God Save Benedict Arnold: new book by Jack Kelly will visit Ridgefield to talk about the hero/traitor

The Ridgefield Historical Society is delighted to announce a talk, book signing, and reception at 6:30pm on Wednesday, December 6, with author Jack Kelly, following the December publication of his new work, God Save Benedict Arnold, The True Story of America’s Most Hated Man.

His presentation will take place at St. Stephen’s Church North Hall at 353 Main Street in Ridgefield, CT.

Tickets for the program are $15 for members of the Ridgefield Historical Society and $20 for non-members and can be purchased online here.

To inquire about your membership status call 203-438-5821 or email info@ridgfieldhistroricalsociety.org. Books on the Common will have books for sale and signing at the event.

Say “Benedict Arnold” and the average person would say “traitor.” Students of Ridgefield history, while acknowledging his later treachery, would also call him a hero of the 1777 Battle of Ridgefield where he rallied the Continental troops and local militias against a huge British force. While General Arnold, General David Wooster, and General Gold Selleck Silliman and their men couldn’t defeat General Tryon’s troops, they did demonstrate that invasions like the raid on Danbury were not without cost to the invaders.

So esteemed was General Arnold here — he fought bravely at the barricade, had his horse shot out from under him, and suffered a leg injury — that for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Ridgefield the Town of Ridgefield commissioned a medal honoring him. (It was reissued in 2002 for the 225th.)

God Save Benedict Arnold, published by St. Martin’s Press, explores Arnold’s life and military career, both his efforts for the Patriot cause in the early years of the Revolutionary War and how he came to turn traitor. Kevin J. Weddle, Ph.D., Colonel (Ret.) U.S. Army, Professor of Military Theory and Strategy, U.S. Army War College, calls the book “Wonderfully written, Jack Kelly’s fresh and lively new study of one of America’s greatest combat commanders is an important contribution to our understanding of this complicated and influential leader.”

The Ridgefield Historical Society appearance will be followed by a book tour that includes a Dec. 7 talk at The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati, Inc., in Washington, D.C.

Jack Kelly is an award-winning author and historian; he lives in the Hudson Valley. His books include Band of Giants: The Amateur Soldiers Who Won America’s Independence, which won the DAR History Medal; Valcour; The Edge of Anarchy; Heaven’s Ditch, and Gunpowder. He has also published five novels.

For more information go to: ridgefieldhistoricalsociety.org