Feb 10 2016

Thanks to those who braved the weather and came out to hear Bob Powers talk on "The First Civil War" what most of us refer to as the Revolution.

Basically there were the rebels, those colonists who wanted to break away from the British and the Loyalists who were happy to maintain life as it was. It must have been a trying time to live, your neighbor could have been a rebel while you were a loyalists...imagine there were many  interesting moments in the life of the colonists. Perhaps one of the more colorful stories is that of Benedict Arnold and his wife Peggy Shippen. He was a rebel and one of the more successful under Washington's command. Peggy Shippen and her family were loyalists. However, Benedict had dinner at the Shippen's and over time took a liking to Peggy and asked for her hand in marriage. They married and Peggy and a former suitor John Andre convince Benedict to go over to the British side and keep them informed of the rebels plans..he did just that and became a traitor! Through an elaborate system of note passing, he sent info to the British through John Andre. He did eventually assume command of West Point and continued to correspond with André . The plan being to take over West Point by the British.  To prepare for the surrender of West Point, Arnold scattered his troops  to weaken West Point's defenses.  On September 19, The British readied their men and ships to capture West Point as soon as André had finished the final negotiations with Arnold.  But on September 23, 1780, the Americans captured André while he was carrying papers relating to West Point's garrisons and defenses and a pass from Arnold.  Thus, the plan failed and Arnold's treachery was revealed. There certainly is more to the story.................Thanks Bob for the interesting presentation!