The war continued but Benedict’s brief part in it was over. His life in Norwich returned to the basic concerns of work and family. The town sent recruits off to fight in succeeding years, young men he knew, but he could take no more time from his apprenticeship. Everyone breathed a sign of relief as the war took a turn for the better during 1758, with the British forces making solid advances while the French suffered a series of problems. By 1760 the fighting was largely over. The British were well on their way to evicting the French from the eastern region of North American. It was an amazing result.
Benedict did play a further, if indirect, part in the grand victory through his work. The Lathrops sold pharmaceuticals and surgeons’ supplies to the British army and the militia. Even in the midst of war their business flourished as did that of other Connecticut shippers. Because Connecticut merchant shipping was largely concerned with British mainland colonies and the West Indies the conflict with New France didn’t interrupt the colony’s trade as much as might have been expected.1 Benedict learned that the Lathrops and other shippers were benefitting from increased efficiencies that his father would have envied—smaller crews, the decreasing risk of pirates and privateers, and shorter port times.2 With these conditions Connecticut sea trade was growing steadily, especially along the Atlantic coast and with the West Indies. In 1748–49, when Captain Arnold’s business was still prosperous, sixty-seven Connecticut ships had sailed to the West Indies.3 By 1756 the number of the colony’s ships trading with the West Indies had increased to 98 and by 1771 it would increase again, to 250.4
The Lathrops were unusual in trading with Europe as well as the Caribbean. Most local merchants had little chance to trade with Europe simply because Connecticut had little the Europeans wanted. But for the Lathrops the British trade was essential. British medicinal products, books, and other goods were a large proportion of their stock in trade. In addition to Benedict’s efforts to master the pharmaceutical profession, he was learning to recognize opportunities to buy goods for which there would be a ready market. He learned how to deal with producers and transact such purchases and, just as important, how to serve customers. As he gained knowledge the Lathrops gained confidence in him. They started sending their talented apprentice on voyages to purchase goods for them. As Benedict assumed these new responsibilities and handled them successfully his confidence grew. The impoverished young man from a small Connecticut port town burdened with reduced expectations and family problems was on his way to becoming an able and skilled pharmacist and businessman. All that was to the good, increasing his personal reputation and with it his sense of honor. On the other hand his family’s personal fortunes were moving inexorably in the opposite direction in a downward spiral that threatened both.
While her son was maturing and learning, Hannah Arnold was becoming increasingly exhausted from the effort of coping with the family’s reduced financial circumstances and raising her daughter Hannah while keeping her husband’s alcoholism and poor health from getting worse. The tension and fatigue exacted a heavy toll on her own health. In mid-August, as Norwich residents were struggling with the relentless heat and the illnesses it brought, she fell desperately ill. The end came quickly. Benedict’s loving mother died. She was fifty-one. It was unclear what disease gave her that final respite that she would have seen as ending her earthly trials. It was commonly believed that Hannah Arnold died of heartbreak.5
Hannah and her only son had been very close. She believed in him, came to rely upon him, and imbued him with her confidence that whatever the family misfortunes, he was destined for greatness. While her strict piety may have occasionally grated on Benedict, her unfailing kindness and concern made it easier to bear. As Captain Arnold’s condition and mental state worsened, mother and son depended more and more on each other for support. The loss of his mother was a terrible blow. Benedict was now a young man of eighteen. Although still an apprentice, he became the head of the family. He immediately assumed responsibility for the care of his father and sister. He also arranged for his mother’s funeral. Hannah was greatly admired by the entire community. Her husband’s problems had, if anything, raised her in everyone’s estimation for the brave, uncomplaining way she bore them. She was laid to rest in the Norwich churchyard. In the few words her gravestone permitted, Benedict described his mother: “A pattern of patience, piety, and virtue.”6 His younger sister, Hannah, was now to be the woman of the family and shoulder her mother’s burden. It was heavy indeed. Brother and sister worked together to deal with their father’s distress. Hannah’s death seemed to snap a final connection for Captain Arnold. He became increasingly depressed, hopelessly alcoholic, and ever more difficult to control.
