# Arnold — The Columbiad character guide

> Arnold in The Columbiad by Joel Barlow.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Brave Arnold trod, General Arnold

**First appearance:** 0008-book-v

## Snapshot

Brave Arnold strides through Barlow's revolutionary roll-call, a general whose battlefield glory the poem cannot quite disentangle from the treachery that will stain his name.

## Who they are

Arnold appears among the heroes of the American war, celebrated for daring deeds before his infamous betrayal shadows the record. Barlow grants him courage without absolving him, letting the reader feel how thin the line runs between patriotic fire and self-serving ambition. His presence sharpens the Columbiad's central question: what makes a nation's defenders worthy of the freedom they win.

## In the story

### [Book VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_columbiad_se/chapters/book-vi)

Charges heroically at Saratoga, breaking through British lines.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_columbiad_se/characters/arnold
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_columbiad_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_columbiad_se/characters