Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe. As a small, independent podcast, we rely heavily on those small actions to help. They’re free, and so are you. Hopefully. This week, both of the unhinged storytellers seemed to share a theme neither of them knew about.
Angie starts off by telling us about Aaron Burr. Specifically about the time when Burr attempted to wage war against the US and create his own country in what is now Louisiana. He beats this charge, making it the FOURTH time he was charged with treason and got acquitted. What can you say he has a talent for it?
Seemingly on the same wavelength, Theresa presents a rather apologetic retelling of Benedict Arnold. Hear the whole retelling of his life and how he supported the patriots for win after win, only to deal with the worst co-worker/boss of his, Horatio Gates. Between the animosity toward Gates and his desire to earn more money, he switches sides. But, according to Theresa, if Benedict Arnold had died in a previous battle, he would be revered as a founding father.
This story pairs well with:
Aaron Burr’s Ex-wife: Eliza Jumel
The Boston Tea Party
Transcript
Theresa: Hi, and welcome to the Unhinged History Podcast. The podcast where two compulsive netjops are going to just enjoy all kinds of memes of history about ghosts being in the blood, and then learn the history behind it, and come together and tell each other the stories we’ve only recently learned. I’m host one, I’m Teresa, and that over there, I’m host two.
Angie: Do you know what the cure for ghosts in the blood is?
Theresa: Cocaine. It’s the cocaine. I’m Angie.
Angie: Oh yeah, that’s what we should be doing, huh? I just forgot to say my name, but I just wanted to get you straight out with the cocaine. It is the cocaine. Mark your bingo box.
Theresa: I don’t think cocaine is on the bingo card. Really? For the next one, we’ll need to do some cocaine about it.
Angie: No cocaine on there. Sorry guys. It’ll be a great picture to accompany the cocaine to, I’m sure, Pablo Escobar or something. I just checked the spreadsheet.
Theresa: Crap. Yeah, it’s a spreadsheet. It’s a spreadsheet. Of course, I know it’s called a spreadsheet. I love spreadsheets. I have spreadsheets for everything. Here’s the thing.
Angie: I said to my husband two days ago we were watching something and I mid-sentence stopped talking, restarted like three times, looked at him and said, words are really hard to make with my face. And he said, are they also hard to make with your brain? Look, that’s been my week. So here we are. Honestly, blessings to me. Yeah.
Theresa: I mean, we made it. We made it. Welcome to Friday. Okay, that’s all we’ve got to say. Yeah. Hi Friday, how are you? Glad you’re here. We love your work. We wish you’d come more often. Please don’t leave so soon. Why are you rude, bitch?
Angie: Say it like it is.
Theresa: We’re running five minutes into the episode and you’re already swearing. That is how good of a day we’re all having.
Angie: Okay, I need you to do so. When I get to the end of my story, you’re going to know why I’m salty as hell. It just send your condolences to Ian because he had to listen to me.
This is totally unrelated, but he had to listen to me yell about clean consort Camilla for like 15 minutes last night. What? And then I realized why.
And I was like, oh my God, I’m so sorry. Yeah, totally also totally unrelated. Did you know that the Romanoff family was murdered on July 17th of 1918? Oh, that’s today.
Theresa: That is today. Do you light a candle on this day? How is this top of mind for you?
Angie: I’m a huge Anastasia conspiracy theorist fan. I know she was shot in the face. Believe that she survived. You know what? Honestly, that said, my story is not about the Romanoff family. Oh, and you go first. So okay.
Theresa: Now I am like so confused as to what’s happening. So just but if you have a yeah.
Angie: Okay, I have approximately 783 sources. I’d like to tell you I’m sorry. I’m not. There is a Time Magazine article called Colonial Women History Esther Aaron Burr titled Women in Colonial America were more powerful than we give them credit for by Cornelia Powers from March of 22. I did not use this source. However, the archives at Yale have a Reeve family papers collection so you can see their family sister, which I think is super cool.
I didn’t use that but I included it because I don’t want to forget about it for later. A notable biographies article three section three of the Constitution brought to you by the Library of Congress. PBS had a really great article on my topic.
History.com just like you know this day in history kind of thing. Yeah. I forget what they’re called. But you know what I’m talking about? I think they’re called. And then it’s so much. That feels right. I wasn’t sure if it ranges from source to source because there are multiple like this day in history.
But you know what I mean. History.com is the same history, whatever. The Constitution Center.org, which is super cool, has an article from September of 23 by Scott Bomboy, which is just an awesome name. The American Battlefield Trust and the historical society of the New York courts at history.NewYorkCourts .gov. And a thought co-article by Robert Longley that was published in 22. I think I did a good job of not making this completely obvious, but we’re talking about Aaron Burr today.
Theresa: And now you know why I’m doing this. No, for a split second I panicked. And when I tell you my story, you’ll understand why. Carry on.
Angie: Oh, I’m so excited. I don’t know if this is the same for you, but for me, and I don’t know why, but probably because of the Fourth of July happens on the Fourth of July. All of July feels like an American holiday to me. It feels like the time when you talk about founding fathers. That said, my goal is to tell you about a specific moment from his life. However, let’s just do a short timeline on this all for context because I think it makes it so much more fun. Aaron Burr Sr. Hold on.
Back up. Aaron Burr Jr., like the Aaron Burr, was born in New Jersey on February 6th, 1756. He is the son of the Reverend Aaron Burr Sr., who was this prominent Presbyterian minister and one of the founders, as well as the second president of the College of New Jersey, which today is Princeton University. His mother, Esther Edwards Burr, she was the daughter of this American colonial theologian and philosopher. Apparently he was very famous even at his time called Jaws and Edwards. I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t know much about theologians as far as like the popular ones of this time. So I was like, oh, okay, that’s cool. Cool, cool. For her part, and I would like to point this out, she herself is brilliant and educated as best as can be expected for the time.
