Americans remember Benedict Arnold as our country’s most infamous traitor. What people may not recall as readily is that he was a pharmacist and bookseller in New Haven from the early 1760s to the mid-1770s.
During Arnold’s residency in New Haven, he was the plaintiff, defendant, or subject in several lawsuits, the majority concerning debt. To date, we have discovered 70 cases involving Benedict Arnold (or close family members) in the County Court records. Given that the anniversary of Arnold’s death is June 14, we examine a selection of these cases in this month’s entry.
When quoting from documents, we will use the actual spelling, including transcriptions of individual words as necessary. (For more information about colonial spelling practices, see The Standardization of American English at teachinghistory.org.) In certain circumstances, we will add missing letters to abbreviated words or substitute modern spelling in brackets to enhance reader comprehension.
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Engraving of Benedict Arnold, courtesy of New York Public Library (NYPL), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Printmakers include Asher Brown Durand, H.B. Hall, Max Rosenthal, and John Sartain.
On January 14, 1741, Benedict Arnold was born in Norwich, Connecticut. (Sources: Biography, Benedict Arnold; Gregg Mangan, Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Famous Traitor, ConnecticutHistory.org)
In the early 1760s (possibly 1762), Arnold came to New Haven, where he established himself as a druggist and bookseller. He brought his sister Hannah Arnold to New Haven, and she helped him run his apothecary business. (Sources: Clare Brandt, The Man in the Mirror: A Life of Benedict Arnold, pp. xi, 8; Stephen Darley, Benedict Arnold House, Water Street, New Haven Timeline; Gregg Mangan, Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Famous Traitor, ConnecticutHistory.org; The Apprentice Chronicles, The Traitor’s Sister)
In 1764, Arnold formed a business partnership with another New Haven merchant named Adam Babcock. They engaged in trade with the West Indies together. (Source: Biography, Benedict Arnold)
In 1767, Arnold married Margaret Mansfield, daughter of Sheriff Samuel Mansfield. (Sources: Stephen Darley, Benedict Arnold House, Water Street, New Haven Timeline; Gregg Mangan, Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Famous Traitor, ConnecticutHistory.org)
In 1771, Arnold bought land from his father-in-law and built a house for his family. (Source: Stephen Darley, Benedict Arnold House, Water Street, New Haven Timeline)
In 1775, Arnold left New Haven to fight in the Revolutionary War on the side of the Patriots. His wife Margaret died shortly after his departure, and he never again returned to town except for visits. His sister Hannah remained in the Water Street house and took care of his three sons. (Sources: Stephen Darley, Benedict Arnold House, Water Street, New Haven Timeline; The Apprentice Chronicles, The Traitor’s Sister)
In 1779, Arnold married Margaret “Peggy” Shippen, daughter of a Loyalist sympathizer. The couple resided in Philadelphia. (Sources: Biography, Benedict Arnold; Stephen Darley, Benedict Arnold House, Water Street, New Haven Timeline; Gregg Mangan, Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Famous Traitor, ConnecticutHistory.org; Nathaniel Philbrick, Why Benedict Arnold Turned Traitor Against the American Revolution, Smithsonian Magazine)
In 1780, Arnold’s mounting dissatisfaction with the Patriots led him to turn his coat and start fighting for the British. (Sources: Gregg Mangan, Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Famous Traitor, ConnecticutHistory.org; Nathaniel Philbrick, Why Benedict Arnold Turned Traitor Against the American Revolution, Smithsonian Magazine)
In 1781, Arnold went to England after the British defeat at Yorktown, Virginia and never again returned to America. Hannah continued to care for his children in New Haven. She never married. (Sources: Stephen Darley, Benedict Arnold House, Water Street, New Haven Timeline; The Apprentice Chronicles, The Traitor’s Sister)
In 1782, the Probate Court (presumably of New Haven) appointed Pierpont Edwards administrator of Arnold’s estate in New Haven. (Source: Stephen Darley, Benedict Arnold House, Water Street, New Haven Timeline)
In 1785, Arnold moved to New Brunswick, Canada, where he reestablished his trade with the West Indies. His sister and sons from his first marriage later joined him and his second wife there. When his business dealings led a crowd to burn him in effigy, he and Peggy returned to England. (Sources: Biography, Benedict Arnold; Gregg Mangan, Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Famous Traitor, ConnecticutHistory.org; The Apprentice Chronicles, The Traitor’s Sister)
On June 14, 1801, Arnold died in London, England. He was buried at St. Mary’s Church in Battersea, London. (Sources: Biography, Benedict Arnold; Gregg Mangan, Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Famous Traitor, ConnecticutHistory.org)
As stated in the introduction, we discovered 70 cases involving Benedict Arnold or a close family member in the County Court records. Of this total, 56 cases were for debt, 3 for failure to deliver goods, 2 for account, 2 for seisin and possession, 2 for trespass, 1 for breach of orders, 1 for covenant broken, 1 for damages, 1 for failure to serve, and 1 was a petition.
