CHAPTER I.

Arnold’s Birth and Early Life.

Among the first settlers and proprietors of Rhode Island was William Arnold, a name of some note in the local annals of his time. He had three sons, Benedict, Thomas, and Stephen. The eldest, that is, Benedict Arnold, succeeded Roger Williams as president of the colony under the first charter, and he was at different times governor under the second charter during a period of fifteen years; a proof of the respect in which he was held by his contemporaries.

The family spread out into several branches. One of these was established at Newport, from which place two brothers, Benedict Arnold and Oliver Arnold, emigrated to Norwich in Connecticut, the former about the year 1730, or perhaps a little earlier, the latter several years afterwards. They were coopers by trade, but Benedict discontinued that occupation soon after his removal to Norwich, and engaged in commerce. He made one or two voyages to England, but was principally concerned in navigation to the West Indies, and was owner of the vessels he commanded. Having accumulated means sufficient to enable him to change this pursuit for one which he liked better, he became a merchant, and for several years carried on an extensive business at Norwich. He was a man of suspicious integrity, little respected, and less esteemed. Prosperity deserted him, and by degrees he sank into intemperance, poverty, and contempt.

In the mean time he had married Mrs. Hannah King, a widow lady, whose name before her first marriage was Waterman. Her family connexions were highly respectable, and she is represented as having been eminent for her amiable temper, piety, and Christian virtues. The children of this second marriage were three sons and three daughters. Benedict, the eldest, died in infancy. The same name was given to the next son. Of the six children, only he and his sister Hannah survived the years of childhood.

Benedict Arnold, the second son above named, and the subject of this notice, was born at Norwich, on the 3d of January, 1740. As his father’s affairs were then in a successful train, it is probable he enjoyed the advantage of as good schools as the town or its vicinity afforded.

For a time he was under the tuition of Dr. Jewett, a teacher of some celebrity at Montville. There is no evidence, however, that his acquirements reached beyond those usually attained in the common schools. While yet a lad he was apprenticed to two gentlemen by the name of Lathrop, who were partners as druggists in a large establishment at Norwich, and alike distinguished for their probity, worth, and the wide extent of their business. Being allied by a distant relationship to the mother of the young apprentice, they felt a personal interest in his welfare, especially as no benefit to him was now to be hoped from the example or guidance of his father.

It was soon made obvious to these gentlemen, that they had neither an agreeable nor an easy task before them. To an innate love of mischief, young Arnold added an obduracy of conscience, a cruelty of disposition, an irritability of temper, and a reckless indifference to the good or ill opinion of others, that left but a slender foundation upon which to erect a system of correct principles or habits. Anecdotes have been preserved illustrative of these traits. One of his earliest amusements was the robbing of birds’ nests, and it was his custom to maim and mangle young birds in sight of the old ones, that he might be diverted by their cries. Near the druggist’s shop was a schoolhouse, and he would scatter in the path broken pieces of glass taken from the crates, by which the children would cut their feet in coming from the school. The cracked and imperfect phials, which came in the crates, were perquisites of the apprentices. Hopkins, a fellow apprentice and an amiable youth, was in the habit of placing his share on the outside of the shop near the door, and permitting the small boys to take them away, who were pleased with this token of his good will. Arnold followed the same practice; but, when he had decoyed the boys, and they were busy in picking up the broken phials, he would rush out of the shop with a horsewhip in his hand, call them thieves, and beat them without mercy. These and similar acts afforded him pleasure. He was likewise fond of rash feats of daring, always foremost in danger, and as fearless as he was wickedly mischievous. Sometimes he took corn to a gristmill in the neighbourhood; and, while waiting for the meal, he would amuse himself and astonish his playmates, by clinging to the arms of a large water-wheel and passing with it beneath and above the water.

