Community Corner
New London Indicts Benedict Arnold
Traitorous general sentenced to be burned in effigy at Connecticut Schooner Festival; leg will be spared
It might seem a little late to indict Benedict Arnold some 232 years after the deed that made him notorious in New London, but a local theater group did so on Tuesday as a prelude to burning the traitor in effigy.
Dressed in Revolutionary War period clothes, members of Flock Theatre read the indictment on the steps of the New London County Historical Society. Derron Wood, director of Flock, played the part of the town crier reading the charges.
Arnold, a Norwich native, led British troops in a Sept. 6, 1781 raid on New London. The raid put New London to the torch and led to the Battle of Groton Heights across the Thames River, where dozens of members of an outnumbered militia force at Fort Griswold were killed.
“As a penalty for this heinous act, Benedict Arnold is sentenced to be burned in effigy on Saturday the 14th of September in the year 2013, said burning to occur at New London’s Waterfront Park,” Wood proclaimed.
The "burning-like effect" will be done on a nine-foot tall puppet of Arnold, which will include "two faces to show its duplicitous nature." The ceremony will occur during the Connecticut Schooner Festival, which visits Mystic and New London between Sept. 11 and 15.
Wood said the effigy burning is modeled on similar events that took place in New London during the 1800s. Re-enactors, the New London High School Marching Band, and "moustache fusiliers" - or brigades of people in colorful outfits with eccentric mustaches - will also be a part of the event.
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In keeping with traditions, the effigy burning will spare Arnold's leg. While an officer with American revolutionaries, Arnold seriously wounded his leg during the Battle of Freeman's Farm. A monument to the leg is part of the Saratoga National Historic Park.
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