So her father held this high standard in his house that all of his children will be educated to to the very highest degree that they can be educated to, not just the sons. Good. Love this. And this is like prominent in all of like the Burr and the extended family like education is is key for them. And I personally love that. Now, both of Aaron Burr’s parents are going to die of fever by the time he’s two years old, which sucks.
Theresa: But wait a minute. So this leads because all I know about Aaron Burr kind of from the Hamilton, the fact that his parents dying wish occurred when he was two.
Angie: And that only carry on. But it sort of makes sense in when when you think about the fact that his father is the second president of Princeton, and he’s a theologian and his mother’s brilliant. Like, I too would insist that my children received an incredible education, even if they’re only two years old. That said, because both of his parents have died, he is now left in the care of his grandparents. So it’s him and his sister and they’re being left to be raised by their grandparents.
However, they too would both be dead within two years. So now he is four and the law for caregivers. Wow.
Yeah, I was like, hey. So the majority of his childhood is spent in the care of his uncle on the end called Timothy Edwards. So this is his mother’s brother and uncle Tim is this well to do fellow. He’s a rather successful lawyer himself and he has no problems handling the education of his nephew. In fact, he brings in Princeton train tutors to manage the boys education till he is old enough to properly attend. His sister is educated as well by the same Princeton tutors. And for me, I just love that so much. She is in fact expected to not only be well read, she is expected to be articulate and a conversationalist and be able to carry on in a room full of all of these big thinkers. Like that is what is expected of the children of this household. I’m here for it.
Yeah. Burr goes to Princeton at the age of 13 and according to New York courts.gov he graduates in 1772. He had originally studied theology and he had plans to like enter the ministry, right? But then he fully about faces and goes to law school instead.
He attends Lichfield Law School, which was the second law school in the United States and set up by his former Princeton tutor, a man called Papping Reeve. Fun aside here, in June of that same year, 1772, he marries Burr’s sister.
Theresa: Burr marries 26. The tutor marries Burr’s sister.
Angie: Okay, thank you. He’s 10 years older than her, which I was like, could be worse. I’ll take 10 years. That’s not terrible.
Theresa: But that also means he was shopping for a while.
Angie: I’m hoping it wasn’t like at seven. I’m hoping that when she turned 17, he was like, hmm.
Theresa: He was developing to quite a lady. I didn’t, my eyes just opened. I realized that’s what I’m hoping for. That’s what I’m hoping for. She’s smart and lovely.
Angie: But this story isn’t about them. So I just wanted to point out that the tutor did marry the student here and everybody seems cool with it. Now at the onset of the American Revolution, we know that Burr of course joins the Continental Army and he fights in battles in New York, Quebec, Monmouth. But in 1779, he’s a colonel by this point and he resigned to commission due to exhaustion and bad health. As his health allows him to, he continues to study law.
And then in 1782, he’s admitted to the bar at Albany. Now I don’t fully understand this and I didn’t, I should have Googled it, but there was this educational dispensation for law students who had set down their studies to serve in the war. So there was some benefit given to him because he had served. So I don’t know if it was that he could fast track the rest of his education or that certain parts of it were, you learned it on the battlefield. I’m unclear on what that means, but I think it’s really important to point out. Like, hmm, wonder what the deal was.
Theresa: But regardless. A program of some sort.
Angie: Yeah, I’m thinking it was the whole fast track because my first thought was that scene in Hamilton. Hamilton’s like, I want to do it faster than you and birds like red. I did it in two years.
Like, good luck buddy. I don’t remember if that’s the exact timeframe, but that was my first thought. Oh, I wonder if it’s just like your course, which is normally four years long only takes 18 months now.
Good luck. Anyway, once the British leave New York in 1783, he sets up his practice there. And despite the fact that he’s going to butt heads with a ton of other lawyers, Hamilton being one of them, he’s considered pretty successful, right? I learned that he was the count. He was counsel to the first murder trial in the U.S.
Theresa: Oh, yeah, that’s in Hamilton.
Angie: Yeah, totally. Didn’t even like, did not care about bird, Hamilton. Sorry, Burr. You put on a great show, but I was not listening to your words. But that said, that led me down quite the rabbit hole, which I’m sure I’ll be in for the next week, because that obviously wasn’t the first murder trial in the Americas.
So I was like, oh, interesting. A quick Google search says, quote, the first recorded murder trial in the United States was a full formal, with a full formal transcript was the 1800 Manhattan Well murder trial. Levi Weeks was accused of murdering his fiance. That well is still around.
Theresa: It is in an actual, you go to the straight up boutique and it is just there next to clothing fixtures. Oh, that’s so weird.
Angie: Carry on. Sorry. It should be like a museum.
Theresa: It’s just downtown. Carry on though. I’m sorry. It’s the Tchotskis. Yeah.
Angie: Well, anyway, you know what it is. So right. He, he Levi Weeks is acquitted of killing his fiance. The jury was out for like five minutes. He was defended by both Hamilton and Burr. Okay. So it’s 1791. Burr wins the seat in the US Senate by defeating Phillips Schuyler, which is also in Hamilton.
Yeah. Hamilton’s father-in-law. And this only adds fuel to Hamilton’s already forming very big feelings about Burr.
And I’m like, Oh, that explains a lot. In 1800, the presidential race is going to give him this chance to develop his like political career a little bit more. And he runs against the very popular at the time, Thomas Jefferson. And long story short here, there is a tie and Congress is left to sort it out. Hamilton argues for Jefferson and he won, which in turn makes Burr the vice president.
