not fond of him. he was jealous of him. he wanted him to go back, to basically leave the army there, but the men had petitioned and the officers petitioned that they wanted arnold to stay, so even without a command, he had stayed. say that the person who did not leave his tent that day was general horatio gates. his tent was in a place where he could not even see the battlefield. he only could he not see it,

spent the whole day in his tent. one of his men who came to tell him what was going on found gates was spending his time arguing with the wounded british officer about the merits of the revolution. hewas very disgruntled that could not convince this officer that the revolution was a good idea. so here is arnold out there fighting, and there is gates in his tent arguing with a wounded enemy. rate, arnold led an assault on the british works .eing held by light infantry a first attack was beaten back, but a second with bayonets fixed drove the british light infantry from their brigade. arnold attacked, and suddenly he was aware of what is called the sally port come up with the british lines opened up for anybody who needed to retreat, and he led his men right at it.

he could see a weakness in that line, and that is where they need to go. the -- there we have the map of saratoga. -- can see the different these are different officers, they were all american officers. there is gate at the back, his headquarters there in the southern part of the map, and .hen arnold going towards that ok. sallyattacked at the point. fled,rmans facing them firing a final folly as they went. one bullet hit arnold's great dark horse, killing him, and the animal fell, pending arnold. it hit arnold, shattering his leg above the bone.

it was the leg that had been hurt a year before when he was in a battle to take québec, but it had healed, and now it was really shattered. one of the men, an american private who saw arnold fall, rushed to bayonet the german shoulder am a but arnold shouted to him from the ground where he laid helpless and excruciating pain in the don't hurt him. he did his duty. he is a fine fellow. men, rushouted to his on, my brave boys, and they did. this is the attack that basically turn the battle and won the battle, but arnold was hit. one of his fellow officers ask him where he was hurt when he went down, and he said in my leg. i wish it had been my heart. on he was carried from the field, bleeding and helpless. he waved away the officers who hurried to help him.

when captain dearborn asked where he was hit, he said he wished it had been his heart. armstrong, who gates had sent to catch him and bring him back, now caught up with him. he was hurt and wasn't going to go anywhere. but he was unwilling to go back to headquarters. the men of the militia company carrying for one of their own, carried into the field hospital. gates never stepped foot on the field during the battle that day, nor did the second-in-command, but horatio gates was given the honor of having won that great battle, and congress had minted a special coin. there is a wonderful painting of the surrender with gates accepting the surrender from the british. this was a great turning point in the revolution, and because of that great victory, the french, who had been quietly helping us, decided to come out

openly and support the americans , and it was basically because of them that we won. war the french got into the , the british relies they were going to have to pull back a bit on america because they had colonies and interests all over the world where the french would be competing against them, so this was really a tremendous help. arnold, of course can something like three months in a military hospital in albany in terrible pain. the doctors wanted to amputate his leg, and he would not allow them to do that. now the amputation would probably have made sense because he might have gotten gangrene, and i think he probably didn't want to because he did not want to live as a cripple, really. prefer to haveartnere died. i actually have a picture of him

falling during that battle. survived,e months, he but he was having to learn to walk again. he was really, really badly maimed from that and was never completely healed. i should say on that note that years later, when he was in exile in britain, he had several sons who joined the british army , a couple of whom fought in india, and one of those sons was shot in the leg and refuse to have the doctors amputated, and he died of gangrene, so arnold was just not willing to put up with that, because he was now wounded, he could not take the field, and he was sent to philadelphia by washington. the british had evacuated philadelphia, leaving a terrible mess. the pennsylvania government had fled from philadelphia when the british came, and now all of

these people would have to come back to their city, and arnold was to be the commander to ensure order and stability as they came back. meets peggy, he this lovely woman. -- this is arnold at philadelphia. here is peggy. she was known as the most beautiful woman in philadelphia. i know, people, we look at that picture and think she doesn't ,ook that spectacular, but well, i don't know if the portrait does her justice, but all of washington's officers were in love with her. she was lovely. her family were neutral. her father had been a judge working on one of the admiralty courts for the british, and when the war broke out, obviously he left and try to remain neutral. the stories about her being

