The name “Benedict Arnold'' hopefully rings a bell as the main man who betrayed America for years by exploiting military plan knowledge to the British. Mr. Arnold’s actions were foolishly performed, but with a great deal of wit behind them. Now, historians are beginning to believe that the so-called “wit” that powered his actions of treachery was his second wife, Margaret Shippen Arnold.
Born into the family of Edward Shippen IV and Margaret Francis in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1760, Peggy was in one of the most prominent families of Philadelphia. Her father was a merchant judge and urged the family to attempt to stay neutral when the American Revolution broke out. While Peggy strived to stay as neutral as a photon, her political views became quickly asserted after meeting John Andre, a British officer. Now at this point in the article, you’re probably like “Uhh, I thought she was Benedict’s wife?” and she totally was. Many people assumed that she had affairs with Andre, but there is little evidence, aside from a sketch that Andre made of Peggy, that exists to prove these accusations.
On April 8, 1779, Benedict Arnold and Peggy Shippen were married. At the time Peggy was a young and spry 19 years old and Arnold was a whopping 38 years old. Personally, that’s a bit odd to me, but hey, you love them then I guess you do you. Anyways, at the time Peggy thought that Benedict was the perfect match financially and socially. Soon after they wed, both became fed up with the Continental Congress and were drowning in debt so they defected to the British. Remember that John Andre guy that I told you about, well this is where he becomes important. So, obviously, they had to be super stealthy when it came to pass the information about military plans to the British, so they decided to pretend they were back in the classroom and passed notes! These notes were written in code and invisible ink, during the meetings of Peggy's women-circle she would quickly pass the notes to Major John Andre.
Once Benedict’s treason was discovered, Peggy feigned hysteria to hide her involvement with the crimes. After the surrender at Yorktown, both Benedict and Peggy moved to London, which welcomed them with open arms. In fact, Peggy was rewarded by Queen Charlotte with an annual pension of £100 to care for her children, and King George himself presented her with a gift of £350 for her services to Britain. Just to calculate for you, £100 is $136.6 now so back then around 1795 it was roughly $2,811 per year. Not to mention the £350 which is $477 today and about $9,880 in 1795.
Tragically, Peggy passed away on August 24, 1804, three years after her husband’s passing. Peggy was a proud mother of four sons and one daughter, an important figure in American and British history, a loving wife, and not to mention a gutsy woman for her time. Before passing, her children recalled her scrambling to ensure their financial stability would continue well after she died. Buried at St. Mary’s Church in Battersea, Peggy’s fight was lost to cancer.
LINK: https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/peggy-shippen