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00:00Previously on The Revolution, a mysterious Prussian arrived at Valley Forge to train
00:06the only army that would have him, Washington's battered continentals.
00:10Baron von Steuben's genius was the ability to distill state-of-the-art European drill
00:15tactics to this raw material that was the American soldier.
00:19That army and its commander are now convinced that they can beat any army on the face of
00:24the earth, and they are eager for the fight.
00:26And that fight comes on one of the hottest days of the war.
00:29Monmouth became the war's longest, most brutal battle.
00:33When the smoke had cleared at Monmouth, it was a draw.
00:36This new army that had come out of Valley Forge held their own against the British.
00:40This renews the public's spirit for the war.
00:56July 4th, 1778.
01:01It is the second anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and the second birthday for
01:07what will become a new nation, the United States of America.
01:11For the soldiers, a day of celebration.
01:16And for their leader, General George Washington, a time of renewed confidence.
01:24It has been a week since the Continentals took on the British army at the New Jersey crossroads
01:29of Monmouth Courthouse.
01:34It was one of the hottest days of the war, and the Americans, fresh from a winter's worth
01:40of training at Valley Forge, stood up to the full force of the British.
01:44Fire!
01:46More than 20,000 soldiers clashed on the field.
01:50The battle raged for hours in the stifling afternoon heat.
01:55Fire!
01:56Fire!
02:00Fire!
02:00Fire!
02:03Washington knew, and the country knew, that this new army was a good one.
02:07They had held their own against the British.
02:10This renews the public's spirit for the war, and solidifies Washington's position as the
02:16unquestioned Commander-in-Chief.
02:19After the battle, the British withdraw to their stronghold in New York City, giving Washington
02:24hope for a brighter future in the war.
02:27The British pullout means the rebel capital, Philadelphia, has returned to American hands.
02:34And in the main chamber of Independence Hall, the Continental Congress is back in session.
02:43Across town at City Tavern, a crowd is gathering for an Independence Day celebration.
02:49The July 4th celebration is a who's-who of Philadelphia's high society.
02:56Congressmen, statesmen, and wealthy merchants are all in attendance.
03:02Also at the gathering is one of the most revered generals of the Revolution,
03:07the man personally installed by George Washington as Philadelphia's military governor,
03:13Benedict Arnold.
03:16Arnold was born into a prominent Connecticut family, but his alcoholic father squandered the
03:21family's fortune.
03:23Determined to overcome his lowly circumstances, he has become a celebrated war hero through sheer
03:30will.
03:31In 1775, Arnold helped lead a daring mission to snatch the remote outpost, Fort Ticonderoga,
03:38from the British.
03:40But the credit for the victory went to the bold frontiersman, Ethan Allen, a cruel blow
03:46to Arnold's honor.
03:48Two years later, it was Benedict Arnold who rallied the Americans to victory in the Battle
03:53of Saratoga, but at a high price.
03:59Arnold took a bullet to the leg and barely survived being crushed by his horse.
04:05When the battle was over, his second-in-command said, sir, where are you hit?
04:12And Arnold said, it's my leg.
04:15I wish it had been my heart.
04:16And I do, too.
04:17I wish it had been his heart, because if he had died at that moment, he would have been
04:21the great hero of the Revolution.
04:23Adding insult to injury, literally, credit for the victory went to Horatio Gates, the leader
04:30of America's Northern Army.
04:32It is another in a growing list of slights against Arnold.
04:37Gates doesn't mention Arnold in his dispatches and garners all the glory for himself.
04:42The people and the press hailed Gates as the new American hero.
04:48In fact, the hero of the battle was Benedict Arnold.
04:53Now crippled by the injury from Saratoga, Arnold has had to relinquish his battlefield command
04:58for a new charge from George Washington, to restore order to Philadelphia, a city still
05:05reeling from the eight-month occupation by the British.
05:10Philadelphia under the British was a place of terrible suffering for the poor, who couldn't
05:21afford to buy any food or fuel.
05:23It was a place where dozens of American prisoners of war died every day.
