page_title: Military career of Benedict Arnold, 1777–1779
section_title: Philadelphia command
hierarchical_section_title: Military career of Benedict Arnold, 1777–1779 / Philadelphia command
caption_attribution_description: American jurist and statesman Joseph Reed (1741-1785)
context_page_description: The military career of Benedict Arnold from 1777 to 1779 was marked by two important events in his career. In July 1777, Arnold was assigned to the Continental Army's Northern Department, where he played pivotal roles in bringing about the failure of British Brigadier Barry St. Leger's siege of Fort Stanwix and the American success in the battles of Saratoga, which fundamentally altered the course of the war.
  After convalescing following the significant injuries to his leg sustained at Saratoga, Arnold was given military command of Philadelphia after the British withdrawal in 1778. There Arnold became embroiled in political and legal wrangling with enemies in Congress, the army, and the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia governments that undoubtedly contributed to his decision to change sides. In 1779 he began secret negotiations with the British that culminated in a plot to surrender West Point. The plot was exposed in September 1780, and Arnold had no choice but to flee to New York City.
context_section_description: Following Saratoga, Arnold was taken to an Albany hospital to recover from the wounds he had received in the battle. His left leg was ruined, but Arnold would not allow it to be amputated. Several agonizing months of recovery left it 2 inches (5 cm) shorter than the right.  After several months in Albany, he was transferred to Middletown, Connecticut, where he could be nearer his children.  While recuperating there, he sent two more entreaties to Betsy DeBlois; the first she answered with a firm refusal, and the second went unanswered.  When he was well enough to travel, he departed Connecticut for Valley Forge, where he arrived on May 20, 1778, to the boisterous applause of troops he had commanded at Saratoga.  There he participated, with many other soldiers, in the first recorded Oath of Allegiance as a sign of loyalty to the United States.
  As the British planned to withdraw from Philadelphia in June 1778 Washington appointed Arnold to take military command of the city after the British retreat.  Even before the Americans reoccupied Philadelphia, Arnold began scheming to capitalize financially on the change in power there, engaging in a variety of business deals designed to profit from war-related supply movements and benefiting from the protection of his authority.  While these schemes were not necessarily illegal, the ethics involved were seen as highly dubious at the time.  Some of his schemes were frustrated by the actions of highly partisan Patriots, including the politically powerful Joseph Reed.  These business dealings required capital, which Arnold often borrowed.  Arnold furthered his debts by living extravagantly, occupying the Penn mansion and throwing parties for high society.  Complicating the situation was the fact that Arnold was administratively trapped between the relatively powerful Pennsylvania government and the Congress, which was often forced to bow to the populous state's demands in order to achieve its aims.  Reed and others amassed a series of irregularities in Arnold's official actions, and open war of words erupted between Arnold and Reed and his supporters. By February 1779 a variety of charges had been publicly made that he was abusing his power.  He demanded a full court martial, writing to Washington in May, "Having become a cripple in the service of my country, I little expected to meet [such] ungrateful returns".  The court martial was postponed (it would not be held until December 1779), once more leaving Arnold frustrated and angry at the Congress for its inaction.
  During the summer of 1778 Arnold met Peggy Shippen, the 18-year-old daughter of Judge Edward Shippen, a Loyalist sympathizer who had done business with the British while they occupied the city. Peggy had been courted by British Major John André during the British occupation of Philadelphia.  Peggy and Arnold married on April 8, 1779.  Peggy and her circle of friends had found methods of staying in contact with paramours across the battle lines, in spite of military bans on communication with the enemy.  Some of this communication was effected through the services of Joseph Stansbury, a Philadelphia merchant.
  Sometime early in May 1779, Arnold met with Stansbury.  Stansbury, whose testimony before a British commission apparently erroneously placed the date in June, said that, after meeting with Arnold, "I went secretly to New York with a tender of [Arnold's] services to Sir Henry Clinton."  This was the start of a series of negotiations between Arnold and Sir Henry's chief spy, the very same Major André that had courted Peggy.  Between July and October 1779, the two negotiated over terms of Arnold's change to the British side, while Arnold provided the British with information on troop  locations and strengths, as well as the locations of supply depots.
caption: Joseph Reed engraving by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere) was a significant political opponent of Arnold during his tenure in Philadelphia
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