Benedict Arnold

Viper in the Nest:
Benjamin Church

by David W. Tschanz

Dr. Benjamin Church was truly a patriot. A member of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, delegate to the First Continental Congress and the first American surgeon general, Church was respected and trusted by his fellow rebels. For the critical first eight months of the Revolution all of the secret communiqués and reports of the fledgling nation flowed across his desk. Reports he quickly summarized and turned over to his paymaster, British Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Gage.

Born in 1742, Church was from a well to do Massachusetts family. After graduating from Harvard, he studied medicine in London, returning home with an English wife. Local gossip had it that the good doctor's attentions were focused on other women as well and he earned a reputation as a bit of a philanderer. That made little difference to rebel leaders, few of whom could cast the first stone. They were satisfied that he was a diligent, hard working patriot. None suspected he was doing to the rebel cause what he had been doing to his wife.

Ironically Church may have triggered the events that moved the revolution from a smoldering brush fire to a full-fledged conflagration when he informed Gage that the rebels were amassing large stores of arms and ammunition at Concord. Gage ordered his troops to destroy the depot on April 18, 1775. The 700 British were met on Lexington Green by a hastily assembled force of 70 militia men who tried to bar their way. Unordered shots were fired and the war began.

Church also earned his keep by advising Gage of rebel plans to fortify Breed's and Bunker's hills on May 13th a full month before the battle. One of his more subtle maneuvers was a series of calculated, and savage, assaults on Benedict Arnold, then the most successful of America's military commanders.

Despite Arnold's victories at Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point and the relatively successful first invasion of Canada, Church's behavior towards his own colony's militia colonel was peculiar. As chairman of the military subcommittee Church wrote to Arnold in such a blatantly insulting manner that Arnold felt he had no choice but to resign and temporarily abandon his preparations for a second invasion of Canada, providing the hard pressed British forces in Canada with a four month respite.

Church also questioned Arnold's honesty in his handling of the expedition's expenditures — despite the fact that Arnold had paid a thousand pounds out of his own pocket. What effect these actions had on Arnold, who had to endure baseless slanders and public embarrassment is an interesting source of speculation.

Church was uncovered when one of his ciphered letters to Gage was intercepted by mischance in October 1775. Delivered to Brigadier General Nathaniel Greene, he turned it over to Washington. Washington investigated, then, because of Church's reputation and connections, promptly dumped the problem in Congress' lap. After a short time they turned Church over to the Massachusetts provincial congress which on November 2, 1775 "utterly expelled" him. All were hampered by the lack of conclusive evidence of his guilt. Though he was never actually convicted, or even charged, Church was placed in jail in Norwich, Connecticut, confined without reading or writing materials or any visitors.

In 1778 he was allowed to live at home, though still under strict house arrest. As the war was reaching its end, Church was permitted to go aboard a "small schooner" as a passenger to the West Indies. The ship was never seen again. Church's widow went to her native England where the government granted her a pension of 150 pounds a year. Her application did not specify what the payments were for, but did state that "General Gage, now in retirement, will know."

Conclusive proof of Church's guilt was not forthcoming until the publication of General Gage's personal papers in the 1960s. They also revealed the doctor was not acting out of ideals or loyalty to England. His love of women, and there were many, required a large amount of cash — and Gage had a hefty slush fund.

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© Copyright 1998 by David W. Tschanz.
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