top 10 lesser Treason alert: this list intentionally omits some of history’s most infamous traitors, because a search for “history’s most infamous traitors” delivers page after page of pretty much the same list. Apparently some writers are traitors against originality.
Top 10 Lesser Traitors Unveiled
10 Benedict Arnold: The Dining Defector
Why America’s most notorious turncoat jumped ship in the middle of the Revolutionary War is less about drama than about the almost catastrophic ripple it caused. Arnold’s betrayal sprang from a blend of everyday grievances—mounting personal debt, bitter resentment over being passed over for promotions, and plain old greed.
On September 21, 1780, Arnold pulled off what could be called America’s most audacious double‑cross. After a series of encrypted letters, he met with British intelligence chief Major John André. Together they plotted to hand the strategic fort at West Point over to the Crown. In exchange, Arnold was promised a tidy sum of 20,000 pounds and a commission in the British army.
The British prize was far more than a single outpost. Their scheme also envisioned the capture of General George Washington himself while he dined with Arnold at West Point, a move that would have crippled the fledgling nation’s leadership.
A mix of fierce fighting and sheer luck saved the day for the Americans. The British vessel HMS Vulture, waiting for André’s escape, was forced to retreat under American cannon fire, compelling André to scramble back to British lines disguised as a civilian.
André’s return was not smooth. He was intercepted by three American militiamen who, seeing a soldier in a Hessian coat, assumed he was in British‑controlled territory. The confused encounter led André to ask, “Gentlemen, I hope you belong to our party.” The militiamen replied, “What party?” to which André, meaning the British, answered, “The lower party.”
The answer sealed his fate. André was captured and hanged shortly thereafter. Arnold, however, slipped away aboard the HMS Vulture, which had just returned in time to avoid his capture.
9 Horatio Gates: A Lesson in Meritocracy
Just as Americans loathed Benedict Arnold’s treachery, the British regarded Horatio Gates as a traitor in his own right.
In colonial America, Gates earned commendations for his service during the French and Indian War, even being selected to carry news of a British victory back to England, a feat that earned him a promotion to major. Yet, being the son of a housekeeper, Gates lacked the wealth or connections necessary to climb the British Army’s upper echelons, causing his career to stall.
Frustrated, he legally sold his commission—a common practice then—and returned to America in 1769, using the proceeds to buy land in Virginia where he re‑connected with his former commander, George Washington.
When the Revolution erupted six years later, Gates wasted no time, joining the Continental Army as a brigadier general. Two years on, he managed to eclipse a more famous subordinate—yes, Benedict Arnold—by playing a pivotal role at the 1777 Battle of Saratoga. Arnold launched a daring assault without Gates’ permission, a move that proved decisive. Though Arnold was wounded, Gates received the credit for a brilliant victory.
The rest of history followed suit. Arnold’s name became synonymous with “traitor,” while Gates, despite his later involvement in a plot to remove Washington and a disastrous defeat at the 1780 Battle of Camden, still has towns, counties, and streets across the United States bearing his name.
8 John C. Pemberton: The Sudden Southerner
When their states seceded, many senior U.S. Army officers faced the ultimate dilemma: loyalty to their home state or to the Union. In early 1861, President Lincoln even offered Robert E. Lee command of all Union forces, but Lee chose Virginia when it seceded.
That same tension explains why a Pennsylvanian fighting for the Confederacy is such a striking case of treason.
Philadelphia‑born John C. Pemberton had served the U.S. Army for 25 years, earning distinction in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican‑American War of the 1840s. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was in charge of a garrison protecting Washington, D.C.
Yet Pemberton’s wife hailed from Virginia. Despite his deep Union roots, he resigned his commission on April 29, 1861, and crossed over to the Confederate cause, quickly rising to lieutenant general despite his unmistakably Northern accent.
His fortunes turned at Vicksburg, Mississippi, in July 1863. After a grueling siege that forced residents to subsist on mules, dogs, and rats, Pemberton surrendered to Union General Ulysses Grant. Remarkably, he was so committed that after the surrender he demanded a demotion and kept fighting until April 12, three days after Lee’s surrender, effectively outlasting the war.
Pemberton’s final resting place is back in Philadelphia, making him perhaps the only Confederate commander with a statue in a Southern city and a gravesite up North.