Specifically, 66 cases involved Arnold and 5 cases involved his sister Hannah (in two of these cases, she sued him, which we discuss further below). We also discovered one case in 1726 involving a “Benidict Arnold,” mariner of Newport, Rhode Island, that we surmise to be his grandfather, as both Arnold’s father and grandfather were captains from Newport.
Benedict Arnold was plaintiff in 33 cases and defendant in 30 cases. In the three remaining cases, he was neither plaintiff nor defendant, but mentioned in the court papers. Hannah Arnold was plaintiff in all of her cases. The elder Benidict Arnold was defendant in his case—Isaac Jacobs accused him of “being minded to defraud and deceive” when he failed to deliver goods that Jacobs sent via the sloop Dolphin to Joseph Beague of Saybrook.
In the subsequent sections, we profile a selection of debt lawsuits—since there were so many of them!—as well as a few of the more intriguing cases concerning Benedict Arnold.
Writ, auditor summons, and verdict for Benedict Arnold vs. Enos Alling
In 1767, Benedict Arnold sued Enos Alling of New Haven for the sum of 100 pounds lawful money “Which to the Plaintiff he the Defendant justly owes by Book.” The Court appointed David Austin, Samuel Bishop Jr., and Joseph Munson as auditors for this case. Upon examination of Arnold’s and Alling’s accounts, they determined that Alling owed Arnold merely 7 pounds, 13 shillings, and 5 pence, in addition to his court costs. (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 7, 1767 to 1773, pp. 30, 53)
Perhaps due to displeasure at this reduced amount, Arnold continued to dispute with Alling, taking him to court again in 1768. This time, he demanded 60 pounds “Lawfull money Damages.” The Court once again sided with Arnold, with the jury declaring the defendant “guilty in manner and form.” While the jury recommended an award of 56 pounds, 8 shillings, and 27 pence, plus court costs, the Court “thereupon Considered” that Arnold should receive 42 pounds, 6 pence, and 17 shillings, plus court costs. As is common after such outcomes, Alling appealed, and Jared Ingersoll, Esquire of New Haven was bound on recognizance of 70 pounds “if he make not his plea good.” (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 7, 1767 to 1773, p. 63)
Note and writ for Doctor David Atwater vs. Benedict Arnold
In 1769, Doctor David Atwater of New Haven sued Benedict Arnold for 19 pounds, 17 shillings, and one penny farthing “on Demand with interest until paid.” Per the Record Book, the total debt came to 30 pounds. Interestingly, Arnold “appeared not” when summoned. As such, the Court awarded Atwater 21 pounds, plus court costs. (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 7, 1767 to 1773, p. 220)
While this particular case may be routine in subject and unremarkable in verdict, it is notable for being the very first case we discovered in the County Court records involving Benedict Arnold. Handling a piece of paper that such an infamous historic figure personally signed was tremendously exciting!
Writ for the Church of England vs. Benedict Arnold
Here is one of the most interesting court cases we have pertaining to Benedict Arnold. In 1768, Bela Hubbard, “Clerk Incumbent of the Church of England in New Haven,” and Ralph Isaacs, “one of the Brethren of s[ai]d Church,” sued him for trespass. Specifically, they claimed Arnold “with Force & Arms unlawfully entered upon a certain Piece of Land” belonging to the Church of England and “to the grievous Injury of the Pl[ain]t[iff]s” destroyed various fences, boards, and stills.
The representatives of the Church demanded 150 pounds in damages. While Arnold pleaded abatement of the charges, the Court found his plea insufficient and awarded full damages to the plaintiffs, plus court costs. Arnold appealed this verdict, and Messieurs Daniel Humphrys and Benjamin Douglas of New Haven were bound on recognizance of 160 pounds “if he make not his plea good.” (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 7, 1767 to 1773, p. 126)
Writ for Benedict Arnold vs. Captain Elijah Forbs
In December 1770, Benedict Arnold sued Captain Elijah Forbs for trespass. As discussed in a previous post, the term “trespass” was used in a broader sense than property encroachment. It could also be invoked in cases of bodily assault as well as slander and defamation.
Arnold invoked slander here, as he complained that Forbs was jealous of his “happy State and condition” of enjoying “the great blessing of uninterrupted peace and mutual Confidence of a Happy Marriage Bed free of any imputation of unchastity or Breach of conjugal faith.” He further claimed that Forbs sought to “scandalize and defame” him by stating that he “had the [French] Pox at Jamaica and kept a Girl there and I can prove it.”
