How did Benedict Arnold helped the Americans with?

After the British withdrew from Philadelphia in April 8, Washington appointed Arnold military commander of the city. 48 Even before the Americans reoccupied Philadelphia, Arnold began planning 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. 49 These schemes were sometimes frustrated by powerful local politicians, who eventually amassed enough evidence to publicly air charges.

Arnold demanded a court martial to clear the charges, writing to Washington in May 1779, "Having become a cripple in the service of my country, I little expected to meet such ungrateful returns". Arnold lived extravagantly in Philadelphia, and was a prominent figure on the social scene. 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.

52 Peggy had been courted by British Major John André during the British occupation of Philadelphia. 53 Peggy and Arnold married on April 8, 1779. 54 Peggy and her circle of friends had found methods of staying in contact with paramours across the battle lines, despite military bans on communication with the enemy.

55 Some of this communication was effected through the services of Joseph Stansbury, a Philadelphia merchant. As early as 1778 there were signs that Arnold was unhappy with his situation and pessimistic about the country's future. On November 10, 1778, General Nathanael Greene wrote to General John Cadwalader, "I am told General Arnold is become very unpopular among you oweing to his associateing too much with the Tories."57 A few days later, Greene received a letter from Arnold, where Arnold lamented over the "deplorable" and "horrid" situation of the country at that particular moment, citing the depreciating currency, disaffection of the army, and internal fighting in Congress for the country's problems, while predicting "impending ruin" if things would not soon change.

Sometime early in May 1779, Arnold met with Stansbury (whose testimony before a British commission apparently erroneously placed his meeting with Arnold in June). Stansbury said he then "went secretly to New York with a tender of Arnold's services to Sir Henry Clinton."59 Ignoring instructions from Arnold to involve no one else in the plot, Stansbury crossed the British lines and went to see Jonathan Odell in New York. Odell was a Loyalist working with William Franklin, the last colonial governor of New Jersey and the son of Benjamin Franklin.

On May 9, Franklin introduced Stansbury to Major André, who had just been named the British spy chief. 60 This was the beginning of a secret correspondence between Arnold and André, sometimes using his wife Peggy as a willing intermediary, that culminated over a year later with Arnold's change of sides. André conferred with General Clinton, who gave him broad authority to pursue Arnold's offer.

André then drafted instructions to Stansbury and Arnold. 61 This initial letter opened a discussion on the types of assistance and intelligence Arnold might provide, and included instructions for how to communicate in the future. Letters would be passed through the women's circle that Peggy Arnold was a part of, but only Peggy would be aware that some letters contained instructions, written in both code and invisible ink, that were to be passed on to André, using Stansbury as the courier.

By April 8, Arnold was providing the British with troop locations and strengths, as well as the locations of supply depots, all the while negotiating over compensation. At first, he asked for indemnification of his losses and £10,000, an amount the Continental Congress had given Charles Lee for his services in the Continental Army. 63 General Clinton, who was pursuing a campaign to gain control of the Hudson River Valley, was interested in plans and information on the defenses of West Point and other defenses on the Hudson River.

He also began to insist on a face-to-face meeting, and suggested to Arnold that he pursue another high-level command. 64 By April 8, 17798, the negotiations had ground to a halt. 65 Furthermore, Patriot mobs were scouring Philadelphia for Loyalists, and Arnold and the Shippen family were being threatened.

Arnold was rebuffed by Congress and by local authorities in requests for security details for himself and his in-laws. The court martial to consider the charges against Arnold began meeting on June 1, 1779, but was delayed until April 8, 17799 by General Clinton's capture of Stony Point, New York, throwing the army into a flurry of activity to react. 67 Although a number of members of the panel of judges were ill-disposed to Arnold over actions and disputes earlier in the war, Arnold was cleared of all but two minor charges on January 26, 1780.

68 Arnold worked over the next few months to publicize this fact; however, in early April, just one week after Washington congratulated Arnold on the March 19 birth of his son, Edward Shippen Arnold, Washington published a formal rebuke of Arnold's behavior. The Commander-in-Chief would have been much happier in an occasion of bestowing commendations on an officer who had rendered such distinguished services to his country as Major General Arnold; but in the present case, a sense of duty and a regard to candor oblige him to declare that he considers his conduct in the convicted actions as imprudent and improper. Shortly after Washington's rebuke, a Congressional inquiry into his expenditures concluded that Arnold had failed to fully account for his expenditures incurred during the Quebec invasion, and that he owed the Congress some £1,000, largely because he was unable to document them.

71 A significant number of these documents had been lost during the retreat from Quebec. Angry and frustrated, Arnold resigned his military command of Philadelphia in late April. Early in April, Philip Schuyler had approached Arnold with the possibility of giving him the command at West Point.

Discussions between Schuyler and Washington on the subject had not borne fruit by early June. Arnold reopened the secret channels with the British, informing them of Schuyler's proposals and including Schuyler's assessment of conditions and West Point. He also provided information on a proposed French-American invasion of Quebec that was to go up the Connecticut River.

(Arnold did not know that this proposed invasion was a ruse intended to divert British resources.) On June 16, Arnold inspected West Point while on his way home to Connecticut to take care of personal business, and sent a highly detailed report through the secret channel. 73 When he reached Connecticut, Arnold arranged to sell his home there, and began transferring assets to London through intermediaries in New York. By early July he was back in Philadelphia, where he wrote another secret message to Clinton on July 7, which implied that his appointment to West Point was assured and that he might even provide a "drawing of the works ... by which you might take West Point without loss".

General Clinton and Major André, who returned victorious from the Siege of Charleston on June 18, were immediately caught up in this news.