The new year, as new years do, brought its measure of joy and sorrow. For Benedict, its professional joys and accomplishment were balanced against further personal family humiliation. The growing pleasure of the increasing trust and responsibility he was given by the Lathrops was offset by his father’s increasing slide into mental deterioration. Daniel and Joshua officially promoted Benedict to chief clerk of the trading part of their business. In that role, young as he was, he was sent on voyages to the West Indies and even to London to purchase goods. With the French and Indian War substantially over, the seas were safer and business opportunities abounded. On his arrival at a port he made contact with the Lathrops’ business associates and scouted for new merchandise and new contacts. It was exhilarating to be sailing away from Norwich. He loved the sea and the excitement each journey brought. It took him back to those long-ago voyages with his father when he was a boy. But his absences meant that Hannah was left to cope with his father’s erratic behavior without his help. He was home, however, when the law struck again.
On May 26, 1760 a justice of the peace issued a warrant for Captain Arnold’s arrest on a charge of public drunkenness. Three witnesses appeared before the judge testifying that he was so drunk “that he was disabled in the use of his understanding and reason.”7 The judge ordered him to pay a fine and warned the scarcely cognizant man to amend his behavior. Making ends meet was difficult enough for the Arnolds without this fine, but far worse was the public shame Hannah and Benedict endured and the worry that their father was very likely to offend again. They were not the only ones concerned.
There was a great deal of concern among the members of the First Church of Norwich about the disgraceful behavior of one of their brethren. A month after Captain Arnold’s arrest one of the church deacons asked the senior Arnold to appear before the congregation to be chastised and to repent of his sin.8 The Captain flatly refused. The church next sent a committee to meet with him at his home. Presumably Hannah and Benedict were present to witness the interview and help their father. The upshot was that the committee had no better success than the deacon. They confessed that “they had not recovered him to his duty—that he was still impertinent and refused to make a public confession.” The members of the congregation were out of patience with this badly behaved and obstinate member of their congregation. His shameful ways reflected on them. Church members voted to impose “a public admonition which renders him incapable of communion in special circumstances.”9 Still nothing would bring the Captain to heel. When there began to be suggestions that he ought to be excommunicated, their minister, Reverend Lord, who had baptized the Arnold children, intervened to try to sort things out himself. He asked his congregation to show Christian pity and assured them that he would write “this poor man . . . a pungent letter.” When even the pungent letter had no better success, Reverend Lord explained to his exasperated congregation that the senior Arnold was suffering from “great disorder” and “great incapacity.” It was too late to expect clear thought or orderly behavior. Time to show understanding and charity to someone who had once been a respectable and prominent member of the community.
The Captain’s condition continued to worsen as the year went on. Before it came to a close Benedict was arranging another funeral. The Captain’s passing was a relief to his children, but terribly sad as well. Their father had started life with few possessions but boundless enthusiasm. He had risen to a position of prominence and prosperity with a loving wife and children. Then business setbacks set in, followed by the deaths of his little daughters. He began a spiral of despair from which he could not recover. His growing depression and drinking did the rest. In the end everything he had accomplished in his lifetime was taken from him but the love and concern of his son and daughter. All he left them were debts and shame. Thanks to the good will of Reverend Lord, Captain Arnold was laid to rest in the cemetery of the church he had defied, next to the wife he’d loved.
The next New Year saw the end of Benedict’s apprenticeship. He was twenty-one, a trained apothecary, and keen businessman. The end of an apprenticeship was traditionally marked by “freedom dues.”10 The customary freedom dues or payment consisted of “two suits, one new.”11 The Lathrops, however, in a final act of generosity, gave Benedict £500 to purchase stock with which to launch his own business. It was a substantial sum. He chose to start his career in New Haven, a bustling Connecticut port town. New Haven, on busy Long Island Sound, was larger than Norwich and home to Yale College. It was an excellent choice for selling both medical supplies and books for the students. If his father’s business had remained prosperous, if his father had not become an alcoholic, Benedict would have arrived in New Haven years earlier as a student at that college. Now he would come to New Haven to sell books to the fortunate boys studying there. Still, he was full of hope that in this new setting respect and honor could yet be earned through his own hard work and his courage.