This wasn’t the only grievance Arnold had against Forbs. In addition to this case, he filed two additional lawsuits. One plea demanded that Captain Forbs render his “reasonable account” for the time he was bailiff and receiver of monies for goods acquired during the sloop Charming Sally’s voyage to St. Lucia in the West Indies. The second plea alleged breach of orders, claiming that Forbs racked up “much cost and expense” to Arnold during said voyage.
In the slander and defamation case, Arnold requested 1,000 pounds in damages. However, the Court found in favor of Forbs and awarded him the recovery of his court costs. Arnold appealed and was bound on recognizance of 20 pounds “if he make not his plea Good.” (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 7, 1767 to 1773, p. 315)
Arnold didn’t fare well in his other two lawsuits against Forbs, either. In the case for breach of orders, he sought 100 pounds in damages, but the Court found the defendant not guilty and awarded Forbs the recovery of his court costs. In the case for account, not only did the Court deny Arnold’s plea for 200 pounds in damages, it awarded Forbs 44 pounds, 13 shillings, and 8 pence. (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 7, 1767 to 1773, pp. 282, 384)
Writs for Hannah Arnold vs. Benedict Arnold
History remembers Hannah Arnold as the devoted sister of Benedict Arnold. She remained unmarried, and after her brother’s treason and exile, she took care of the children he fathered with Margaret Mansfield.
However, it seems there may have been some family friction during the Revolution. In November 1780, Hannah sued her brother for 100 pounds and 50 pounds, respectively. Although Arnold is listed as being “of New Haven” in the writs for these two cases, it was no longer his primary residence. After the death of his first wife in 1775, he only selectively returned to town for visits. Hannah resided in his house on Water Street and raised his three sons while he was away at war.
Perhaps Hannah was seeking the necessary funds to provide for herself and her nephews in a way that her brother couldn’t easily ignore. By 1780, Arnold was living in Philadelphia with his second wife, Peggy Shippen. He was also in the process of selling the New Haven house, which had forced Hannah and his sons to move elsewhere (Stephen Darley, Benedict Arnold House, Water Street, New Haven Timeline). In addition, Arnold had started fighting for the British as of September 21, 1780—two months before the writs for Hannah’s lawsuits were issued, so he was probably quite distracted at this time. Indeed, the State of Connecticut sued him in January 1781 for having “gone over to and joined the Enemies of the [U]nited States of America,” whereupon the Court ruled that the estate he left behind in New Haven was to “be disposed of, according to Law, for the use of this State.” (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 8, 1774 to 1783, p. 449)
Unsurprisingly, given all of Arnold’s legal (and other) troubles, the Record Book notes that “the Def[endan]t appeared not” when Hannah’s case was heard during the November 1781 session. As such, the Court granted 186 pounds and 10 shillings of her request, as well as the recovery of her court costs. (County Court Records, New Haven County, Vol. 8, 1774 to 1783, p. 490) It is unknown if she received any of this remuneration, as her brother went to England after the British defeat at Yorktown that same year and never returned to America.
However, their relationship appears to have mended at least somewhat, as Hannah and the children joined Benedict and Peggy in Canada, where he attempted to make a living as a merchant. He also attained a Royal land grant of 1,200 acres for his sister, perhaps as a way to make amends for failing to provide adequate support during the war. Unfortunately, Arnold was not able to avoid scandal or disfavor in Canada, either, so he and his wife eventually returned to London. This time, Hannah did not follow. She spent the rest of her life in Canada with her two surviving nephews and their families, passing away in 1803—only two years after her brother’s death. (The Apprentice Chronicles, The Traitor’s Sister)
Summer, print by James Watson, courtesy of Yale Center for British Art, Creative Commons CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Poem reads: “Here ripening Summer all her Charms displays, And bids the Farmer hope successful Days, Who from his Rural Cott, each azure Morn, With pleasure views his Fields of yellow Corn.”
This blog is going on semi-hiatus for the months of July and August. We will continue to provide brief updates on our project progress during that time, before returning at full capacity in September.
In the meantime, readers can follow us on Instagram for more glimpses into the interesting, amusing, tragic, and sometimes infuriating cases that we uncover in the course of processing the New Haven County Court records.
Have a great summer!
As noted in a previous post, the records for these cases, as well as several of the cases previously profiled in this blog, are currently in the process of being digitized. They will eventually be available for public viewing at the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA).
The Connecticut State Library would like to thank the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for their generous support of this project.
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