John André

For other uses, see: John André (disambiguation).

Major John André

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

Early life

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 moved 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 favourite 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, where it is said he took items from Franklin's home when the British left Philadelphia. 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.

His capture and execution

In 1779, he became adjutant-general of the British Army with the rank of Major. In April, he was placed in charge of the British Secret Intelligence. By the next year (1780) he had begun to plot with American General Benedict Arnold. Arnold's Loyalist wife, Peggy Shippen, was a close friend of André from the time of his stay in Philadelphia, and the two courted prior to Shippen's marriage to Arnold; 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.

The Capture of John André

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[1], where three men with guns stopped him, including John Paulding, Isaac Van Wart and David Williams. "Gentlemen," said André, who thought they were Tories because one was wearing a Hessian overcoat, "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. Only Paulding could read them, and for some time, Arnold was not suspected. 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). André testified at his trial that the men searched his boots for the purpose of robbing him.

Major André's hanging

The prisoner was at first detained at Sands Mill in Armonk, New York, before being taken to the headquarters of the American Army at Tappan, and was held at The Old '76 House which was not a prison, and has never been a place of incarceration for anyone before or since. General George Washington convened a board of senior officers to investigate the matter. The board consisted of Major Generals Nathanael Greene (the presiding officer), Lord Stirling, Arthur St. Clair, Lafayette, Robert Howe, Steuben, Brigadier Generals Samuel H. Parsons, James Clinton, Henry Knox, John Glover, John Paterson, Edward Hand , Jedediah Huntington, John Stark, and Judge-Advocate-General John Laurance. On September 29, 1780, the board found André guilty of being behind American lines "under a feigned name and in a disguised habit", and that "Major André, Adjutant-General to the British army, ought to be considered as a Spy from the enemy, and that agreeable to the law and usage of nations, it is their opinion, he ought to suffer death." Later, Glover was officer of the day at André's execution. Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander in New York, did all he could to save André, but refused to surrender Arnold (who had escaped to British lines upon learning of Andre's capture) in exchange for André even though he despised Arnold and André was his favorite aide. André 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. This poem, written two days before his execution, was found in his pocket after his execution.

MY HIDING PLACE

Hail, sovereign love, which first began
The scheme to rescue fallen man!
Hail, matchless, free, eternal grace,
That gave my soul a Hiding Place!
Against the God who built the sky,
I fought with hands uplifted high,
Despised the mention of His grace,
Too proud to seek a Hiding Place.
Enwrapt in thick Egyptian night,
And fond of darkness more than light,
Madly I ran the sinful race,
'Secure' without a Hiding Place.
But thus the eternal counsel ran:
"Almighty love, arrest that man!"
I felt the arrows of distress,
And found I had no hiding place.
Indignant Justice stood in view.
To Sinai's fiery mount I flew;
But Justice cried, with frowning face:
"This mountain is no hiding place."
Ere long a heavenly voice I heard,
And Mercy's angel soon appeared;
He led me with a beaming face,
To Jesus, as a Hiding Place.
On Him almighty vengeance fell,
Which must have sunk a world to hell.
He bore it for a sinful race,
And thus became their Hiding Place.
Should sevenfold storms of thunder roll,
And shake this globe from pole to pole,
No thunderbolt shall daunt my face,
For Jesus is my Hiding Place.
A few more setting suns at most,
Shall land me on fair Canaan's coast,
Where I shall sing the song of grace,
And see my glorious Hiding Place.
-Major John Andre

Memorial at site of hanging

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. Alexander Hamilton wrote of him: "Never perhaps did any man suffer death with more justice, or deserve it less." The day before André's hanging he drew, with pen and ink, a likeness of himself, which is now owned by Yale College. In fact André, according to witnesses, refused the blindfold and placed the noose around his own neck.

An eyewitness account of the last day of Major Andre can be found in the book THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION From the Commencement to the Disbanding of the American Army Given in the Form of a Daily Journal, with the Exact Dates of all the Important Events; Also, a Biographical Sketch of the Most Prominent Generals. By James Thacher, M.D., Surgeon in the American Revolutionary Army

