ARP238 Court Martial of Benedict Arnold

American Revolution Podcast

Michael Troy

History, Education

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2022

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At the request of the prosecution, Arnold must wait for months to defend himself against charges. The court dismisses two of the four charges, but orders General Washington to reprimand Arnold for the other two charges. After receiving the reprimand, Arnold resumes his secret correspondence with the British. Blog https://blog.AmRevPodcast.com includes a complete transcript, as well as pictures, and links related to this week's episode. Book Recommendation of the Week: The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold: An American Life, by Joyce Lee Malcom Online Recommendation of the Week: Proceedings of a general court martial for the trial of Major General Arnold: https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofgen00arno Join the Facebook group, American Revolution Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/132651894048271 Follow the podcast on Twitter @AmRevPodcast Join the podcast mail list: https://mailchi.mp/d3445a9cd244/american-revolution-podcast-by-michael-troy ARP T-shirts and other merch: http://tee.pub/lic/AmRevPodcast Support this podcast on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/AmRevPodcast or via PayPal http://paypal.me/AmRevPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast. Hello, and thank you for joining the American Revolution.
0:19.2	This week, episode 238, the Court Marshal of Benedict Arnold.
0:24.8	When we last left General Benedict Arnold back in episode 2 19, he had resigned his position
0:30.3	as military commander of Philadelphia and had just got married to Peggy Shippen.
0:36.2	Arnold had resigned his command in the face of numerous criminal charges alleging corruption,
0:41.5	misuse of power, and consorting with loyalists.
0:45.1	The charges were brought by the state of Pennsylvania and supported by its president,
0:49.6	Joseph Reed.
0:51.5	Arnold retained his commission as a major general and demanded a court-martial in order to clear his name.
0:58.1	Over the course of moving it from state charges to military charges in the continental Army, many of the charges were dropped or
1:05.8	consolidated. George Washington had initially tried to convene a court
1:10.4	marshal shortly after the charges were brought in the spring of 1779, hoping
1:15.8	to get the matter over with as quickly as possible and get one of his best combat generals
1:21.2	back into action.
1:23.4	President Reed, however, did not want these charges brushed away.
1:27.9	He notified Washington that the prosecution needed time to build its case.
1:33.0	If the army tried to push through a Quicky court
1:35.2	marshal and absolve Arnold of wrongdoing,
1:38.1	then Pennsylvania would cut off its supplies
1:40.8	to the Continental Army. Bowing to this pressure, Washington gave Pennsylvania time to build its case, and he scheduled the trial for June of 1779.
1:52.0	However, continued delays pushed that trial back for months.
1:56.4	Meanwhile, Arnold remained in Philadelphia falling deeper into debt and trying to build a life with
	...

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