Andre, Major John

an'dra, Major John (1751-1780), a British soldier. He was born of Swiss-French parentage in London, 1751, and was executed as a spy at Tappan, New York, October 2, 1780. He was an accomplished musician. He wrote facetious poems, arranged plays, and was a universal favorite with his fellow officers. When Benedict Arnold, in command of West Point, was meditating the surrender of that important fortress to the British, Andre, then Clinton's adjutant-general, was sent up the Hudson in a ship to arrange the details with Arnold. He entered West Point under a flag of truce. His ship, being fired upon by an American fort, dropped down the river, and Andre was obliged to return to New York by land. Arnold provided him with passports which carried him beyond the American lines. At Tarrytown, almost in sight of the British outposts, he was seized by three prowling American militiamen. He offered them a large sum to let him go free, but finding Arnold's traitorous dispatches in Andre's boots, they carried him to an American commander. The disguise and the traitorous correspondence left no doubt whatever that Andre was engaged in forwarding Arnold's infamous business. He was sent before a court-martial and was condemned to be hanged as a spy. His youth, popular ways, and influential family connections, were urged in vain. Washington offered, indeed, to exchange him for the traitor, Arnold, who had fled to the British. This Clinton refused. Washington felt that Andre must be executed as a warning. Finding that there was no hope, Andre met his fate with firmness. He asked as a last favor that he be permitted to die the death of a soldier, to be shot, instead of hanged, but his request could not be granted. Andre was buried at the foot of the gallows. In 1821 his remains were conveyed to England and deposited in Westminster Abbey. A memorial tablet, a sarcophagus with Britannia weeping, may be seen in the south aisle. Historical justice requires the statement that, had Andre escaped capture, his memory would have been linked with the infamy of Arnold; but the circumstances of his execution, though in accordance with the stern necessity of war, aroused the world's sympathy to such an extent that he is regarded almost as a martyr. To Andre's captors, John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wert, Congress gave a pension of $200 a year and a silver medal. In 1853 a monument to their memory was erected at the place of capture. See Arnold