Benedict Arnold burned a Connecticut city. Centuries later, residents get payback in fiery festival

By PAT EATON-ROBB
Associated Press

NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut city burned to the ground by Benedict Arnold is getting payback in a fiery, annual festival. Arnold led Redcoats in the raid in his home state a month before the British surrender at Yorktown ended major fighting during the American Revolution. He and his men burned most of the small coastal city of New London. Centuries later, hundreds of people, some in period costume, marched through the city Saturday to burn Arnold in effigy, recreating a tradition that was once practiced in many American cities. The celebrations died out during the Civil War, but New London’s Flock Theatre revived it a decade ago.