Skip to main content

Secondary sourcePhotograph11 July 2022

The Boot Monument Uncovered, Saratoga, 2022

National Park Service · 11 July 2022

A 2022 National Park Service photo of the Boot Monument at Saratoga, which honors Arnold's leg wound without naming him.

Commemorates Arnold's wound at Saratoga without naming him, reflecting his later fall from honor.

Ask Benedict Arnold about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
A tall, pale stone monument with a pointed top stands inside a black wrought-iron fence on a stone base, on grass and a stone-paved area. A paved path curves through green grass and trees under a blue sky with clouds.
The Boot Monument, Saratoga National Historical Park, photographed by the National Park Service, 2022.

About this source

What it is

This photograph, taken by the National Park Service on 11 July 2022, shows the Boot Monument at Saratoga National Historical Park after it was uncovered during road construction work.

Why it matters

The Boot Monument commemorates the leg wound Benedict Arnold suffered at the Battle of Saratoga, but famously does not mention his name, because of his later betrayal of the American cause. This photo shows how his legacy is still handled carefully at the site of his greatest military success.

Look closer

  • Why do you think the monument honors a wound but avoids naming the person who was wounded?
  • What does this choice tell you about how history remembers complicated figures?
  • How does a modern photograph like this help or limit our understanding of a historical event?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Benedict Arnold on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Benedict Arnold sources

Meet the AI Benedict Arnold →
Printed reproduction of a handwritten page of cipher text on cream paper, with two columns of coded symbols and numbers, signatures at lower right, and the caption 'One of the Treason Letters in Cypher' beneath. A New York Public Library stamp appears at bottom.Letter

Primary source

Arnold Treason Cipher Letter

Benedict Arnold; Peggy Shippen Arnold · 1780

Scan of a handwritten oath of allegiance on aged, yellowed paper. Printed text declares allegiance to the United States of America and renounces King George the Third. Handwritten name 'Benedict Arnold, Major General' and office 'Major General' are filled in, with a signature 'B. Arnold' and a jurat reading 'Sworn before me this 30th May 1778 at the Artillery Park Valley Forge' signed by an officer.Document

Primary source

Benedict Arnold's Oath of Allegiance

Continental Congress · 30 May 1778

Colour print of a standing man in a tricorn hat with gold trim, a blue coat with gold epaulette and buttons, a tan waistcoat, a red sash, and a sword hilt. He gestures toward a town with church spires across a river, with palm fronds behind him.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of Benedict Arnold

Thomas Hart · 26 March 1776

A weathered wooden gunboat displayed in a museum gallery, with a cannon at its bow, a mast, and a placard reading 'Continental Gondola Philadelphia' in the foreground. Its hull planks are dark and worn.Artifact

Primary source

USS Philadelphia

1776

Black-and-white mezzotint portrait of a man in an 18th-century military uniform with a tricorn hat, standing before a dark wooded background and a town view on the left, gesturing with one hand. Caption text is printed below.Painting

Primary source

Colonel Arnold

Thomas Hart · 1776

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Benedict Arnold now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions