'Benedict Arnold Examined at New Haven Museum'

"Benedict Arnold's Shop Sign,
New Haven, c. 1760.,
New Haven Museum. 
 Benedict Arnold sold a variety of goods from his shop on George Street in New Haven.
"Sibi Totique" on this original shop sign, loosely translated, means "something for everyone"

NEW HAVEN - The New Haven Museum reports that on Sept. 6, 1781, Connecticut native Benedict Arnold "and a force of 1,600 British soldiers and loyalists took Fort Griswold and burnt New London to the ground."

"The brutality of the invasion galvanized the new nation," the release said.

 Now, at 6 p.m., Feb. 19,  author Eric D. Lehman will shed light on events leading up to the attack, the release said, "and highlight Arnold’s transformation—the point where he went from betraying his comrades to massacring his neighbors."

The free lecture will be held at the New Haven Museum, and followed by a reception and signing of Lehman’s newest work: “Homegrown Terror: Benedict Arnold and the Burning of New London," the release said.'

Arnold lived in New Haven at one point in history.

The snow date is February 20.

"Lehman will examine how the New London incident forever marked Arnold as a symbol of evil, turning an antiheroic story about weakness of character and missed opportunity into one about the nature of treachery itself. Lehman draws upon a variety of perspectives, from the traitor himself to former comrades like Jonathan Trumbull and Silas Deane, to the murdered Colonel Ledyard. Rethinking Benedict Arnold through the lens of this terrible episode, Lehman sheds light on the ethics of the dawning nation, and the way colonial America responded to betrayal and terror," the release said.

 

Also in the release: "Lehman is a professor of creative writing at the University of Bridgeport. His fiction, travel stories, essays, and nonfiction have appeared in dozens of online and print journals and magazines. He is the author of several books, including 'The Insider’s Guide to Connecticut” and “Becoming Tom Thumb: Charles Stratton, P.T. Barnum, and the Dawn of American Celebrity.'"

 

About the New Haven Museum

The New Haven Museum, founded in 1862 as the New Haven Colony Historical Society, is located in downtown New Haven at 114 Whitney Avenue. The Museum is currently celebrating 150 years of collecting, preserving and interpreting the history and heritage of Greater New Haven. Through its collections, exhibitions, programs and outreach, the Museum brings 375 years of New Haven history to life. For more information visit or facebook.com/NewHavenMuseum.