The Charge That History Cannot Forget

Benedict Arnold had no business being on the battlefield on October 7, 1777. Horatio Gates had relieved him of command after weeks of bitter argument over strategy and credit. Arnold was confined to camp, seething, while the second battle of Saratoga unfolded without him.

He could not stay. When the sound of firing intensified, Arnold mounted his horse and rode toward the guns. No one stopped him — or could have. He appeared among the American troops like a force of nature, rallying men, directing attacks, leading from the front with a recklessness that bordered on suicidal.

The critical moment came at the Breymann Redoubt, the fortified position anchoring the British right flank. Arnold led the assault personally, riding into the gap between American and German fire. His horse was shot and collapsed onto his left leg — the same leg shattered at Quebec two years earlier. Arnold went down screaming, pinned beneath the dead animal.

Soldiers rushed to free him. Someone suggested amputation. Arnold reportedly said he would rather die than lose the leg. He was carried from the field while the redoubt fell to the Americans who had followed his charge.

The Boot Monument on the Saratoga battlefield today commemorates this moment. It depicts a boot — Arnold's wounded leg — without naming him. It is a monument to heroism that cannot bring itself to honor the hero, because three years later Arnold tried to hand West Point to the British. At Saratoga, he saved the American cause. The irony is permanent.