Peggy Shippen

Peggy Shippen Arnold and child, by Sir Thomas Lawrence

Peggy Shippen, or Margaret Shippen (also Peggy Shippen Arnold or just Peggy Arnold, 11 June 1760 – 24 August 1804), was the second wife of General Benedict Arnold. Born into a prominent Philadelphia family with Loyalist tendencies, she met Arnold during his tenure as military commander of the city following the British withdrawal in 1778, and they were married in April 1779. Not long after, Arnold began conspiring with the British to change sides. She played a role in the conspiracy, which was exposed after British Major John André was arrested in September 1780 carrying documents concerning the planned surrender of the critical Continental Army base at West Point.

Following Arnold's flight to New York City, Peggy Shippen Arnold followed. They traveled together to London at the end of 1781, where she set up a home while Arnold rebuilt a trading business. In 1787 she joined Arnold in Saint John, New Brunswick, where Arnold's difficulties with local businessmen eventually prompted their return to London in 1792. Arnold died in 1801, after which she had to unwind his business affairs and pay off his debts. Peggy Shippen Arnold died in 1804, having borne him five children that survived infancy.

Childhood

Margaret, nicknamed "Peggy", was the fifth child, and fourth and youngest daughter, of Edward Shippen, IV and Margaret Francis the daughter of Tench Francis, Sr., and born into a prominent Philadelphia family which included two Philadelphia mayors and the founder of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Edward Shippen was a judge and member of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania; the family were considered "Loyalists," with allegiance to the British crown. Peggy was the youngest child of the family, though there were two other boys born later who died in infancy. She grew up as the baby of the family, but soon became the favorite of her father.

Sources related that Peggy enjoyed music, doing needlework and drawing and participated in the study of politics. She looked up to her father and, under his tutelage, learned about politics and the forces which led to the American Revolution.

Courtship and marriage to Benedict Arnold

In 1777, the British captured Philadelphia. The Shippen family, in keeping with their political interests and stations, held social gatherings at their home. A frequent guest was John André, an officer in General William Howe's command. André paid particular attention to Peggy.^[1] In June 1778, following France's entry into the war, the British withdrew from the city. André left Philadelphia with his fellow troops, but the two of them remained in contact.

When Philadelphia was occupied by the Continental Army under Benedict Arnold, the Shippen family evacuated to a farmhouse in New Jersey. They later returned to Philadelphia after passage of a New Jersey law under which anyone who refused to pledge support for the revolution could be arrested; Judge Shippen thought they would be safer in their city home, since the countryside was dangerous and had been the scene of numerous battles and skirmishes.

Peggy then met Arnold, the Continental military commander and military governor of Philadelphia. In spite of the differences in their political alliances, the two began a courtship. Shortly after Elizabeth Shippen, oldest sister of Peggy, became engaged to her first cousin Edward Burd (m. Dec 1778) Benedict Arnold sent Peggy's father a letter asking for her hand. Edward Shippen was skeptical of Arnold; in 1779, the Council of Pennsylvania had laid eight formal charges of corruption and malfeasance with the money of the federal and state governments. Arnold was subsequently convicted on two relatively minor counts. Despite this, Edward Shippen eventually granted permission for Arnold and Peggy to marry. On 8 April 1779, Benedict Arnold (age 38) and Peggy Shippen (age 18) were married.

Arnold purchased Mount Pleasant, a manor home built in 1762 for Captain John Macpherson, on 22 March 1779 for his bride, and specifically made the property over to her ownership and that of their future children.^[2] The couple occupied the property as their country estate in 1779 and 1780; Arnold's defection to the British in September 1780 ended their use of the estate.

The couple honeymooned at family homes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They returned to Philadelphia, taking up residency in the city's military headquarters. Arnold's quarters were in the occupied home of Richard Penn at Fifth and Market Streets, which had also been the military headquarters of General Howe prior to the British withdrawal.

