An Evening with Benedict Arnold…Warrior, Hero, Spy…Traitor”

An Evening with Benedict Arnold…Warrior, Hero, Spy…Traitor” on Monday, April 18, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at the Washington Twp. Public Library, 37 E. Springtown Rd, Long Valley, NJ.

Forrest “Woody” Burgener, Schooleys Mountain resident and Military Historian, will trace General Arnold’s “unbelievable” military career from the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 to Arnold’s shocking “High Treason” at West Point on September 21, 1780. The “tangled triumvirate” of Arnold, British Major John Andre and Arnold’s “child bride” Margaret “Peggy” Shippen will be examined in depth, and perhaps…slightly “untangled”. The “Deed Most Foul” at West Point which culminated with Arnold’s desperate escape down the Hudson River (just ahead of a furious Alexander Hamilton) to British-held New York City…as “Spy Master” Andre was captured by “cowboys”, tried by military tribunal, convicted of spying and then hanged just seven days later. Arnold completed his escape, went on to fight for the British, and again…never lost a battle! What a story! Intrigue, Romance, Betrayal..perhaps the Nation’s first “Soap Opera”…with very deadly consequences…

Mr. Burgener is a graduate of New York University and holds BA and MBA degrees. He is an officer of “Company of Military Historians (West Point Chapter)”, a member of the Washington Township, NJ Historical Society, the Rockland Chapter, NY, Historical Society, “Adjutant” of the American Veterans Association, Post 1776, Washington Township, and “Life” member of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing Association and Vietnam Veterans Assoc. (NYS council). He served in the US Air Force from 1966-1970. He also “historically restored” the “Shippen Manor (circa 1752) in Oxford, NJ and, among others, the “Wetherill Plantation (circa 1740) in Jamesburg, NJ.

Call the Library at 908-876-3596 or go to http://www.wtpl.org/ and sign up under Adult Programs.