skirmish at Springfield, the British were defeated [June 23, 1780], and setting fire to the village, they retreated, and passed over to Staten Island.

Good news for the Americans came from the East, a few days after this invasion. It was that of the arrival, at Newport, Rhode Island, on the 10th of July [1780], of a powerful French fleet, under Admiral Ternay, bearing six thousand land troops under the Count de Rochambeau. This expedition had been expected for some time, it having sailed from Brest early in April.

The whole matter had been arranged with the French government by La Fayette, who had returned from France in May, and brought the glad tidings to the Americans. With wise forethought, the relation between Washington and Rochambeau had been settled by the French government. In order to prevent any difficulties in relation to command, between the American and French officers, the king commissioned Washington a lieutenant-general of the empire. This allowed him to take precedence of Rochambeau, and made him commanderin-chief of the allied armies. Soon after his arrival, Rochambeau, by appointment, met Washington at Hartford, in Connecticut, to confer upon their future movements. The season being so far advanced, that it was thought imprudent for the French army to enter upon active duties during the current campaign, it

was determined to have the main body of it remain in camp, on Rhode Island, while the cavalry should be cantoned at Lebanon, in Connecticut, the place of residence of Jonathan Trumbull, governor of that State. That eminent man was the only chief magistrate of a colony who retained his office after the change from royal to Republican rule; and throughout the war, he was one of the most efficient of the civil officers among the patriots.'

The arrival of the French caused Clinton to be more circumspect in his movements, and he made no further attempts to entice Washington to fight. Yet he was endeavoring to accomplish by his own strategy, and the treason of an American officer, what he could not achieve by force. At different times during the war, the British officials in America had tampered, directly or indirectly, with some Americans, supposed to be possessed of easy virtue, but it was late in the contest before one could be found who was wicked enough to be a traitor. Finally, a recreant to the claims of patriotism appeared, and while the French army were landing upon Rhode Island, and were preparing for winter quarters there, Clinton was bargaining with Benedict Arnold for the strong military post of West Point, and its dependencies among the Hudson Highlands, and with it the liberties of America, if possible.

2

Arnold was a brave soldier, but a bad man.' He fought nobly for freedom, from the beginning of the war, until 1778, when his passions gained the mastery over his judgment and conscience. Impulsive, vindictive, and unscrupulous, he was personally unpopular, and was seldom without a quarrel with some of his companions-in-arms. Soon after his appointment to the command at Philadelphia, he was married to the beautiful young daughter of Edward Shippen, one of the leading loyalists of that city. He lived in splendor, at an expense far beyond his income. To meet the demands of increasing creditors, he engaged in fraudulent acts which made him hated by the public, and caused charges of dishonesty and malpractices in office to be preferred against him, before the Continental Congress. A court-martial, appointed to try him, con

1 Jonathan Trumbull was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, in June, 1710, and was educated at Harvard College. He prepared for the ministry, but finally became a merchant. He was a member of the Connecticut Assembly at the age of twenty-three years. He was chosen governor of Connecticut in 1769, and for fourteen consecutive years he was elected to that office. He died at Lebanon, in August, 1785, at the age of seventy-five years. See page 323.

2 During the spring and summer of 1778, the passes of the Hudson Highlands were much strengthened. A strong redoubt called Fort Clinton (in honor of George Clinton, then governor of New York), was erected on the extreme end of the promontory of West Point. Other redoubts were erected in the rear; and upon Mount Independence, five hundred feet above the Point, the strong fortress of Fort Putnam was built, whose gray ruins are yet visible. Besides these, an enormous iron chain, each link weighing more than one hundred pounds, was stretched across the Hudson at West Point, to keep British ships from ascending the river. It was floated upon timbers, linked together with iron, and made a very strong obstruction. Two of these floats, with the connecting links, are preserved at Washington's Head Quarters, at Newburgh; and several links of the great chain may be seen at the Laboratory, at West Point.

3 While yet a mere youth, he attempted murder. A young Frenchman was an accepted suitor of Arnold's sister. The young tyrant (for Arnold was always a despot among his play-fellows) disliked him, and when he could not persuade his sister to discard him, he declared he would shoot the Frenchman if he ever entered the house again. The opportunity soon occurred, and Arnold discharged a loaded pistol at him, as he escaped through a window. The young man left the place forever, and Hannah Arnold lived the life of a maiden. Arnold and the Frenchman afterward met at Honduras, and fought a duel, in which the Frenchman was severely wounded.

Note 3, page 287.

victed him, but sentenced him to a reprimand only. Although Washington performed that. duty with the utmost delicacy, Arnold felt the disgrace. It awakened vengeful feelings which, operating with the pressure of debt, made him listen with complacency to the suggestions of a bad nature. He made treasonable overtures to Sir Henry Clinton, and by a correspondence of several months (under an assumed name, and with propositions couched in commercial phrases) with the accomplished Major Andrè,' Clinton's adjutant-general, he bargained with the British commander to betray West Point and its dependencies into his hands. For this service he was to receive a brigadier's commission, and fifty thousand dollars in cash.

The traitor managed the affair very adroitly. For a long time, Washington had been suspicious of Arnold's integrity, but was unwilling to believe him capable of treason. Under pretense of having private business in Connecticut, Arnold left Philadelphia, passed through Washington's camp on the Hudson, and on his return, he suggested to the chief that he would be glad to have command of West Point. He made many patriotic professions, and his desires were gratified. He was appointed to the command of that post, in August, 1780, and then all his thoughts were turned to the one great object of the betrayal of

'Arnold's hand-writing was disguised, and he signed his letters Gustavus. Andre's letters were signed John Anderson. A correspondence was carried on between them for more than a year.