Benedict Arnold given command of West Point

On this day in history, August 3, 1780, Benedict Arnold is given command of West Point. Arnold was trained as a pharmacist and opened a pharmacy and bookstore in New Haven as a young man. He was involved in many mercantile ventures, including owning his own ships that made frequent voyages to the West Indies.

The British acts such as the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act greatly harmed Arnold’s business. He was soon in debt and involved in anti-British groups such as the Sons of Liberty. When the American Revolution broke out, Arnold was appointed a captain in the Connecticut militia. He went to the Siege of Boston and participated in the capture of the cannons at Fort Ticonderoga.

Arnold led 1100 men across the Maine wilderness to assist in the invasion of Canada, a journey which saw 300 deserters and several hundred succumb to illness. In Canada, Arnold led troops that laid siege to Quebec City, a battle in which his leg was severely injured. During the retreat from Canada, Arnold was placed in charge of Montreal for a time. He later built a fleet on Lake Champlain, which, though it was destroyed by the British, successfully delayed an invasion down the lake.

Arnold was turning out to be a brave and well-known soldier by this time, but he was also beginning to make enemies. He was headstrong and appeared to be too interested in financial gain. He often clashed with his superiors. The first of many accusations arose that led to a near court-martial.

After Canada, Arnold was given command of troops in Rhode Island and participated in the Battle of Ridgefield, Connecticut, where he was wounded again in the left leg. Arnold was deeply offended when others were promoted to general over him. Arnold was sent to New York in 1777 where he won acclaim for his role in the Battles of Saratoga, but where he also had a public feud with General Horatio Gates and disobeyed his orders. Arnold’s leg was severely injured yet again and he spent the winter at Valley Forge, after which he was given command of Philadelphia, which was recently evacuated by the British.

During his time in Philadelphia, Arnold became more and more intertwined with local Loyalists. He became involved in a series of business deals that earned him a court-martial for using his position for personal gain. Fuming from the convictions and still angry for being passed over for promotions, Arnold sent an offer to supply intelligence on American movements to the British. The agreement developed into a plan to surrender West Point, the most strategic place on the Hudson River, to the British for a large sum of money when Arnold was placed in command there on August 3, 1780.

The plan was discovered, but Arnold was able to escape to the British lines before being captured. He was made a brigadier general in the British army and soon led an invasion of Virginia, which destroyed Richmond and wreaked havoc through the state. Arnold later led an invasion of Connecticut which destroyed much of New London and captured Fort Griswold.

After Cornwallis’ surrender, Arnold sailed for England, where he lobbied for more attacks in America. After the war, and unable to serve in the army due to his injuries, Arnold tried unsuccessfully for years to get another government appointment. Arnold eventually established another shipping business in New Brunswick, Canada in the late 1780s, but he was forced to leave after several bad business deals. He died deeply in debt back in London in 1801. As you probably know, Arnold’s name became synonymous with "traitor" in the United States, a tragedy underscored by Arnold’s heroism and valor in the early days of the Revolution.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com

Jack Manning

Historian General

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org  

“Tis folly in one Nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its Independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favours and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon real favours from Nation to Nation. Tis an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.”

George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

Pierre Charles L’Enfant is born

On this day in history, August 2, 1754, Pierre Charles L’Enfant is born. L’Enfant was a French born engineer and architect who came to America to fight in the American Revolution.  After the Revolution, L’Enfant established an engineering firm and is best known for designing the city of Washington DC.

Pierre L’Enfant’s father was an artist in the court of Louis XV and a teacher at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. L’Enfant studied art under his father, but also studied military engineering. In 1777, L’Enfant was recruited to fight in the American Revolution. This was a common way for young or disenfranchised European soldiers to boost their careers or find a job when they couldn’t find one at home.

L’Enfant became a military engineer in the Continental Army and served under fellow French Major General, the Marquis de Lafayette, who recruited L’Enfant to paint George Washington’s portrait when they were at Valley Forge. L’Enfant was injured in the Siege of Savannah and later served as Washington’s Captain of Engineers until the end of the war.

After the war, L’Enfant moved to New York City and established an engineering firm. He designed homes, public buildings and other items such as medals and furniture. One of L’Enfant’s most notable projects was redesigning Federal Hall for Congress in New York in the old City Hall building.

When the final location for Washington DC was determined, L’Enfant was given the plum assignment of designing the new federal city. L’Enfant envisioned a city with grand avenues, public parks and grandiose buildings. His original plans included a "President’s House" that was five times larger than the White House that was actually built. L’Enfant’s plans included a long avenue from the "Congress House" to the Potomac, which later became the National Mall. The plans called for streets in a grid pattern, intersected by wide avenues at diagonal angles named after the states.

