We kick off America’s birthday year with the harrowing story of the capture of British spymaster Major John André, who was caught attempting to bring vital information on the American garrison at West Point to the British army command. The documents hidden in André’s boot made it clear that American General Benedict Arnold was involved in the conspiracy and a traitor to the cause.
Interviewees: Brian Keough, New York State Archivist and Aaron Noble, guest host and Senior Historian and Curator of Political and Military History at the New York State Museum.
Marker of Focus: Major John André, Rockland County.
For More Information: D.A.B. Ronald, The Life of John André: The Redcoat Who Turned Benedict Arnold, 2019.
John André, The Journal of Major John André, 1780.
Jack Kelly, God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America’s Most Hated Man, 2023.
Educator Resources: Consider the Source NY: The Capture of John André
Music: "Lemon Groves" by Bon Voyage
Lauren Roberts:
Welcome to a New York minute in history. I'm Lauren Roberts, the historian for Saratoga County, and this month, we're joined by Aaron noble, senior historian of political and military history, at the New York State Museum. Welcome Aaron.
Aaron Noble: Thank you. I'm glad to be here.
Lauren Roberts:
So Aaron, what is it you do? As the senior historian of political and military history.
Aaron Noble:
I oversee approximately 1 million objects in the state's political and military and governmental history, so documenting, researching and telling the story of New York's really rich political and military history through the three dimensional objects in the museum's collection.
Lauren Roberts:
Well, that puts you in the perfect spot to help us with this month's episode, since we are heading to Rockland County to talk about a marker that is located on old Tappan Road and Andre hill in the town of Tappan. And the text reads, Major John Andre, British spy hanged at site located 450 feet south on October 2, 1780 buried near gallows, exhumed and reinterred in England, 1821, William G Pomeroy Foundation, 2021, So Aaron, you are actually working towards the new exhibit for the 250th at the State Museum, is that correct?
Aaron Noble:
That's correct.
Lauren Roberts:
Okay, and is major Andre's story going to be part of that exhibit?
Aaron Noble:
Yeah, the John Andre story and the infamous betrayal of Benedict Arnold are definitely a key component to the upcoming exhibit that's supposed to open this coming June.
Lauren Roberts:
So, the marker that we're focusing on the Major John Andre marker, is actually at the location where he was executed as a British spy. But let's go back, and I would guess that a lot of people may not have heard of Major John Andre. They may have they may know that the name is associated with Benedict Arnold, who is the most infamous traitor during the American Revolution, but I would guess that probably not a lot of people know John Andre's side of the story. So let's go back and talk about who John Andre was before we get to the event where he's teaming up with Arnold.
Aaron Noble:
So John Andre is a major in the British Army. He is the adjutant for the for the British army. He's the head of spying operations for the British in and around New York City, and in that capacity, he is working to gather intelligence about the movements of George Washington's army, which is kind of in the hills surrounding New York City, New York City and being under British occupation in his efforts to kind of gather intelligence, he makes contact with American general Benedict Arnold, and really kicks off the plot to betray the American cause.
Lauren Roberts:
So, Andre's background is kind of interesting too, right? He's, he's not, in my opinion, he's not what people think of as your typical officer in the British Army. He has kind of unique skills as playwright, a poet. He has some pretty amazing drawings that survive. So how does he get into the British army? Why is it that. Someone like Andre would want to become when he has all the all of these other skills, you know? What? Why do people go into the British Army?
Aaron Noble:
He is a of a certain level in a kind of British society that he is. That's kind of the expectation for gentlemen in Great Britain and England at the time, he is, yeah, as you said, he is kind of this renaissance man. He has, he's an incredibly talented artist. The New York State Archives, part of their collection is a self portrait that he did of himself as he's awaiting execution after being found as a as a guilty of spying. He has he's very well educated his by all his accounts, incredibly charming. Many of the continental officers who interact with him while he's in prison comment on his on his stature, his his eloquence and just, and actually, many, including Washington, reportedly regret the fact that they kind of find themselves having to execute him.
Lauren Roberts:
So let's talk about, you know, just some of the quickly, some of the reasons behind why Arnold may have decided to become a traitor. Because, you know, as as the Saratoga County Historian, I must admit that Benedict Arnold, in the fall of 1777 is really seen as the hero, and rightfully so, of the victory at Saratoga. He is wounded pretty badly there, and when he goes to the General Hospital, and he's there for months recovering, this is before he goes to Philadelphia, that that kind of seems to be the time when his attitude starts to really turn against the Americans. He feels like he's not given the credit he deserves at Sarah for the victory at Saratoga, which is not the first time that he complains about not getting what he's deserved. So Arnold, then, you know, is in, say, maybe a little bit of flux in his feelings he's, maybe this is the time where he decides he's, you know, he is going to be a traitor. And so then how does, how does the correspondence or the connection with Andre start?