05:29The houses were in shambles.
05:31There was nothing to eat.
05:34There were people begging in the streets.
05:38The British occupation has helped radicalize the city.
05:43Mobs take to the streets for public demonstrations, where prostitutes dressed as loyalists are paraded
05:49around town, a display of hatred towards any who sympathize with the British.
05:55And in heated backroom debates, both the state and continental governments are seeking to
06:01reassert their political power over Philadelphia.
06:03It creates a precarious situation, one that the headstrong general is ill-equipped to handle.
06:11Benedict Arnold has something of a prickly personality.
06:15He is not the kind of person that an acquaintance would probably go out of the way to compliment
06:22to other people.
06:23Arnold.
06:24He is vain.
06:25He is somewhat self-serving.
06:27He is somewhat self-interesting.
06:28And those that don't already like him are not inclined to do him any favors.
06:34In addition, with his haughty manner and fancy dress, Arnold looks to many just like a Tory, a loyalist.
06:43Around town, Arnold and his expensively dressed friends wear the wigs and fineries associated
06:49with the British.
06:50But it is Arnold's actions as military governor that cause a stir.
06:56Arnold's first act was to close all the stores.
07:00He said to take an inventory of what there was available to supply the army and the civilians.
07:06But immediately, the accusations began to fly that he was cornering the market on goods
07:12that he was going to sell himself.
07:14I don't think Benedict Arnold was doing anything as a commanding officer in Philadelphia
07:19that many of the other generals on both sides did as a matter of custom.
07:24Officers got a percentage.
07:25Commissary generals got a commission.
07:28And he was only doing what others did.
07:31Arnold does little to help his cause by regularly entertaining suspected loyalists.
07:38There is one in particular who catches his eye.
07:41A younger lady, demure, quiet, intense, lovelier than the rest, Peggy Shippen.
07:53At 18, Peggy is half Arnold's age and is the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Philadelphia,
08:00the judge and merchant Edward Shippen.
08:04The Shippens tried to maintain their neutrality under the British occupation, but are strongly
08:09suspected of being loyalists.
08:11Like many of Philadelphia's society women, Peggy kept company with British officers over
08:17the winter of 1778.
08:19One of her closest companions was British General Clinton's ambitious aide-de-camp, a young man
08:25by the name of Major John Andre.
08:29Shippen's friendship with Andre has not ended with the withdrawal from Philadelphia.
08:34Through her friends, she still hears from the British officer.
08:39It is a relationship that ties her dangerously close to the enemy.
08:45Arnold is taken with the young Shippen and begins an intense courtship that captures her
08:50heart and culminates with their marriage.
08:54Peggy Shippen, from the time she was about five, had heard about Benedict Arnold.
09:00The newspapers were always full of his exploits.
09:04She was a gorgeous young woman.
09:07She was extremely well-educated by her father, self-educated as well, could run a business which
09:13appealed to a Yankee merchant like Arnold.
09:15Today, they would be considered a dynamite couple, and I think they saw themselves in
09:21that term right away.
09:23But they are also a couple under scrutiny.
09:26For his extravagant parties and questionable business dealings, Arnold comes under fire in
09:31the press.
09:33They are deadly serious charges, corruption, abuse of power, leveled by an anonymous source.
09:41Once again, Arnold faces a slight against his honor.
09:45But this time, his integrity is called into question.
09:49It is an attack that may push him too far.
09:57Summer, 1778.
09:58The Continental Army has proven its mettle at the Battle of Monmouth, a battle that has
10:03solidified George Washington's position as the American Commander-in-Chief.
10:09The British have withdrawn to New York City, and the colonial capital, Philadelphia, is
10:14back in American hands.
10:17Washington entrusts the city to one of his most celebrated generals, Benedict Arnold, who
10:23is now the military governor.
10:27Meanwhile, across the ocean in Paris, another celebrated patriot is anxiously awaiting news
10:33from the colonies.
10:36Benjamin Franklin, America's great statesman and emissary to France, is expecting word on
10:42the arrival of the French fleet in America.