This is pretty much going to be the end of his political career because in 1804, the Jeffersonians don’t re-nominate him for VP. Shocking. I wonder why. Also through all of this, he’s been married. He’s got kids. He’s had a home life. But his first wife dies in 1794.
The deados and all that, right? Like then there’s the fateful duel with Hamilton in July of 1804. And then we know from the lies of Jamal’s story, eventually he married Serb, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But did you know?
Theresa: Now hold on real quick. What episode was that? Because you covered her. I did. I don’t know what it was. Hold on.
Angie: If I could type, we’d be doing even better. It is episode one. He is the she-set. She-set. It’s episode 140. He is the she-shed. It’s with Benke. Yeah.
Theresa: Which was a samurai, which I covered, which, what a monster.
Angie: Really perfect pairing. I think they would have been friends.
Theresa: Maybe. Anyhow, carry on. Let’s go back to our boy.
Angie: So between the death of Hamilton and the marriage to Elijah Jamal, did you know that Aaron Burr planned to create an independent nation? Yes.
Theresa: I did not. Okay, carry on. I don’t know much about it, but do I know that like Treason was involved? Yeah, carry on. So I know that much.
Angie: So about a year before the duel, he had begun some rather interesting plans. He intended to create another nation either by invading and taking over Spanish territory near what would be later known as Florida, or by separating the Mississippi Valley from the rest of the U.S. My understanding, and I’m not 100% sure on this, but my understanding is he planned to have his capital being New Orleans. Anyway, the plot’s discovered in 1806. He had even gone so far as to meet with several political as well.
Theresa: Wait, the plot’s discovered in 1806? Oh, sorry. I forgot how time works. 1770. Okay, sorry. Carry on. You know what?
Angie: 1860. 1806 now? Yeah, Hamilton died in 1804. So it’s 1806. Okay. He had gone so far as to meet with several political as well as military leaders trying to like gain their support, right? He also tried to get funding from England for this endeavor. And I don’t know why, but the fact that we just bought a little skirmish with them over our own independence feels to me like maybe not the right country to go ask for financial assistance from. Right.
Theresa: I mean, well, actually, honestly, it could be, right? It’s like, hey, the enemy is my friend. And so, hey, you know how we both hate the red, white, and blue? Want to throw some dirt in their face? I got an idea.
Angie: Yeah, this obviously doesn’t work well. And the help shockingly never shows up. So he sets his eyes on private funding sources. Now, one of these meetings with these political and military leaders had occurred just after the duel when he fled New York for Virginia and from Virginia makes his way to New Orleans.
In New Orleans, we know New Orleans. We know that he meets with a man, a U.S. general called James Wilkinson. According to PBS, quote, Wilkinson was an arrogant, unscrupulous and overly fond of liquor. Wilkinson had befriended Burr during the revolution. Burr had convinced President Thomas Jefferson to name Wilkinson as governor of Northern Louisiana.
I think Burr was on to things way earlier than we give him credit for. Additionally, Thought Co. had this to say regarding Wilkinson. Throughout his life, Wilkinson had been suspected of being a spy for Spain. During the 1780s, he had become known for trying to separate Kentucky and Tennessee from the Union to deliver them to Spain. So this is the guy that Burr has chosen to be his co-conspirator.
Theresa: We don’t know for sure what the meeting was about, but there’s very strong speculation that it is in fact regarding this idea of an independent nation. Back to 1806, it’s August and Burr has been building support for his endeavors here in the Ohio Valley. According to Google, because I was like, you know what, I’m an American, but I don’t fully understand the breadth of the Ohio Valley. Google tells me that this region is nearly the thousand mile long Ohio River stretching from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to its confluence with the Mississippi and Cairo, Illinois. It broadly spans portions of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania. I had no idea.
Theresa: I had no idea either. That is a Ohio Valley, right? The Central Valley is massive, but it is a drop in the bucket to that.
Angie: And that was literally when my brain was like, I don’t think I know what a valley is. So like I said, in August of 1806, Burr is building up support in this massive expanse of land. President Jefferson finds out about Burr’s activities and he sends out a warning to all the Western officials telling them keep an eye on Burr and his activities.
He is a little bit sketchy right now. The president also warns your average American citizens not to participate in any of his malarkey. How did President Jefferson find out about all these dealings?
Oh, I’m so glad you asked. That couple of different things happened. First, in early 1806, like the February-March time, the U.S. Attorney for Kentucky, a man called Joseph H. Davies, wrote to Jefferson several times, warning him of possible conspiratorial activities. By July of 1806, Davies flat out tells Jefferson that Burr has planned to stroke a rebellion in the Spanish-held parts of the West and the Southwest to help form this independent nation. Jefferson dismisses these accusations as purely politically motivated.
Love on you, Jefferson. So, but he does, in his defense, send out this confidential agent, a State Department man called John Graham to the Ohio Valley to investigate the rumors and like notify the state authorities. Graham’s findings confirm that there has been this widespread recruiting. And then secondly, in August of 1806, Burr sends Wilkinson a coded letter detailing all of his plans. Now, keep in mind that in the midst of this, rumors are already spiraling like out of control.
And Burr is called the court three times by the U.S. court in Frankfurt, Kentucky to answer for charges of treason and all three times he has acquitted. I was like, holy crap. Wow. That is insane.
Theresa: Yes, but don’t bring charges unless you can get him to stick. First off, you’re arguing with a lawyer. You can’t miss.