Weary of the monotonous duties of the shop, and smitten with the attractions of a military life, he enlisted as a soldier in the army without the knowledge of his friends when he was sixteen years old, and went off with other recruits to Hartford. This caused such deep distress to his mother, that the Reverend Dr. Lord, pastor of the church to which she belonged, and some other persons, took a lively interest in the matter, and succeeded in getting him released and brought back. Not long afterwards he ran away, enlisted a second time, and was stationed at Ticonderoga and different places on the frontiers; but being employed in garrison duty, and subjected to more restraint and discipline than were suited to his restless spirit and unyielding obstinacy, and seeing no prospect of an opportunity for gratifying his ambition and love of bold adventure, he deserted, returned to Norwich, and resumed his former employment. When a British officer passed through the town in pursuit of deserters, his friends, fearing a discovery, secreted him in a cellar till night, and then sent him several miles into the country, where he remained concealed till the officer was gone.

During the whole of his apprenticeship he gave infinite trouble to Dr. Lathrop, in whose family he resided; and his conduct was a source of perpetual anxiety and grief to his mother. He was her only surviving son, her husband was lost to himself and to the world, and it was natural that the maternal hopes and fears of a lady of her sensibility and excellence should be powerfully wrought upon, by such wayward exhibitions of character in one, to whom she was bound by the strongest and tenderest ties, and on whom she relied as the support of her declining years. Borne down with the weight of present affliction, her forebodings of the future must have been melancholy and fearful. Heaven relieved her from the anguish of witnessing her son’s career of ambition without virtue, of glory tarnished with crime, and of depravity ending in infamy and ruin. She died before he reached the age of manhood.

After he had served out his apprenticeship, Arnold left Norwich and commenced business as a druggist in New Haven. He was assisted by his former masters in setting up his new establishment, which at first was on a small scale; but, by his enterprise and activity, his business was extended, and to the occupation of an apothecary he added that of a general merchant. At length he took up the profession of a navigator, shipped horses, cattle, and provisions to the West Indies, and commanded his own vessels. Turbulent, impetuous, presuming, and unprincipled, it was to be expected that he would raise up a host of enemies against him, and be involved in many difficulties. He fought a duel with a Frenchman somewhere in the West Indies, and was engaged in frequent quarrels both at home and abroad. His speculations ended in bankruptcy, and under circumstances, which, in the opinion of the world, left a stain upon his honesty and good faith. He resumed his business, and applied himself to it with his accustomed vigor and resource, and with the same obliquity of moral purpose, hazard, and disregard of public sentiment, that had always marked his conduct.

On one occasion, just after he had returned from a West India voyage, a sailor who had been with him spread a report, that he had smuggled contraband goods and got them ashore without the knowledge of a custom-house officer. Arnold sought out the sailor, beat him severely, and compelled him to leave the town and take a solemn oath, that he would never enter it again. Within two or three days, however, the sailor was found in the streets; and Arnold collected a small party, seized him, and took him to the whipping-post, where about forty lashes were inflicted upon him with a small cord, and he was conducted a second time out of town. The affair was noised abroad, and excited the indignation of the populace. The sailor came back, and the case was submitted to Colonel Wooster and another gentleman, who, as Arnold said in his public vindication, “were of opinion, that the fellow was not whipped too much, and gave him fifty shillings damages only.” He grounded this summary mode of punishment on what he considered the infamous nature of the offence, and its tendency to injure the community by casting suspicion upon honest dealers and obstructing the course of trade.

An exploit is remembered, which was characteristic of his rashness and courage. While driving cattle on board a vessel, which he was freighting for a voyage, a refractory ox refused obedience. He grew furious, ran off, and set his pursuers at defiance. Arnold mounted a fleet horse, overtook the ox, seized the enraged animal by a tender part of the nostrils, and held him in that position till he was subdued and secured.

Arnold’s father died about the time he settled in New Haven, and his sister, Hannah Arnold, being the only remaining individual of the family, joined him at that place. He was early married at New Haven to a lady by the name of Mansfield. They had three sons, Benedict, Richard, and Henry. The first...