Evening star., 1942-04-05
Americas Leading Ladies
Mrs. Benedict Arnold.

This is one of a series of Ueekly
sketches about 1Uon1en 1Uho played
influential roles in the Nations
grol0th. The articles are supplied
BY the research department OF
encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Margaret Shipper Arnold fingers
In history for one reason: She was
the wife of Americas arch traitor
Benedict Arnold.
Students Of Arnold'S tragic story
are divided over the relationship
of his wife to his treason. Some
regard her and her extravaganza
as a cause of his going over to the
British. The great majority, how
ever, absolve her from RESPONSE
bility.
Peggy Shipper was 10 years old
when she was married to Arnold at
Philadelphia on April 8, 1779. Ar
mold then was 38, a major general,
and commander of Philadelphia by
assignment from Gen. Washington.
He had been married previously and
was a father. His bride was the
beautiful and well-bred daughter of
Edward Shippen, moderate loyal
ist. Portraits show she was lovely
blond with a gay, tender face. At
a later period Gen. Washington re-
marked that all the young men were
in love with Mrs. Arnold. Margaret'S
father once complained, in letter
to his father, of the expense of car
rying on his household. The style
of life my fashionable daughters
have introduced into my family, and
their dress, will, fear, before long,
cblige me to change the scene"
Buys Large Estate.
The middle-aged warrior and his
young bride Immediately took up
an expensive life. Arnold bought a
large estate and they entertained
freely. Some commentators are dis
posed to blame Margaret for the
eXtravagant scale on which they
lived, but others can see no need for
adopting this view. They cite the
fact that waywardness marked his
whole career, that he was soldier
of fortune, adventurous and emo
tional, who enjoyed luxury and rel
ished display. He was spender
and none too careful about how he
obtained money. Defenders OF Mar
garet assert she was only a child
who spent what her husband gave
her and did what he told her to do.
Her detractors fail to recall that
ArnoldS integrity had been queS-
toned prior to their marriage.
After returning from the unsucceSs-
full expedition against Quebec in
TITS, charges of misconduct and dis
honesty had been lodged against
Arnold, then a brigadier general.
Although in the end he received a
clean bill, he was disgruntled with
the long time it took the Board OF
War to complete its investigation.
While these charges were pending,
Congress, in January, 1777, created
five new major generals, and Arnold,
the ranking brigadier, was passed
over. This so enraged him that
only Washington's urgent persuasion
prevented him from leaving the
service. He was promoted, however,
in April of the same year.
Eight Charges Presented.
These old wounds we're still fes-.
tering when he got into difficulty,
soon after his marriage, with Penn
sylvania State authorities. He was
accused of transactions bordering on
peculation in eight charges of mis-
conduct presented to Congress, four
of which finally were referred to a
court-martial. Arnold demanded an
immediate trial, but the court was
not convened promptly. Finally he
was practically acquitted of all in
territorial wrong, but the court di-
rected Washington to reprimand
him for two trivial offenses. The