10:47The internationally renowned scientist and statesman has been heartily enjoying the fine
10:52wine and refined women of France for the past year.
10:57And has used his patient diplomacy to convince this great superpower and enemy of the British
11:03to join the American side of the war.
11:07Now, twelve ships of the line under the command of the French Admiral Comte d'Estaing are under
11:13sail to aid the American cause.
11:16The hope is that the French fleet will help bring the war to a quick end, but the news
11:21from America is not good.
11:24A storm wreaks heavy damage to the ships, crippling the fleet and eliminating any chance of engaging
11:31the British.
11:32The whole Franco-American alliance is a very, very awkward alliance, and it gets off to
11:39a very wobbly start.
11:40This makes up the impression that the French are a bunch of cowards who haven't really come
11:42to our rescue anyway.
11:44And so this much trumpeted alliance with our saviors, the French, begins to sound like it's
11:49a pipe dream.
11:49And Franklin's job from France is very much to eliminate that idea and to paint a happier
11:56picture of the alliance, to uplift the alliance, because this is our only hope.
12:02To that end, Franklin engages in his own special brand of diplomacy.
12:08Talking politics while socializing over games of chess in the salons of Paris.
12:16But Franklin's playful flirtations raise some eyebrows, in particular from an old nemesis
12:23who has recently arrived in France, John Adams.
12:27The 42-year-old New England conservative is one of the original firebrands who helped spark
12:33the American Revolution, and is now an American envoy.
12:40Adams has been dispatched to work with Franklin at building the alliance with the French.
12:45But the two couldn't be a more unlikely pairing.
12:49Franklin and Adams are a little bit like oil and water.
12:52They're two inherently different men.
12:55Adams arrives in France, and he is a man of schedules, he's a man of efficiency, he wants
13:00an answer now.
13:01Franklin realizes that what he's conducting is diplomacy, and diplomacy is not conducted
13:06in this rather rigid-minded way.
13:09So Adams' perception of Franklin is that he's dilatory, and he spends an enormous amount
13:13of time socializing, and that he's a little bit overly patient with things, and that he
13:18never gets a straight answer.
13:20That is all of it a definition, of course, of diplomacy.
13:24Adams may be impatient, but for now there is little that can be done.
13:30So the mismatched couple will have to bide their time, until the day the French Navy can
13:35finally come to the aid of the American cause.
13:42Back in the colonies, the fall of 1778 brings old problems to the doorstep of General George
13:49Washington.
13:51His army again faces chronic shortages, limited food, tattered clothing and dwindling supplies,
14:00all compounded by an additional problem, no pay.
14:06It is a strain that weighs heavily on Officer Joseph Hodgkins, a 35-year-old cobbler from Massachusetts,
14:13who has dutifully served in the war since its outset.
14:20Hodgkins has not been paid in months, a reality that is pushing even the most dedicated soldiers
14:27to weigh their commitment to the war against the needs of their families.
14:33My dear, you say in your letter that you are afraid that I shall stay in the cause of liberty
14:37till I shall make myself a slave to it.
14:40I have too much reason to fear that will be the case.
14:43I hope to come home soon and see you.
14:47Wishing you good night, your most kind and affectionate husband till death, Joseph Hodgkins.
14:54For women like Joseph's wife Sarah, life outside of the war has brought its own set of difficulties.
15:01In addition to raising their children, tending to the family business fills her days.
15:07And with the value of paper money dropping to 3 to 4 cents on the dollar, budgets are stretched and
15:14families are feeling the strain.
15:19The problems on the home front begin to have an impact in Washington's ranks.
15:23Many officers resign their commissions and return to civilian life to provide for their families.
15:31But as veterans of the fight for independence begin streaming out of the war,
15:36another group is finding their way in.
15:40Slaves.
15:42They come from Rhode Island, a state desperate to fill its recruitment quotas,
15:48and are joining the fight seeking something all Americans are after, freedom.
15:55Slaveholding is common across many of the colonies during the revolution, from the north to the south.
16:03And although the colony of Rhode Island was founded on principles of tolerance and equality,
16:07it has grown as a major port and market in the international slave trade.
