How do you go from hero to zero in a single day? For one American general, it was as simple as running away from a battle — and never stopping.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00How do you go from hero to zero in a single day? For one American general,
00:04it was as simple as running away from a battle and never stopping.
00:08Major General Benedict Arnold helped lead the American forces in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga
00:12in 1775. In 1776, he helped develop one of the first American naval forces, sending a ragtag
00:18group of ships against the British on October 1776 on Lake Champlain. And in 1777, he was one
00:24of the heroes of the Battle of Saratoga, a defining American victory that changed the course of the
00:29war. So far, so good. But things started going sour in the spring of 1779 when Arnold began
00:34sending coded messages to British General Henry Clinton, indicating his desire to turn traitor
00:39and switch sides. He nearly gave up West Point to the British in September 1780, when Arnold's
00:44contact, Major John Andre, was captured and executed by Continental forces. Arnold led a
00:49few 1781 campaigns against his former allies, and then fled to Britain, where he was widely
00:54snubbed for his turncoat ways. General Benedict Arnold is widely known
00:59as the most famous traitor in history. So what made him do it? Arnold never made
01:03his motivations completely clear, but he seemingly felt he wasn't getting the recognition he deserved.
01:08He was passed over for promotions, had loyalist in-laws, a wife with expensive tastes,
01:12and possible issues with a bad temper and self-esteem. Whatever the reason, though,
01:16his name is still a synonym for traitor. So as a general tactician, Arnold was great.
01:21But as a loyal member of an army, he was absolutely awful.
01:25Raised in Britain and sent to fight in North America in the French and Indian War of the
01:281750s and 1760s, Charles Lee eventually settled in the American colonies and went rebel when the
01:33Revolution began. While he won recognition for his command of Charleston, South Carolina,
01:38during a 1776 attack, Lee was deep down inside a sore loser. He had hoped that he would be
01:43picked to lead the Continental Army. But when George Washington won the spot and Lee became
01:47second-in-command, he loudly whined about it. Things got worse when he was captured by the
01:51British in December 1776. He was released in 1778, only to embarrass himself at the Battle
01:57of Monmouth on June 28th of that year. While leading troops, Major General Lee thought that
02:02the British were in the process of surrounding them and ordered a retreat. Washington was
02:06displeased, ultimately rallying the army for a pivotal victory, leaving Lee in disgrace.
02:10Lee felt he was ill-treated and let Washington know it in a bitter letter. That move backfired,
02:15and Lee was ultimately charged with insubordination and court-martialed. He was suspended for a year,
02:19spending that time moaning further about the evil Washington had done to him and getting
02:23wounded in a duel by one of Washington's defenders. Lee finally resigned in 1780
02:28and died in Philadelphia two years later. Brigadier General Thomas Conway wasn't half
02:33bad as an officer, having served in the French military since 1749 and joining the Americans
02:38in 1777, but his ego got in the way. Conway felt he wasn't being promoted fast enough.
02:43But he didn't exactly win friends with what sounds like an inflated sense of self-worth
02:48and frequent criticism of the less formal ways of the Continental Army. Then he fell in with
02:52Major General Horatio Gates, who was part of a vocal group advocating for a new commander,
02:57a group that became known as the Conway Cabal. When their attempt to oust Washington failed,
03:02Conway tried to quit. The first time he tried, in October 1777, the Continental Congress refused
03:08and gave him a promotion. Conway was still an experienced officer, after all. But when
03:11Conway did it again in the spring of 1778, they accepted his resignation. In July of that year,
03:16a friend of Washington's wounded Conway in a duel, and the man soon left for France.
03:21At least, he then had the decency to send an apology to Washington.
03:25Philippe Hubert Chevalier de Prodome d'Abore — he was French, if you couldn't tell — was
03:30commissioned as an American officer in December 1776. But something awkward must have happened
03:35on the voyage to the colonies, as D'Abore was apparently made to leave the ship he embarked on
03:39and finish the journey on another vessel. Things seemed to go well enough once he landed New
03:43Hampshire and took command of his brigade. But summer brought serious controversy when
03:47D'Abore hanged a loyalist. George Washington wrote to D'Abore on August 3, 1777, that though
03:52the executed man had been guilty of a hanging offense, quote,
03:55"...it was a matter that did not come within the jurisdiction of martial law,
03:58and therefore the whole proceeding was irregular and illegal, not to mention
04:01apt to rile up the colonists." D'Abore survived that ordeal,
04:05commanding brigades at Staten Island and Brandywine. But his conduct at Brandywine
04:09was scattered, with brigades ordered into incorrect positions that may have contributed
04:13to the American loss. Washington ordered an inquiry into D'Abore's behavior,
04:17which prompted D'Abore to tender his resignation in mid-September 1777.
