Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
Benedict Arnold, to be precise. As a general in the American Revolutionary army, he certainly could not be considered a loyal subject of the King. After continual snubbing by the other senior revolutary American generals, he sold out certain military secrets to the British. Therefore, he would then be a traitor to the American cause. That would seem to make him a traitor all around....
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The man was a traitor from any perspective. Here's a quote that pretty much sums things up:
"In the end, Benedict Arnold's "moral failure lay not in his disenchantment with the American cause" for many other officers returned to civilian life disgusted with the decline in republican virtue and angry over their failure to win a guaranteed pension from Congress. Nor did his infamy stem from his transfer of allegiance to the British side, for other Patriots chose to become Loyalists, sometimes out of principle but just as often for personal gain. Arnold's perfidy lay in the abuse of his position of authority and trust: he would betray West Point and its garrison "and if necessary the entire American war effort" to secure his own success. His treason was not that of a principled man but that of a selfish one, and he never lived that down. Hated in America as a consort of "Beelzebub ... the Devil," Arnold was treated with coldness and even contempt in Britain. He died as he lived, a man without a country."
The Enigma of Benedict Arnold by James Henretta
http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/fall97/arnold.html