Aaron Noble:
So, yeah, so the Arnold's treason at West Point is kind of the exclamation point on his role in the revolution in New York State, even prior to the battles at Saratoga, Arnold, in May of 1775 leads one of the expeditions against Fort Ticonderoga, capturing a critical British outpost in the Champlain Valley. Those cannons that Fort Ticonderoga eventually are transported to Boston and help force the British out of Boston in 1776 he assembles a very hastily built fleet to oppose a British invasion of New York, and delays the British advance at the Battle of Valcour Island, which forces the British to postpone their plans to move on Albany until 1777 and general burgoyne's failed campaign that culminates at Saratoga. In all of these Arnold is celebrated as a hero, yet he is also very much driven by status and his kind of ego, constantly thinking that he should be better rewarded at the Battle of Saratoga. In particular, he's kind of written out of the story by General Horatio Gates, the overall American commander. And Arnold, by all accounts, was kind of prickly and also rubbed other American officers the wrong way. So he was, he becomes, he's oftentimes accused of corruption, of taking property or monies inappropriately. And eventually he appeals to Washington, and Washington, to Arnold's opinion, doesn't satisfy his his need for recognition adequately, and that is kind of the the point where he really starts to sour on the American cause and Washington while still valuing Arnold. But as you said, Arnold had been wounded very badly at Saratoga, is not necessarily up to the requirements of being in the field anymore. So Washington gives him command of West Point, which, at the time is is a very coveted and important post. Washington sees it as a an opportunity for Arnold to kind of regain his health, but also regain kind of his his name, Arnold, on the other hand, is now in possession of something that he knows the British won. Not very badly. West Point is the key to control of the Hudson Valley, and would have opened up the New York interior to the British Navy and to British forces. And so it creates this scenario where Arnold now has has something to bargain with, and that's when he begins contact and correspondence with John Andre.
Laurne Roberts:
And what is Arnold looking for in return from John Andre?
Aaron Noble:
I mean, he wants money, and a lot of it, and he also wants a commission in the British Army. He basically wants to assuming that as he's he's now taking the step of betraying his betraying the American cause. He anticipates the British being successful. He's going to emerge from this war as as a British hero, the man that turned over Washington and the American cause to the British Army. He he negotiates for a significant sum of money. Presumably, there would have been land grants in North America Following the war, but all of that collapses when John Andre is captured.
Lauren Roberts:
I would think, if I were Andre, I would be a little bit skeptical in getting correspondence from someone as revered or as well known as Benedict Arnold. So how does he determine that it is actually Benedict Arnold, I know it's a long, kind of a long correspondence, but where did how do they get to the point where Andre trusts him and Benedict Arnold, you know, is here saying, I'm ready to turn over West Point.
Aaron Noble:
At a certain point. I mean, once they've kind of, and this is a lot of speculation, but once Andre has kind of established kind of Arnold's desire to to change sides. In many ways, he actually has at that point, kind of the crucial thing he needs is that if Arnold, Arnold tries to back out of the deal, he now has kind of evidence of Arnold's intentions. So I'm not sure that Andre would have stooped to something so low as blackmail, given his kind of stature in British society, but it's a real concern for Arnold. The fact that Arnold, the night that Andre, comes ashore near West Point, Arnold meets with him in person, it becomes and then turns over these documents that are very clearly critical to the to the capture of West Point, it just becomes, there's a point where Arnold can't turn back.
Lauren Roberts:
And so for Andre, there's also a point right where he can't turn back. He gets stuck. They have this in person meeting where Andre comes up the Hudson on the vulture, right, a British, small British ship, and he's rowed ashore. They have this in person meeting. Andre receives the papers written in Arnold's hand, of all of the intelligence needed, basically, to take over West Point for a British attack to be able to win at West Point. Some Americans, I don't know whether it's militia, see the boat there.
Aaron Noble:
Yeah, so there's a detachment of American artillery. So the plan wasn't for Arnold and Andre to separate and for Andre to have to walk Overland. So Andre is rowed ashore in full British military uniform. He is under a flag of truce, supposedly to parlay with, with the American commander at West Point. So this is all kind of under the kind of the the rules of gentlemanly warfare. He was going to then be rode back to the Vulture and return to New York with, with the plans in his possession. It's, it's just happenstance that a small detachment of American artillery sees the Vulture and begins firing. It forces the vulture to raise anchor and move down river, cutting off Andre's initial planned path of retreat. At that point, the plan changes. Arnold drafts these passes under various aliases. John Anderson being the one that he's Andre is caught with to to allow Andre to to progress from West Point through Westchester County to British occupied New York, and it's important to remember that West Chester, at this point, is very much a no man's land. It's not really controlled by the Americans or the British. It is. It is neutral ground, but it's kind of kind of the Wild West during the American Revolution, right?
