<P> Benedict Arnold ( January 14 , 1741 ( O.S. January 3 , 1740 ) -- June 14 , 1801 ) was a general during the American Revolutionary War , who fought for the American Continental Army , and later famously defected to the British Army . While a general on the American side , he obtained command of the fortifications at West Point , New York ( which after 1802 would become the site of the U.S. Military Academy ) , overlooking the cliffs at the Hudson River ( upriver from British - occupied New York City ) , and planned to surrender them to British forces . This plan was exposed in September 1780 . He was commissioned into the British Army as a brigadier general . </P>
<P> Benedict Arnold ( January 14 , 1741 ( O.S. January 3 , 1740 ) -- June 14 , 1801 ) was a general during the American Revolutionary War , who fought for the American Continental Army , and later famously defected to the British Army . While a general on the American side , he obtained command of the fortifications at West Point , New York ( which after 1802 would become the site of the U.S. Military Academy ) , overlooking the cliffs at the Hudson River ( upriver from British - occupied New York City ) , and planned to surrender them to British forces . This plan was exposed in September 1780 . He was commissioned into the British Army as a brigadier general . </P>
who was a traitor in the revolutionary war
who was a traitor in the revolutionary war
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold