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he was unwilling to go back to headquarters. the men of connecticut carrying for one of their own gently placed arnold on a litter and carried him to the field hospital. gates never set foot on the field during the battle that day nor did lincoln the second in command. but gates was given the honor of having one that great battle and congress had mint add special coin and there's 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 sort of quietly deciding to come out openly and support the americans and it was because of them that we won. once the french got into the war, the british realized they were going to have to pull back a bit in 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, spend something like three months in a military hospital in albany. the doctors wanted to amputate his leg and he would not allow them to do that. the amputation would probably have made since because he might have gotten sick. he didn't want to live a cripple, really. this is just my thought on it. he would have preferred to have

died. i actually have a picture of him falling during that battle. after three months, he survived, but he was having to learn to walk again. he was really, really badly maimed from that and it was never completely healed. and 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 refused to have the doctors amputate it and he died. so arnold was just i think 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 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. this is where he meets peggy, this lovely woman. let's see if i have her -- this is arnold at philadelphia. here's peggy. she was known as the most beautiful woman in philadelphia and i know, now -- we look at that picture and think, she doesn't look that spectacular. but -- well, i don't know whether the portrait doesn't do her justice. but all of washington's officers were in love with her. she was lovely. she was 18. her family were neutral. her father had been a judge working on one of the admiralty

courts for the british and he left that and tried to remain neutral. the stories about her being involved with andre and an affair are not true. i hate to tell 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 council of i think seven people and they were very radical. they had fled when the british came over, they came back. they had a long list of names of people that they wanted arnold to arrest right away as people who were possible loyalists or suspect. 332 people and also some people they wanted to convict with a bill of attainder which is just basically voting in the legislature that somebody was guilty.

arnold refused to arrest all these people and one of the other founders of our republic, james wilson, actually defended a lot of those who has been accused of treason by the council. but they didn't like arnold at all. he was too moderate for them. they resented him. and by the -- after he had been there a couple months, they had drawn up a whole list of charges against him that they felt he was misusing his position. he used public wagons. he paid for them, but they didn't like the idea that he used them and actually 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 congress court-martial arnold. i should say, we sometimes forget that the continental congress was in philadelphia.

so the government of pennsylvania really did have the congress, you know, right there in their backyard and it was a little hard i think for them sometimes to deal with these people. they said that he was -- arnold was oppressive to the faithful subjects of this state, unworthy of his rank and station, highly discouraging to those who manifested their attachments to the liberties and interests of america, disrespectful to the supreme executive authority, that is themselves. there was also -- and i hadn't realized this until i started studying this issue, a lot of division within the patriot side, so there were people who were more moderate, people who were 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 morris and some others were actually barricaded in their house

against this radical militia which surrounded the house and attacked it, bringing rods and crashing in the door and there was a shooting that occurred, fighting broke out and six or seven men who were killed. these were among the patriots on the patriots side and other badly wounded. and arnold rushed when he heard the fighting. by the time he got there, the council had appeared and they simple arrested everybody. when he was charged by the council with all of these infringements, the congress decided that washington had -- better have some kind of a court-martial and arnold wanted it because he thought it would help clear his name. there were court-martials all the time. i was just 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 unless they got arnold on this particular point and they had washington write him a letter censoring him. and it's around this time that he decides to approach the british. one of the other things that happened to him, and then i'll conclude, is that even though he resigned as commander in philadelphia, he was attacked in the street by thugs who claimed he was in favor of the loyalists, had to draw his guns to protect himself, he asked the congress if they could provide a guard for him and they said, well, we can't do that, but ask the pennsylvania government. of course the pennsylvania government were the people who really disliked him.

