By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Benedict Arnold burned a Connecticut city. Centuries later, residents get payback in fiery festival
preview.jpg
New London Mayor Michael E. Passero lights an effigy of Benedict Arnold as guns fire during the annual Burning of Benedict Arnold Festival, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, in New London, Conn. The burning of Arnold marks the anniversary of the day in September 1781 that the Connecticut native led British troops into the city and burned most of it to the ground. - photo by AP Photo/Jessica Hill
NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — A month before the British surrender at Yorktown ended major fighting during the American Revolution, the traitor Benedict Arnold led a force of Redcoats on a last raid in his home state of Connecticut, burning most of the small coastal city of New London to the ground. It has been 242 years, but New London still hasn't forgotten. A crowd of several hundred revelers, some in period costume, marched through the city's streets Saturday evening chanting, “Burn the traitor!” before watching as officials set Arnold's effigy ablaze for the Burning of Benedict Arnold Festival, recreating a tradition that was once practiced in many American cities.