16:13Now, Rhode Island's politicians see an untapped resource for filling their ranks.
16:21The Rhode Island regiment comes from a region that was, for the north, one of the major slaveholding regions.
16:31If they had been in the south, they'd have been called plantations.
16:33But these are the largest slaveholding estates in the entire north.
16:40In order to fulfill their quota commitment, they offer to send some of their slaves.
16:46Now, in return for fighting for the Continental Army, the slaves are offered freedom.
16:52The slaves are not the only ones tendered an offer.
16:56The Rhode Island government offers compensation to the slave owners for their property.
17:01But it is still up to the individual slave to agree to the enlistment.
17:06Here is your choice.
17:08You can remain a slave.
17:10Or you can support this new nation, and as a result of that, support this new nation, and your master
17:17will recognize your freedom.
17:19Now, obviously, this is a very difficult situation because you can't be sure that you're going to get freedom if
17:28you fight.
17:29But the one thing you can be sure of, if you don't fight, you're going to remain a slave.
17:35Soon, one out of every four able-bodied slaves in Rhode Island enlists in what becomes known as the First
17:42Rhode Island Regiment.
17:44And although George Washington once stood in opposition to having black slaves serve in his army, the new recruits are
17:51a welcome boost to his manpower-starved force.
17:55One thing we should always remember, from the beginning of this country to the present, African Americans have had a
18:03certain faith in the American dream.
18:06And I'm not talking about two cars in every garage. I'm talking about the American dream of personal freedom and
18:11opportunity.
18:11That's something that America, in its rhetoric, handed out to the world from the very beginning as the reasons for
18:20its existence.
18:22I think many African American slaves took that seriously.
18:29Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the case against Benedict Arnold continues to build in the press.
18:37Serious charges that will have to be answered.
18:43Winter, 1779.
18:45George Washington again faces crippling shortages of soldiers and supplies for his fighting force.
18:51Some of his officers have even begun to leave the ranks.
18:55It is another uphill struggle, not just for the Continental Army, but also for the military governor of Philadelphia, Benedict
19:03Arnold.
19:05The charges of corruption and abuse of power circulating in the press have been getting more frequent and more serious.
19:13The essence of the charges against Arnold were that he had abused his office for his own personal profit, closing
19:21the shop so he could rake off business from those.
19:25He was just doing what was common practice at the time, but he got nailed for it.
19:31The identity of the once anonymous person leveling the accusations is now known.
19:36The president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania.
19:40In essence, the governor.
19:43Joseph Reed.
19:45The powerful Reed is a veteran of the revolution who served under George Washington in the battles of New York
19:51and Brandywine.
19:52There he gained the confidence of the commander in chief.
19:56Reed's strong patriot zeal is matched only by his dislike for anything that smacks of loyalism.
20:04Now, a civilian politician, Reed is on a mission to take the control of Philadelphia out of the hands of
20:10the army
20:11and return it to his command under the state of Pennsylvania.
20:16And Arnold will be his sacrificial lamb.
20:21Reed publishes that eight charges are being drawn up against Benedict Arnold.
20:27Stung by the accusations, Arnold launches an attack of his own, defending his actions and his honor.
20:35Arnold did not believe that American army officers such as himself should take any orders from the governor of Pennsylvania.
20:45And Reed did not believe that anyone was immune from the power of the civilian population.
20:52It really was a standoff between the two.
20:55The heated exchange lasts for months in the Philadelphia press and catches the eye of another powerful body,
21:03the Continental Congress, which decides to take the matter into its own hands and convene a hearing.
21:12March 5th, 1779.
21:16In front of a Congressional Investigative Committee, Arnold answers the charges leveled against him.
21:23Arnold wanted to defend himself in the eyes of the American people as well as his fellow officers.
21:31And his statement is really a recitation of all that he did and all that he had lost.
21:36He'd been crippled for life. He'd been passed over for promotion several times.
21:42And he thought he had lost his honor with its lingering cloud over him.
