John Andre and Peggy Shippen dancing
Margaret "Peggy" Shippen (11 June 1760 – 24 August 1804) was the second wife of Benedict Arnold and a member of the prominent Tory Shippen family of Philadelphia. Shippen helped Major John Andre in convincing Arnold to defect to Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War, and both Arnold and Shippen moved to England at the war's end due to their cold treatment by those that they had betrayed, the patriots.
Biography[]
Peggy Shippen and Benedict Arnold in 1778
Margaret Shippen was born on 11 June 1760, the youngest daughter of Judge Edward Shippen IV and Margaret Francis. Shippen was known for her charm and good looks, and in 1774 she met her future husband Benedict Arnold when he boarded in her house for a period. In September 1777, the Shippen family - known for their Tory views - began to hold parties for British Army officials, and a frequent guest was John Andre. At one ball in October, Andre decided to ask one of Shippen's friends to dance to make her jealous, not falling for her charms. Eventually, they came to dance with each other, and Andre and Shippen would frequently communicate with each other, even through correspondence after Andre left Philadelphia in 1778. In the summer of 1778, Shippen met Arnold again when he became the Continental Army's commandant of Philadelphia, and he courted her before marrying her on 8 April 1779; he was 38, Peggy only 18. As Arnold's vanity suffered at the hands of jealous officers (such as Horatio Gates), who stole credit for his great victories, Major Andre plotted to turn Arnold to the British side. Peggy was an intermediary, and she would convince Arnold to surrender West Point to the British and join them. On 15 December 1781, after Andre was hanged as a spy by the patriots and the Siege of Yorktown signifie the patriots' victory in the American Revolutionary War, Shippen and her husband headed to London, England. Shippen died of cancer in 1804 at the age of 44.