Benedict Arnold’s West Point Treason Plot

In 1780, Major General Benedict Arnold negotiated with British officers to surrender West Point, the fortress complex controlling the Hudson River. His wife Peggy Shippen helped maintain contact with British intelligence, and Major John André acted as a principal intermediary.

The conspiracy collapsed when André was captured carrying papers connected to the defences. Arnold escaped to British-held New York, while André was tried and executed as a spy. The betrayal shocked the Continental Army and became one of the Revolution’s defining political crises.

The plot brings together espionage, coded correspondence, wounded pride, financial pressure and contested loyalty. Nathaniel Philbrick’s Valiant Ambition interprets it as the tragic end of Arnold’s long deterioration from celebrated general to traitor.