The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1883-12-13
BENEDICT ARNOLDS WIFE.
A Sketch of the Woman who Linked her
Life with Traitor.

a Sketch Of the Woman who Linked her
Life with Traitor.
We catch our first views of the un-
happy Mrs. Benedict Arnold, says a
writer in Truth, on bright May day in
1878, whom she took part in famous
and splendid pageant. in Philadelphia.
She was then beautiful girl of 18-
Miss Margaret Shippen-t6e daughter
of an opuIent and ancient Philadelphia
family, and one of the reigning bellies
of that town. Her ancestors were
among the first settlers of Pennsylva-
mia, and her great-grandfather was the
first Mayor of Philadelphia. In the
course of time the family had acquired
possessions, and, laying aside the
Quaker garb, had become members of
the Church of England.
AS l said, it was in May, 1773 For
many months the British army had
been quartered in Philadelphia, COM
manded by Maj-Gen. William Howe.
The General had been superseded and
was about to return to England. The
officers of the army-a wealthy class
who had nothing to do-seized the oc-
casion of his retirement to amuse them
selves by giving a grand festival in his
honor, and this was the day upon which
it was to be held.
The affair began with regatta on
the Delaware, after which the company
embarked in barges from the foot of
Market street, and were conveyed past
the city to where the tournament was
to take place; and it is here that Mar
garet Shippen first comes to notice.
On the front seat of each of the pavil-
ions were placed seven of the most
beautiful young ladies Pennsylvania
could boast. They were dressed in
Turkish costume-trousers, tunics and
turbans-and in their tUrbans they wore
the favors with which they intended to
reward the knights who were to con-
tend in their honor. Among those lovely
maidens sat Margaret Shippen One of
the knights who figured in the tourna-
ment was Capt Andre, her familiar ac-
quaintance. Little could either of them
have thought, on that bright day, how
fatally their destinies We're involved.
Exactly month from that day the
British Army evacuated Philadelphia,
and away they sped across Jersey,
with Gen. Washington at their heels
A day or two after a body of American
bAOoPo S1Co Ill Nv JCu.
Benedict Arnold. All was changed
The red coats had disappeared blue
coats were in the ascendant-and the
Yankee General was the foremost man
in the city. Arnold, a vain, weak man,
ever fond of display and luxury, appro-
priated to himself one of the hand
soonest houses in the town, gave splen-
did dinners, and maintained q hand
some equipage drawn by four horses
q scale of expense utterly incompatible
either with his fortune or his pay. In
inviting his guests, as the patriotic por-
ton of the people remarked with sur
prise, he was as likely to select Tories
as Wings.
Among the families who attracted
his regard was that of Edward Shippen,
and he was soon observed to pay par
ticular court to his daughter Margaret
Arnold was then a widower, SO years of
age-just twenty years older than the
young lady. Ere long he formally
asked her hand from her father, and,
her father consenting, he addressed
the daughter, and they were engaged.
In the meantime Arnold had become
SO odious by his extravagant and his
insolent overbearing conduct to the
people that Congress was obliged to
take cognizance of the fact. On the
very eve of his marriage he was ordered
to be tried by court-martial. Miss
Shippen, however, was true to her en-
gagement, and married him five days
after. The court-martial, as every one
knows, sentenced him to be reprimand-
ed by Gen. Washington, and he was
reprimanded accordingly.
A year passed away. He was in
command at West Point, in correspond
ence with the enemy. Whether she
shared her husbands secret during
those months of preparation will, per-
haps, never be known with certainty.
just before the explosion of the treason
at West Point, Arnold sent for his wife
and child to join him, and have seen
the letter which he wrote her on this
occasion, telling her the best way of
reaching him, and at what houses she
should stop at on her road. She had
not been many days at West Point
when the treason was discovered.
Arnold and his wife were seated at
the. breakfast table with Hamilton,
Lafayette, and an aide. In the midst
of the meal horseman alighted at the
door, and moment later letter was
placed in Arnoid's hands, which in
formed him of his ruin. He controlled
his countenance, rose quietly from the
table, and beckoned his wife to follow
him. They went upstairs to their room,
where lay their infant child, and there
he told her that he was ruined man
and must fly that instant for his life.
She fell senseless to the floor. Leaving
her there, he rushed from the room,
hurried down stairs, sent some one to
her assistance, and then mounted the
horse of the messenger who had brought
the letter and galloped away.
Col. Hamilton has left us an interest
ing account of Mrs. Arnold's demeanor
after her husbands departure. He
says she remained frantic all day, and
accused every one who approached her
of an intention to murder her child.
She continued, he says, to rave until
she was utterly exhausted. But Col.
Burr, in his old age, was accustomed to
give a very different account of the
matter. He had known Mrs. Arnold
from her infancy, and he always de-
clared that she knew all about her hus-
bands treason from the beginning.
What it Meant.