Lot #324

[Benedict Arnold III] Grand Jury Indictment for Public Drunkenness (1760)

Description

"Benedeck Arnold of Norwich afores'd was Drunken in Norwich whearby he was Disabled in ye use of his reason and understanding"

Manuscript document, one page, 7.5 x 9, May 23, 1760. Grand jury indictment for Benedict Arnold's father, who was squandering the family's fortune and increasingly seeking consolation in taverns. In full (spelling and grammar retained): "To Isau Huntington Esq. one of his Majesties Justices of the peace for ye County of New London comes Joseph Reynolds one of his Majesties grand jurors for ye County afores'd and informs one upon oath presents that on or about ye 30th Day of April Last Benedeck Arnold of Norwich afores'd was Drunken in Norwich whearby he was Disabled in ye use of his reason and understanding which Did appear in his speach, gesture and behaver all which Doings of sd Arnold in against the peace of our Soveran Lord the King and against ye Laws of this colony ye 23 of May 1760." Docketed on the reverse to record Arnold's guilty plea on June 11, 1760. In fine condition, with paper loss affecting none of the text.

This document is referenced in The Man in the Mirror: A Life of Benedict Arnold by Clare Brandt (p. 6–7): 'Mr. Arnold's affliction did not kill outright. Alcoholism, unlike yellow fever, is a leisurely scourge. In the course of his inexorable decline Benedict's father lost control of his business affairs, so that when the boy was fourteen—a stocky lad, about five feet nine and full of restless energy his world turned upside down. Gone was the money for his education; gone, too, was his father's business, which he might have expected to inherit. He was removed forthwith from Dr. Cogswell's school and brought back to Norwich as an apprentice in the apothecary shop of his mother's kinsmen, the brothers Daniel and Joshua Lathrop…

Arnold's mother died when he was eighteen, precipitating his father's final, swift collapse. The elder Arnold was arrested for public drunkenness, being 'disabled in…his understanding and reason, appearing in his speech, gesture and behavior, which is against the peace of our lord ye King and laws of this colony.' He died in 1761, leaving twenty-year-old Benedict and his sister Hannah the owners of a fine house and very little else.'

Auction Info

• Auction Title: Fine Autographs and Artifacts Ft. Rev/Civil War, and The Collection of Dr. Joseph Matheu Part 1
• Dates: #721 - Ended 07/09/2025