21:47After Arnold's eloquent defense, the committee rules that there is no intentional wrongdoing.
21:52And refers the matter along to a friendly audience for the general, a military council.
21:59For Arnold, it is a victory. And at his request, a hearing date is set for May.
22:05But Joseph Reed has more plans for Arnold.
22:09He renews his attacks in the press, and renews a correspondence with his old commander, George Washington.
22:16Reed demands that all of the charges be reinstated against Arnold,
22:20and backs it with the threat of removing Pennsylvania's support and supplies from the war.
22:26He tried to blackmail Washington. If Washington didn't court-martial Benedict Arnold,
22:33Washington would not have the army wagons he needed to move his armies the next year.
22:39Desperate for supplies, Washington sees no choice but to consider the possibility.
22:46And in a terse, polite letter, postpones Arnold's hearing indefinitely.
22:53When Washington agreed to the postponement, it really horrified Benedict Arnold.
23:03And he wrote probably his most wrenching letter to Washington at that time,
23:09If you think I'm guilty, well then try me and execute me.
23:14But after all I've done, don't leave me hanging and twisting here this long.
23:19And the day he wrote that letter to Washington, that is the turning point.
23:24Now, Benedict Arnold, the bold American general, the savior at Saratoga,
23:30the capturer of Fort Ticonderoga, does the unthinkable.
23:35And with encouragement from his wife Peggy, reaches out to her old friend and enemy combatant,
23:42British Major John Andre, who is now the head of British intelligence.
23:50Arnold sends the dispatch signed only with the code name, Monk.
23:55It offers information on the Continental Army in return for money.
24:00But above all, for the aggrieved Arnold, it is his way out of the American Army,
24:05which to him and Peggy has never fully appreciated his sacrifice and his service.
24:18As the war drags into its fourth year, frustrations begin to mount.
24:23Officer Joseph Hodgkins is again on the move.
24:27Memories of the failed battles still fresh in his mind.
24:32It is now clear that the end of the war, seemingly so close last summer, is but a distant hope.
24:41And at home, times are increasingly difficult.
24:45On just a soldier's pay, the Hodgkins family finances are stretched to the limit.
24:54For Joseph, it is time to go home, to Ipswich, Massachusetts.
25:05Four years, four months and 27 days after turning out for the alarm at Lexington,
25:11Hodgkins resigns his commission and quits the war.
25:21He resumes his life as a citizen, a shoemaker, a husband and a father.
25:28And will never return to the front lines again.
25:39The loss of veteran soldiers like Joseph Hodgkins hits Washington's army hard.
25:45Especially now, as the war is pulled to a new far-flung frontier.
25:52Indian raids on villages to the west have commanded the attention of Congress and the country.
25:57And revenge is being demanded.
26:031779 is shaping up to be a slow year for the Continental Army.
26:08Battlefield plans have been made and discarded.
26:12Rumors of British movements received, some true, some false.
26:18Just one assault, demanded by Congress and ordered by George Washington,
26:24will be the major campaign of the year.
26:27A foray north into the lands occupied by the nation of the Iroquois.
26:34Stretching east to west across land that will become New York State,
26:37the Iroquois nation consists of the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Seneca, and the Tuscarora.
26:46It is the largest confederation of tribes in the northeast,
26:50and would be a powerful addition to either side in the revolution.
26:56For most of the war, Native American involvement has been a limited affair.
27:01Various tribes making short-term deals for individual battles.
27:06Now the Iroquois nation, like all who live on American soil,
27:11find themselves in a position to take a side in the war.
27:15There's not a great option. It's the least painful option, or the option that seems to serve their interests.
27:24Partly it's a calculation about who is going to win this war, the British or the Americans.
27:31But the British have an inside track, a strong connection to a Mohawk warrior named Joseph Brandt.
27:40Born in Ohio, his Indian name, Tyendanaga, translates as he who places two bets,
27:47an appropriate name for a man who has spent his life straddling white and Indian society.
27:54Born to Mohawk parents, he was introduced at an early age to a man of great wealth,
27:59the British superintendent of Indian affairs, Sir William Johnson,
28:04who took Joseph under his wing and raised him as his own son.
