Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1883 — Maj. Andre, the Hanged Spy. [ARTICLE]

Maj. Andre, the Hanged Spy.

On the 2d of Oct., 1780, Maj. John Andre, Aid-de-Camp to Sir Henry Clinton, and sometime Adjutant General of the British forces in North America, was “tried as a spy, condemned as a spy, and hanged as a spy, ” at Tappan, Rockland county, N. Y., some five miles from the north bank of the Hudson river. The circumstances attending his arrest and execution are familiar to all. It has been said of Andre that his fate might have been averted in two ways—by a steady resistance of Arnold’s senseless importunities to bring him within the American lines, and by a frank and immediate presentation of Arnold's pass when stopped by Paulding, Williams and Van Wart. His loss of selfpossession at that critical moment is remarkable; for, as Americans, they would in all human probability have suffered him to pass without further examination; and, had they been of the opposite party, they would certainly have conducted him to some British post, the very haven where he would be. In the autumn of 1821 Mr. James Buchanan,who was then British Consul in New York, requested permission to remove the remains of Andre to England, and this permission was granted. After uncovering the coffin the remains were exposed to view, and the skeleton -was found to be in perfect order. A peach tree, which had been planted at -the head of the grave, by a sympathetic woman, had sent its roots so far into the ground that they penetrated the frail coffin and completely enveloped the skull with their fibers. The remains were carefully transferred to a sarcophagus which had been prepared, -conveyed to England and buried in Westminster Abbey, where they repose beneath the sixth window-, in the south eisle. The monument is a figure of Britannia reclining on a sarcophagus, and the inscription on the pedestal arads: “Sacred to the memory of Maj. Andre, who, raised by his merit, at an early period of life, to the rank of Adjutant Genera! of the British forces in America, and, employed in an important but hazardous enterprise, fell a sacrifice to his zeal for his King and country, on the 2d-of October, 1780, aged 29, universally beloved and esteemed by the army in which he served, and lamented even by his foes.

His generous sovereign, King George III., has caused this monument to be erected.” Much as Andre’s fate may be lamented, that fate was none the less a just one, and in strict conformity with those laws which govern warfare.