A local history installment published Sept. 30, 2026, in the Morrow County Sentinel follows Benedict Arnold from celebrated Continental Army commander to the figure whose name became shorthand for betrayal.
According to the column, Arnold's charge at the Breymann Redoubt during the Oct. 7, 1777, Battle of Saratoga helped persuade France to support American independence and left him with a leg wound and a lasting limp.
The account says George Washington gave Arnold command of Philadelphia while he recovered. It describes questionable business dealings there, Arnold's complaints that he had been underpaid and repeatedly passed over for promotion, and his marriage to Peggy Shippen, whose prominent family had Loyalist connections and who knew British intelligence chief John André.
Arnold later asked for the West Point command, the column states, and in September 1780 met André near Haverstraw, New York, at Joshua Hett Smith's house, handing over plans of the fort. Three New York militiamen stopped André days later, and papers were found in his boots. André, convicted as a spy, was hanged at Tappan, New York. Washington reportedly responded to news of the betrayal with a lament about trust.
Arnold received a British commission, led troops in a January 1781 raid on Richmond, Virginia, and moved permanently to England that December, the column says. It notes historians still debate how much Shippen knew, and reports Arnold is interred at St. Mary's Church in London, where the crypt room is now used as a private kindergarten classroom.