Espionage between the Arnolds and Major John André

Although Peggy was newly wed, she still kept in contact with her "dear friend," Major André, who had been made General Clinton's spy chief; in addition, the couple had many close friends that were either actively Loyalist or sympathetic to that cause. Peggy Shippen may have instigated the correspondence between Arnold and André; she may also have been sending military secrets to the British before she married Arnold. Other suspects in the espionage ring in Philadelphia, for whom there is evidence in the form of correspondence with André, are Loyalists Rev. Jonathan Odell and Joseph Stansbury.^[3]

In May 1779, not long after Peggy and Benedict married, Benedict Arnold used Joseph Stansbury to initiate communications offering his services to the British. General Clinton gave Major André orders to pursue the possibility, and secret communications began between André and Arnold. The messages they exchanged were sometimes transmitted through Peggy's actions; letters written in her hand also include coded communications written by Benedict Arnold in invisible ink.

Image of a coded letter: Peggy Shippen Arnold's handwriting is interspersed with coded writing in Benedict Arnold's hand; Arnold's writing would have been in invisible ink

Upset over his treatment in Philadelphia, General Arnold resigned his command there in June 1780. Pursuant to the secret communications with the British, he sought and obtained the command of West Point, a critical American defense post in the highlands of the Hudson River. Peggy joined him there, bringing their infant son, Edward Shippen Arnold (born 19 Mar 1780). General Arnold systematically weakened the defenses of West Point with the intent of making it easier for the British to capture.

In September 1780, General Arnold met with André and gave him documents regarding the fortifications at West Point as the British were preparing operations to capture the site. However, André was arrested on 23 September, the documents were discovered, and the plot was exposed. Arnold was alerted to André's capture, and that the documents found in his possession were on their way to General George Washington, with whom Arnold was supposed to meet that morning. Arnold immediately fled, eventually reaching the HMS Vulture on the Hudson River.

Peggy Shippen Arnold was in residence at West Point during this period. Possibly based on a brief discussion with her husband, she pretended hysteria in order to falsely convince General Washington and his staff that she had nothing to do with her husband's betrayal. The delay caused by her histrionics may have allowed Arnold time to escape, leaving Peggy with their infant son. Fearful for her safety, she went to Philadelphia to stay with her family. Authorities there had found an old letter from André to Peggy, and they were far more suspicious than Washington about Peggy's role in the plot. She was banished from Philadelphia, and her father took her to New York City to rejoin Arnold. Their second child, son James Robertson Arnold, was born in New York on 28 August 1781..^[4]

After a military trial, Major André was condemned to death as a spy and was hanged at Tappan, New York. He was later re-interred in London's Westminster Abbey.^[5]

After the Revolution

With hostilities in North America apparently winding down after Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown in October 1781, the Arnolds left for London on December 15, 1781, arriving January 22, 1782.^[6]

Peggy was initially welcomed warmly in England, as was her husband; she was presented at court to the Queen on 10 February 1782 by Lady Amherst. A girl (Margaret) and a boy (George) born in 1783 and 1784 respectively, died in infancy in 1784 while the Arnolds lived in London.

Arnold left for a business opportunity in 1784, taking his eldest surviving son Richard (by his first wife) to Saint John, New Brunswick. During Arnold's stay in New Brunswick, Shippen Arnold gave birth to their third child, Sophia Matilda Arnold, while her husband may have fathered an illegitimate child (John Sage) in New Brunswick.^[7] Shippen Arnold sailed to Saint John to join Arnold in 1787, leaving her two older sons with a private family in London; in New Brunswick, Peggy gave birth to son George in 1787; their last child, William Fitch, was born in 1794 after their return to London.

In 1789 she returned briefly to the United States, accompanied by her daughter and a maid, to visit with her parents and family; she was treated coldly by Philadelphians in spite of her father's considerable influence.^[6] She returned to New Brunswick with her daughter Sophia in the spring of 1790, and from there returned to England with Arnold, departing on 1 January 1792. Their departure was unhappy, with mobs gathering on their property to protest against them and call them "traitors."