Angie: Like, you cannot swing and amiss that one, buddy. Like, you gotta have the stuff that works here. But remember that in August of that year, he, Burr had sent this coded letter detailing his whole grand scheme to Wilkinson, right? Well, October 9th of that same year, Wilkinson sends a letter to Jefferson outlining the whole thing. Because for him, by this point, he fully believes that Burr’s plan is a failure and loss is a foregone conclusion. So he figures, cut his losses, save his own hide, tell Jefferson everything. Which Burr, bro, how long did you like look at who could be your Cogan’s spiriters and think this book I might not be the most trustworthy individual?
Theresa: But anyway. He’s paddling on you and you’re just like, you want to hear the next part of the plan? Right.
Angie: Okay. So, but to Wilkinson’s, I guess, credit, he doesn’t explicitly name Burr in any of it. But like, he doesn’t have to, right? Because these rumors have been circulating. So it’s pretty clear that by this point, the newspapers all over the place have already been all over this conspiracy. So like, Jefferson is like, okay. Sure, great. And he responds to Wilkinson’s letter with an immediate cease and desist.
So like, you stop your crap, you come home, the end. That’s in October, December 9th, 1806, the authorities ruin Burr’s day. Ohio militiamen had captured most of his boats and supplies. He has this, what you could, what I would call a fort, it’s a fortified mansion that is on loan to him from a friend on, and the friend’s name is so wild. Blanner, I’m going to say this so wrong. Blanner has it’s B-L-E-N-N-E-R-H-A-S-S-E-T-T-S. Blanner has it’s. Anyway.
Theresa: I mean, look, there’s certain names that didn’t stick for reasons.
Angie: Honest to God. And the wildest part is that’s an Irish guy. Like, how did you get that name? Anyway, it’s his island.
Theresa: The Irish are going to be writing you some nasty emails. And quite frankly, I am distancing myself far away from you on this one.
Angie: Go ahead. I would love to be cursed at by an Irishman because here’s the thing, Blanner has it’s the least Irish name I’ve ever heard in my life. Anyway, this island, Fort area that he’s got has been ransacked and most of his men have already fled downstream.
Anyway, okay. End of December rolls around and Burr meets with what he thinks is going to be a small army on the Ohio River, but instead he’s met with less than 100 of his men. That’s a very small army.
Theresa: So he’s not wrong.
Angie: That’s true. He’s not. But not big enough to do what he was hoping for, right? And he would think like this might make you like give you pause and make you rethink your decision making here. But no, this doesn’t stop Burr. He decides to carry on and pick up newer crews as he’s drifting down the Mississippi.
Theresa: In fact, not your inner tube. You’re going down drinking beer and Burr is like, come on, man, bring your tube. We’re going to stir another war. Let’s go.
Angie: Yeah. PBS says, quote, a less ambitious or wiser leader would have quit. But Burr proceeded. That quote makes me laugh so hard. About 30 miles north of New Orleans at a place called Bayou Pierre, Burr is handed a newspaper and it is announcing a reward for his capture and includes a fully translated text of the coded letter he has sent back to Wilkinson. He has sent to Wilkinson back in August. So Burr is like, oh. That’s a Burr letter.
Right? He surrenders to the authorities right there at Bayou Pierre and is arraigned before Grand Jury. Burr and his men say they have no intention of attacking any U.S. territory. And then the jury fails to give any kind of indictment. However, two of the judges involved order, excuse me, one of the two judges involved in all this orders Burr to return to the courtroom. Now Burr thinks that’s it. I mean, I’m stoked. I’m done. And he flees into the wilderness, which honestly, given the location, seems like a really stupid idea. But anyway. On February 3, 1807, a very wet, very disheveled and very upset Burr is captured and brought back to the federal court in Richmond, Virginia to face a trial for treason. You know, okay, because let’s be honest.
Theresa: Wilderness for Aaron Burr means something a bit more rustic than you and I. Wilderness for us means we may not be able to see the next bit of human occupation, but somewhere in our sojourned through the woods, we might find a cabin.
Angie: And the woods are, there’s boardwalks walking through the woods. Like you’re not walking on the actual ground. Awesome.
Theresa: Right? Like you can find pristine forest in patches here.
Angie: And I’m thinking this man fled into what I can only assume are the marshlands of New Orleans. You’re an idiot. That was my first thought. This man is going to get eaten. He’s going to get eaten.
That’s what’s going to happen. Now you can imagine though that he, this is going to be the trial of the century, right? You have a founding father being tried for treason. And Burr is up there fighting for his life. The cipher letter is used by both sides of the court, but when it came down to it, there is another document that held even more weight and would be his saving grace. And that is the Constitution, which has a very specific definition of treason and it is as follows.
Theresa: And please say he wrote it. Please say the decision. You know what?
Angie: I was literally just thinking, I wonder who wrote this part? I’m going to have to find out now. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act or a confession in open court. Now, the Supreme Court judge is a man called John Marshall and he demands the strictest adherence to this definition, which according to the court, Burr does not meet. So he is acquitted for a fourth time.
Theresa: Honestly, this guy just knows here’s how to beat treason charges.
Angie: Because I need to know now who wrote that part of the Constitution.
Theresa: You need to outcompone Aaron Burr’s wife here. You need to catch him for a busted tail light. So excuse me. You’ve got to get him for something else and then throw the whole book at him.
Angie: Yes, that’s pretty much your only option with him. Now he might have won his day in court, but in the world of public opinion he loses hard, right? Across America he’s got these effigies that are being burned. Several states file additional charges against him and he would spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. So you’d think that would be like the end of his machinations, but no. He wisely flees to Europe and foolishly tries to get Britain and France to support yet another US invasion plot because the first one didn’t work.
