Contemporary Copy Of An Important Benedict Arnold Letter About The Siege Of Fort Ticonderoga

BENEDICT ARNOLD (1741-1801). Arnold was the traitorous general who turned on Continental forces during the American Revolution. Contemporary copy. 1pg. May 17, 1775. Ticonderoga, New York. A contemporary copy of an important Revolution-era letter by Benedict Arnold. A week after Arnold and Ethan Allen had captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British, Arnold wrote to Jonathan Brown to appoint him a major in a newly-formed regiment: Sir, Being appointed by the Committee of Safety at Cambridge, to raise a Regiment of Men, and appoint officers for the same, for the purpose of reducing the Fort at Ticonderoga ect. Confiding in your valour, Judgment & Fidelity, I do by the presents, constitute & appoint you major, of the said Regiment, for which purpose this shall be your sufficient Warrant Benedict Arnold Colo. The capture of Fort Ticonderoga occurred early in the American Revolution, before the United States had officially declared independence from Great Britain. The Jonathan Brown in question may have been the same John Brown who officially accused Arnold of treason several years before his duplicity was actually revealed. The paper has evenly toned and the writing is dark.