Key figures: General Benedict Arnold, General Horatio Gates, General John Burgoyne
Summary
General Benedict Arnold stands as one of the most accomplished yet ultimately tragic figures of the American Revolutionary War. In 1777, at the height of his military abilities, Arnold played a decisive role in the Battles of Saratoga—the campaign that proved to be the turning point of the Revolution by demonstrating that the Continental Army could defeat British regulars in sustained combat. His aggressive tactics at Freeman’s Farm (September 19) and especially his spectacular assault at Bemis Heights (October 7) were instrumental in breaking British General John Burgoyne’s northern campaign. Yet Arnold’s 1777 triumphs were followed by years of perceived slights, financial hardship, and personal grievances that would culminate in his 1780 attempt to betray West Point to the British—an act that made him the most infamous name in American Revolutionary history.
Early Career and Rise (1775–1777)
Arnold (January 14, 1741 – June 14, 1801) was born in Norwich, Connecticut, to a once-prosperous merchant family that had been damaged by financial reversals; his father’s alcoholism left a mark on the family’s standing. Arnold trained as an apothecary and became a successful merchant in New Haven before the Revolution, trading in horses and goods between Connecticut, Canada, and the Caribbean. His background gave him practical knowledge of logistics, finances, and the Canadian theater that would prove militarily valuable.
At the outbreak of the Revolution in April 1775, Arnold joined the Connecticut militia as a captain, quickly seized gunpowder from the colonial magazine, and obtained a Massachusetts colonel’s commission to lead an assault on Fort Ticonderoga — which fell in May 1775 in a coordinated action with Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys. Arnold’s aggressiveness and leadership were already apparent before Valley Forge, before Saratoga, before his name carried its later weight.
His most audacious early operation was the Quebec Expedition of 1775: an overland march through the Maine wilderness — approximately 350 miles through uncharted territory in autumn — intended to seize Quebec City and bring Canada into the American cause. The march through the Kennebec and Chaudière rivers cost Arnold nearly half his force to starvation, dysentery, and desertion. The assault on Quebec on December 31, 1775, failed and left Arnold wounded in the leg — the same leg that would be wounded again at Saratoga. Though the campaign did not succeed, it demonstrated Arnold’s capacity for extraordinary physical and organizational effort, and Congress rewarded him with promotion to brigadier general in January 1776.
Throughout 1776, Arnold commanded the American naval force on Lake Champlain, constructing a small fleet from scratch and fighting the British fleet at the Battle of Valcour Island (October 11, 1776). Though outgunned and eventually forced to retreat, Arnold’s delaying action forced the British to postpone their southern advance until the following year — a crucial strategic delay that gave the Continental Army time to regroup. Many historians credit Valcour Island with saving the Revolution; without it, Burgoyne’s 1777 campaign might have begun a year earlier, before the Americans were ready.
By 1777, Arnold held the rank of major general and was assigned to the Northern Department under General Horatio Gates. When British General John Burgoyne launched his invasion from Canada in June 1777, the Northern Department faced the most dangerous British offensive of the entire war. Burgoyne commanded approximately 7,700 men — British regulars, German mercenaries (Hessians), Loyalist rangers, and Indigenous allies — equipped with a powerful artillery train. His strategy aimed to drive south from Canada to Albany, link up with General Howe’s army advancing from New York City, and sever New England from the remaining colonies. Lord George Germain, British Secretary of State for America, had approved this plan as the campaign most likely to end the war in a single decisive stroke.
The Saratoga Campaign (September–October 1777)
The Saratoga campaign unfolded in two distinct engagements, separated by three weeks during which Burgoyne’s army lost momentum, supplies, and strategic options. The American position at Bemis Heights — a heavily wooded ridge overlooking the Hudson River — was selected and fortified by the Polish engineer Tadeusz Kościuszko, who chose terrain that negated British advantages in artillery and open-field tactics.
Freeman’s Farm / First Battle of Saratoga (September 19, 1777)
When Burgoyne’s army crossed the Hudson at Saratoga on September 13 and began advancing south, Gates wanted to remain on the defensive at Bemis Heights. Arnold argued strenuously for moving forward to engage the British in the woods, where American sharpshooters could offset British numerical and artillery advantages. Gates relented enough to permit Arnold to take his division — including Daniel Morgan’s renowned rifle corps — forward to contest the British advance at Freeman’s Farm, a cleared field in the dense forest.
The battle became a brutal five-hour fight. Arnold’s tactical management was aggressive: he coordinated infantry assaults with Morgan’s sharpshooters, who systematically targeted British officers and artillerists. Morgan’s men, armed with long rifles more accurate than the standard musket at ranges beyond 100 yards, made British command of their guns nearly impossible. Arnold repeatedly committed reserves at critical moments, preventing the British from consolidating positions. Though the British held the field at day’s end, they had suffered approximately 600 casualties (killed, wounded, and captured) against American losses of approximately 320. More importantly, the British advance had stalled.
The credit dispute was immediate. Gates, who had remained at headquarters, wrote to Congress crediting the victory to Daniel Morgan’s riflemen without mentioning Arnold’s name. Arnold confronted Gates directly; the argument became bitter, and Gates restricted Arnold’s command, effectively removing him from an active role while the armies glared at each other across the contested ground.