Theresa: I mean, honestly, I admire the man’s tenacity. Really? I mean, I’m here for it. He’s committing to it. He truly is.
Angie: After four years in Europe, so it’s like 1812, he comes back to New York and he opens another practice there. And for the most part, he’s got good business, but as we learned from the Eliza Jamal story, he is crap with his money. And that’s the story of how Aaron Burr did not get his own country.
Theresa: I am stoked that you covered it because it was one of those stories I thought about covering, never put it on my list. So it was never going to get done. But I’d hear about it like, ooh, that’d be a good one. Hey, look, something shiny.
Angie: Yeah, pretty much that’s what had happened to me for my entire month of July has been totally railroaded. And I was talking to the husband the other day and was like, I have no idea what to talk about. I had an idea and then I thought, no, they’re cute. Like, I can’t do two stories back to back that similar. So I was like, no, no, I’ll wait. I’ll wait. I’ll put that one on the back burner. Maybe that’s a September story. And remembered, oh my God, there was that time Aaron Burr tried to get his own country. Let’s look into that.
Theresa: So are you ready to understand just how much similarities that we have for our stories this week? Let’s go. Okay. My sources, National Park Service, Benedict Arnold, history.com, Benedict Arnold.
Theresa: That’s awesome. Okay, now I literally almost put Benedict Arnold on my list last night.
Theresa: But I didn’t. Wow. Okay. So this hat tip comes like a series hat tip for the story comes from a person on Instagram. Tom underscore R underscored literally EH. He posted a comic claiming that Benedict Arnold is a war hero. Okay. And I was like, go on.
Angie: I mean, he like, you probably had some good moments. Yeah.
Theresa: And so then I was like, hmm, you have, you have, you have risen the mute. Let us research.
Angie: So let us begin. Yep.
Theresa: Now, um, Benedict Arnold born in Norwich, Connecticut, 1741, his mom, she comes from a wealthy family, but dad, dad is an alcoholic father who squanders the estate. The tail is holding time.
Angie: Is his dad Aaron Burr? Yeah.
Theresa: And a circular logic way. But no, uh, he’s also the great grandson of a Rhode Island governor of the same name. So Bennett, Arnold hails from Benedict Arnold. Okay. Now as a young man, Arnold apprentice and apothecary before enlisting in the New York militia, he enlists twice. Okay. Now this is during the French and Indian war, both times Benedict Arnold deserts the army or the militia.
Angie: The second time you enlist, you would think somebody would check the first time’s record.
Theresa: Well, okay. Now here’s, here’s the thing. It’s kind of, it’s almost honorable because he’s under pressure from his family to complete the apprenticeship at the apothecary under his uncles at home. So family pressures him into it.
And I, I would assume he’s younger. He finally just goes, all right, I’m back. I’m back.
I got the family blessing. And then his mom goes, you’re just too beautiful for cannon fodder. And I just think you should go to uncle Billy’s and just really finish the apprenticeship this time. I don’t know why she sounds like a, you know, like Marty McFly’s mom, but that’s what I imagine.
Angie: Anyhow, I was thinking Peter’s wife from family guy, but yeah.
Theresa: Okay. I’ll take either honestly, cause Lois is fabulous.
Angie: Now, thank you. I couldn’t think of her name to save my life.
Theresa: You’re fine. Arnold’s parents died when he’s 21. And so he moves himself and his sister to New Haven, Connecticut. And this is where he opens up a small store. He becomes one of the most successful merchants on the coast, owning shops that really kind of spanned from the Caribbean to Canada. Oh, wow. Okay. So I take it back. He owned ships that sailed from the Caribbean to Canada, not shops.
That makes more sense. Now, 1767, he marries a woman named Margaret Mansfield and she bears him three sons. Okay. I’m clear if they have daughters, but they at least have three sons. Now, 1775, this is where things start heating up, right? Arnold rode as captain of the Connecticut militia company to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to address what just happened in Lexington, you know, the shot her around the world.
Now, while he’s there, he proposed to the officials to return an attack on the British. This is his idea. Okay.
Okay. 1775, he’s granted permission to lead a force to the British fort, Ticonderoga, New York and captured. Along the way, he meets up with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain boys of Vermont and they’re also on the same quest.
Angie: Can I just tell you for a split second, Ian almost tried to name Ethan Allen.
Theresa: And did you be like, he’s not an Ottoman. He is a person?
Angie: I said, if Allen was a family name, I might agree with you on this. His name is not going to be Ethan Allen. Maybe he was like, okay.
Theresa: You know what? Fine. Honestly, I’m here for it. I’d love that for you though. Good job in winning. Now, Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold, they have some big feefies over trying to share command and they squabble a little bit. And eventually they decide to share. They decide they can co-lead.
Angie: So Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr could have taken a page out of their book.
Theresa: Quite possibly. Now, May 3rd, they end up capturing the fort, very little alarm. They just nail it, knock it out of the park, teamwork, right? There is a commander that had a few guards patrolling around the grounds at night and Arnold’s party proceeded to the fort, or from the fort to Crown Point and captured it in much the same way. Then, if that’s not enough because they’re on a roll, they captured Fort George, which is in the Champaign Valley, like also in the Champaign Valley, or Champlain Valley. This all happens before the end of June 1775. So they are on a roll. As this is all going on, Arnold’s wife dies. Oh. Okay. So, he’s a bummer, but also he was not there, which
Angie: probably is also a bummer. Did you know we have a story named, that we have a story called, It’s Really Annoying When Your Wife Dies?
Theresa: I think that was the Dancing Plagues.
Angie: Yeah, Dancing Plagues in Peter Tordens Gold.
