Note 1010 — Chapter V · (continued 3)
Reading edition
Isaac N. Arnold was of very remote kin to Benedict. He had access to the Shippen Papers, the papers owned by Arnold's descendants in England and in Canada, and used the letters of Arnold, his wife and sister, in the Department of State. His praise of Arnold's "patriotism" in the earlier years of the war, which he thought was evinced by his brilliant acts in the field, induced a paper by J. A. Stevens on "Arnold and his Apologist" (Mag. of Amer. Hist., March, 1880), who contended that there was "no evidence that the heart of Arnold ever beat with one patriotic thrill." The biographer, while condemning the treason, makes the best show which he can of the provocations which led Arnold to be false. He adds considerable that is new to Arnold's story. Mr. I. N. Arnold died in 1884, and addresses upon him before the Chicago Hist. Society were printed.