Comment on Call Them. Replace Them.
AFC1886VCC@reddthat.com 1 month agoAn American military officer who first served on the side of the revolutionaries during the American revolutionary war. Part way through the war, he defected to the British side and fought against his former allies.
His name has become synonymous with “traitor” in the USA. A bit like Vidkun Quisling in Norway who collaborated with the Nazis after Germany’s occupation of Norway in WW2.
blackbelt352@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Fun bit of additional trivia about him, he was injured, shot in the leg while serving on the American side. After his defection, there is a likely apocryphal tale where he captured some Americans and asked what would happen if the situation were reversed. He was told his leg would get full burial honors and the rest of him would be hanged for treason. Funny enough there is a memorial of a leg at Saratoga for the injury he sustained and his importance at the battles in Saratoga but has nothing mentioning his name or the rest of his body. Which honestly is a level of pettiness to aspire to.
iamdefinitelyoverthirteen@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Also, the British treated him like shit because he wasn’t nobly born and because they also don’t like traitors.