We sit rigid beside our defense attorney as the charge is read aloud. Uniformed security flank the

defense table enforcing the barrier between us and the public gallery. Our eyes drift off to the

room's dark wood paneling, fixating on the grain pattern, anything to escape even mentally, what is about to ensue.

The words echo through the courtroom weighted with history the Constitution itself.

Article 3, Section 3, Clause 1

Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.

We stand accused of conspiring against our great nation.

The gavel cracks against the judge's bench. The trial begins.

And if this verdict is guilty, our names will be etched alongside the most reviled

in American history. Chief among them, unmatched in his infamy, is Benedict Arnold, the

Revolutionary War's most infamous turncoat.

Yeah. Hello, and nice of you to tune in. I'm Don Wildman. This is American history hit.

Our revolution against the British, at least from the American perspective, was a struggle led by a cast of glorious heroes, mostly men who distinguished themselves with valor, courage,

and a transcendent selflessness before the great cause of liberty, standing with unshakable

resolve against the tyranny of the crown. Washington, Sam Adams, Hancock, Hale.

John Paul Jones, the Revolution's story is etched in the names of steel-eyed patriots.

But there is one name, one man, who might have stood above them all, whose brilliance and sheer

determination on the battlefield could have made him the revolution's

greatest hero, but for his baser qualities, which instead landed him in the shadows of infamy.

I'm speaking of Benedict Arnold, a name now synonymous with ambition and betrayal, whose

nefarious actions near the end of the war stood in profound contrast with

those earlier on, an astonishing role reversal that raises questions and theories about how it

...