04:22He tried to backtrack, but it was too late, and Congress decided to pay for him to return to
04:26France. At least he didn't have to switch ships on the way back, so there's that.
04:30William Howe was a seasoned military man, earning status as a general during the French and Indian
04:35War. When he permanently assumed command of the British forces in America in 1776,
04:40his army enjoyed several victories thanks to a bold new plan.
04:43"...British General William Howe brought his army to this area,
04:46with the intention of conquering New York."
04:49His plan worked, and the British occupied New York City. But in 1777, he made a major mistake.
04:54Instead of sending reinforcements to help British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga,
04:58he decided to wing it by capturing Philadelphia,
05:01a move that very well could be tied to Howe's personal rivalry with Burgoyne.
05:04Saratoga was lost, thanks to Benedict Arnold. Oh, the irony.
05:08Even more ironic is that the Saratoga loss propelled France to enter the conflict on the
05:13side of the Americans. As a result, Howe catches some flak from historians for losing the whole
05:17war for the British. It wasn't his only mistake, though. Howe missed a chance to capture Washington
05:22after the Battle of Trenton in 1776, and he also failed to disband the American Continental
05:27Congress after taking Philadelphia. Instead, they simply picked up and moved to nearby Lancaster.
05:32In April 1778, his resignation was accepted by Parliament, and Howe returned to England
05:36in disgrace. So it's a bit unfair to blame Howe for losing the war just because of Saratoga.
05:41It was really all his actions that helped the colonists win.
05:45If William Howe proved to be a dud, then surely British forces hoped that his successor would be
05:49better. But Henry Clinton, who took over as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in North
05:53America after Howe's departure, wasn't much better. Things were promising at first,
05:57as Clinton successfully took Charleston in 1780. But then he left the South,
06:01leaving command of the region to General Charles Cornwallis. Cornwallis attempted to take more
06:05territory in the South despite the increasingly unsteady situation of the British forces,
06:10but Clinton didn't make it any easier for him. In May and June of 1780, he issued a series of
06:15decrees that alienated the population, leading to a surge in rebel activity. Clinton eventually
06:20ordered Cornwallis and his men to station themselves along the Chesapeake Bay and secure
06:23a harbor for the British. Cornwallis chose Yorktown, Virginia, where his forces were besieged
06:28by the Continental Army and his supporting French forces in October 1781. Cornwallis
06:33surrendered on October 19, effectively ending the war. You may remember this from your history
06:38class as Cornwallis being the name associated with Yorktown, but it was Clinton who took the
06:42brunt of the criticism for the humiliating loss. The Commander-in-Chief had failed to send
06:46reinforcements in time and more broadly misjudged how to allocate troops and supplies. If he had
06:51been more bold, perhaps Cornwallis could have held out.
06:54James Wilkinson made such an impression working for Major General Horatio Gates that Gates asked
06:59Congress to grant Wilkinson a promotion. Yet the then-20-year-old Wilkinson had hardly any
07:04battlefield experience and controversially skipped over more senior colonels to get his
07:071777 boost to brigadier general. He didn't do the rank much honor, either.
07:12After the promotion, Wilkinson soon became associated with the anti-Washington Conway
07:16Cabal. Though it's unclear if he was ever an active plotter, Wilkinson did tell Congress
07:20about the affair, implicating Gates and angering his former mentor. This nominally put him on
07:25Washington's side but contributed to his historical reputation as an untrustworthy snitch. Perhaps
07:30feeling the heat, Wilkinson resigned in 1778. He returned for a 1779 appointment as the Army's
07:36clothier general, but Wilkinson was so lackluster in the role that Washington complained to Congress.
07:40It cut his pay, and Wilkinson resigned yet again in March 1781. So he failed at being a general,
07:46and he failed at getting clothes for soldiers. Not a great run there.
07:50Things did get better for Wilkinson, and by better we mean more interesting for this video.
07:54Turns out his brother-in-law was Aaron Burr. You know, the guy from the musical? He was involved
07:58with Burr in the conspiracy to literally create a new country out of the Louisiana Purchase.
