A traitor’s letter to Delaware’s governor up for sale

Benedict Arnold’s letter to Delaware Gov. Caesar Rodney is up for auction in New York this week.

In the letter sent from Philadelphia in 1780, Arnold asks Rodney to help him clear his name among members of the Delaware legislature.  The year before this letter was sent, Arnold was acquitted of war profiteering and abusing his powers as an American general.  His letter asks Gov. Rodney to have the proceedings of his acquittal read before the legislature, “to convince them that my character has been most cruelly and unjustly aspersed.”

The letter will be auctioned by Swann Galleries in New York as part of a broader collection of Revolutionary Americana.  The letter is valued between $10,000 and $20,000.

  • WHYY thanks our sponsors — become a WHYY sponsor

WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal