The Glorious Cause - Jeff Shaara [356]
His legacy is often more satirical than military, and thus in many ways he is a tragic figure. Several poems are written to his dishonor, including some that mention his noted relationship with his mistress:
Sir William he, snug as a flea,
Lay all the time a snoring,
Nor dreamed of harm as he lay warm
In bed with Mrs. Loring.
—FRANCIS HOPKINSON
In amazing contrast, Charles Lee writes:
He is all fire and activity, brave and cool as Julius Caesar . . .
BENEDICT ARNOLD
After leaving Virginia, he commands a mission to assault the town of New London, Connecticut, which accomplishes nothing militarily except the wanton destruction of much of the town. He convinces Henry Clinton to allow him to raise a special legion in his name, assumes that loyalists will flock to a man of such lofty stature. Barely two hundred enlist, and the project is abandoned.
With little to do, he and Peggy sail to England in December 1781. Though he makes every attempt to place himself in friendship with prominent Tories, including King George, he is for the most part ignored.
In 1785, frustrated by the army’s unwillingness to grant him any further command, he sails to Canada and embarks on a business career, which fares no better. He returns to England in 1791, spends his final years as a bitter, dejected man, whose dreams of fortune and fame die with him in 1801. He is sixty.
Peggy Shippen Arnold survives him by only three years and dies in 1804. In America, those who participated in the affair of Arnold’s treason, including George Washington, continue to believe that Peggy had nothing to do with Arnold’s decision to betray his country. It is only after the deaths of nearly all concerned that an account by Aaron Burr surfaces, revealing Peggy’s frank admission of the extraordinary acting performance she had exhibited for the sake of Washington and his men. Though Burr’s reliability is discounted by many historians, irrefutable documentation is unearthed in British military archives in 1920, which contains damning evidence that there were two traitors at West Point.
HENRY CLINTON
After the disaster at Yorktown, he returns to England to find his name has become synonymous with defeat. The British government is sufficiently satisfied by those conclusions that it refuses Clinton a Parliamentary hearing, unlike what had been performed for William Howe. He publishes his memoirs, which contain scathing criticisms of everyone but himself, and which inspires a hostile exchange with Charles Cornwallis that continues for the rest of his life. He serves in Parliament, and though he is given no significant military duties, King George promotes him to full general in 1793. He becomes governor of Gibraltar in 1794, and serves only until his death in 1795, at age sixty-five.
WILHELM, BARON VON KNYPHAUSEN
He endures the final months of the war with Clinton in New York, but in 1782, his failing health causes him to resign. He returns to his home in Hesse-Cassel, where he is appointed military governor. The quiet life of the respected old soldier rejuvenates him, and he spends a lengthy retirement in the company of his family, survives until 1800, until age eighty-four.
BANASTRE TARLETON
After Yorktown, he returns to England, immediately begins work on his memoirs. Published in 1787, they are a one-sided assault on anyone who ever disagreed with him, most notably Charles Cornwallis. He dismisses his former commander as an utter incompetent, though his analysis is rife with errors of fact, and thus, his work is rarely taken seriously. Tarleton tries his hand at politics, and after several attempts, he gains a seat in Parliament