Lauren Roberts:
There's lots of raiding back and forth. Right? So it's really unsettled land. It's a dangerous place to be, no matter the side that you're on, but Andre doesn't have a choice, right? He has to go back this way. The vulture is gone, and then he takes off his British uniform, right? So he is now in a disguise, and that changes the rules of war, right?
Aaron Noble:
Yep, that is the critical decision that he he he puts on civilian clothing, is no longer an identified British officer, and tries to secretly move through West Chester. One of the reports when he is confronted by the three American militiamen is that he mistakes them for loyalist militias, and supposedly, initially announces that he is identifies himself as as a British officer. He then tries to backtrack and that he was just, Oh, I thought you guys were, were Tory, so I was just trying to play along the three militiamen. Supposedly, according to the records, he tries to offer them his pocket watch and other monetary rewards to let him go further, raising their suspicion. And in the process, they they detain him, and then they turn him over to to the American army so they find documents in his boot, and it's not clear whether or not they fully grasped the the significance of what they had found, but they knew that this guy was was walking through, was walking around. He had documents hidden in his boot. He tried, he had identifies himself as a British officer. He then tries to bribe them, so they they bring him to the American officers and and then it's at that point that Arnold's betrayal is discovered.
Lauren Roberts:
And so what does Andre do once he's captured?
Aaron Noble:
So Andre is captured. He is He is brought before Washington and other high ranking officers. He tries to argue that he is a British officer and should be treated as such, should be treated as a prisoner of war, or if he is to be executed, that he is executed by firing squad, which is seen as the more gentlemanly method of execution, rather than being hanged As a lowly spy, Washington, in his fury, really, at Arnold and Arnold's betrayal, decides to make an example of Andre. And I think by all accounts, Washington would happily have exchanged Andre for Benedict Arnold, but the British at that point were not willing to give Arnold back.
Lauren Roberts:
Isn't Andre pretty well respected by Clinton, doesn't, aren't they? Like good friends, and I think that Clinton would do everything he could to get Andre back.
Aaron Noble:
Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander, corresponds with with George Washington and tries to plead with Washington as an officer and as a gentleman to to have mercy on Andre and to return him to the British, but he's not willing to make that next step to to return Arnold, and seems to feel honor bound to uphold John Andres negotiated deal with with Arnold to betray the Americans, despite the fact that the rewards of this betrayal are now out of his reach.
Lauren Roberts:
And Arnold is able to safely escape to the British lines, right? So, so Andre is the one left, you know, getting the brunt of fury, where they can't really punish Arnold, because he's already safely with the British.
Aaron Noble:
Yeah, Arnold makes his way he finds out that the Andre has been detained. He makes his way out of American lines and makes it to the British. He then writes pens this kind of screed against the Americans and kind of trying to justify his his his betrayal and his actions. He then is given command of small numbers of British troops. He is sent to Virginia to terrorize the Virginia countryside. He is pursued Lafayette, the marque de Lafayette is sent by Washington to confront Arnold in Virginia. He really is fairly unsuccessful in his raids. He also raids along the Connecticut coast, but has no real significance in terms of determining the outcome of the war, as he did when he was was commanding the Americans and Valkyr Island and at Saratoga.
Lauren Roberts:
So Andre is left, you know, holding the guilty stick, and he's detained. It takes about a week, right? He's waiting in he's basically being held captive while his fate is decided. And that's when you mentioned before he draws a self portrait. Yes?
Aaron Noble:
So he's captured on September 23 and then executed a little over seven days later, nine days later, he is tried before an American tribunal and found guilty of being a spy. There's very little he can do to defend himself. He's in civilian clothing. He's he's got papers in his boot, that that are signed by Benedict Arnold, that have all the information the British army would have needed to capture West Point and he he then is imprisoned, awaiting the final determination by George Washington on what would happen. There are accounts of the New York State Library has diaries of several American officers from New York that are specifically brought to Tappan both to reinforce the garrison at West Point, but also to be witnesses to the execution at one point, Andre is to be executed on October 1, there is a reprieve on October 1, as Washington supposedly considers what his ultimate decision is going to be. But then on October 2, Andre is executed.