Theresa: Ah, this all makes sense. Okay, so, Wife Dies, which is big bummer. Now, it’s at this point that Arnold is forced from command of these new American posts. He doesn’t want to leave. He likes being in charge. He feels that he’s earned it. Now, this doesn’t really hinder his ambition. He’s like, okay, you know what, fine, I don’t appreciate this, but whatever. I’m going to roll with the punches. In September, he participates in the American invasion of Canada. Do you know about this?
Angie: Only marginally.
Theresa: Okay. So, George Washington, he’s got these orders that he’s given out to everybody, including Benedict Arnold. He’s like, we’re going to take over Canada. We’re going to make it the 14th colony. It is going to be amazing.
Angie: Now, is he aware of how big Canada is?
Theresa: Well, I mean, look, the unexplored territory. Canada doesn’t go very far yet because we haven’t pushed the map out. It’s just the map in at a certain point.
Theresa: We haven’t been able to go. The unsharded part of the map? Yeah, the uncharted territory. There’s just sea monsters and Sasquatch. That actually checks for Canada.
Theresa: I’m here for it. Truth. Now, the purpose of the expedition is not like 14th colony. I’m not joking about that, but also it’s to get the Canadians behind the Patriot cause. This is hopefully going to deprive the British government from a northern base because they’re using it to mount strikes against the 13 colonies.
Benedict Arnold, he has the enlistment of many of his men that expire New Year’s Day. And so they’re getting ready to bounce. So Arnold has no choice to take the remaining men that he’s got, knowing that half of them are going to leave. I say half, I don’t know.
But they’re going to leave. He’s like, I got to take them that I got, and I got to do something now. And he launches a desperate attack against the well fortified Quebec city in a blizzard on December 31st, 1775, knowing that in just hours, these guys are going. And he’s like, I got to strike while the iron’s hot.
Angie: Dude, can I just tell you how mad I would be if my time was up the following day, but I got shot the day before?
Theresa: You’re milk in the clock. You know you’re off work at five and your boss goes, Hey, I know it’s 430. Let’s do a meeting. You’re like, no, more hours.
Angie: And you want to call it out.
Theresa: So early in this battle, Arnold gets a wound to his leg. It’s considered a grave wound. He’s carried out of the battlefield now or carried to the back of the battle.
So at least we still close, but like, you know, he’s not on the front lines. Now the assault continues. This battle, the battle for Quebec, fails miserably. Because it was a desperate attack to begin with. Now hundreds of American soldiers are killed, wounded, captured, and Canada remains British.
Shocker to our modern eyes, but these are things. Okay. Does it?
No. So this attempt to get the 14th colony, just huge bummer, huge blot on everybody’s record. Arnold was considered to have served valiantly as a brilliant tactician and hero after being wounded in the leg during this battle. And he gets promoted to Brigadier General. Okay. So he catches, you know, he catches a lead medal, get something else for his efforts, which is. Okay, good.
Right. Now, summer 1776. So just a little bit later, his skills as a strategist were once again called upon as he’s placed in charge of the new American naval fleet in Lake Champlain. So we get a Navy, right? Now, his orders from General Horatio Fete.
Angie: Well, yeah, he had to fight Sasquatch now. He’s got to go fight Giant Squid.
Theresa: But it’s also like a lake. And so I can’t, look, you know what I mean? It’s not a bay. He’s got a Navy in a lake. Loch Ness monsters. Okay, fair. But anyhow, when you rewrite the book, then I’m here for it. You know, the zombies of pride and prejudice ask book.
Angie: Of the American Revolution. I got it. I’m here for it. You’re going to be waiting for so long.
Theresa: I know it’s never happening, but General Horatio Gates, he basically says, you are to defend this area. Do not fight unless fired upon. Only attack if attacked. Don’t start the fight, but end it. Yeah. Okay. I can’t shout that. Yeah.
Like honestly, yeah, you know what? We got a bunch of new boats. Let’s not sink them all.
Now. Our man, Benedict Arnold is sitting there. He’s like, there’s a British general named Guy Carlton. He, he’s going to sail down. He’s going to have an invading force down Lake Champlain. He’s, he’s got to come get us. Now, as this is going on, he is Arnold supervises some construction of this hasty flotilla. Cause he’s like, we’re going to go meet Carlton’s feet. We’re going to go meet Carlton’s fleet be damned with what Horatio Gates said. So several days of battles kickoff as a result of this, Arnold’s not able to do much damage to the veteran British fleet because they’ve been at this for a minute. They’ve been colonizers for a little while now. They’re water. Not our first rodeo. Yeah. Yeah.
Angie: Have you heard of a little thing called Elizabeth porn? Yeah.
Theresa: They’ve been at this for a minute, right? Now he basically saves many of his men only by grounding and burning the ships. Sometimes you got to burn the ships. These are things. Now Horatio Gates, he’s a little p. Hest because this guy clearly disobeyed orders by conducting an offensive maneuver when this was a defense only play.
Right. So despite military successes, Arnold doesn’t feel that he gets the recognition that he deserves because disobeying direct orders kind of like one, oh shit, wipes away all your out of boys. Oh, well, you did burn the fleet. Yeah. Yeah. We just had a bunch of new toys and you had to burn them.
Angie: Way to go. That’s why we can’t have nice things.
Theresa: Many of the fellow officers found General Arnold to be quote, vain, emotional and greedy. I mean, tell me how you really feel.
Angie: Now, one is unscrupulous and an alcoholic as well.
Theresa: Get it from his father. That’s that’s not it. No, you know, one officer states quote, money is this man’s God and to get enough of it, he would sacrifice his country. That’s not a great look.
