John Andre was thirty years old when he was hanged as a spy at Tappan, New York. He had served in the British Army since 1771, spent the occupation of Philadelphia in Benjamin Franklin's house, and risen to adjutant general of the British Army in North America in 1779. His most significant operation was the arrangement with Benedict Arnold for the delivery of West Point. It failed because Andre was captured by three militiamen who searched his boots. His letter to Washington, his court martial record, and the eyewitness account of his execution are all in institutional archives.
Benedict Arnold approached the British through Joseph Stansbury, a Philadelphia Loyalist, in May 1779. Andre managed the correspondence through coded letters and invisible ink for more than a year, negotiating the terms under which Arnold would deliver the fortifications at West Point. The meeting took place on the night of September 21 to 22, 1780. Andre went ashore to meet Arnold near Haverstraw. Arnold gave him papers describing the West Point fortifications hidden in his boot.
I was betrayed into the vile condition of an enemy in disguise within your posts.
On the morning of September 23, 1780, three American militiamen stopped Andre on the road near Tarrytown. They searched him. They found the papers folded in his stocking. Andre was taken to American headquarters. Arnold received word before Washington arrived and fled to the British lines. Andre was tried by a board of general officers and condemned. He wrote to Washington requesting to be shot as a soldier rather than hanged as a spy. Washington denied the request.
He betrayed no want of fortitude, but retained a complacent smile on his countenance, and politely bowed to several gentlemen whom he recognized, and, while his arms were about to be bound, he said, I pray you bear witness that I meet my fate as a brave man.
Andre's personal correspondence survives in collections. His letters from the Philadelphia occupation period describe theater performances he organized and paintings he made. Alexander Hamilton, who met him during the court martial proceedings, called him perhaps the most accomplished man in the British army. His letter to Washington of October 1, 1780 requesting to be shot rather than hanged is at the Library of Congress Washington Papers, Series 4.
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