Benedict Arnold
The Boy

     Benedict Arnold was born on January 14, 1741, in a place called Norwich, Connecticut. He had a little sister named Hannah. He had four other brothers and sisters, but they all died of Yellow Fever. Benedict Arnold lived in a four- room house with his mother, father, and sister Hannah. While he was away at a private school in Canterbury, Connecticut, his mother would often send him chocolates and letters in hopes that Benedict would behave himself, since he was known as a troublemaker. After a while he had to be taken out of school because his family did not have a lot of money. His father’s business went bankrupt, so Mr. Arnold lost a lot of money. After he lost his business Mr. Arnold began to drink heavily, and he soon became an alcoholic. This caused him to become depressed, or very unhappy. At the same time, Benedict was both ashamed of and embarrassed for his father.

     Benedict was always full of energy, which often got him into trouble. He was a very lively child, and had a bad temper and a loud voice. He wanted to be the best but was known as a coward. The other boys his age all made fun of him because he was short, because of his father’s problems, and because he was a coward. Benedict put up with this for a while, but he soon became tired of being the target of everyone’s jokes. He started fighting with boys who were bigger than him, and he began winning. This caused him to become more confident, or sure of himself. As his own confidence increased, the other boys began to like him more as well. He liked to go ice skating and sledding with his friends in the winter and fishing in the summer. He also loved to pretend to be in the army with his father.

     In 1756, when Benedict was only 15 years old, he ran away from home and joined the army during the French and Indian War. In that time he made his way from Albany and Lake George to stop the French from taking over the land in New York. However, Benedict was released by his Commander, without having much of a chance for fighting in the war. This left him hungry for more war action. However, he would have to wait.

     As a teenager, when he was just about 15 or 16 years old, he made many trading voyages to Canada and the Caribbean. He was the person in charge of buying and selling cargo, or goods. On these trips Benedict met many people from all over the world. When he came back home he worked in a drug shop in his hometown of Norwich until 1762, when he moved to New Haven, Connecticut, and went into business as a druggist and bookseller. His mother died in 1759, when Benedict was only 18 years old. His father died two years later, in 1761. In 1767, at the age of 26, Benedict married a woman name Margaret Mansfield, and they had three sons.

     All of these events influenced the type of man that Benedict Arnold became. He suffered from many problems and obstacles in his youth, many of which turned into bigger problems for him as an adult.