08:03Despite all that and a court-martial, Wilkinson was made a major general for the War of 1812.
08:08But wait, there's more. Following his death, it was discovered he was secretly spying for
08:12the Spanish, ruining his reputation permanently. Around 100 years later, Theodore Roosevelt said
08:17this of Wilkinson,
08:18In all our history, there is no more of a despicable character.
08:22Mathias Alexis Roche de Fermois arrived in the colonies in 1776 from the West Indies,
08:27claiming to be a French colonel, a move that earned him a commission as a brigadier general.
08:31But his actions weren't exactly becoming of a great officer. When the British began to move
08:35their forces from Trenton to Princeton in January 1777, de Fermois fumbled. In his defense, he was
08:41drunk. But then again, the reason he fumbled was because he was drunk. Luckily, Washington
08:46saved the day. In March, de Fermois was put in charge of Fort Independence, though George
08:50Washington reportedly balked at the idea. De Fermois abandoned the fort on July 6, 1777,
08:56and disobeying orders, set fire to it. That made it painfully obvious to the British that the
09:00rebels there and at nearby Fort Ticonderoga, under the command of General Arthur Sinclair,
09:05were retreating. By drawing British attention, de Fermois put everyone in danger.
09:09Despite this, de Fermois thought he could still rise in rank and ask Congress to make him a major
09:13general. After all, he wasn't drunk when he set fire to the camp, so there's that. In a rather
09:18sober move, Congress declined this request, and de Fermois resigned in January 1778, with Congress
09:23giving him an $800 payout to return to the Caribbean. Horatio Gates was a supremely seasoned
09:29British officer. By 1769, however, he had given up his post in the British Army and settled in
09:34Virginia with the help of his friend George Washington. Eventually, he joined up with the
09:38revolutionary cause. Gates' biggest triumph may have been the victory at Saratoga, where British
09:42Major General John Burgoyne surrendered to him on October 17, 1777. Yet this also seems to have
09:48marked a downturn in the relationship between Gates and Washington, starting when Gates went
09:52straight to Congress with the news of his victory, without first notifying Washington. Things got
09:57worse when the Conway Cabal tried to remove Washington and replace him with Gates. But his
10:01biggest blunder came in the field. Commanding forces in the Southern Colonies, Gates attempted
10:06to face off against British soldiers in Camden, South Carolina, on August 16, 1780. The resulting
10:11battle was a disaster for the colonists. Even worse, Gates hustled off the battlefield,
10:16seemingly abandoning his troops in the middle of their retreat. He was effectively fired in
10:20October 1780, and despite a brief reinstatement from 1782 to 1783, his reputation never recovered.
10:27He rides 200 miles all the way back to Hillsboro without stopping,
10:32and becomes the butt of every mean-spirited joke in the Continental Army.
10:36The winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania was notoriously awful.
10:42Continental Army forces encamped there faced serious issues, including little food and
10:46poor clothing. At least George Washington stayed with the army and focused on training them,
10:50if only his quartermaster general was on the same level. That man was merchant Thomas Mifflin,
10:55who joined the Continental Army in 1775 and was soon appointed the force's quartermaster general,
11:00as well as becoming a major general. Yet Mifflin reportedly was more interested in making a name
11:04for himself on the battlefield than managing unglamorous supply lines. He was also seemingly
11:09overwhelmed by the demands of a growing army after Congress ordered its expansion in 1777.
11:14There were also allegations that Mifflin was skimming off the top, holding back vital supplies
11:18and selling them for his own benefit, or at least defungling their delivery while the soldiers at
11:23Valley Forge suffered. Mifflin also associated with the anti-Washington Conway Cabal. With all
11:28the surrounding controversy, he stepped away from the post.
11:31Relief is slow in coming. Washington will need help to turn his army back into a fighting force.
11:37Nathaniel Greene replaced Mifflin as the army's more efficient quartermaster general,
11:41a real sting as Mifflin was allegedly jealous of Greene's closeness to Washington.
11:45Mifflin came back to serve on the army's board of war but continued disputes with
11:49Washington and Congress led to Mifflin resigning his commission in February 1779.
11:54Yet, perhaps thanks to powerful friends, he became president of the Continental Congress
11:58in 1783, in time to accept Washington's resignation as commander-in-chief. In terms
12:03of everyone we mentioned, Mifflin was probably the most successful outside of his military time,
12:07but he was still an awful general.