Bemis Heights / Second Battle of Saratoga (October 7, 1777)
After three weeks of stalemate, Burgoyne was desperate. His supply lines north had been cut; American militia were interdicting his rear areas; he had lost a detachment at the Battle of Bennington in August; and his force had shrunk to approximately 5,000 effective troops. On October 7, Burgoyne launched a reconnaissance-in-force of 1,500 men to probe the American left flank at Bemis Heights.
Arnold, technically under orders to remain at headquarters, watched the battle develop from a distance. When Gates failed to respond aggressively to the British advance, Arnold rode out without explicit authorization — accounts differ on whether he received any form of permission — and joined the action. What followed was one of the war’s most remarkable individual performances. Arnold rallied multiple American units in sequence, personally leading charges against British redoubts. His horse was shot from under him; he immediately mounted another. He drove assaulting columns against the Breymann Redoubt, a key fortification on the British right, and broke through.
A musket ball struck his left leg during the assault on the Breymann Redoubt — the same leg wounded at Quebec two years earlier. As he was being carried from the field, he reportedly said the leg “was my best wound” because it spared him from having to surrender his honor to Gates. The wound shattered his femur and left him incapacitated for months.
Burgoyne’s right flank collapsed. He retreated north to Saratoga, where the American forces under Gates surrounded him. On October 17, 1777, Burgoyne surrendered his entire surviving army — approximately 5,800 men — to Gates at Saratoga. It was the largest surrender of British forces in the eighteenth century and the most consequential American military victory of the Revolution.
Strategic Significance of Saratoga
Arnold’s role at Saratoga had consequences that extended far beyond the battlefield. News of Burgoyne’s surrender reached Paris on December 4, 1777 — brought by Jonathan Loring Austin, who raced to Passy with word for Benjamin Franklin. The news provided the decisive proof that French officials, led by Foreign Minister Vergennes, needed to convince King Louis XVI to formalize the alliance they had been secretly supporting for two years. France had been covertly supplying the Americans through the fictional trading company Roderigue Hortalez et Compagnie (organized by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais) since 1776, but had withheld formal recognition pending evidence that the Americans could actually win battles.
Saratoga provided that evidence. On February 6, 1778, France formally signed two treaties with the United States — a Treaty of Amity and Commerce and a Treaty of Alliance — entering the war as America’s open ally. This transformed the Revolutionary War from a colonial rebellion into a global conflict involving two of Europe’s great powers, fundamentally altering the strategic calculus for Britain. Spain entered the war in 1779, the Netherlands in 1780. Without the French alliance — and without the victory at Saratoga that made it possible — Britain’s resources and naval superiority might have ground down the Continental Army indefinitely.
Arnold was the primary architect of the two tactical victories that delivered this strategic result. Gates commanded at a distance and received the formal surrender. Arnold bled for it on the ground.
Later Career and Descent into Treason (1778–1780)
Arnold’s post-Saratoga career followed a tragic arc. While recovering from his leg wound — a lengthy process that left him with a permanent limp — Congress still had not reimbursed him for the thousands of dollars he had spent from personal funds on the Quebec and Saratoga campaigns. Five officers junior to him in seniority had been promoted over him during 1777; Congress cited political considerations (geographic balance among state delegations) rather than military merit. Washington, who respected Arnold deeply, urged him to remain in the service and interceded with Congress on his behalf, but the institutional slights continued.
In June 1778, Washington gave Arnold command of Philadelphia after the British evacuation. There, Arnold socialized extensively with Loyalist Philadelphia society, fell in love with Peggy Shippen (daughter of a Loyalist judge and a former acquaintance of British officer John André), and lived lavishly on credit. Pennsylvania authorities brought charges against him for using army wagons for personal business and other alleged improprieties. A military court-martial in January 1780 found him guilty on two minor charges and ordered Washington to formally reprimand him — a public humiliation that, by accounts, broke something in Arnold’s commitment to the cause.
By mid-1779, Arnold had already opened secret correspondence with the British through Peggy and through André, now adjutant-general of the British Army. In exchange for money and a commission, he offered intelligence and ultimately the betrayal of West Point, the key fortress controlling the Hudson River valley. In September 1780, the plot was discovered when André was captured behind American lines carrying incriminating papers in his boot. Arnold escaped to a British sloop moments before Washington’s officers arrived to arrest him. André was hanged as a spy on October 2, 1780.
Arnold served the British for the remainder of the war, leading raids against Richmond, Virginia, and New London, Connecticut. After the war he lived in England and then Canada, dying in London on June 14, 1801, largely without recognition from either side.
Historical Legacy
Benedict Arnold’s legacy encapsulates the tragedy of talent marred by character. His 1777 military genius was undeniable; without his aggressiveness at Saratoga, the outcome of that pivotal campaign might have been different. Yet his defection in 1780 has eclipsed his achievements in popular memory. He is remembered primarily as a traitor, though the depth of his 1777 service and sacrifice merits recognition alongside his ultimate betrayal.
For students of 1777 specifically, Arnold represents both the heights of American military aspiration and the fragility of revolutionary commitment. His dominant role at both Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights — the two engagements that forced Burgoyne’s surrender — makes him the single most important American tactical officer of 1777 and central to understanding the Revolution’s turning point.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Benedict Arnold — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold
- American Battlefield Trust: Saratoga Campaign — https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/saratoga-campaign
- National Archives: Papers of the Continental Congress — https://www.archives.gov/
- Britannica: Benedict Arnold — https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benedict-Arnold