After Arnold died in 1801, she used his estate to pay off his debts. She died in London in 1804, reportedly of cancer, and was buried with her husband at St. Mary's Church in Battersea on 25 August 1804.

Allegations of role in conspiracy

In the 19th century, after all of the principal actors involved had died, James Parton, a biographer of Aaron Burr, published an account implying that Peggy Shippen Arnold had manipulated or convinced Benedict to change sides. The basis for this claim was interviews he conducted with Theodosia Prevost, the widow of Jacques Marcus Prevost who later married Burr, and notes later made by Burr. While en route to Philadelphia from West Point in 1780, Shippen Arnold visited with Prevost at Paramus, New Jersey. According to Parton, Shippen Arnold unburdened herself to Prevost, claiming she "was heartily tired of all the theatricals she was exhibiting", referring to her histrionics at West Point.^[8] According to Burr's notes, Shippen Arnold "was disgusted with the American cause" and "that through unceasing perseverance, she had ultimately brought the general into an arrangement to surrender West Point."^[8]

When these allegations were first published, the Shippen family countered with allegations of improper behavior on Burr's part. They claimed that Burr rode with Shippen Arnold in the carriage to Philadelphia after her stay with Mrs. Prevost, and that he fabricated the allegation because she refused advances he made during the ride.^[8] Arnold biographer Willard Sterne Randall opines that Burr's version has a more authentic ring to it: first, Burr waited until all were dead before it could be published, and second, Burr was not in the carriage on the ride to Philadelphia. Randall also notes that ample further evidence has since come to light showing that Shippen Arnold played an active role in the conspiracy.^[9] British papers revealed in 1792 that Mrs. Arnold was paid £350 for handling some secret dispatches.^[10]

Family

Benedict Arnold had a total of nine children who survived to adulthood. Three were with his first wife Margaret Mansfield, and one, John Sage, was the product of an affair he had in Saint John. Peggy Shippen bore him seven children, of whom five survived to adulthood:

• Edward Shippen Arnold (19 Mar 1780 to 13 Dec 1813) Lieutenant. Died in Bengal, India; unmarried and without issue.
• James Robertson Arnold (28 Aug 1781 to 27 Dec 1854) Major-General. Died in London, England; married to Virginia Goodrich, no issue.
• Sophia Matilda Arnold (28 Jul 1785 to 10 Jun 1828) Died in London, England. Married to Pownoll Phipps (in India), two sons and three daughters.
• George Arnold (second of that name) (5 Sep 1787 to 1 Nov 1828) Lieutenant-Colonel. Died in Bengal, India; married to Ann Martin Brown, one son.
• William Fitch Arnold (25 Jun 1794 to 17 Nov 1846) Captain. Died in Buckinghamshire, England; married to Elizabeth Cecilia Ruddach, four daughters and two sons.

Notes

References

• Brandt, Clare (1994). The Man in the Mirror: A Life of Benedict Arnold. Random House. ISBN 0-679-40106-7. 
• Flexner, James Thomas (1975). The Traitor and the Spy. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-8156-0263-7. 
• Randall, Willard Sterne (1990). Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor. William Morrow and Inc. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/15571003490|15571003490]]. 
• Wilson, Barry K (2001). Benedict Arnold: A Traitor in Our Midst. McGill Queens Press. ISBN 0-7735-2150-X. 
• Van Doren, Carl (1941). Secret History of the American Revolution. Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-670-00232-0. 

Further reading

• Finishing Becca by Ann Rinaldi is a historical fiction novel based on the life of Peggy Shippen and Benedict Arnold, an army man. It gives much information of Peggy's life in Philadelphia during the American Revolution through the eyes of Peggy's fictional maid girl, 15-year-old Becca Syng.

External links

• Peggy Shippen