The sign describing Benedict Arnold and the Battle of Ridgefield can be found on Main Street across from the Casagmo complex. It reads: "Here General Benedict Arnold's horse was shot out from under him when he faced and entire British Platoon at twenty yards in the third engagement of the Battle of Ridgefield. He escaped unharmed." When an American thinks of Benedict Arnold they will probably think of the word traitor. In the American Revolution Benedict Arnold gave military information to the Brittish. Benedict Arnold's birthplace was Norwich, Connecticut. He was born on January 14, 1741 to his parents Benedict and Hannah King Waterman Arnold. His father, Benedict, was a successful landowner. When Benedict Arnold was a boy he fought with the colonial troops in the French and Indian War. He was a merchant as well as a Connecticut militia captain living in New Haven, when he was 21 years old. Benedict Arnold married twice, once in 1767 and again in 1779. He married Margaret Mansfield; she died in 1775. His second wife was Margaret Shippen. Between his first wife's death and his second marriage in, 1777, Benedict Arnold was a general in the American Revolution. His family's extravagant living was thought to be one of the causes for his treason. Some reasons that are believed to be the cause of Benedict Arnold's treason were that he needed money, he married into a loyalist family, and he felt that he was denied a promotion. Arnold, along with the help of his wife, sent military information to the British and was paid in return. After a British spy was captured Arnold's treason was discovered. For the rest of the war he served with the British.

Return to Topography Project Homepage