involved with andre in an affair are not true. i hate to tell you those of you who have enjoyed watching that story on television, but actually she was wooed by arnold and married him. the government of pennsylvania was led by a committee, a people, andeven they were very radical. they had fled when the british took over. they came back. namesad a long list, the of people they wanted arnold to arrest right away as people who were possibly loyalists, or certainly were suspect. 330 two people, and also some -- justhey wanted to basically voting and legislature that someone was guilty. the other founders of our

republic, james wilson, actually defended a lot of those accused of treason by this council, but they didn't like arnold at all. he was to moderate for them. they resented him. having been there a couple of months come and they had brought up a list of charges against him that they felt he was not, he was misusing his position. he used public wagons. he paid for them, but they didn't like the idea he use them and crossed over from pennsylvania to new jersey with those. so they drew up these charges, printed them in the local paper, sent copies to every other state, and insisted that the .ongress court-martial arnold i should say that we sometimes forget that the continental congress was in philadelphia, said the government of

pennsylvania really did have the congress right there in their backyard, and it was a little hard for them sometimes to deal with these people. was, arnold was oppressive to the subjects of the state, unworthy of his rank and station, highly discouraging to those who manifested their attachment to the liberties and interests of america, disrespectful to the supreme executive authority. there was also, and i have that relies this until i started studying this issue, a lot of division within the patriot side , so there were people who are more moderate more radical, and the radical pennsylvania council had gotten the militia charged up, and at one point the more moderate people in philadelphia, including wilson and morrison and others, were actually barricaded in their house against this radical militia,

which surrounded the house and rods and bringing crashing in the door, and there were shooting occurred, fighting broke out, and six or seven men were killed. this is among the patriots within the patriot side, and others badly wounded, and arnold rushed when he heard the fighting, but by the time he got the council had appeared and they simply arrested everybody. by the was charged council with these infringements , the congress decided that washington better have some kind of court-martial, and arnold wanted it because he thought it would help clear his name. there were court-martial's all the time. i was amazed. most of the people who sat on arnold's court-martial had themselves been court-martialed. at any rate, two of the charges

he was convicted of one on the wagons, and the pennsylvania council had threatened there would be no wagons for the continental army and less they got arnold on this particular point, and they had washington write him a letter censoring him . it is around this time that he decides to approach the british. one of the other things that happened to him, and i will conclude, is that even though he resigned as commander in , he was attacked in the street by thugs who claimed that he was in favor of the loyalists, had to draw his guns to protect himself. he asked the congress that they could provide a guard for him and they said we can't do that, but ask the pennsylvania government. the pennsylvania government with the people who really disliked him, so it felt like there was

no way to get around these people. they also felt he had not been careful enough with the money they had given him for his military campaigns and that he owed the congress something like 1000 pounds. running out, i am of time, but congress did not pay him for years and the but insisted that he owed them 1000 pounds, so he was deceased by all of these things -- besieged by all of these things and decided to approach the british. i don't have time to go into his treatment. he had planned to allow the british to take west point, where he had become commander of west point, and this was found out. the british intelligence officer john andre, who had made arrangements to talk with arnold about the plans, was caught on his way back to british lines

with the plans stock in his -- stuck in his boot. he was cornered by three men, who were basically bandits waiting for rich people to come by the but when they had him take off his boots and they realized he was a spy probably and took him to the nearest military headquarters, where he ended up being tried as a spy, because he was not wearing his uniform. he was a very, very gallant man, even though he was a spymaster. everybody thought he was wonderful. he ended up being hanged, and on the way to the gallows from the people who captured him wept as he went. he was a very sympathetic person. i should say the british never for gave washington for having done that. arnold,rs later,

andre's bones were dug up and carted off to britain where they are buried in westminster abbey and poets corner, of all places. eventually, arnold when the british left went with them. was at westife, point with him when this plot had been discovered. she had only been there a couple of weeks with her six-month-old baby. i don't believe she knew anything about what he was about to do. it is unlikely he would have told her. she was given a choice of going into exile with arnold in new york or going home to her family in philadelphia, and she decided to go home to her family. guiltyre that if she was that she would never have done that. that was extraordinarily dangerous to do. they were keen to hang people in philadelphia for treason. she wanted to stay with her

family them up with the council in philadelphia did not want anyone connected with arnold getting information of any sort back-and-forth come a they insisted she go into exile, and wasfather took her -- she his favorite child -- took her up to new york to go into exile, and i don't think he ever saw her again. when the war was over, she and arnold were evacuated to london, and that is where they stayed the rest of their lives. arnold is monument to this boot that was erected actually by someone who served .n officer in the civil war it is on the battlefield at saratoga, arnold's leg that was shattered during the battle of saratoga, there is no name on it , but on the back it says in memory of the most brilliant

soldier of the continental army who was wounded 1777, spot, october winning for his countrymen the decisive battle of the american revolution, and for himself the rank of major general. he obviously made a terrible decision in siding with the british, and all of the things he had done before to support the cause and secure american freedom have then lost in the memory of this terrible treason. there is a stained glass window that this is a picture of that was erected by a resident of new jersey not long ago. in the london church where arnold and his wife are buried, and it tactfully says that you can see the british flags and american flags, and a diplomatically says on it "the two nations he served in turn in

the years of their in the have united in this memorial as a token of their enduring friendship." ok. thank you very much. [applause] >> we are ready for questions. anyway, questions. you told us that arnold was very brave for the u.s., but he was a traitor. he went over and lived in britain for so long. him?idn't we go after

white in the u.s. go after him and dispose of him? dr. malcolm: we did try. washington had a price on his head. before the british left, arnold was in new york and led a couple of british campaigns, one in virginia, actually come and one in connecticut, and there was a price on his head and people who were after him, but they were never able to capture him. washington was unwilling to release on trade and exchange for arnold, which is what the british officer would have done, and there is some sense that the british were quite annoyed. i mean, arnold come and they got arnold, he escaped and went to them, but andre, who they cared about a lot more, was captured, and may be would have been willing to be traded, but the british were unwilling to do

that. once the british left and went back home there wasn't any chance of that, so arnold lived the rest of his life in britain, and he volunteered to serve in the british army later, but they didn't accept him, and he came home to take he and said, they will not let me die a soldier's death. but that is a good question about -- >> other questions? we have one here. were you surprised with what you found out about benedict on when you did the research? dr. malcolm: i really was. the amazingsed at ability of the man. he had never had any special military training, and yet, he

was a brilliant officer and leader and had that kind of charisma that made people want to follow him, but he was also one who would not tolerate fools , so he had a string of enemies. the other thing i found surprising was this division within the patriot side of people more radical and more moderate. they actually had a shoot out in philadelphia. that amazed me. i had no notion of that. in plainview -- plain view, americans are being assigned british royalty positions. , isn't it that hypocritical for america to keep calling benedict arnold a traitor? well, i thought it was very diplomatic on that stained window to say he served

each country in turn. we think ofe that the people who rebelled against britain as patriots, but basically they were all traders to britain -- traitors to britain. it was really dangerous to have think,n britain, so i you know, he was a traitor to the side that won. if britain had won the war, or we negotiated, which is what a lot of people hoped, he might've been considered a hero. he chose wrong. he had spent all his time and sacrificed his fortune and his health and everything, all his property was taken. he could never go home. it was really sad. tragedy ofe book the benedict arnold because i really believe it is a tragedy.

>> when he decided to go to the british, did he do so because he thought the british were going to win the war at that point in time? dr. malcolm: i think that might have been part of it. i think basically he was disgusted with the way he had been treated, and at the end of it, they still insisted he owed them 1000 pounds in which we he did not have the money to pay. his father went bankrupt and was a debtor, which is terrible. he felt he was not being it meant a great deal to him, reputation and honor, and honor was one of the most key things for gentlemen of in somee period, and ways is still terribly important, so i think he felt dishonored about that. and the british were saying, sent am of the actually commission, the carlo commission, promising the americans everything they had asked for, except independence,

saying we will give you all of this. if you keep fighting coming you might not win anyway. at the end of the day you will have all of these things and spare yourself more bloodshed, and that make some kind of sense , that people will stop fighting. most of the people who started the war thought it would end quickly, and it didn't. they got quite distraught and very few people wanted to serve in the military and congress was not paying them. there was a lot of reason to be dispirited, and it would have saved lives if they had some kind of agreement, so, you know, thinking about it, the monday it madequarterbacking, some kind of sense come a but it was a real shock to him and particularly since it had been such a hero. it was a terrible shock. >> you touched on this. i was wondering what you think of the portrayal of benedict arnold in the series, "turn."

i have to confess i didn't watch it because i am a historian and i get quite upset about things that are not historically accurate, but i have heard. i know that whole story about peggy is not true, and of course , i gathered that she is supposedly partly responsible for his treason. the things they say about him don't make sense, that if you were self-serving and greedy, why would you risk your life time and again for the cause? so there had to be more to it, but i guess i should watch that and then i can speak more on it. >> thank you so much for your comments. i was wondering if you could address benedict arnold's relationship with freemasonry, as he was a mason here, in fredericksburg. i have been a mason almost 40 years come and we talk about him in our lodges. dr. malcolm: oh really?

