Indeed. Had it not been for Arnold's actions at Valcour Island and Bemis Heights, the Patriot cause likely would have failed. However, I can't think of anything positive Biden has done for this country since he came on the scene four decades ago.
“...Had it not been for Arnold’s actions at Valcour Island and Bemis Heights, the Patriot cause likely would have failed...” [Fiji Hill, post 10]
True as this sentence is, it understates the case.
Benedict Arnold had been a merchant-vessel master before the war, but his talent for soldiering soon became evident.
With help from Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, he took Fort Ticonderoga on 10 May 1775 without a shot.
In September 1775, Arnold led an expedition into the Maine wilderness to capture Quebec. Afflicted with bad maps and a hurricane, they got there through great privation and suffering; on 31 December 1775 American forces came within inches of taking the city. Richard Montgomery, the other American commander, was killed and Arnold wounded.
American forces began a slow retreat from Canada. Recovering, Arnold organized, armed and trained the fleet of small vessels that was built at Whitehall, at Lake Champlain’s southern tip. They clashed (as noted) with the British fleet near Valcour Island; much of the American force was destroyed, but Arnold & men fought a delaying action that ultimately halted British advance until the following year.
Arnold held no official command position at Bemis Heights in October 1777, but the troops followed him regardless. He was wounded again; Horatio Gates got the credit, an affront to the vain, impetuous Arnold.
George Washington assigned Benedict Arnold as military commander at Philadelphia. It may have been Washington’s biggest blunder: Arnold was a bold and imaginative field commander. Unused to garrison life, he dealt poorly with the intrigues, petty politics, and minutiae of civilian affairs. He also fell for the vivacious Margaret Shippen, 18-yeard-old daughter of a prominent British Loyalist. He was soon mired in controversy over administration and accused of corrupt dealings; his riches, garnered during his prewar business activities, were squandered and he was soon in debt.
What-ifs are always chancy, but if Arnold had been killed in action at Quebec or Saratoga, he’d bask deservedly in the front rank of early US military heroes. And if George Washington had been less kind, Arnold may have worked himself into an early grave, but avoided scandal and treason.
As military amateurs, with no heritage of orthodoxy, Americans of the 1770s had little precedent to guide them, but also no burden of long history to hamper them. Not realizing some deeds are “impossible,” they took big risks and came up with notable innovations, especially in combined land/sea operations. Several books by James L Nelson recount exciting true tales about AWI: _George Washington’s Secret Navy_, _Benedict Arnold’s Navy_, and _George Washington’s Greatest Gamble_.