Peggy Shippen
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Peggy Shippen, or Margaret Shippen (July 11, 1760 - August 24, 1804) was the second wife of General Benedict Arnold (following Margaret Mansfield, who died in 1775). She was the daughter of Judge Edward Shippen of a prominent Philadelphia family.
In 1779, the 19-year-old Shippen married the 38-year-old Arnold. Due to her social position, Arnold began living beyond his means and was subsequently court-martialed for misusing government wagons and issuing a pass improperly to a ship.
It is now believed that Peggy Shippen may have instigated the correspondence between Arnold and Major John André, her friend and previous suitor, who served as aide-de-camp to General Henry Clinton. She may also have been sending information to the British before she married Arnold. Other suspects in Philadelphia, for whom there is evidence in the form of letters of correspondence with André, are loyalists Rev. Jonathan Odell and Joseph Stansbury.[1]
After Arnold fled to escape capture, Shippen remained for a short time at West Point, long enough to convince George Washington and his staff that she had nothing to do with her husband's betrayal. From West Point she returned briefly to her parents' home in Philadelphia and then joined her husband in New York City. New evidence suggests that she confided to her friend Theodora Prevost, the widow of a British officer, that she had always hated the American cause and had actively worked to promote her husband's plan to switch allegiance.
Peggy Shippen rejoined Arnold and followed him to London, New Brunswick, and back to London again. Shippen remained loyally at her husband's side in spite of financial disasters and the cool reception he received in Britain and New Brunswick. After his death, she used his estate to pay off his bad debts.
In 1784 Shippen returned to the United States for two years to care for her parents and then returned to England.
The children of Peggy Shippen and Benedict Arnold included:
- Edward Shippen Arnold (1782-1813)
- James Robertson (Lieutenant General) Arnold (1783-1852)
- George (Lieutenant Colonel) Arnold (1784-1828)
- William Fitch Arnold (1786-1828)
[edit] Notes
- Finishing Becca by Ann Rinaldi is a historical novel based on the life of Peggy Shippen and Benedict Arnold. It gives much accurate information of Peggy's life in Philadelphia during the American Revolution through the eyes of Peggy's fictional maid girl, fourteen-year-old Becca Syng.