28:11Brant's family connection with Sir William Johnson lands him on a far-flung trip,
28:16across the sea to another land, Great Britain.
28:22Presented as a representative of the Iroquois people,
28:25Brant meets with King George III
28:28and is promised that his people will be able to keep their lands after the war,
28:33if they side with the Crown.
28:36It is a promise Brant takes back with him to America,
28:39and he brings his case before the Iroquois Tribal Council.
28:44There was a grand debate, reminiscent of our own debate about independence.
28:48All the warriors and the leaders and women were included in this debate as well.
28:54Joseph Brandt started off, he said,
28:57we have to join with somebody, because somebody's going to win.
29:00To which another respected warrior said,
29:04war is war.
29:06Death is death.
29:07A fight is a hard business.
29:10We should be cautious before taking up the hatchet.
29:15This is a classic debate between hawks and doves.
29:18We see it over and over in history,
29:20and here it was in the Indian Council among the Iroquois.
29:24As in many such debates, the hawks prevail.
29:30It is a decision that comes at a high price.
29:33Four of the Iroquois tribes agree to take up arms for the British.
29:38But the Oneida and Tuscarora,
29:41swayed by missionaries loyal to the American cause,
29:44refuse Brant's appeal.
29:47Now, a divided people, the great council fire of the Six Nations,
29:52a symbol of tribal unity, is ritually extinguished.
29:57Once under British command,
30:00Brant and his warriors are ordered to raid villages along the New York frontier.
30:05But although they are fighting for their own land,
30:09Brant is portrayed much differently in the American press.
30:12He becomes known as the Monster Brant.
30:16Newspapers fill with vivid accounts of attacks.
30:19Yet there are few articles of the vicious retaliation and assaults by American settlers.
30:26The press coverage of the Indian raids has an immediate effect.
30:30And George Washington is ordered by the Continental Congress
30:33to mount an offensive against the Iroquois.
30:36As they call them, the Savages.
30:40Washington deploys the mission,
30:42and leaves no doubt as to the goal.
30:45The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements,
30:50and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible.
30:55Lay waste all the settlements around,
30:57that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed.
31:02George Washington.
31:03The language that the Americans use about overrunning and destroying,
31:07is language that they would not use about the British.
31:11That was not how they were going to fight the British.
31:13They were going to do that in a very controlled way.
31:17Whereas against Indians, it's the entire population who's under attack.
31:24August 1779, 4,500 Continental soldiers descend upon their first target.
31:31The Iroquois border town of Newtown, New York.
31:36Washington's forces burn the village to the ground.
31:40And a mass exodus begins ahead of the advancing army.
31:45Thousands of Iroquois from the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca tribes,
31:50march overland to the safety of the British forts to the west at Niagara.
31:55The people, the Indian villages, the orchards, the wheat fields, the corn fields,
32:04in other words, a scorched earth policy.
32:08It was intense.
32:10Nothing quite like it until Sherman's march through Georgia in American military annals.
32:18If the idea was to destroy Indian resistance, it didn't work.
32:22The warriors had nothing left to live for other than to fight.
32:26So they continued to raid against the Patriot settlements the next year.
32:31As one American officer commented,
32:35the nests are destroyed, but the birds are still on the wing.
32:41With the Iroquois now forced from their lands,
32:44George Washington turns his attention to another pressing matter,
32:49a decision on one of his most renowned generals, Benedict Arnold.
32:55Washington is eager to get the bold general back into the fight for the American cause
32:59and is considering Arnold for a major field assignment.
33:04Whenever George Washington needed an experienced field commander,
33:09he called on Benedict Arnold.
33:11Arnold knew that you had to attack the British,
33:14get out there and hit them and hit them and hit them again.
33:18But before Washington can act on a new commission for Arnold,
33:21there is a political matter to tend to.
33:24A final ruling in the case against Arnold.
33:27Charges of profiteering while in charge of Philadelphia.
33:31Charges leveled by the governor of Pennsylvania,
33:33Joseph Reed.