No, no, not the best. So he resigned from the Continental Army. He’s like deuces and he does this in 1777 after Congress promoted five junior officers above him, just skipped over him.
And so he was like, when you burn the fleet, I’m just saying, honestly, when you shit the bed that hard, they’re like, you know what? You need to sit down, take a nap.
Angie: You’re too much home. You’re drunk. Yeah.
Theresa: General George Washington, commander in chief of the Continental Army, he’s like, hey, Arnold, reconsider, buddy, come on back. Like I could get you back in, you know, maybe don’t try. Don’t be so much extra, but we got you.
Angie: If you’re not being extra, are you even doing it?
Theresa: Not to Arnold because Arnold does rejoin the army just in time to participate in the defense of central New York from the invading British force under General John Begoin in the fall of 1777.
Angie: And he’d say Begoin again.
Theresa: No, I mean, I will like another paragraph does when you say it. Because I have to contort like I’m a puppet and somebody has shut their hands so far up my mouth.
Theresa: Oh, you like that. I know you know what? So in battles against Burgoyne, Arnold served under Horatio Gates again, and he holds Horatio Gates in absolute contempt, cannot stand this man.
Angie: Now, there you have, let me burn the police. Right. Like you told me not to have fun today. Don’t start fights. Just finish him.
Theresa: Hell is this nonsense? They hate each other. Feeling mutual. I’m shocked. Gates at one point relieves Arnold of his command. Basically like your dismissed. I said good day. Nevertheless, or nonetheless, at the pointless battle of Beemus Heights in October 7 1777, Arnold defies Gates authority shocker and takes a gate, took a command of a group of American soldiers and led an assault against the British line. Now, what truly happens, right?
Like, so when you dive in, you get like a little peek behind the curtain. Arnold sees that the enemy is entrenched. And so he rode the battlefield to lead the American attack on this captured enemy stronghold. This is a completely against orders, right? Horatio Gates like absolutely not. Now, this is a minor victory, but it’s honestly what caused the Americans to gain the position that they needed to force the British to surrender.
Okay. So he like made a very strategic move here that did some great things, albeit against orders. In the process, our dude catches a wound at the same leg that he injured when he was fighting in Canada. Okay, Horatio Gates has some big feefies over this. Shocking. But officially, Washington is just like, my man, well done.
Good job. Horatio is a bit peaved, but you got Congress and I daps, you know, cool. He’s promoted to major general and he’s sent to Philadelphia to recover. Because basically with that leg, he can’t be on command on the field. And Horatio Gates is like, thank God.
Angie: Now, just that one coworker, you worked so hard to not have to work a shift with.
Theresa: Yes. That’s basically what happened. Right. Now, based on what I think we all failed to realize, we know Benedict Arnold is the traitor named synonymous with villainy and treacherous deeds. But it was Arnold’s move that really positioned us to literally win the war.
These are things. Technically, we’re all traitors. Honestly, we were just the winners, the traitorous winners. Had we lost, then we’d be traitors.
That’s the truth. Now Horatio Gates, because they truly despise each other. Anytime he’s talking about Arnold’s contributions, he’s downplaying them all. Which again, that coworker, we know how this goes, right?
So it is official reports. He’s like, I mean, he did a little bit. He was there.
Always too much. I saw him at craft service. And he basically takes the credit for himself.
Again, that coworker. Now, as he’s in Philadelphia, healing 1778, his loyalty start to kind of shift a little bit, but he also marries this woman named Peggy Shippen. And she adds four sons to his arsenal. Cool.
Angie: So we’re like seven sons now? Yeah. What? Okay.
Theresa: Papa Dooley Bird had seven kids, seven kids. I don’t know the song, obviously. Now, while he’s there, he becomes a, who I didn’t put this in my notes, a military governor, a militia governor, a something governor, but he’s a governor. And during his turn as governor, there’s some rumors that circled through Philadelphia accusing Arnold of abusing his position for personal profit. They’re like, Hey, you know how everybody says he does it all for the money? He’s doing it all for the money. Now there’s questions are also about his courtship and marriage to this young lady or Peggy Shippen because she’s the daughter of a man who is suspected of loyal sympathies.
Angie: Oh, no. Hmm. Scandal.
Theresa: So he ends up, you know, with his wife, with Peggy, they have five kids all together. So I’m assuming one of them is female. And they have this incredibly lavish lifestyle in Philadelphia while he’s racking up debt.
Our man is living off credit. Hmm. So we’ve all done it. Honestly, like this is what your 20s and 30s are for. And then in your 40s, you’re like, I got it. I got a little bit of my means. I got to fix this.
Angie: I’m a mess.
Theresa: Yeah. I tried to get a loan and the creditor just laughed. That’s a bad sign. They need to take my call. Yeah. So between the debt and the resentment that he feels for not being promoted faster, he kind of has this maybe feeling to kind of change sides, turn his code inside out.
Now he concluded crap. Is that where this race turncoat comes from? I mean, I think so.
I think like, I mean, I made a joke about it, but quite possibly I think that it’s literally that’s where the word comes from. I’m here for it. I love it. Let’s go. I mean, I said, let’s not research. Let’s not ruin this thought with actual logic, but carry on.
Angie: No, I like, I like what we’ve done. Yeah.
Theresa: Okay, we’re done. Good night. Thank you all. Bye.
Angie: Hey, you know what? I figured out what the origins of the name Boanna has to do is in the Irish will not come for me. I am safe. I just need you to know. Okay. Bye. All right.
