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Benedict Arnold: The man, the myth... the traitor.

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For someone's name to be synonymous with betrayal...

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...Benedict Arnold must have done something pretty bad.

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Chances are, he didn't just blab to everyone about Washington's secret Maxim subscription.

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So who was this infamous traitor, and how did he get a reputation for such treachery?

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For a while, Arnold was your typical, fed-up American colonist.

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He was a tradesman and member of the Sons of Liberty...

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...who defied the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act by continuing to trade without

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paying taxes to the monarchy.

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He was lucky the IRS hadn't been established yet.

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They probably would have paid him a friendly little "visit."

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Arnold had made it clear he was pretty "anti-monarchy" in the past.

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He had retaliated along with others in response to the Boston Massacre...

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...and had fought as a General in Washington's Continental Army.

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He sounds like the last guy in the world who would turn snitch...

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...but guess it goes to show you can never really know a person.

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Arnold felt passed over for a number of military campaigns and promotions.

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Um... bitter much?

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While he was a decorated officer...

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...he still felt he wasn't getting the respect he deserved.

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This guy was super-sensitive. He would have been a rich man if he had a nickel for every

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time that someone "hurt his feelings."

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Anyway, Arnold took his first steps toward the Dark Side...

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... when he married Peggy Shippen...

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...who was the daughter of a well-known loyalist.

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The loyalists were totally pro-England.

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We're talking about some real crumpet-lovers here.

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With the business in the toilet...

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...and his problems with Washington and the administration...

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Arnold decided he didn't have anything to lose and became an informer!

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And now he had a wife who could...

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...hook him up with the right people.

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Specifically, a British officer who would take Arnold's information and relay it to

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the muckety-mucks in the British army. However, since Arnold was the kind of guy

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who felt the whole world owed him something...

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...it may not surprise you to learn that he had his problems with the British as well.

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He felt they weren't paying him enough for the information...

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...and he made persistent threats to start zipping his lip.

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But the British needed him. So they caved to his demands.

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Arnold was appointed at West Point,

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and he told the British that he would surrender to them without a fight.

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Well, at least no one would get any blood on their clean, white shirts.

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He also continued to feed the British more information about Washington's movements...

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...and took steps to move his personal assets to a London account,

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as well as to sell his house.

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However, before Arnold's scheme could be carried out...

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Andre, a fellow British spy, was captured.

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Suddenly, all the documents that detailed

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Arnold's involvement fell into American hands.

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Once Washington caught wind of the situation...

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...Arnold was in deep, deep doo-doo. Arnold had found out that Andre had been arrested.

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And since the jig was up, he made a run for it.

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Unable to rejoin his fellow countrymen, Arnold took up a position in the British Army.

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He got paid peanuts compared to what he was making as an informant...

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...and didn't make a ton of friends on the British side either.

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He was basically an outcast for the rest of his days.

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Arnold died with a boatload of debt...

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...and his funeral would be conducted without military honors.

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The moral of the story?

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Don't be a rat.

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Because when the cheese runs out...

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You're going to find yourself trapped.

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We think we'll call him "Arnold"...

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