AHC/WI Benedict Arnold doesn't betray the US?

He could be President.

Not really, others had already gotten credit for all his military victories and he was already tarred as corrupt.

The man goes into the pages of history at best as another General Charles Scott at worst as a General Lee.

In short almost no one knows he existed as others got all the fame from the battles he was in and the corruption charges at best limit him to a state office holder.
 
Not really, others had already gotten credit for all his military victories and he was already tarred as corrupt.

The man goes into the pages of history at best as another General Charles Scott at worst as a General Lee.

In short almost no one knows he existed as others got all the fame from the battles he was in and the corruption charges at best limit him to a state office holder.

And that is the reason why he change of team(wasn't as betrayal he quitted first and later joined other side, that take advantage nobody was taking care west point was other thing, ;) ) he was just there, a way bullied and marginalized, he have a ego but wasn't the attetion whore who was gates.

Some TL solved it, making it the hero never was(even if he lost an arm, leg or eye in the way) but still dunno maybe senator or something?
 
hmm that poses another question, what if Benedict Arnold takes action earlier.
instead of waiting as long as he did otl
 
Have Horatio Gates catch a tomahawk or bullet with his face at the Battle of Monongahela during the Braddock Expedition and Arnold's in overall command at Saratoga.

Arnold gets credit for the victory he won and probably doesn't suffer the leg injury he sustained there (he'd probably be elsewhere on the field when the shot was fired) and may very well end up leading the initial attack at Monmouth the following spring.

Unlike Charles Lee, Arnold would have gotten to the objective earlier in the day and launched his attack on time.

He also wouldn't have retreated at the first sight of blood...
 
And that is the reason why he change of team(wasn't as betrayal he quitted first and later joined other side, that take advantage nobody was taking care west point was other thing, ;) ) he was just there, a way bullied and marginalized, he have a ego but wasn't the attetion whore who was gates.

Some TL solved it, making it the hero never was(even if he lost an arm, leg or eye in the way) but still dunno maybe senator or something?
He was a pretty big attention whore if he went to the drastic measure of switching sides. He wasn't the only Continental officer to clash with Congress or other officers, but he was the only one petulant and unreasonable enough to work out a grand scheme of betrayal, which it was since he didn't quit the army when he was giving the British information and weakening the defenses of the fort he was in command of. And hell, he probably was guilty of corruption.

In any case, whether of not the POD is that he doesn't become disaffected or has a sudden fit of sanity and decides not to betray his comrades, as others mentioned he had a combative personality unfit for a successful political career. Not to say he wouldn't go into politics, but I can imagine him publishing rants against Washington that wouldn't make him an incredibly popular man.
 
For starters, John Andre probably survives the Revolutionary War.

And while Arnold's victories would probably be forgotten in his own day, if he never turns traitor, then American posterity will probably eventually remember him as one of the Revolution's best soldiers and he will have numerous monuments/memorials across the US - compared to OTL where his name is a byword for traitor.
 
For starters, John Andre probably survives the Revolutionary War.

And while Arnold's victories would probably be forgotten in his own day, if he never turns traitor, then American posterity will probably eventually remember him as one of the Revolution's best soldiers and he will have numerous monuments/memorials across the US - compared to OTL where his name is a byword for traitor.

If he's in overall command at Saratoga, he'll get the credit for bagging an entire British army in the field, something nobody would overlook in his own time. There were elements of Congress that wanted to replace Washington as CinC of the Continental Army with Gates after Saratoga, and Gates (who'd deluded himself into thinking he actually was responsible for the victory, not Arnold) was all for it. Mainly because he hated Washington and had an ego that made Arnold look meek by comparison.

Arnold, on the other hand, greatly respected Washington (at least, at that point) and wouldn't have presumed to replace Washington, even with such a victory to his own credit.

As such, I think, if Arnold is in overall command at Saratoga and gets his due credit for the victory, he probably heads south, to Valley Forge, and becomes Washington's right hand.