Many of the officers in the American army after the after the war actually start to There they are, the ones, particularly Benjamin Talmadge is becomes a congressman, and in his speech before Congress, actually lauds Andre and talks about the militiamen that capture him and brands them as brigands and robbers. And that creates, really, this perpetuate this kind of perpetuated story, or this kind of cloud over Van Wart, Paulding and Williams as to what their true motivations were. And it's, it's one of the enduring mysteries of this is, is, were they honest militiamen, as many argue, or, or did they just kind of stumble into into this opportunity, and then, thankfully for the American cause, made the determination not to accept Andre's offers of money, but rather to turn him over to the Americans.
Laurne Roberts:
So Andre is executed by hanging on the gallows in the in the town of Japan. And he is, he's buried there, and then eventually, what, 50 years later, he's exhumed and and now lays in Westminster Abbey.
Aaron Noble:
He is buried in Tappan, and then in the 1820s is brought and laid to rest in England at Westminster Abbey, in a very prominent place. So if you're a tourist in London and go there, you can see his gravesite. Andre was very much a hero of the British cause. Arnold, on the other hand, returns to England, lives in London for the rest of his life, and dies, really just despised and hated by all.
Lauren Roberts:
You have talked a little bit about the militiamen who captured Andre who came upon him in kind of no man's land, and they were given a medal, correct for I know you mentioned what Benjamin Talmadge said later on, but at the time, they were, they were heroes, right? They, they were the ones who captured Andre. And like you said, they didn't take the bribe of the pocket watch, but instead turned him over.
Aaron Noble:
Yes, so in 2024 the New York State Museum was fortunate enough to receive a donation of of the last known remaining what's known as the Andre capture, or the fidelity medallion, from the estate of one of Isaac van warts, last living descendants, Faith Ray Van Wart Robinson, the Office of cultural education, houses the museum and the State Archives. And so these kind of two incredibly important pieces of history, the Andre papers and the fidelity medal are kind of reunited, and really give us an opportunity to tell this story in a way that nobody else can.
Lauren Roberts:
In order to learn more about the papers that were found in the boot and also the past that was on Andre when he was captured. We spoke with New York state archivist Brian Keough.
Brian Keough:
Well, he had some other intelligence information in documents. In the documents that were in his boot, including the estimation of forces at West Point and some of the dependencies around that area, these documents tell the quantity of soldiers at the West Point outpost, and it was a key piece that would be useful to the British British in their attempt to take over the fort at West Point. There are also a listing of the number of men necessary to take control once they attacked and took over the fort at West Point. This document was a piece of information that was signed by the Chief Engineer at West Point that they smuggled out of the fort and got over to Benedict Arnold. There were also artillery orders that were found on Major Andre at the time. The document describes what takes place in case of an attack. How the West Point American army would respond if the British attack them. So really important intelligence information so they could prepare for what was to happen once they took over the fort. There was also a return ordinance so Andre could get back after they captured West Point to cross back over. And this was signed by the artillery commander at West Point.
Lauren Roberts:
Now that we're in the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, having items such as the fidelity medallion at the New York State Museum, and the Andre papers at the New York State Archives, really makes history tangible for people who want to come out and learn about these stories of the American Revolution. And it's a story where you think you might know what happened, but certainly for all the rest of the people involved, like the militiamen who captured Andre, or Andre as the actual spy that Arnold was working with. These types of items that have been preserved at the State Museum and the State Archives really helped bring to life the history of our revolutionary past, and through exhibits and having these items on display, having high quality scans and images that people can access all the time, it really allows the historians as the storytellers to help bring that history to life and create exhibits and events that people want to come to and talk about the history and really try to understand how this American experiment really happened, through a process of years, and through the American Revolution, and of course, all of the people that are involved, not just the process, but what about these people? What about their lives? And we're so grateful that you know that the preservation of these items is happening in our state.
Brian Keough:
It brings you into the past. It's sort of a window into the past to like when you see an original artifact that you get similar reactions from people that you know, to have something that is 250 years old, that survived and is still intact and in good shape. It really it connects people to history rather than, you know, seeing things online is great, and it's more accessible online, but to see that original document that you know, that there's nothing else like it in the entire universe, it's pretty powerful, and it's pretty exhilarating. I even get exhilarated when I see original documents in the archives, you know. So it's a powerful thing, and it's an amazing way to connect people to to the history of New York State and the vital role that it played in American history.
Aaron Noble:
Thanks for listening to a New York minute in history. This podcast is a production of WAMC northeast Public Radio and the New York State Museum, with support from the William G Pomeroy Foundation, our producer is Aaron Shellow-Lavine.
Lauren Roberts:
A big thanks to all our guests for taking part. If you enjoyed this month's episode, make sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and share on social media to learn more about our guests and the show, check us out at W amc.org, we're also on X and Instagram at NY History Minute.
