A Revolution saved by what’s in a pair of boots.

Say the name Benedict Arnold, and most people who know American history will respond—Traitor! But there’s a story behind this infamous double-cross—Arnold trading his allegiance to the cause for liberty for a commission in the British army.

Changing sides, as it were.

His decision, driven by personal debts, wounded pride, and growing resentment that his sacrifices have gone unrecognized, almost undoes the Revolution for the Americans.

General Arnold is already an American hero after he and Ethan Allen capture Fort Ticonderoga, and Arnold leads the charge against the British at the Battle of Saratoga. But his wife, a British loyalist, reinforces his grievance that he is under-appreciated, and by 1780 she connects him with a British spy, Major John Andre.

General Washington has placed Arnold in command of West Point, a critical American fort controlling the Hudson River Valley. Arnold meets with Andre at the fort to discuss terms for jumping sides. The conspiracy involves Arnold surrendering West Point for 20,000 pounds (a million dollars today) on the very day General Washington is to inspect the fort.

After their meeting, Andre disguises himself in civilian clothing and makes for the British lines. American sentries stop and search him.

Once.

Twice.

Still nothing. Then, after almost letting him go, they check inside his boots

There they find a map of West Point, with instructions showing where to attack. Realizing his actions are about to come to light, Arnold escapes on the British ship Vulture and joins the British army. His wish to become infamous is granted, but for all the wrong reasons.

General Nathaniel Greene describes Arnold’s treachery this way:

Treason of the blackest dye was yesterday discovered! General Arnold who commanded at West Point, lost to every sentiment of honor—of public and private obligations—was about to deliver up that important post into the hands of the enemy. Such an event must have given the American cause a deadly wound if not a fatal wound. Happily the treason has been timely discovered to prevent the fatal misfortune. The providential train of circumstances which led to it affords the most convincing proof that the Liberties of America are the object of divine Protection.

On May 8, 1783, Yale President Ezra Stiles states:

A providential miracle detected the conspiracy of Arnold, even in the critical moment of the execution of that infernal plot, in which the body of the American army, then at West Point, with his excellency General Washington himself, were to have been rendered into the hands of the enemy!

History records the discovery of Arnold’s plot as fact. The documents exist. The participants are known.

But how should we explain the chain of events that exposed the conspiracy at precisely the moment it threatened to succeed?

Mere coincidence? Or something more…perhaps a miracle?

You decide.