New Yorkers have long treasured their heroes -- from George
Washington and Alexander Hamilton to Franklin D. Roosevelt. But,
in the case of one man who went down in history, there is some
debate about whether he was a hero or a traitor. His name is
Benedict Arnold. Arnold was not exactly a New Yorker, although
he is most notorious for what he tried to do in upstate New York
just 231 years ago this week. Late in the Revolutionary War, in
September 1780, Arnold, the commandant of West Point, conspired
to deliver West Point to the British. On September 23 of that
year, Major John Andre of the British Army, who was part of the
conspiracy, was captured by the British with documents
incriminating Arnold in the plot. Andre was hanged. Arnold
escaped to England with his wife and children. Benedict Arnold,
born in Norwich, Connecticut, was a great soldier. George
Washington valued him highly. In the summer of 1777, as British
General John Burgoyne pressed the Continental troops of General
Horatio Gates near Albany, Ar