At the start of the American Revolution, a young American Major General was one of the brightest stars of the war.

He was responsible for several major campaigns, and he had a great future ahead of him in his new country.

By the end of the war, he was a British general, fighting against the United States,

and his name would forever be spoken by Americans as a synonym for traitor.

Learn more about Benedict Arnold and why he decided to turn on his country on this episode of

Everything Everywhere Daily. If things had gone differently, Benedict Arnold V

would undoubtedly be considered one of the founding fathers of the United States.

He was born in 1741 in Norwich, Connecticut, to a family which was the

original founders of the Rhode Island colony.

His great-grandfather, Benedict Arnold the first, was the president and governor of Rhode Island.

He was as close to American aristocracy as you could come. He was one of six children, but he and a

sister were the only ones who survived to adulthood. By all accounts Arnold was

athletic and good looking. One of his neighbors in Connecticut said that Arnold was

quote the most accomplished and grateful skater that he had ever seen. Despite his

family pedigree his father was an alcoholic which brought a great deal of shame

to Benedict.

The alcoholism may have been the result of losing four of his children.

His father squandered away the family fortune which otherwise would have allowed the young Benedict to attend Yale.

At the age of 16, he joined the Connecticut Benedict to attend Yale. At the age of 16 he joined the Connecticut

militia to fight in the French Indian War but his unit turned around after the

fort they were marching to was captured. His service in the war lasted a whopping

16 days.

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