Pennsylvania charges Arnold with profiteering; court-martial opens in Philadelphia
By the spring of 1779, Benedict Arnold had been military commander of Philadelphia for nearly a year — and his enemies in the city had spent most of that time building a case against him. On June 1, 1779, a court-martial convened to try the major general on charges of profiteering, brought by Pennsylvania civil authorities who accused him of using his military authority to enrich himself. The proceedings were almost immediately delayed when Clinton's capture of Stony Point threw the army into crisis, and the panel didn't deliver its verdict until January 26, 1780 — clearing Arnold of all but two minor charges. Washington's formal public rebuke followed anyway, and Arnold had already opened secret negotiations with the British before the first gavel fell.
Arnold's court-martial sits at the origin of his treason: he had opened secret negotiations with British Major John André before the proceedings even began, yet spent the months of the trial working to publicize his acquittal. The case exposed an unresolved tension in the early American military — where the line between wartime profit and corruption ran, and whether a general's battlefield valor could insulate him from civilian accountability. Washington's rebuke after the verdict, mild as it was, became the direct trigger for Arnold's final decision to surrender West Point.
QWhy did the court-martial panel take more than seven months to deliver a verdict on charges Arnold himself had demanded?
The proceedings opened on June 1, 1779, but adjourned almost at once when Henry Clinton's forces captured Stony Point, New York, throwing the Continental Army into urgent reactive planning. The delay stretched across the summer and fall. When the panel finally sat again and rendered its verdict on January 26, 1780, Arnold had been waiting nearly eight months — time he spent, as later evidence confirmed, actively corresponding with British spy chief John André. The court-martial he demanded to restore his reputation was running simultaneously with his treason.
QWhat did Washington publish just one week after congratulating Arnold on the birth of his son?
On March 19, 1780, Washington congratulated Arnold on the birth of Edward Shippen Arnold. One week later, in early April, he published the formal public reprimand required by the court-martial verdict — declaring that Arnold's conduct in the two convicted charges was 'imprudent and improper.' Washington said he would have been 'much happier' to bestow commendations on an officer who had rendered such distinguished service. The timing — congratulation and rebuke within days of each other — captures the peculiar bind Washington was in with Arnold throughout this period.
QWhat did a congressional inquiry find about Arnold's finances just weeks after the court-martial acquitted him?
Shortly after the January 1780 verdict largely cleared Arnold, a separate congressional inquiry concluded he had failed to fully account for expenditures incurred during the 1775 Quebec invasion — and that he owed Congress roughly £1,000. Arnold's defense was that many of the supporting documents had been lost during the chaotic retreat from Quebec in 1776. The finding infuriated him. He resigned his military command of Philadelphia in late April 1780 — and within weeks had reopened his secret channel to the British, informing them that his appointment to West Point was now within reach.
