Tater Hales' Dispatch from the American Revolution Benedict Arnold A Hero Story?, July 1777

I'm sure much will be written about this man once our little tussle with the mother country is over (no matter how it turns out), but no one can tell a story like ole Tater, so I want to get my two pence worth in about Col. Benedict Arnold.
The man is in the middle of a torrid love affair with himself, just about anyone in his command or out of it will tell you. He can hardly walk by a piece of glass without gazing longingly at his reflection. He also frets endlessly about his superiors appreciating all he's done for our cause.
Arnold also talks loud and has a quick temper.
But he also gets the job done and has helped save our cause more than once. As we were making our strategic retreat from Fort Ticonderoga this week, I couldn't help remembering the role Arnold played in how we took the fort just a little more than two months ago.
The French built this fort that overlooks the Hudson River Valley from the Canadian border in 1775 to protect their fur-trading routes. The British took the fort in 1759 and Gen. Jeffrey Amhurst renamed it Fort Ticonderoga after a nearby town. In Iroquois, the name means "the place between two waters."
When Col. Samuel Parson left Cambridge, Mass., on April 19, 1775 he realized the Continental Army didn't have enough cannons or artillery. But Arnold told him there were plenty of cannons at Ticonderoga, and he went to Cambridge and pleaded with the Committee of Safety to allow him to seize the fort. They gave him the go-ahead, but said he could only take 400 Massachusetts men.
Parson then joined with John Brown and Col. James Easton, and they met Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, who were already marching toward the fort. Allen joined forces with Arnold at Castleton, and early May 10, they walked through the fort's open gate and easily captured it from the sleeping British.
We also captured Fort Crown Point, which is on the southern tip of Lake Champlain, so we had both forts under our control. Arnold really wanted to be placed in command of the two forts, but Connecticut chose Allen instead. Talk about a man stewing! I checked in on him the next night, and he was still cursing Allen's name.
In a way, I don't blame him. He's helped save our young country more than once. In September 1775, Arnold led about 1,150 riflemen against Quebec up the Kennebec and Dead Rivers through leaky birchwood canoes, spoiled food and starvation until he attacked with only about 650 men remaining. He even took a ball in the leg while trying to bypass a barricade.
Arnold led the retreat and then suddenly turned back on the British at Lake Champlain, and we stomped them at the Battle of Valcour Island.
Some New England officers wanted to have Arnold relieved of his command for the attack, but Congress made him a brigadier general instead and gave him a new horse for the one that was shot out under him.
He also commanded the construction of the gunboats on Lake Champlain and the fleet that helped slow the British as they tried to move on the colonies in October 1776. I've heard some folks say we would have already lost the war if it hadn't been for Arnold's brilliance in the Champlain Valley.
He's also been a little fed up with the suffering of the troops because of the lack of sufficient food, clothing and supplies. I know Arnold has written the Continental Congress countless times for help, and I can't help but wonder if he's not getting a little fed up with it all. I fear there may be a point when his ego will no longer allow him to accept being overlooked and his successes downplayed. I hope I'm just being a little tater-head about this because some big battles almost certainly are ahead of us. I know one way or the other General Arnold will have a say in how they turn out.