L’Enfant’s basic plans were adopted, but he was eventually forced out of the position due to his unwillingness to bend or negotiate with the commissioners in charge of building the town. Commissioners made changes to L’Enfant’s original plans and largely left them behind. The disgrace of losing this position affected L’Enfant’s finances for the rest of his life. He did manage to work on several more public projects, including Fort Washington on the Potomac and the cities of Perrysburg, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana. He also taught engineering for a time at the United States Military Academy. In spite of this, L’Enfant died a poor man, leaving only about $45 worth of belongings when he passed away.

In 1901, the McMillan Commission was formed to revive Washington DC. The commission dug up the old L’Enfant designs for the city and used them as a basis to revamp the city’s parks and public spaces. The result was the creation of the National Mall, the reclaiming of land along the Potomac where the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials now stand and long term plans for future development based on L’Enfant’s original ideas, that now include the Smithsonian buildings along the mall and the congressional office buildings around the US Capitol. L’Enfant was reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery in 1909, overlooking the city he helped design.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com

Jack Manning

Historian General

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org  

"Man is not the enemy of man but through the medium of a false system of government."

Thomas Paine- The Rights of Man, Part 1, 1791

Whiskey rebels gather to march on Pittsburgh

On This Day in History, August 1, 1794, the Whiskey rebels gather to march on Pittsburgh at the height of the Whiskey Rebellion, a tax revolt that threatened to derail the early United States under the new US Constitution.

Farmers on the frontier often operated small distilleries to supplement their incomes. Their grain was often converted to whiskey for easy transport across the Appalachians. Whiskey was often used as a form of payment on the frontier as well. This caused the prices of common items to rise, which disproportionately affected the poor. The tax affected western distillers more than it did eastern distillers, who were often much larger and could afford to pay the tax.

Violence began to break out in 1791 when the government began establishing tax authorities in the frontier counties. Tax officials were tarred and feathered, had their homes vandalized and were threatened into resigning their positions at gunpoint. Those against the tax began to organize, form militia groups for resistance and even form their own "Congress."

Matters came to a head in July, 1794, When a US Marshall began delivering subpoenas to distillers in western Pennsylvania who had not paid their taxes. Rebel militia surrounded the home of General John Neville, the tax inspector for western Pennsylvania, believing the Marshall was there. Hundreds of militia surrounded Neville’s home and a battle broke out with US Army officers at the home. The rebel leader was killed along with several others on each side. Neville’s house was burned to the ground.

Rebel leaders began to call for open rebellion at this point and a meeting convened on August 1 at Braddock’s Field east of Pennsylvania. The most ardent advocated a march on Pittsburgh, the center of the whiskey tax’s supporters, to loot and destroy the town. The residents of Pittsburgh calmed the crowd down by sending representatives to the gathering who agreed with the injustices being protested and offering to let the crowd march through the town peacefully, with free whiskey for all. This ameliorated the crowd’s fury and the following day thousands of protestors marched through the town peacefully, burning only the barns of Major Abraham Kirkpatrick, the leader of the US Army soldiers at Neville’s home.

The march on Pittsburgh brought down the full wrath of the US government. Most of President George Washington’s advisers believed the rebellion could only be put down by force. Washington ordered the militias of four states to gather and personally led 13,000 men toward western Pennsylvania. When they arrived, the rebellion quickly dissolved. Dozens of rebel leaders were rounded up, but few were ever prosecuted and only two were convicted. These were pardoned by Washington.

The response to the Whiskey Rebellion proved that the new federal government had the power and the will to put down internal rebellion. It also helped establish the authority of the federal government on the western frontier and the notion that freedom of assembly and petitioning the government for redress of grievances were part of legitimate protest. The Whiskey Rebellion was also a catalyst for the development of the Democrat-Republican party of Thomas Jefferson, which pitted those who wanted a less powerful central government against the Federalist Party of George Washington and John Adams.

http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com

Jack Manning

Historian General

National Society Sons of the American Revolution

www.sar.org  

"…if the laws are to be so trampled upon with impunity, and a minority…is to dictate to the majority, there is an end put at one stroke to republican government…for some other man or society may dislike another law and oppose it with equal propriety until all laws are prostrate, and everyone will carve for himself."

George Washington’s observation about the Whiskey Rebellion