7 Rose Greenhow: “The Northerners Are Coming!”
You’ve heard of Paul Revere… how about Rose Greenhow?
Civil wars create fertile ground for espionage because both sides share language, uniforms, and culture. This environment also opened doors for women to gather intelligence through charm, social maneuvering, and, occasionally, romantic entanglements.
Among the most daring Northern women who aided the Confederacy was Rose Greenhow, a Maryland native. Born into poverty, she later married into wealth and, as a young wife, found herself mingling with Washington, D.C.’s elite, even befriending First Lady Dolley Madison.
By the time the Civil War erupted, Greenhow was widowed and living in a lavish house just four blocks from the White House. Her social prowess gave her access to senior military officers and their spouses. In early 1861, she learned that the Union’s first major strike would target Manassas, Virginia—later known as the Battle of Bull Run.
Rose encoded a message and hid it in the abundant hair of a Southern socialite who, disguised as a humble farmer, slipped the note across Confederate lines. The Confederates used the intelligence to concentrate forces, a decisive factor given the Union’s manpower advantage, and secured a victory in the war’s first major battle.
Eventually Greenhow was apprehended, placed under house arrest, and later exiled to the South. She died in 1864, drowning while attempting to breach a Union blockade on a fundraising trip from Europe.
6 Alfred Redl: A Very Compromising Position
Alfred Redl headed Austro‑Hungarian counter‑intelligence from 1900 to 1912, only to be a double agent for Imperial Russia, the empire’s chief rival and a future World War I adversary.
Born into poverty, Redl climbed the aristocratic military ladder thanks to his sharp intellect and fluency in several languages. Yet, his personal secret was that he was gay—a fact that, in an era when homosexuality threatened both social standing and career, could be weaponized.
Russian intelligence uncovered his orientation, captured compromising photographs, and blackmailed him with the threat of exposure. They sweetened the deal with cash, prompting Redl to betray his own empire, handing over war plans, weapons programs, and strategic weaknesses.
Ironically, when Austro‑Hungarian leaders realized their secrets were leaking, they tasked Redl—unaware he was the source—to root out the mole, a scenario akin to asking O.J. Simpson to find his own killer. Redl responded by fabricating evidence against innocent officers, shielding himself while framing others.
His deception unraveled when clumsy Russian operatives sent cash‑filled envelopes that postal censors intercepted, leading directly to Redl’s arrest. He confessed, and when faced with certain execution, he requested to be left alone with a pistol. The request was granted, and he took his own life.
5 Patrick Heenan: Code‑Blooded
Despite the classic black‑and‑white narrative of World War II, the conflict also produced Allied traitors. The United Kingdom saw about ten citizens convicted of treason, one of whom even joined the Nazi Waffen‑SS. In the United States, Mildred Gillars, dubbed “Axis Sally,” broadcast Nazi propaganda and became the first American woman convicted of treason.
Two nations each had a single WWII traitor. Canada’s case was Kanao Inouye, a Japanese‑descent Canadian living in Japan who was executed for treason in 1947. New Zealand’s lone traitor was Patrick Heenan, a Royal New Zealand Air Force officer stationed in northern Malaya in June 1941.
When Japan launched its December 8 invasion—simultaneous with Pearl Harbor—Allied commanders noticed Japanese aircraft consistently knew the ever‑changing “friend or foe” recognition codes, despite daily cipher changes. Within days, the Japanese decimated most Allied planes in the region.
Heenan’s downfall came when a warm radio was found in his quarters, linking him to the leaks. He was arrested and sent to a military prison in Singapore, but before a formal trial could commence, guards allegedly shot him dead. A fascinating podcast delves deeper into his story.
4 Pierre Laval: From High Office to High Treason
Among World War II turncoats, France produced the highest‑ranking betrayer: Pierre Laval, a two‑time Prime Minister who turned traitor.
Laval served as Prime Minister from 1931‑32 and again from 1935‑36, also holding the post of Foreign Minister. Initially a socialist, he gradually drifted toward right‑wing extremism.
When Germany invaded France in 1940, Laval persuaded the French Assembly to dissolve itself and hand power to the infamous collaborator Marshal Pétain, ushering in the Vichy regime—France’s darkest chapter.
Convinced that Nazi Germany would win, Laval eagerly collaborated, claiming he was merely securing a favorable position for France under German rule. He served loyally under Pétain, succeeded him in 1942, and actively persecuted Resistance fighters, conscripted Frenchmen for the German war effort, and helped round up and deport French Jews—including children—to concentration camps.
After France’s liberation, Laval was arrested, convicted of high treason, survived a failed suicide attempt, and was executed by firing squad in October 1945.
3 Lee Harvey Oswald: Traitor Turned Triggerman
The only reason Lee Harvey Oswald isn’t more closely linked to treason is his notoriety for a far graver crime. His path to infamy reads like a textbook case of a classic traitor.
A U.S. Marine who earned the title of “sharpshooter,” Oswald abruptly left the service, claiming he needed to care for his mother—a false pretense. A month later, the then‑20‑year‑old, fluent enough in Russian to hold basic conversations, fled to France, then the United Kingdom, claiming he was heading to a Swiss school. He instead boarded a train to Finland, then traveled to the USSR, where he renounced his U.S. citizenship and boasted of possessing American military secrets.
After marrying a Russian woman, Oswald returned to the United States in June 1962. Over the next 18 months he openly declared his Marxist sympathies, founded the “Fair Play for Cuba” committee, adopted the alias A.J. Hidell, and in April 1963 attempted to assassinate high‑ranking U.S. military officer Edwin Walker. Ultimately, he became infamous for assassinating President John F. Kennedy.
Oswald stands out even among the exclusive club of presidential assassins for his treasonous conduct. He defected to a sworn enemy, and declassified documents released in 2017 reveal contacts with both the Russian KGB and a Cuban intelligence officer shortly before the Dallas shooting. He was not a lone lunatic; he was a traitor influenced—directly or indirectly—by America’s foes.
2 Mohammed Ismail: Osama Bin Bieber
If you thought being linked to treason was bad, try being a traitor nicknamed after a pop star who looks like Ellen DeGeneres.
In 2014, 18‑year‑old British citizen Mohammed Ismail left his hometown of Coventry, England, to travel to Syria. Disillusioned with Western customs—particularly the nation’s love of bacon and its treatment of women—Ismail sought to join ISIS. His heavily bearded comrades began calling him “Osama bin Bieber,” perhaps the most amusing moniker ever used by the caliphate.
Ismail was fully integrated—until he wasn’t.
One downside of treason is that when a militant group suffers a strategic setback, suspicion often turns inward. After a 2016 U.S. drone strike killed leading ISIS recruiter Nasser Muthana in Mosul, ISIS leadership blamed the mishap on the “Bieber” figure, suspecting internal betrayal.
Following a coerced confession—presumably extracted by ISIS interrogators who lacked any mercy—Ismail was executed, becoming the first known British citizen killed by the terrorist organization for espionage. The tragic end of the so‑called “Osama bin Bieber” underscores the brutal reality of betrayal.
1 ???: The Cyber‑Traitors of Today & Tomorrow
We live in an era of unprecedented danger, where a single traitor armed with a keyboard can unleash chaos on a global scale.
This isn’t about whistleblowers like Edward Snowden or data leakers such as Julian Assange. While opinions differ on the severity of their actions, the fallout from their disclosures pales next to the havoc a true cyber‑traitor could cause—crippling critical businesses and essential infrastructure.
The threat is already real. In June, a massive attack dubbed “colossal” hit Florida‑based IT firm Kaseya, then rippled through roughly 200 corporate networks that relied on its software. Hackers exploited a weak point in the hub company’s defenses—a single node serving scores of other crucial enterprises—and launched the breach.
According to security firm Huntress Labs, the incursion blended two of the most feared cyber‑attack categories: ransomware and supply‑chain disruption. A recent strike that forced a major U.S. petroleum pipeline offline—sparking gasoline hoarding and shortages along the densely populated Atlantic coast—illustrates the catastrophic potential.
Counter‑intelligence agencies are trained to hunt vulnerabilities. Imagine a scenario where the Chinese military blackmails an American insider, handing over the cyber‑keys to a truly vital component of society. Power grids, water treatment plants, stock exchanges, and even nuclear arsenals could become vulnerable to a crafty adversary aided by a compromised traitor.
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