Senator Lieberman, You’re No Benedict Arnold.

by poputonian

In making fun of Joe Lieberman, Steve Gilliard and Christy Hardin Smith have each taken recent swipes at Benedict Arnold. The only problem is, Lieberman was never a hero, Benedict Arnold was. Plus, Arnold was a victim of Congressional mismanagement; Lieberman is Congressional mismanagement.

To understand the historical root of what alienated Benedict Arnold from America, there are a couple of key points to make. First, remember how the Founders insisted that an army always be placed under civilian control? Well, they were serious about that, and as a result, George Washington was not permitted to promote his own officers; only Congress could do so. Otherwise, Washington might promote people loyal to him and thus build up hierarchical control over the army. The Founders, literally, were afraid of a military coup.

The second point to make is, if high ranking military promotions were only made by Congress, and not by the Commander in Chief, how on earth would they know who should be promoted? They wouldn’t, which is where the problem comes in. Congress had to rely on irrelevant criteria, such as patronage and cronyism as a means of determining promotions, and, as you would expect, they fucked it up … bad. In other words, the higher ranking officer positions, which were the status positions of the day, were just as likely to go to someone with political connections as someone who exhibited battlefield merit. That’s problematic when you’re trying to stand ground against the most powerful military force on the planet.

Here is a fascinating dialog that begins with a letter Washington wrote to Benedict Arnold in March of 1777:

We have lately had several promotions to the rank of Major General, and I am at a loss whether you have had a preceding appointment, as the newspapers announce, or whether you have been omitted through some mistake. Should the latter be the case, I beg you will not take any hasty steps in consequence of it, but allow proper time for recollection, which, I flatter myself, will remedy any error that may have been made. My endeavors to that end shall not be wanting.

Washington then writes to Richard Henry Lee in Congress:

I am anxious to know whether General Arnold’s non-promotion was owing to accident or design, and the cause of it. Surely a more active, a more spirited, and sensible officer fills no department in your army. Not seeing him then in the list of Major Generals, and no mention made of him, has given me uneasiness, as it is not to be presumed that he will continue in service under such a slight. I imagine you will lose two or three other very good officers by promoting younger ones over them. My anxiety to be informed of the reason of Arnold’s non-promotion gives you the trouble of this letter.

Arnold replies to Washington:

I am greatly obliged to Your Excellency for interesting yourself so much in my behalf in respect to my appointment, which I have had no advice of, and know not by what means it was announced in the papers. I believe none but the printer has a mistake to rectify. Congress has doubtless a right of promoting those who from their ability they esteem most deserving. Their promoting junior officers to the rank of Major General, I view as a very simple way of requesting my resignation as unqualified for the office I hold … My commission was conferred unsolicited, received with pleasure only as a means of serving my country … When I entered the service … my character was unimpeached. I have sacrificed my interest, ease, and happiness in her cause …

Arnold goes on to more or less resign from the Army, but at the same time requests a public inquiry to clear his name. He also tells Washington he will postpone his departure until no risk to the public would result from his leaving. Washington responds:

It is needless for me to say much upon a subject, which must undoubtedly give you a good deal of uneasiness. I confess I was surprised when I did not see your name in the list of Major Generals, and was so fully of opinion that there were some mistake in the matter, that I (as you may recollect) desired you not to take any hasty step before the intention of Congress was fully known. The point does not now admit of the doubt and is of so delicate a nature that I will not even undertake to advise; your own feelings must be your guide.

As no particular charge is alleged against you, I do not see upon what ground you can demand a court of inquiry. Besides, public bodies are not amenable for their actions. They place and displace at pleasure, and all the satisfaction that an individual can obtain when he is overlooked is, if innocent, a consciousness that he has not deserved such treatment for his honest exertions.

Your determination not to quit your present command while any danger to the public might ensue from your leaving it, deserves my thanks and justly entitles you to the thanks of your country.

General Green who has lately been at Philadelphia took occasion to inquire upon what principal the Congress proceeded in their late promotion of General officers. He was informed that the members from each state seemed to insist upon having a proportion of General officers adequate to the number of men which they furnish, and that as Connecticut had already two Majors General, it was their full share.

I confess this is a strange mode of reasoning, but it may serve to show you that the promotion which was due to you was not overlooked for want of merit in you.

By the time Arnold and Washington are exchanging these letters, Arnold’s heroics were unprecedented. He took Ft. Ticonderoga back from the British; he led 1,000 men across the Maine wilderness to storm the walls of Quebec, where he was shot; the British Federal Register, written at the time of the Revolution, called the Maine march the most remarkable feat of its kind; unprecedented in history; Arnold built a fleet of ships (ok boats) to take on the British fleet at Valcour Island, which forestalled the British incursion into upstate New York and probably avoided certain defeat for America.

To get a better sense of Arnold’s heroics, I recommend viewing this brief trailer of an upcoming documentary that will begin to redeem the man Washington called his Fighting General. The trailer says Benedict Arnold was, at the time, Liberty’s greatest champion.

Happy Independence Day.
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