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Summary
Summary
Histories of the Revolutionary War honor several heroines. There's Betsy Ross, Abigail Adams, and Molly Pitcher. But there is no popular biography --yet--that focuses on one of the most remarkable women of the war, a beautiful society girl named Peggy Shippen, who befriended a handsome British spy and then married a crippled American revolutionary general twice her age. At a crucial juncture in the Revolutionary War, Peggy brought the two enemy warriors together in a treasonous plot that came perilously close to turning George Washington into a prisoner of war and possibly changing the outcome of the conflict. Peggy Shippen was Mrs. Benedict Arnold.
Peggy was to the American Revolution what the fictional Scarlett O'Hara was to the Civil War: a woman whose survival skills trumped all other values. Had she been a man, she might have been arrested, tried, and executed. And she might have become famous. But because of eighteenth-century views of women and her own guileful deflection of blame, Peggy's role was minimized and she was allowed to recede into the background -- with a generous British pension in hand. It took a century and a half for historians to begin to appreciate her true treacherous role during our nation's birth.Author Notes
Stephen H. Case is managing director and general counsel of Emerald Development Managers LP. He also is chairman of the board of Motors Liquidation Company, the non-government-owned remnant of General Motors Corporation. Case has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. To satisfy his personal curiosity, Case has made himself an expert in the Peggy Shippen story, reading all available histories that examine her story and tracking down Peggy's letters at various historical societies. He is a member of the board of the American Revolution Center. Mark Jacob, deputy metro editor at the Chicago Tribune, was part of the team that won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism. He is author of the newspaper's "10 Things You Might Not Know" history feature. He is co-author of What the Great Ate.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In British-occupied Philadelphia during the winter of 1777-1778, privileged society girl Peggy Shippen (1760-1804) became friends with the charming, cultured British officer John Andre, an artist, poet, thespian, and spy. Andre was also the impresario of an extravagant costume party, "the most shameful carousing amid catastrophe since Nero fiddled while Rome burned," write the authors. The following year, Peggy married Gen. Benedict Arnold, who was twice her age. Forming a secret partnership with Andre, this trio of conspirators enlisted the help of British loyalists and other confederates, and in May 1779 "they set about to deal a death blow to the American Revolution" with Arnold supplying information to the British. After Andre's arrest, the plot unraveled. Andre was hanged, and Peggy, declared "an enemy of the people," was banished from Philadelphia. Chicago Tribune deputy metro editor Jacob and Case, an American Revolution Center board member, detail Peggy's role as go-between and document her later life in London. They succeed in capturing the period atmosphere as they adroitly interweave military maneuvers with the shadowy machinations. The book also benefits from rarely studied correspondence by Peggy to her son Edward provided by her descendant Hugh Arnold. Maps. Agent: Gary Heidt. Signature Literary Agency. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
This book attempts to correct what Jacob (metro editor, Chicago Tribune) and Case (general counsel, Emerald Development Managers) contend is the underappreciated role of Peggy Shippen Arnold in the most infamous case of treason in American history. Her husband, Revolutionary army general Benedict Arnold, plotted to turn West Point over to the British in 1780. An ambitious socialite, Shippen was the daughter of an influential Philadelphia public official faced with delicately balancing loyalist sympathies with the city's rapidly shifting political and military realities. She actively mingled with British officers, including Arnold's coconspirator Major John Andre, and eventually with the dashing Arnold himself, who aggressively courted and then married her. The argument made by Jacob and Case, that Peggy Shippen played a key role in executing the plot, is not a new one, having been advanced through the years, most notably in James Thomas Flexner's The Traitor and the Spy. The real accomplishment of this book is in fleshing out the family and personal tensions that dominated the world of those who attempted to maintain their positions as the Revolutionary War challenged the established social order. VERDICT While scholars will be disappointed, history enthusiasts will be intrigued by this story involving love and revolutionary-era loyalties.-Charles K. Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Preface | p. vii |
| Chapter 1 Princess of Philadelphia | p. 1 |
| Chapter 2 No Safe Haven | p. 14 |
| Chapter 3 Enter André | p. 25 |
| Chapter 4 The Meschianza | p. 40 |
| Chapter 5 Arnold Arrives | p. 54 |
| Chapter 6 Love and Money | p. 71 |
| Chapter 7 The General's Wife | p. 82 |
| Chapter 8 Spymaster | p. 92 |
| Chapter 9 The Dance of Deceit | p. 101 |
| Chapter 10 The Way to West Point | p. 113 |
| Chapter 11 "The Greatest Treasure You Have" | p. 129 |
| Chapter 12 Meeting after Midnight | p. 142 |
| Chapter 13 A Capture and an Escape | p. 149 |
| Chapter 14 The Mad Scene | p. 158 |
| Chapter 15 Pariah of Philadelphia | p. 167 |
| Chapter 16 The Three Fates | p. 176 |
| Chapter 17 "The Handsomest Woman in England" | p. 188 |
| Chapter 18 Strangers in America | p. 201 |
| Chapter 19 Unmanned | p. 210 |
| Chapter 20 The Keepsake | p. 221 |
| Epilogue | p. 229 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 232 |
| Chapter Notes | p. 236 |
| Bibliography | p. 260 |
| Index | p. 271 |
| About the Authors | p. 280 |
