"Enemies foreign and domestic."
Benedict
Arnold was one of America's most popular leaders for capturing Fort
Ticonderoga with Ethan Allen, and for leading a daring charge at the
Battle of Saratoga, though he disobeyed an order to do it.
A court-marshal cleared Benedict Arnold of wrong, but his loyalist wife, Peggy, felt the Americans did not appreciate him.
She
developed a relationship with a British spy in Philadelphia, Major John
Andre, with whom, in 1779, she finally got her husband to make contact.
Meanwhile, in 1779, the Continental Congress declared a Day of
Public Prayer to Almighty God, which Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson
observed by signing a State Proclamation of Prayer:
"Congress...hath
thought proper...to recommend to the several States...a day of public
and solemn Thanksgiving to Almighty God, for his mercies, and of Prayer,
for the continuance of his favour...
That He would go forth with our hosts and crown our arms with victory;
That
He would grant to His church, the plentiful effusions of Divine Grace,
and pour out His Holy Spirit on all Ministers of the Gospel;
That
He would bless and prosper the means of education, and spread the light
of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth...
I
do therefore...issue this proclamation...appointing...a day of public
and solemn thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God...Given under by
hand...this 11th day of November, in the year of our Lord,
1779...Thomas Jefferson."
The next spring, April 6, 1780, General Washington issued the order from his headquarters at Morristown:
"Congress
having been pleased by their Proclamation of the 11th of last month to
appoint Wednesday the 22nd instant to be set apart and observed as a day
of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer...there should be no labor or
recreations on that day."
On August 3, 1780, General Benedict Arnold was put in charge of West Point and immediately began weakening its defenses.
He neglected repairs and removing supplies, all the while complaining to General Washington of shortages.
By AUGUST 30, 1780, General Benedict Arnold made his decision final.
Through
British spy John Andre, Arnold conspired with British General Henry
Clinton to surrender West Point for 20,000 pounds, equivalent to a
million dollars today.
West Point was a very strategic fort on the Hudson River.
It
not only controlled the entire Hudson River Valley, extending from near
Canada in the north to New York City in the south, but it effectively
divided colonial America in half, with the New England Colonies to the
east and Middle and Southern Colonies to the west.
Therefore, the surrender of West Point would have split country and cost Americans the War.
In
addition to this, General George Washington was planning on visiting
West Point to inspect its defense on the exact day the fort was to be
betrayed.
British spy Major John Andre met with General Arnold the night before.
Andre then left, dressed as a civilian, to return to the British lines.
Unbeknownst to him, some American sentries spotted him in the woods and stopped him.
With
unusual curiosity, the sentries searched him once, then twice, and just
before letting him go, they decided to search his boots.
There, in the heel of the boot, they found the folded up map of West Point with instructions on where to attack.
The
American sentries arrested John Andre and immediately sent word to
General Benedict Arnold, who was waiting for General Washington to
arrive for breakfast.
John Jay, serving as an aide to Washington, arrived first but found Benedict Arnold had already fled, as his plan was now known.
Arnold escaped to the British ship
HMS Vulture, and, joining the British ranks, he later fought and killed Americans.
After the British refused an offer to exchange Andre for Arnold, the Continental Army hung British Major John Andre as a spy.
General George Washington wrote September 26, 1780:
"Treason
of the blackest dye was yesterday discovered! General Arnold who
commanded at West Point, was about to...give the American cause a deadly
wound if not fatal stab.
Happily the treason had been timely discovered to prevent the fatal
misfortune.
The
providential train of circumstances which led to its discovery affords
the most convincing proof that the Liberties of America are the object
of divine Protection."
Miracles in American History-32 Amazing Stories of Answered PrayerOn May 8, 1783, Yale President Ezra Stiles stated:
"A
providential miracle at the last minute detected the treacherous
scheme of traitor Benedict Arnold, which would have delivered the
American army, including George Washington himself, into the hands of
the enemy."
The Continental Congress issued a Day of Thanksgiving, October 18, 1780:
"In
the late remarkable interposition of His watchful providence, in the
rescuing the person of our Commander-in-Chief and the army from imminent
dangers, at the moment when treason was ripened for execution...
It
is therefore recommended...a Day of Public Thanksgiving and
Prayer...to confess our unworthiness...and to offer fervent
supplications to the God of all grace...to cause the knowledge of
Christianity to spread over all the earth."
John
Jay, who was later appointed by George Washington as the first Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court, stated September 8, 1777:
"This
glorious revolution...distinguished by so many marks of the Divine
favor and interposition...in a manner so singular, and I may say
miraculous, that when future ages shall read its history they will be
tempted to consider a great part of it as fabulous...
Will it not appear extraordinary...like the emancipation of the Jews from Egyptian servitude."
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