The March of Benedict Arnold Through the District of Maine An address by Charles J. Nichols, Esq of Portland, Maine, before the Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (part 1) Printed in John Sprague's Journal of Maine History vol 11 page 144-150 Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society (c) 1997 by David C. Young PO Box 152 Danville, Maine 04223 THE MARCH OF BENEDICT ARNOLD 144 The march of Benedict Arnold in his unfortunate attempt to capture Quebec in 1775 is a part of the history of Maine. It is a fact that in later years, the trend of public sentiment has taken a much wider, tolerant and more charitable view of the career of Benedict Arnold than was the case 100 years ago. THE MARCH OF BENEDICT ARNOLD 145 Recently an address of Hon. Charles J. Nichols, a well known lawyer of Portland, Maine, and a member of the Legislature in 1923; which he has delivered before the Daughters of the American Revolution and other patriotic societies in Maine, came to our notice. After perusing the same, we begged the privilege of publishing it in the Journal; believing as we always have that Arnold has been misunder- stood and in some ways misrep- resented. We believe that this is one of the most unprejudiced and ablest presented of the facts regarding General Arnold that we know of. Part I No greater misfortune can be- fall a great man than to be born and live within the shadow of a greater. The peak that catches the first rays of the morning sun is crowned "The Monarch of the Hills," while the others, however grand, are known as only his body guard. Had it not been for Caesar, Brutus might have ruled the world; had Shakespeare not lived, Bacon and Johnson would have been the greatest names in English literature; had Michael Angelo never been born, none could have disputed with Raffael, the title "King of Art"; and had there been no Washington, many a gallant general would illumine the pages of our early history who now appears as a mere transient figure. Greene, Morgan, Putnum, Warren, Schuyler, Stark, Knox (drawing of BENEDICT ARNOLD is placed here) 146 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY and Hamilton are all immortal under their spotless chief, and Lafayette, DeKalb, Steuben, and Montgmoery, though of foreign birth, are names dear to every loyal American. But there is one, born in Norwich in the State of Connecticut, in the days of King George 11, rocked in the cradle of American Liberty, whose name the very gamins of our city streets conjure and curse,whom our youthful minds are taught to despise, whose one act scents to hell, Benedict Arnold. It is with many misgivings that I approach this subject. Not with a desire to take the unpopular side; not with any expression of sympathy; not with any feeling for the "under- dog" as is common to American sentiment, do I invite your attention, but rather as one who became, while a student in college, interested in the life of this man; as one who, as a mere boy, tramped for miles over the same route through central and northern Maine. It was more than fifty years after the close of the war, the revolutionary generation had almost passed away, before anyone even dared publicly to announce that Benedict Arnold had been of any service to the colonies in gaining their inde- pendence. Years before, Gates bad made his famous report to the Continental Congress of how he had won the battle of Saratoga, "the decisive battle of the war." Ethan Allen had taken Ticonderoga; the battle on Lake Champlain had not been mentioned in our history tip to that time; the march through the Province of Maine in the early winter of 1775 had been proclaimed a failure. Montgomery had bravely died in the storming of Quebec; but the name of Arnold was known only as "the traitor." The gray-haired veterans shuddered at the mention of that name. Even the present generation, as we approach our country's history, was taught that "Arnold married a Tory lady, lived extravagantly in Philadelphia one winter, was stationed by Washington at West Point, while a wound was healing; turned traitor to the American cause by offering to surrender the place and the entire garrison; that an Englishman by the name of Andre was sent with papers from the British Army; that Andre was caught by three Americans, tried and hanged as a spy. Arnold escaped and THE MARCH OF BENEDICT ARNOLD 147 joined the English, where he plundered and ravaged upon his former countrymen and later died in England, despised by everyone." That is taken from one of our early school histories; that is the extent of our early teaching of one of the greatest generals of our revolutionary war. But now after a period of more than one hundred and forty years, the State of Maine has within her borders, a tablet erected to the memory of him who commanded-and to the brave soldiers who followed for two hundred miles through rivers, marsh and forest virgin to the step of civilized man. New York could readily follow such an example to com- memorate her Ticondroga and Saratoga. Vermont can well erect from her native granite, a massive shaft facing toward her border, Lake Champlain-for it was upon those waters that Arnold fought against fearful odds, the greatest sea fight in our country's history, save only that of John Paul Jones. On the 19th day of August, 1912, one hundred and thirty- seven years after the setting out of the expedition, the Gov- ernor's Foot Guard of New Haven, Connecticut, whose first colonel was Benedict Arnold, placed a tablet in a boulder of Maine granite at old Fort Western, near Augusta, to com- memorate the courage and bravery of the eleven hundred men who followed their intrepid leader through the wilds of Maine in the winter of 1775. In accepting the tablet our own Governor said: "You have placed your tablet of imperishable bronze upon a boulder of Maine granite, a boulder whose rugged face has remained unchanged through all the years since Arnold came to Maine and which will remain unchanged for generations yet to come. It fittingly typifies the sturdy character of the men whose memory it perpetuates and it is with deep appreciation that I accept it on behalf of the City of Augusta and the State of Maine." Such are the words of him who received the emblem of the first recognition on this continent of the courage, bravery and fortitude of Benedict Arnold. 