That turned out to be prescient. Less than five years later, the Revolution was on a razor's edge, and Arnold had turned traitor. In December 1780, he left British headquarters in New York with a fleet of 27 ships. His destination was Virginia, where an ill-prepared Jefferson was in his second one-year term as governor.
One of American history's most reviled men was on a mission against a state led by one of its most revered. The ensuing clash was one of the great yet strangely little-noted events of the Revolutionary War.
Arnold would gain the upper hand, repeatedly forcing Jefferson to flee the capital, Richmond. Other British forces later chased Jefferson all the way to Charlottesville. Eventually, he was forced to flee Monticello just minutes ahead of British soldiers, whose horses had galloped up his beloved mountain.
Jefferson refused a third term as governor, leaving the state leaderless at its darkest hour and causing even some of his friends to accuse him of cowardice.
It's worth remembering this extraordinary low point of Jefferson's life at a time when most people think of its high point - his authorship of the Declaration. Indeed, war continued for nearly seven years after the events of July 4, 1776. The uncertainty of the fight is vividly illustrated by the surprising scene of Jefferson himself hiding from the British on a plantation on the fifth anniversary of the Declaration.