>> they are not even supposed to mention his name in a masonic lodge. i wonder how arnold would have reconciled his decision. could you tell me a little bit about his masonic history and how it related to his decision to do what he did? dr. malcolm: that is a very interesting question because he set up his business in new haven , and that was one of the earlier places in connecticut that had a masonic lodge, and it was very prestigious to be a part of that. and he was nominated to be a mason, so he was a very respectable member of the community, and i was impressed by the fact that he was a young man with a family background that was clouded by his father having been a drunkard and a debtor, and yet he had done so thatto build up his family

they made him a mason, so i thought that was really surprising. i don't know more about the but i thoughtat, that meant that people regarded him as a very respectable, enterprising young man. how did he make a living after he left? dr. malcolm: he got a pension from the crown. peggy got a pension from the crown. sonsso tried, he had three and connecticut. his wife died in 1776, so peggy was his second wife, and he had more children with her, and he was constantly trying to provide for his children, so he went to canada several times and set up a business there for his sons, which wasn't too successful, but

he spent a lot of time trying to make ends meet, and particularly to do something for his children, and i think that is why so many of his sons ended up in the military. that was a sort of respectable and family business at that point, but he had a lot of trouble worrying and ended up living in humble circumstances. you tell how in new haven in the early years, one of his family was in a tournament for smuggling and they did the vigilante thing. how was that accepted by the community to go in and run the guy out of town and beat him up? that mostm: i think tothe americans were happy live with the smugglers.

the goods were cheaper. john hancock was a famous smuggler. smugglers, tried american juries almost always found them innocent, and in fact, that was why the british began to try americans for smuggling in london, because they did not want to try them before american juries. there was no way you were going to convict anybody. so there was a general connivance with this kind of thing. you know, so i don't think people minded too much. they resented this guy telling about the smuggling. you mentioned that they went back to england. he then joined the british army and invasions in connecticut and virginia, which is true. my question is, was this part of

the west point deal, that he turns over west point and goes to britain to become an officer against the americans or did it just turn out that way? campaignsm: those two were while the british were still in control in new york. wanted to serve as an officer in the british army, so it was part of the deal, as the word. the british were very cagey about what they were going to do for him. he was in a field officer for a while because of his serious injury, and they kept saying, don't worry. we will take care of you. he knew that as soon as he went to the british that he was going to lose all of his property, everything, his property in pennsylvania and in connecticut, and so he really needed to have some kind of position, and he wanted a military position and so it was part of the arrangement. then he was on, had these two

short campaigns, one in connecticut and one in virginia, one of which had jefferson fleeing from this area. >> other questions or to mark last chance. -- other questions? last chance. one more. >> perhaps there is a lesson in the motivations that superior commanders have. have you noticed that the plot of the iliad follows the story of benedict arnold so closely? the center of which is a woman. [laughter] dr. malcolm: yes, helen. but that noticed that, is interesting to yeah -- interesting. yeah, i don't think a woman was central to this one come up but it makes it exciting to think

that. take was actually faithful and stayed with him, though not very happy. she came back to the u.s. once years later to see her friends and family in philadelphia, but it was very sad because most people didn't want anything to do with her, so she just went back to london. sayith that and before we thank you again, professor malcolm, let me tell you what is coming up thursday this week. we will take a look. goodall byk at jane her primary gaga for -- biographer. i hope you will be there for that. with that, we will say thank you to professor malcolm. [applause] dr. malcolm: thank you very much

for being such a wonderful audience. great questions. thank you. announcer: you are watching american history tv only on c-span3. 50 years ago on march 3, 1969, apollo nine blasted off for a 10 day mission to test systems that would be essential for the july 1969 apollo 11 moon landing. --reel railamerica, america, "apollo 9: three to make ready." it details the lunar module anding test, spacewalks, moon suits come and