Having defected to the British the previous year, Benedict Arnold led roughly 1,600 troops up the James River and captured Richmond, Virginia's capital, meeting minimal resistance. His forces burned military stores, public buildings, and private property before withdrawing, a raid that humiliated Governor Thomas Jefferson and exposed Virginia's vulnerability late in the Revolutionary War.
No American name carries the sting of betrayal quite like Benedict Arnold's, and his raid on Richmond added fresh insult to that reputation. Once one of the Continental Army's most capable field commanders, hero of Saratoga, Arnold had switched sides in 1780 after years of feeling underappreciated and buried in debt.
Now wearing a British general's uniform, he sailed up the James River with a small fleet and a force of about 1,600 men, catching Virginia's defenses almost completely unprepared. Governor Thomas Jefferson, given only hours of warning, fled the capital with state records as militia scrambled to respond.
Arnold's men torched foundries, warehouses, and government buildings, destroying gunpowder, tobacco, and military supplies that Virginia desperately needed. The raid caused lasting political damage to Jefferson, who faced sharp criticism for the state's poor preparedness, criticism that trailed him for years afterward. Arnold, meanwhile, continued his campaign of destruction across Virginia before the war's momentum shifted decisively at Yorktown later that year.