so it sort of felt like there was no way to get around these people. they also felt that he had not been careful enough with the money that they had given him for his military campaigns and that he owed the congress something like 1,000 pounds. i should say -- i'm running out of time. but i should say, congress didn't pay him for years, but they insisted that he owed them 1,000 pounds. he was just kind of besieged by all of these things and had, you know, decided to approach the british. i don't have time really to go into his treason. he had planned to allow the british to take west point where

boots, they realized he was a spy probably and they 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. and even though he was the spy master, everybody thought he was wonderful. and he ended up being hanged and on the way to the gallows, the people who captured him wept as he went. he was a very sympathetic person. i should say too that the british never forgave washington for having done that and then

some years later, andre's bones were dug up and carted off to britain where they're buried in westminster abbey and poets corner of all places. at any rate, arnold -- eventually when the british left, went with them. peggy, his wife, was at west point with him when this plot got discovered. she had only been there a couple weeks. she was there with her 6 month old baby. i don't believe she knew anything about what he was about to do. it's 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 and i'm sure that if she was guilty, she would never have done that. that was extraordinarily dangerous to do. they're quite keen to hang people in philadelphia for treason.

she wanted to stay with her family, but the council in philadelphia did not want anyone who was connected with arnold getting information of any sort back and forth. and so they insisted that she go into exile. and her father took her -- she was 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's where they stayed the rest of their lives. their only monument to arnold is this boot that was erected actually by someone who served as an officer in the civil war. it's on the battlefield of saratoga. it's of a leg that -- arnold's leg that was shattered during the battle of saratoga. there's no name on it. but on the back it says in memory of the most brilliant

soldier of the continental army who was desperately wounded on this spot the sally port of burgoynes great western redoubt, october 1777, 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 that he had done before to support the cause and secure american freedom have been just lost in the memory of this terrible treason. there's a stained glass window, this is a picture of, that was erected by a resident of new jersey not long ago and in the london church where arnold and his wife peggy and their daughter are buried. and it very tactfully says, you can see the british flags and the american flags, and it very

diplomatically says on it, the two nations whom he served in turn in the years of their enmity, have united in this memorial as a token of their enduring friendship. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> we are ready for questions. where's kelly? anyway, questions -- >> you told us that arnold was very brave, a very brave person for the u.s., but yet he was a traitor and he went over and lived in britain for so long. why didn't we go after him? why didn't the u.s. go after him

and dispose of him? why did we allow that? >> well, we did try. i think that washington had a price on his head when he -- before the british left, arnold was in new york and he led a couple of british campaigns, one in virginia, actually, and one in connecticut. and there was a price on his head and people were after him, but they were never able to capture him. washington was unwilling to release andre in exchange for arnold which is what the british officer clinton would have done. and there's some sense that the british were really quite annoyed in a sense. arnold was -- they got arnold, he escaped and went to them, but andre who they cared about a lot more, was captured. and maybe arnold would have been willing to be traded but they

were -- the british were unwilling to do that. and then of course 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 peggy and he said they will not let me die a soldier's death. but that's a good question about -- >> other questions? we have one here. >> were you surprised with what you found out about benedict arnold when you did the research? >> i really was. i was surprised at the amazing ability of the man. he had never had any special

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

diplomatic on that stained glass window to say that he served each country in turn. it's strange that we think of our -- the people who rebelled against britain as the patriots, but basically they were all traitors to britain. and i guess it was franklin who said if we don't hang together, we shall all be hanged separately. that was really dangerous to have taken on britain. so i -- you know, i think that, you know, he was a traitor to the side that won. if britain had won the war or if we had negotiated, which is what a lot of people had hoped, he might have been considered a hero. he chose wrong. he had spent all this time and sacrificed his fortune and his health and everything, all his property was taken. he could never go home. it was really sad. i called the book "the tragedy

of benedict arnold" because it really is a tragedy. >> when he decided to go to the british, did he do so because he thought the british was going to win the war at that point in time? >> i think that might have been part of it. i think that basically he was just kind of disgusted with the way he had been treated and at the end of it they still insisted he owed them 1,000 pounds which he did not have the money to pay. his father had been bankrupt and a debtor which was terrible. he felt that he wasn't being respected and it meant a great deal to him, reputation and honor, and honor was one of the most key things for gentlemen of that time period and in some ways still terribly important. so i think he felt dishonored about that. and the british were saying, look -- they actually sent a commission promising the americans everything they had

