Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Poetry and Incidents., Volume 1.
Frank Moore, Ed.

The editor of the Norwich (Ct.) Bulletin, sent Jefferson Davis, the President of the “Six nations,” a pen-holder made from a rafter of the house in which Benedict Arnold was born. In closing his letter of presentation the editor says: “I have taken occasion to present you this pen-holder, as a relic whose associations are linked most closely to the movement of which you are the head. Let it lie upon your desk for use in your official duties. In the ‘eternal fitness of things,’ let that be its appropriate place. It links 1780 with 1861. Through it, West Point speaks to Montgomery. And if we may believe that spirits do ever return and haunt this mundane sphere, we may reckon with what delight Benedict Arnold's immortal part will follow this fragment of his paternal roof-tree to the hands in which is being consummated the work which he began.”