The following spring, when Washington rolls out to face Clinton at Monmouth, he sends Arnold to lead the attack and you have a much different Battle of Monmouth, as Arnold was no Charles Lee- Arnold wouldn't have dragged his feet getting to Monmouth Courthouse and would have launched his attack on time, per Washington's plan, and then...butterflies.

Biggest butterfly off of Arnold leading the attack at Monmouth, Arnold would have attacked and pressed the attack, unlike Lee who dragged his feet getting to the objective, then disengaged and retreated shortly after first contact with the opposing force.

If Washington still uses the same general plan for Monmouth as OTL (difference being Arnold leading the advance force and attack), you get a much different outcome, as Washington isn't forced to alter the battle plan upon arrival with the main body of the Continental Army, as he's arriving with his lead element engaged with the enemy under Arnold, rather than fleeing the field, as they were under Lee.

Where it goes from there is good food for thought, but if Monmouth is a clear cut Continental Army victory, rather than a morale boosting draw (which it was OTL), Arnold probably ends up being sent south to counter the British in 1779.

While Arnold isn't going to 'drive the British back into the sea', I think he could have facilitated an escape for Lincoln's forces at Charleston, then waged a more effective campaign against the British in South Carolina than Gates did...but then, all he has to do to accomplish that is not abandon his own army in the field at Camden, and that's only if Arnold also decides to give battle at Camden, as Gates did.

Who knows? If Arnold can help facilitate a successful evacuation of Lincoln (and his 4,000 CA regulars) from Charleston (or even just half of them), the CA position in the south is radically altered from OTL. Arnold might choose a better spot than Camden to engage Cornwallis, and either stalemate him or possibly defeat him.

The nature of that defeat would depend on what Arnold's plan is, but I think he adopts a strategy of forcing Cornwallis to pursue him inland and away from the coast before giving battle.

The last remaining question after that is whether Arnold goes for one decisive battle against Cornwallis immediately, or chooses a series of small battles, along a pre-planned course of retreat that wears Cornwallis and his army down slowly before going for the decisive battle at a per-determined spot at the end of that route of retreat.

Washington would still end up Father of His Country; the man had the temperament and thick skin the leaders of the Constitutional Convention were looking for (and desperately needed) for the first President, but Arnold may end up with a cabinet seat (Secretary of War, perhaps?).
 
A very realistic scenario but what exactly was Washington's plan OTL? I've been looking for it with no success.

I've been searching for it for a few years now, after I posted a thread here with the WI of Arnold leading the attack, rather than Lee.

A bunch of us searched for the original plan during that discussion, but none of us were able to find it, IIRC.

One thing we all agreed on was that it sure as hell wasn't 'Arrive with main force, stop lead element from fleeing in a rout, damn near lose my mind chewing out the coward and lackwit I mistakenly put in charge of the attack and then adjust to battlefield conditions accordingly.'.:D

It's a little slice of history that could be worth it's weight in gold to AH buffs.

EDIT:

The extent of the original plan that I was able to find is this:

Lee was to attack Clinton's rear guard with 5,000 men, delaying Clinton's departure long enough for the main body of the CA to arrive and give battle.

What the overall plan was, it went out the window when Lee's attack went FUBAR, which I suspect is the reason the original plan is either lost to the sands of time or so hard to find.

Arnold, with 5,000 regulars, making good time to the objective and attacking on time (without the utter hash Lee made of his attack by giving his subordinates conflicting orders and being so indecisive) could have done a number on Cornwallis' force, or, at the very least, achieved the objective of pinning Clinton in place for Washington (with Wayne, Greene, Lafayette and Stirling leading the remaining forces) to attack the main body of Clinton's force.
 
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American posterity will probably eventually remember him as one of the Revolution's best soldiers and he will have numerous monuments/memorials across the US - compared to OTL where his name is a byword for traitor.

This was my first thought on the matter too...basically, history would treat him better than people in his own time did...
 
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