148 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY In all struggles for liberty, the successful leaders spring from the people, and are a part of the times that generate them. Skill and experience gained on other military fields do not compensate for the want of sympathy between them and the cause they espouse, and the energy and resolution that he, born of the struggle, possesses. There can be no greater error committed than for the leaders of a revolution to select, for military commanders, those whose tastes and habits have been formed under, an entirely different organization of things. They have no sympathy with the impulsive, irregular movements and ardent hopes of the people struggling for freedom. Had Napoleon chosen his marshals from the old expe- rienced military leaders of France, he never could have shaken Europe with his conquering armies. The "Little Corporal" promoted his officers on the field of battle, in the midst of the carnage where had been won a victory by their bravery, and he thus welded the strongest chain of loyalty. Two of Bourbon rank were almost his undoing; Moreau, an old veteran, betrayed him, and Grouchy, born a count, ruined him at Waterloo. It is an astounding fact that in our own revolution, four of our Major Generals were native born Englishmen and had previously served in the British army-Montgomery, Gates, Charles Lee and Conway. The former died fighting glori- ously before Quebec while the other three, one after another, were all traitors to our cause. However, it is no excuse for Arnold that Gates was as bad as he. You cannot rectify one wrong by committing another, and the error of one man cannot be justified by a comparison with another, equally as bad. But we can study the lives of those men, the incidents and environments under which they lived and the burdens borne by them in order to make a general summary of their characters. When a revolution broke out, one of the first appointments of Continental Congress was making of Horatio Gates, a former officer in the armies of George 11 and George 111, an THE MARCH OF BENEDICT ARNOLD 149 adjutant general with the rank of brigadier. The next year he was appointed Commander in Chief of the northern army in place of General Schuyler, taking command at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. This position he held until the surrender or Burgoyne in 1777. In the two battles preceding this last event, namely the battles of Bemis Height and Saratoga, as they are called, he played no important part. The first day's battle was fought entirely by the left wing under Arnold, with the aid of Morgan. During the progress of the second battle, Gates sent General Armstrong to recall Arnold from the field, but the latter refused to come back and rode at the head of his troops while Gates was in his tent talking over plans for a surrender to Burgoyne. The chieftain, whom Gates sought to disgrace, whom he entirely ignored in his report of the battle, won for him the title of the "Hero of Saratoga" and the praise of his country- men. In his sudden and supreme self-conceit, Gates never deigned to let Washington know of the victory, much less report to him, as the Commander in Chief of the army, what had been done. After this Gates entered soul and heart into the conspiracy to displace Washington and put himself at the head of the army. Linked with Mifflin and Conway he formed the in- famous "Conway Cabal" to have Washington removed by falsehood and intrigues. How near he came to accomplishing this, no living person of today can determine, but it is known that loyal John Adams, the man who presented, at the begin- ning of the war, the name of Washington as Commander of our little army, was so impressed by the communications from Gates, that he exclaimed in the halls of Congress, "We must have another leader, General Washington is no longer able to hold our little army together." In this, I say, Gates was as great a traitor to the American cause as Arnold. True he did not betray his country for money, he did not sell his soul for thirty pieces of silver, but worse than that, he deliberately tried to ruin by base fabrica- ttions, two of the bravest supporters of liberty, Washington 150 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY and Arnold. Before the battle of Saratoga he withheld from Arnold his commission in the Continental army so that when the first day's battle was fought, Arnold was only a private, and had it not been for the inspiration he created among the others he might have had the mortification of giving orders without having them obeyed. To be concluded in the next issue of this Journal. * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * * The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. 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