Theresa: But Benedict Arnold, he concludes that basically, you know, if he goes and helps the British a little bit. This is going to work out well for him. It would work out well because if he stays with the American army, they’re just going to be ungrateful little shit and he’s just not here for it. Horatio, we’re looking at you, buddy. I mean, it’s all that one co-worker. So just go and be like, Hey, have you heard about Horatio Gates? You’re quite the Horatio Gates.
You should, you should quit Horatio Gates in it here. Could you just? Yeah.
Could you just? Now, meanwhile, he’s got, he’s developed this intermediary with the British named British, of course he’s British, but the major John Andre Andre gets captured in September of 1780 crossing between the American British lines. He’s disguised in civilian clothes, which this is not a good look. It’s how you get shot on site.
Angie: Yeah, we learned that in the Civil War episode with the train. Yeah.
Theresa: Now there’s papers that are found on Andre that incriminated Arnold and they look bad, they look damn near treasonous. So when you’re talking about tree, article three, I was like, really? Go on. What did they say? Now, once Arnold learns of Andre’s capture, he high tails it. He’s cadet to the British lines before the Patriots could arrest him.
Angie: Okay. I mean, that seems reasonable. Good move. What about his wife and kids? I’m clear. Okay.
Theresa: But I’m pretty sure Peggy with her loyalist sympathies can figure it out.
Angie: Oh yeah, she probably, yeah.
Theresa: Yeah. You know what I mean? When, when Arnold doesn’t come home for dinner, she probably like hangs several pieces of laundry on the line that aren’t normal and then somebody comes with a wagon, picks up her and the kids, she’s got to go back and then they scuddle. Yeah. That’s, that’s how you’re probably right.
You’re probably right. Now, Andre and Arnold, they were trying to give West Point over to the British. That was the goal.
That’s what failed because at this point in time, Arnold was in charge of West Point. Oh, okay. Okay.
West Point, I think was like a military strategic stronghold and not the academy. Yeah. I’m not like a fort.
Yeah. At this point, it’s a fort. It’s a fort. And so West Point remains in the American hands and Andre gets hung as a spy in October of 1780. Now he had been, Arnold had been promised a ton of money, ton of wealth, everything he ever wanted, if he can get West Point to the British. Andre’s hanged and he’s unable to get West Point, but he does get rewarded by the British even still. He receives the commission of Brigadier General in the British Army, a pension, funds for his lost property, and he gets a command of the deserters and the Tories.
So he gets kind of a rag tag team from what I understand. Okay. Now, this tends to be like only like a chunk of what he would have gotten had he handed over West Point. Right. Okay. So it seems like a decent chunk. It’s a damn decent chunk. Money for lost property.
I’ll take it. So 1780, the Americans are a little peeved at how slow that this push for progress in independence is going. They are racking up battlefield defeats like you wouldn’t believe. However, hearing word of how treacherous Benedict Arnold has been reenergizes the Patriots. Now the sagging morale that they’ve been experiencing, they’ve got a rallying cry. They have to defend and do better than what Benedict Arnold has done to undermine them.
Okay. So in theory, you could credit Benedict Arnold for reviving the morale here. You know, honestly, I mean, if we’re going to be apologists, here’s how we go hard. Now, while he’s fighting against Benedict Arnold, fighting against the Americans, he does a couple of really small engagements in one battle. He would end up capturing Richmond, Virginia for the British. So, okay.
He, he puts points on the board on either team is what you need to hear. After the war ends and America wins spoilers, there is a treaty in Paris in 1783. Arnold goes to reside in England because it would be not good for his health if he went to a new country. Hmm. The truth is kind of ambivalent about him.
His former countrymen absolutely despise this man. Shopped. Truly, I’m shocked. Benjamin Franklin would write, Judith sold only one man. Arnold, three million. Harsh.
Right? Now, after years of suffering from gout and other health conditions, Arnold died in London. He didn’t gout. I, sorry. Died of a rich man’s disease. Died from eating too much pudding and butter. Yeah.
Gout gets me every time. Right? He passes away at age 60 in 1801. That’s wild. Which is like, I didn’t realize he didn’t die a traitor’s death.
I thought he did. Honestly, this is what I’m here for. Now, following his death, we remember his name. His name is synonymous with the word traitor. But if he had died at the battles of Saratoga, he would have been memorialized as one of America’s greatest heroes. Period. And the story is just we, if we end the story early, he went just like Star Wars. If you’re following Anakin to a certain point, he’s an amazing that he is the chosen one right till order 66. And then it’s like, you know what? Honestly, yeah.
Angie: Damn. Spoiler. You know, but for those of you that haven’t seen any part of the Star Wars universe, spoiler alert, um, you’re late.
Theresa: So he’s your Vader. Luke’s father. Oops. Yeah. But that was just wanting and going. He. Yeah, he was a war hero.
Angie: Well, be a war hero, an attrator for the same country on this, like the same day. Yeah, truly. That’s wild.
Theresa: And it was one bad coworker that threw him over the edge. We have all had the one where they were like, you know what? Yeah, I’m going to burn this whole place down.
Angie: You’re the reason I’m going to be in HR today. And it’s fine. It’s fine.
Theresa: It’s fine. I’m going to earn it. If HR is going to call me, I’m going to earn it. But it can be worth it. If you have loved the story and you’re thinking, honestly, HR come at me because I’m about to earn it. Rate, review, subscribe, send this to somebody who is in HR. Yeah, send this to the HR lady so they know why you’re coming and send this to her ratio gates. Everybody’s got one. And on that note, goodbye. Bye.
Theresa: James Wilson was not involved in Aaron Burr’s treasonous conspiracies. He died in 1898, but he is the one who wrote article three, section three of the Constitution. Good to know.
Unhinged History 
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