Arnold had changed sides in September 1780, after his plot was exposed to surrender the key Continental Army outpost at West Point.

Arnold was then sent to Virginia with 1,600 men in late December by General Sir Henry Clinton, with instructions to raid Richmond and then establish a strong fortification at Portsmouth.

Phillips took command of the forces and Arnold served under him, as they resumed raiding operations aimed at potentially establishing a permanent presence at Richmond.

They fought off a spirited militia defense in the Battle of Blandford in late April, and the timely arrival of Continental forces under the Marquis de Lafayette prevented the taking of Richmond.

Arnold then organized the defense of Lake Champlain, and led the Continental Navy fleet that was defeated in the October 1776 Battle of Valcour Island.

While en route to Philadelphia to discuss the matter, he stopped in New Haven to visit his family, and fought in the rearguard Battle of Ridgefield against a British raiding party in which his left leg was injured once again.

He was sent north to assist in the defense of the Hudson River valley, and he helped lift the siege of Fort Stanwix in August, and then played key roles in the two Battles of Saratoga in September and October.

Midway through the second battle, he rode to the battlefield anyway and led the troops in a spirited attack on two British redoubts, suffering serious injuries to his leg.

[14] Arnold recovered from his injuries, though he walked with a cane for the rest of his life, and Washington gave him the military command of Philadelphia after the British withdrew from the city in May 1778.

[17] The plot was exposed in September 1780 when American forces captured Major André; Arnold fled to New York and was given a commission as a brigadier general in the British Army.

[21] Arnold began recruiting a new Loyalist regiment called the American Legion, enrolling his young sons in the unit (at least on paper).

[23] Arnold's preparations for the Chesapeake Bay expedition interrupted a scheme to kidnap him which was hatched by George Washington and Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee.

Washington and Lee rewarded him richly, and convinced him to retire from military service so that he would not risk hanging for his role in the affair if he was captured.

[30] This activity brought out Virginia's militia, led by Colonel Sampson Mathews, initiating Arnold's return to Portsmouth to hold the port there.

The arrival at Richmond of the Marquis de Lafayette and 900 Continental troops sent by General Washington to oppose Arnold prompted Phillips to begin making his way back to Portsmouth.

While en route, they were ordered to return to Petersburg by Charles Cornwallis, the commander of the British southern army, where he would join them with his force.

Word of this communication reached Clinton, and Arnold was met with a frosty reception on his return to New York, and with assignments to perform menial administrative tasks.

Symonds was so incensed by Arnold's attitude that he refused to leave port to respond to reports of transports carrying Lafayette's troops on the bay.

)[40] On his return to New York in June, Arnold made a variety of proposals for continuing to attack economic or military targets (including West Point) in order to force the Americans to end the war.

Clinton was not interested in most of his aggressive ideas, but the arrival of 3,000 new Hessian troops led him to relent[21] and he authorized an expedition against the port of New London, Connecticut, near Arnold's childhood home of Norwich.

Arnold's force of more than 1,700 men raided and burned New London on September 4, and they captured Fort Griswold, causing damage estimated at $500,000.

[41] British casualties were high; nearly one quarter of the force sent against Fort Griswold was killed or wounded, and Clinton said that he could ill afford more such victories.

Gladly as I would have paid with my blood and my life for England's success in this war, this man remained so detestable to me that I had to use every effort not to let him perceive, or even feel, the indignation of my soul.

Arnold had requested permission from Clinton, even before Cornwallis' surrender in October, to go to England and give Lord Germain his thoughts on the war.

"[49] The anti-war Whigs gained the upper hand in Parliament, Germain was forced to resign, and the government of Lord North fell soon after—all to Arnold's detriment.

[50] Other attempts failed to gain positions within the government or the British East India Company over the next few years, and he was forced to subsist on the reduced pay of non-wartime service.