Fragile Freedom

By September of 1780 the plans of the brilliant commander Major-General Benedict Arnold to surrender West Point, New York to the British had been exposed. Heavily indebted, having spent the majority of his fortune on the War Effort, injured in battle, with his shattered leg set so crudely it was then two inches shorter than the other, forcing him to walk with a cane, and watching as others took credit for his victories and successes, investigated by the Continental Congress for corruption, court-marshalled, and passed up for promotion, he had lost faith in the colonial cause of independence. Fleeing to the British, he would receive a commission as a Brigadier-General and orders from General Sir Henry Clinton, Commander-in-Chief of North America: bring Virginia back into the Imperial Fold. The January 5th, 1781 Raid on Richmond was not necessarily a surprise. Even as Arnold sailed his 1,600 Green Coats up the James River, destroying plantations, and laying waste to the towns along the route to Westover, he had