33:36Reed, in his personal quest to show his power by seeing Arnold convicted,
33:41has backed the charges with a threat,
33:44to withdraw Pennsylvania's support for the war.
33:48And Washington, needing all the supplies he can get,
33:51sees no choice but to give in.
33:55He issues a harsh rebuke against Arnold to placate Reed.
34:00But once the affair blows over,
34:03Washington can finally make General Arnold a glorious offer.
34:07A return to a field command.
34:18With no knowledge of Joseph Reed's threat,
34:21Arnold receives Washington's decision.
34:25The words are stinging.
34:28Reprehensible.
34:30Imprudent.
34:31Improper.
34:33For the embattled American general, it is the last straw.
34:37Passed over for promotion,
34:39gravely injured at Saratoga,
34:41and now reprimanded by Washington.
34:44Arnold is pushed over the edge.
34:49Benedict Arnold will betray America.
34:55Arnold contemplates his terms.
34:5820,000 pounds and a command of his own.
35:03Brigadier General in the British Army.
35:07Arnold had changed since the revolution began.
35:11He felt that he had been given a very raw deal.
35:14I think the biggest misconception about Arnold's treason is he did it for the money.
35:20I don't think he did.
35:22I don't think it was as simple as that.
35:23He did it for his pride.
35:27The money was secondary.
35:29In return, Arnold will offer a mighty fort to the royals.
35:34It is the key to defending the Hudson River,
35:36and even bears the general's name, Fort Arnold, also known as West Point.
35:46Benedict Arnold has received a harsh rebuke from the American commander-in-chief, George Washington.
35:51It is the final straw for the brash general and pushes him over the edge.
35:57With the help of his wife, Benedict Arnold reaches out to British Major John Andre with an offer.
36:04Money and a command of his own in return for the American stronghold that bears his name, Fort Arnold, also
36:12known as West Point.
36:15Just 60 miles north of New York City, West Point is a critical post on the banks of the Hudson
36:20River.
36:22Located in the middle of the Hudson Highlands, the fortress guards a sweeping S-curve in the mighty river.
36:28At West Point, the river remains tidal, which is to say at some times of the day it flows south
36:34and at other times of the day it flows north.
36:37This made West Point an ideal place to mount cannons on both sides of the river as ships had to
36:43navigate this very tricky curve.
36:46It is a prize that the British have coveted since the beginning of the war, but have never been able
36:51to take with a military offensive.
36:54Now Arnold offers to deliver the post and begins to lobby George Washington for command of the fort.
37:02August 1st, 1780. George Washington summons Benedict Arnold to a meeting just south of West Point, New York.
37:12Washington has a surprise for the general, a powerful field assignment and glorious return to action.
37:20Control of the entire left wing of the Continental Army, and with it, one half of America's best infantry.
37:29Washington takes his leave.
37:33The offer on the table is something that Benedict Arnold would have jumped at just months earlier.
37:38But his treasonous plot has been set in motion.
37:43Flustered, he pleads he is too crippled to assume the command.
37:48Only a stationary post, a desk job will do.
37:52It is a reaction that leaves the commander-in-chief confused.
37:58George Washington was puzzled that Benedict Arnold would want the command of West Point.
38:04Washington wanted to put him back into the line of battle as his number three general.
38:09But Arnold insisted on West Point because that was the deal with the British.
38:15Arnold refuses to back down, and Washington finally yields.
38:20The command of West Point is his.
38:29August 3rd.
38:32Now in charge, Arnold wastes no time in laying the groundwork for his treason.
38:36As the new commandant of West Point, Benedict Arnold deliberately weakened the fortifications, transferred men to distant posts where they
38:47couldn't reinforce in a British attack, moved guns around, and would have made it very easy for the British to
38:55take the place.
38:56Arnold prepares detailed intelligence on West Point.
39:00Troop numbers and positions.
39:03The number and location of the cannon.
39:07Details of the surrounding terrain.
39:10And sends word to British Major John Andre that he is ready for a meeting.
