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Betrayal is a bitter taste, and this week’s show delivered it by the bucket. On Revolutionary Talk, Dave Diamond brought listeners the shocking news that Dr. Benjamin Church, the Continental Army’s own surgeon general, has been arrested as a spy. Washington’s letter to Governor Hancock confirmed what no one wanted to believe: a trusted leader, a man who tended our wounded and spoke the language of liberty, had been secretly sending reports to the British in ciphered letters.

The letter was intercepted, broken, and exposed. Church confessed to sending it, though he claimed it was meant to “frighten” the British, not aid them. Few believe him. Washington and his officers concluded that the good doctor had indeed betrayed his country for gold. The real shock came when Dave revealed that the Articles of War contained no penalty for treason. No one had imagined that one of their own could turn, so Congress had to rush to write new laws to deal with the unthinkable.

In Norwich, callers voiced outrage and fear. A militia corporal declared that the army would never trust so easily again. Loyalist Bob, true to form, called Church’s betrayal “a return to sanity,” proving once more that some men can find loyalty only in a king’s shadow.

And while the army wrestles with betrayal, the British have troubles of their own. News has spread that General Gage has been recalled to England and replaced by General William Howe. The soldiers in Boston are cheering, and the taverns in Norwich are buzzing. Gage fumbled, Howe will strike, and the King still believes this war can be won.

Dave closed the show with words that cut deep: two men fell today, one by disgrace, the other by recall. One betrayed his country, the other his King. Dr. Church will be remembered as the first traitor of the Revolution, and Gage as the first to lose his command. But the rise of Howe is a warning—the King has not yet grown weary of war, and neither must we.