Post-Trenton, Washington asked Stark to return to New Hampshire and use his reputation from Bunker Hill to boost recruitment. When Stark returned from this, he found that Enoch Poor had been made the New Hampshire Brigadier General. What made things worse was that Stark felt Poor had been remiss in not marching his regiment to Boston in time for Bunker Hill. Stark only agreed to become Brigadier General of the New Hampshire militia on the condition he was not subject to Continental command - and exercised that condition after Bennington by refusing to reinforce Gates' army.

Oh, i see. I thought you meant an entirely different war ... like Stark vs. Italy or something.

On RevList, I just ran across a reference to a new "movie" about Arnold: http://www.talonfilms.com/ag-trailer.html Looks interesting, though the voice quality of the narration is so bad that it undermines my confidence in the piece. The cinematography looks competent. The CGI effects are a little iffy, but better than most on the History Channel. It looks like it will be a made-for-tv movie. Maybe it says so elsewhere in the site, but all I have time to look at right now is the trailer. The information presented in the trailer seems like the traditional perspective, though a couple statements made by the on-camera "historians" seem odd ... particularly the assertion that Arnold was never paid or thanked for his effort. In the trailer, that historian comes across as something of a histrionic jackass.

Histrionic Jackass deserves Capitalisation!

That should be an actual title conferred on melodramatic (or maudlin) historians, added to their CVs by force of law.

So; it they had offered the budget to the BG! forum i/o Talon Films... ? What with Renactor Contacts and Specialist Knowledge, plus the use of our combined collections instead of the dull animated arrow maps... ? :shock: An interesting proposition? BA is present at several interesting moments and has some dramatic (if uncomplicated) presence, but I suspect given a choice we would not have chosen BA as the subject anyway and would go for someone with a bit of character, colour, charisma... ? So many to chaps to chose from but, possibly there is only one bigger Bogeyman than BA: Tarleton Perhaps? (Sound of retiring behind prepared positions) GJ

Combat Officers...
Arnold was an excellent combat officer-fearless, good with troops, quick to see and strike the decisive point, and had the soldierly virtue of liking to fight. He was also ambitious, jealous of others, avaricious, and egotistical. He had been court-martialed for graft before he turned traitor and was in correspondence with the British long before his overtly treasonous act. He also left Andre, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, holding the bag. Marrying a Tory was not the best idea in the world. His performance at Quebec was courageous and outstanding, his overall performance in the Saratoga campaign was more than competent. His actions in the field helped get Fort Stanwyx relieved. Better, more competent officers went through the same promotion problems that Arnold did, notably Stark and Morgan, and they didn't commit treason. Greene's excellent subordinates in the south, who were at least as ferocious combat officers as Arnold never got their stars, notably Robert Kirkwood of the Delaware Line, who because of the situation with the Delaware contingent, never made it above captain. There is a move to 'rehabilitate' such as Arnold, as well as Charles Lee, Horatio Gates, and others but that is revisionism of the worst type. They have to be judged by what they have done and by their era, not ours. Using political correctness, which is horrible, to think anything is OK is ridiculous. Using it so as not to offend anyone is hopeless-as John Adams once mentioned, we're 'going to offend somebody.' What should be attempted in historical inquiry to come up with accurate information, not excuses for historical figures who were 'skunks of the first order.' Sincerely, G

It will come as no surprise to folks who have been following this thread that I completely agree with you.