John André

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Image:John andre loc.jpg John André (May 2, 1750 - October 2, 1780) was a British officer hanged as a spy during the American Revolutionary War for an incident in which he assisted Benedict Arnold's attempted surrender of the fort at West Point, New York to the British.

André was born 1750 in London to Huguenot parents, Antoine André (a merchant from Geneva, Switzerland) and Marie Louise Giradot (from Paris, France). He entered the British Army at the age of twenty, and came to North America and joined his regiment in Canada in 1774 as a lieutenant. He was captured at Saint Johns in November 1775, and held a prisoner at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, until December 1776, when he was exchanged. He was promoted to captain in 1777, and to major in 1778.

He was a great favorite in society, both in Philadelphia and New York during their occupation by the British Army. During his nearly nine months in Philadelphia, André occupied Benjamin Franklin's house. He had a lively and pleasant manner and could draw and paint and cut silhouette pictures, as well as sing and write verses. He was a fluent writer who carried on much of General Clinton's correspondence.

In 1779, he became adjutant-general of the British Army with the rank of Major, and soon after (1780) began to plot with American General Benedict Arnold. Arnold's Loyalist wife, Peggy Shippen, had become a close friend of André when he was in Philadelphia, and she was probably the go-between. Arnold, who commanded West Point, had agreed to surrender it to the British for £20,000 — a move that would enable the British to cut New England off from the rest of the rebellious colonies.

André went up the Hudson River on September 20, 1780, to visit Arnold. At night, André rowed ashore in a boat from the sloop-of-war Vulture and met Arnold in the woods below Stony Point. Morning came before they had finished talking, and some Americans began to fire on the Vulture. The Vulture was forced to go down the river without André, who met with Arnold on the 21st and 22 September.

Image:Capture of John andre.jpg In order to escape through American lines, André was provided common clothes and a passport by Arnold. André took the name John Anderson. Arnold also gave six papers (written in Arnold's hand) showing the British how the fort could be taken. André hid them in his stocking.

André rode on in safety until 9 A.M. on September 23 when he came near Tarrytown, New York, where three men with guns stopped him, including David Williams. "Gentlemen," said André, who thought they were Tories, "I hope you belong to our party." "What party?" asked one of the men. "The lower party," replied André, meaning the British. "We do," was the answer. André then told them he was a British officer who must not be detained, when, to his surprise, they said they were Americans, and that he was their prisoner. He then told them that he was an American officer, and showed them his passport. But the suspicions of his captors were now aroused, and they searched him and found Arnold's papers in his stocking. André offered them his horse and watch, if they would let him go, but they were not to be bribed (which was unusual at the time).

Image:AndreSelfportrait2.jpg The prisoner was taken to Tappan, the headquarters of the American Army, tried as a spy on September 29, 1780, found guilty of being behind American lines "under a feigned name and in a disguised habit", and condemned to be hanged. Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander in New York, did all he could to save him, but refused to surrender Arnold (who had escaped to British lines upon learning of Andre's capture) in exchange for Andre. He appealed to George Washington to be executed by firing squad, but by the rules of war he was to be hanged as a spy at Tappan on October 2, 1780.

While a prisoner he made himself so dear to all by the sweetness of his character and the charm of his conversation that his sad fate was as much lamented by the American officers as by the English. The day before his death he drew, with pen and ink, a likeness of himself, which is now owned by Yale College.

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Aftermath

Image:Unfortunate death of major andre.jpg A pension would be awarded to his mother and three sisters not long after his death, and brother William would be made a Baronet.

In 1821, at the behest of the Duke of York, his remains, which had been buried under the gallows, were removed to England and placed among kings and poets in Hero's Corner at Westminster Abbey under a beautiful marble monument, and, in 1879, a monument was erected on the place of his execution at Tappan.

The names of André's captors were John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wart. The United States Congress gave each of them a pension of $200 a year and a silver medal, known as the Fidelity Medallion. All were honored in the names of counties in Ohio and in 1853 a monument was erected to their memory on the place where they captured André.

"He was more unfortunate than criminal." -- from a letter of George Washington to Comte de Rochambeau, October 10, 1780
"An accomplished man and gallant officer." -- from the sentence of a letter written by Washington to Colonel John Laurens on 13 October

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