39:15Arnold's treason is just days away.
39:20September 21st, 2 a.m.
39:24Just south of West Point on the banks of the Hudson River, Benedict Arnold and John Andre meet for the
39:30first and last time.
39:33Arnold goes over the plans with Andre in great detail, making sure they are clear, that no question goes unanswered,
39:40that the plot is complete.
39:44It is a thoroughness that takes time.
39:47The meeting lasts for more than two hours.
39:51And when the two-part company, Andre carefully slips the plans into his boot.
40:00September 24th.
40:01Breakfast at the Arnold residence is a seemingly normal affair.
40:05Today, Arnold is expecting a special guest, General George Washington.
40:09It will be his last meeting with Washington.
40:12After which, he and Peggy will slip behind enemy lines.
40:17But Arnold receives a dispatch that changes everything.
40:22John Andre has been captured.
40:24And on him, the plans to West Point.
40:29Arnold believes that it is only a matter of time before the plot is uncovered.
40:34He rushes to Peggy's room.
40:36Together, they burn any evidence of the treasonous plot.
40:40And taking two pistols and a horse, Arnold makes a hasty getaway.
40:47When Washington arrives at the Arnold home, it is clear that something is amiss.
40:53An officer brings the news of Andre's capture and the confiscated documents.
40:58But Arnold is nowhere to be found.
41:01The terrible, incredible truth strikes him.
41:05Only one man could generate such detailed maps.
41:09The Commandant of the Fort.
41:13Benedict Arnold has sold out to the British.
41:18The remaining question is, who else knew of the plot?
41:26Washington goes to Peggy Shippen's room.
41:31But to the Commander's eyes, she is suffering from the shock of her husband's treason.
41:36When Washington arrives at the house, she is weeping, crying, that this terrible thing has happened.
41:44She's had nothing to do with it. She knows nothing about her.
41:48Washington buys this.
41:50George Washington was a sexist.
41:52He didn't believe a woman could have pulled off such an act, or been at the heart and the brain
41:58of such a plot.
42:11October 2nd, noon.
42:15Ten days after his capture,
42:18John Andre is the one who pays for the treason of Benedict Arnold.
42:23His request for an officer's death by firing squad is denied.
42:29He will suffer the death of a spy and hang.
42:34Ever the honorable English gentleman, Andre puts on his own blindfold and his own noose.
42:43At just 30 years of age,
42:46John Andre is both the youngest and highest ranking officer executed in the Revolution.
42:54In British-held New York City, there is a new officer in their ranks.
43:00A Connecticut-born patriot.
43:02A hero in the Revolutionary cause.
43:05British Brigadier General, Benedict Arnold.
43:09Were it not for his treason, he would almost undoubtedly be one of the most celebrated American commanders of all
43:16of the American Revolution.
43:17West Point to this day would probably still be called Fort Arnold rather than West Point.
43:22If the Americans had lost the Revolution, Benedict Arnold would have been Duke Arnold.
43:30And Washington would have been hang-drawn and quartered.
43:36Treason's tricky. Depends on which side you are.
43:40Arnold will follow the war to the southern states in charge of his own Loyalist Brigade with his wife Peggy,
43:46now banished from Philadelphia, by his side.
43:52Arnold's treason is the highest in the young history of America.
43:56It is an act that shakes George Washington to the core.
43:59That one of his highest ranking generals could betray the rebel cause raises questions.
44:06Who else might be considering the same?
44:10He will pursue Arnold throughout the rest of the war with a singular goal.
44:14To bring the traitor to justice.
44:20Next time on The Revolution, the British will shift focus to the southern colonies with a month-long siege of
44:27Charleston.
44:28Charleston is the richest port in America at the time.
44:31By moving south, they were moving to an area where they hoped they could restore British authority.
44:38If the seizure of southern states doesn't work, it's not clear what will work.
44:42I don't think anyone is more surprised than the British that they haven't won yet.
44:46The question they're asking is why isn't this thing over yet?
44:48This should have been an easy victory.
44:49To be courted.
45:02legends
45:18intestines
45:19You
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