"October 2d.-- Major Andre is no more among the living. I have just witnessed his exit. It was a tragical scene of the deepest interest. During his confinement and trial, he exhibited those proud and elevated sensibilities which designate greatness and dignity of mind. Not a murmur or a sigh ever escaped him, and the civilities and attentions bestowed on him were politely acknowledged. Having left a mother and two sisters in England, he was heard to mention them in terms of the tenderest affection, and in his letter to Sir Henry Clinton, he recommended them to his particular attention. The principal guard officer, who was constantly in the room with the prisoner, relates that when the hour of execution was announced to him in the morning, he received it without emotion, and while all present were affected with silent gloom, he retained a firm countenance, with calmness and composure of mind. Observing his servant enter the room in tears, he exclaimed, "Leave me till you can show yourself more manly!" His breakfast being sent to him from the table of General Washington, which had been done every day of his confinement, he partook of it as usual, and having shaved and dressed himself, he placed his hat upon the table, and cheerfully said to the guard officers, "I am ready at any moment, gentlemen, to wait on you." The fatal hour having arrived, a large detachment of troops was paraded, and an immense concourse of people assembled; almost all our general and field officers, excepting his excellency and staff, were present on horseback; melancholy and gloom pervaded all ranks, and the scene was affectingly awful. I was so near during the solemn march to the fatal spot, as to observe every movement, and participate in every emotion which the melancholy scene was calculated to produce.

Major Andre walked from the stone house, in which he had been confined, between two of our subaltern officers, arm in arm; the eyes of the immense multitude were fixed on him, who, rising superior to the fears of death, appeared as if conscious of the dignified deportment which he displayed. He betrayed no want of fortitude, but retained a complacent smile on his countenance, and politely bowed to several gentlemen whom he knew, which was respectfully returned. It was his earnest desire to be shot, as being the mode of death most conformable to the feelings of a military man, and he had indulged the hope that his request would be granted. At the moment, therefore, when suddenly he came in view of the gallows, he involuntarily started backward, and made a pause. "Why this emotion, sir?" said an officer by his side. Instantly recovering his composure, he said, "I am reconciled to my death, but I detest the mode." While waiting and standing near the gallows, I observed some degree of trepidation; placing his foot on a stone, and rolling it over and choking in his throat, as if attempting to swallow. So soon, however, as he perceived that things were in readiness, he stepped quickly into the wagon, and at this moment he appeared to shrink, but instantly elevating his head with firmness he said, "It will be but a momentary pang," and taking from his pocket two white handkerchiefs, the provost-marshal, with one, loosely pinioned his arms, and with the other, the victim, after taking off his hat and stock, bandaged his own eyes with perfect firmness, which melted the hearts and moistened the cheeks, not only of his servant, but of the throng of spectators. The rope being appended to the gallows, he slipped the noose over his head and adjusted it to his neck, without the assistance of the awkward executioner. Colonel Scammel now informed him that he had an opportunity to speak, if he desired it; he raised the handkerchief from his eyes, and said, "I pray you to bear me witness that I meet my fate like a brave man." The wagon being now removed from under him, he was suspended, and instantly expired; it proved indeed "but a momentary pang." He was dressed in his royal regimentals and boots, and his remains, in the same dress, were placed in an ordinary coffin, and interred at the foot of the gallows; and the spot was consecrated by the tears of thousands ..."

Aftermath

Self-portrait on the eve of André's execution

A pension was awarded to his mother and three sisters not long after his death, and his brother William was 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 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

Historical portrayal

André is primarily remembered as a British spymaster and Benedict Arnold's handler. Popular legend holds that Peggy Shippen fell in love with and pursued André, as she later did with Arnold.

Some authors of both historical documentary and fiction have speculated that André was homosexual. Examples of such portrayal occur in Dark Eagle : A Novel of Benedict Arnold and the American Revolution (1999) by John Ensor Harr. Benedict Arnold: A Drama of the American Revolution in Five Acts (2005) by Robert Zubrin similarly implies that André was a lover of General Henry Clinton.

Historically, a possible allusion to André's lack of interest in women occurs in one of Shippen's letters, which refers to Andre's "unrequited appeal to the fairer sex".

Willard Sterne Randall's non-fiction book, Alexander Hamilton : a life, gives some details about Major John Andre in reference to some time before his capture (as Hamilton's wife had an interest in André prior to her marriage) and his execution. In describing André, he stated that there was most likely a relationship between Andre and General Clinton, to whom he wrote a last letter.

Further reading

• Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (1858), vol vi, which contains a comprehensive essay by Charles J. Biddle
• Andreana, H. W. Smith (Philadelphia, 1865)
• Two spies, Lossing, (New York, 1886)
• Life and Career of Major John André, Sargent, new edition (New York, 1904)
• The Secret is Out: True Spy Stories, T. Martini (Boston, 1990)

See also

• André (play)
• The events around the treason of General Arnold and the gallant English officer Major André were the subject of the film The Scarlet Coat (1955), directed by John Sturges, with Michael Wilding playing Major André.

External links

• "The Capture of Major John André" by A.C. Warren (1856)
• Letters from Andre, including coded interchange between Andre and Arnold
• More on his early life
• John André (Westminster Abbey)