first asked for except independence in saying we'll give you all of this. if you keep fighting, you may not win anyway. and at the end of the day, you'll have all of these things and you'll spare yourself more bloodshed. and that makes some kind of sense, that people will stop fighting. most of the people who started the war thought it would end very quickly, and i didn't and they got quite distraught and very few people wanted to serve in the military and congress wasn't paying them. there was a lot of reason to be dispirited and it did -- it would have saved lives if they had had some kind of an agreement. so, you know, thinking about it, the monday morning quarterbacks long, long afterwards, you know, it made some kind of sense. but it was a real shock and particularly since he had been such a hero. it was a terrible shock. >> you've touched on this. i was wondering what you think of the portrayal of benedict

arnold in the series "turn." >> i have to confess, i haven't watched it because i'm a historian and i get quite upset by things that are historically inaccurate. but i have heard and i know the whole story about peggy is not true. of course they -- i gather that she's supposedly partly reasonable for his treason. the things they say about him, don't make sense. if you were self-serving and greedy, why would you risk your lifetime and again for the cause? there had to be more to it. but i guess i should watch that and i can be -- speak more on that. >> 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 -- george washington was made a mason in fredericksburg and i've been a mason almost 40 years and we

talk about him in our lodges as well as -- >> really? >> yeah. and he's -- they're not supposed to even mention his name in a masonic lodge. and i'm wondering how arnold would have reconciled his decision and what -- could you tell me a little bit about his masonic history and how it related to his decision to do what he did? >> that's a very interesting question. because he was -- 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 it and he was nominated to be a mason. 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, you know, he had done so much to

build up his family that they made him a mason. so i thought that was really surprising. i don't know more about the masons than, you know -- more internationally than that. but i thought that that meant that, you know, people regarded him as a very respectable, enterprising young man. >> how did he make a living after he left for england? >> he got a pension from the crown and peggy got a pension from the crown. he also tried -- he had three sons in connecticut, his wife died in 1776 and 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 tried -- and set up a business there for his sons

which didn't -- 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 that's why so many of his sons ended up in the military. that was a sort of respectable and kind of a family business at that point. but he had a lot of trouble worrying and ended up living in kind of humble circumstances. >> you tell how in new haven in the early years one of his sailors was going to turn him in for smuggling and they did the vigilante thing. how common was that and how accepted was that by the community to just go and run the guy out of town and beat him up and all. >> very knowledgeable. i think that most of the americans were quite happy to

live with the smugglers. the goods were cheaper. john hancock was a famous smuggler. juries that tried smugglers, american juries almost always found them innocent and 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 i think there was sort of a general connivance with this kind of thing. and, you know -- so i don't think that people minded too much. they resented this guy telling about the smuggling. >> you mentioned that after he went back to england he then joined the british army and invasions in connecticut and

virginia which of course is true. my question is, was this part of the west point deal, that when he turns over west point, he would go to britain and become a british officer against the americans or did it just turn out that way. >> those two campaigns were while the british were still in control in new york. and he had wanted sub service in the army so i guess that was part of the deal. the british were very cagey about what they were going to do for him. he wasn't a field officer very much for a while because of his serious injury and they kept saying, don't worry, we'll take care of you. but he knew that as soon as he went to the british, he was going to lose all his property, everything that -- you know, his property in pennsylvania and in connecticut and so he really needed to have some kind of a position and he wanted a

military position. it was part of the arrangement. and then he was on these two -- had these two short campaigns, one in connecticut and one here in virginia, one of which sent jefferson actually fleeing from the, from this area. >> other questions? last chance. all right -- wait, one more. >> perhaps there's a lesson in the motivations that superior commanders have. have you noticed that the plot follows the story of benedict arnold so closely, and at the center of which is a woman? >> yes. helen. i hadn't noticed that. but that's interesting. yeah, i don't think a woman was so central to this one actually,

although it makes it sort of exciting to think that. but peggy was actually very faithful and she stayed with him in exile, but not very happy. she came back to the u.s. once after -- years later to see her friends and family in philadelphia. but it was very sad because most people didn't want to have anything to do with her and so she just went back to london. >> on that classical note, and before we say thank you again to professor malcolm, let me tell you what's coming up thursday of this week. doug, if you'll put it up there, we'll take a look. and it is a look at jane goodall, by her primary biographer. it's this thursday so i hope you will be here for that. with that, we will say thank you to professor malcolm. [ applause ]

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