Event
A Tale of Two Generals: John Watts de Peyster and the Arnold Monument at Saratoga
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Description
Journey back to the 1880s, a time of healing and rapprochement in America, both for the American Civil War and the American Revolution. Relations with Great Britain were on the rise following the centennial of the latter conflict, ushering in an era of good feelings across the English-speaking Atlantic. Many monuments were erected during this era of high flying patriotism, celebrating the heroic acts of Americans present and past. There was even room to remember, albeit it obliquely, the greatest villain of the Revolution, a man whose name is still well-remembered today as a synonym for treachery: Benedict Arnold. But what sort of person would choose to immortalize Arnold with the now-famous boot monument?
The personality behind the Arnold monument was a man almost as complicated as the disgraced one-time Patriot general: General John Watts de Peyster of Red Hook in Dutchess County, New York. In de Peyster’s life we see echoes of themes that have long been held to explain Arnold’s treachery: a larger-than-life ego, lack of adequate recognition in his life, family problems, and a historically-bad case of timing. Join Dutchess County Historian William P. Tatum III for a journey through the colorful life of General de Peyster to learn why this personality of the 19th century found a kindred spirit in an infamous persona of the 18th century.