� 2001-2006 by Shiloh
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For those of you who have the A&E channel on tv, I'm sure you're aware it's been promoting big time its latest premiere for tv, Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor. They pump him up to be this great war hero and patriot who turned traitor for love. Now, I never was interested in him growing up; all I heard in History classes was he was a great American who sold us out in the Revolutionary War. I had no sympathy for anyone who would betray his country. I still don't; I don't care even if it was for love.
But after a cursory glance at his biography I do feel sorry for him. He was one who had a quick temper, who held grudges easily and was one who trouble found easy, it seems. Though he was a great soldier and patriot for America it seems those high in our military command back then looked him over many times and slighted him numerous times. Arnold even lost a leg or the use of that leg in a battle he fought valiantly against zee British. It seemed the only one to champion him (Arnold) was Washington, himself. Washington trusted him completely and backed him. After he betrayed America Arnold was exiled to Britain. The British set him and his family up quite nicely, but of course, wasn't about to trust him in political or military matters. He died in 1801 a diminished man, both in spirit and finances.
I do feel sorry for him, but in no way do I sympathize or empathize with his decisions. I do not know completely what entailed his decision to betray our country, but if he believed he had no choice, there's always a choice somewhere. In the biography I looked at of Arnold's, one name popped out, surprising me--John Andre.
Andre was a British spy whom Arnold was in contact with. Andre's name is familiar to me from a documentary on ghosts A&E aired around Halloween several years ago. Andre and a friend of his in the British army were quartered in the home of a fierce American patriot. The man had a young daughter, Sally, whom both Andre and his friend vied for romance-wise. Sally found herself falling for Andre and her father warned her against it. Then one night after a nap she overheard some valuable info John Andre and his friend were discussing, unaware she was in the room lying on a couch. She knew that this information would turn the tide of the war, but she had a heartbreaking decision to make. Should she ignore it and be true to her lover, or should she tell her father what she knew? Sally told her father, choosing her country. Because she did, John Andre and his friend were arrested and Andre was hanged as a spy. I don't believe Sally ever got married (I can't remember), but she lingers in her family's home in death. Some even say they've seen her at the window of her room and they feel great conflicting emotions in that room.
My heart goes out to that young woman who had the courage to do what she felt was right. Even though it cost the life of the man she loved. I'm proud of her decision, yet my heart breaks for the choice she had to make. I hope he understands her decision, and that somehow in the end...some way...they'll find peace. I hope if I had been in that position--though immensely glad I am not--I would have had the courage to make the decision that in my heart I knew was right.
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