USA > New York > New York City > History of the New Netherlands, province of New York, and state of New York : to the adoption of the federal Constitution. Vol. II > Part 20
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visit the boat was to make to the sloop of war-the quarter-master had provided the boat-the commanders of the guard-boats had due notice, and all was made safe. Colquhoun then said he could not row the boat alone. His brother Joseph was then mentioned, and Samuel sent for him. They, after conferring, both determined not to go.
After trying persuasion, Arnold used threats. He should look upon them as disaffected, if they persisted to refuse, and put them under arrest. They at length consented to obey his orders, and repaired to the place of embarkation. They were directed by Arnold to muffle the oars ; and thus prepared, about midnight, the boat arrived at the Vulture. The noise made by the officer on watch and the sailors, in their hailing the boat, was heard below, and a boy sent up with orders that the man should be shewn into the cabin, supposing him to be Arnold. Smith descended, and found his old acquaintance, Beverley Robinson. A letter from Arnold was presented to the Colonel, in which he said, " This will be delivered to you by Mr. Smith, who will conduct you to a place of safety. Neither Mr. Smith nor any other person shall be made acquainted with your proposals, if they (which I doubt not) are of such a nature that I can officially take notice of them, I shall do it with pleasure. I take it for granted, Colonel Robinson* will not propose any thing that is not for the interest of the United States as well as of himself." Smith had likewise two papers, signed by Arnold, which he showed to Robinson-one, a permission to pass and repass with a boat to Dobbs's Ferry-the other, a " permission to Joshua Smith, Mr. John Anderson, and two servants, to pass and repass the guards near King's Ferry, at all times." By these papers, Colonel Robinson understood that Arnold expected Andre to come on shore. Smith was left with the captain of the vessel for about a quarter of an hour, when Robinson returned with a per- son whom he introduced as Mr. Anderson. He excused himself from going ashore, but this person would go in his stead, and was competent to the transaction of the business. Andre, although in his uniform, was so completely enveloped in a blue great coat, that Smith (if we believe his assertions) did not suspect his real name or character.
Smith and Andre descended into the boat where the Colquhouns awaited them. They were landed at the foot of a mountain called the Long Clove, on the western margin of the river, about six miles below Stony Point. The Vulture lay between the place and
* This gentleman had been proprietor and resident of the house occupied before his flight by Arnold as his head-quarters.
,
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Teller's Point. Here Arnold was in attendance on horseback, with another horse brought by a servant of Smith's.
It was now perfectly dark, and Smith knowing the spot desig- nated by Arnold, groped his way up the bank, and found the com- mander of West Point concealed among trees and bushes .* What a contrast does this form to the gallant soldier scorning the imbe- cility or timidity of Gates, and though deprived of legitimate com- mand, leading the soldiers who hailed his appearance with accla- mations, and followed him, on Behmus's Height, into the redoubts of the enemy. Here a sculking, sneaking conspirator, awaiting the approach of that enemy, to close a bargain for the lives and liberties of those soldiers.
Smith was sent back for his companion, and having introduced him, was requested to retire to the boat, where he remained, ill at ease and watchful, while the Colquhouns, conscience-free, slept soundly through the remainder of the night. The conference ap- peared unnecessarily long to Mr. Smith, and he retraced his way to give notice of the approach of morning, and the necessity of de- parting before daylight appeared.
The conspirators had exhausted the night, and their business was not yet completed. It was agreed that the boat should be dis- missed, and sent up the river. André consented to mount a led horse brought to the Clove with Arnold, and to accompany him to Smith's house, there to remain through the day, and return to the sloop of war next night. It was still dark, and, as the British of- ficer asserts, the voice of the sentinel demanding the countersign, was the first indication to the adjutant-general, that he was within the American lines. It appears strange that an officer having ac- cess to every source- of information, and long contemplating this attempt, should be ignorant of the ground which the enemy's posts occupied, especially as he had been on board the Vulture in full view of the Clove, where he landed, and which was a considerable distance within those lines.
About the break of day, the conspirators arrived at Smith's house. He had proceeded with the boat to Crom Island, in Haver- straw Creek, and dismissing the Colquhouns, joined Arnold? To the alarm of the groupe, a cannonade was very soon heard, and from the window, Andre beheld that the Vulture was in peril from the guns, and saw her obliged to weigh anchor and stand down the river. In an upper apartment in Smith's house, the spy and the traitor, viewed this unexpected incident, and Sir Henry Clinton's adjutant-general, no doubt, felt for a time, that the net prepared for others, was closing around him. It is to be supposed, that the
* Smith's words are, " hid among the firs."
1
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commander of West Point re-assured him, and after breakfast Smith left them to finish " the plot of treachery."
The details of this infamous proceeding. have not been fully brought to light. Sir Henry Clinton has said, in his letter to the English ministry, that he thought the plan of such importance, that it ought to be pursued " at every risk, and any expense." Ar- nold knew the importance of the post he was entrusted with, and of course stipulated for an adequate price. It is understood, that the day also was fixed. Andre was to return to New York, and the British troops (already embarked under the pretence of an expedition to the Chesapeake,) were to be ready to ascend the river. Arnold was to weaken the post of West Point by such a disposition of the garrison, as would yield it an easy prey to the troops brought against it.
Every preliminary was settled, and the spy furnished with all the papers explanatory of the condition of the post, and the manner in which its force was to be rendered unavailable, and its garrison be- trayed to death or captivity. Andre required to be put in safety on board the Vulture : to this Arnold assented, and, although a different route was proposed, it appears from the following, (which André wrote after his capture,) that he supposed he was to be sent on board the attending sloop of war. - His words are, " Arnold quitted me, having himself, made me put the papers I bore, between my stockings and feet. Whilst he did it, he expressed a wish, in case of any accident befalling me, that they should be destroyed : which I said of course would be the case, as when I went into the boat I should have them tied about with a string and a stone. Be- fore we parted, some mention had been made of my crossing the river, and going another route; but I objected much against it, and thought it was settled, that in the way I came, so I should return."
Before Arnold left Smith's house, he urged him to go with An- dré on board the Vulture as soon as it was dark ; but as if to pro- vide for obstacles, he sent two passes for Smith, the one a permission to go "with a boat, three hands and a flag to Dobbs's Ferry on publick business and return immediately," the other, to pass the guards to the White Plains and return. To this was added a-third, as follows, " Head-quarters, Robinson's house, September 22d, 17S0 .-- Permit Mr. John Anderson to pass the guards to the White Plains, or below, if he chooses. He being on publick business by my direction .- B. Arnold, M. Gen."
A miserable day was passed by the spy in solitude, and when evening came, Smith positively refused to go again on board the Vulture: neither had he engaged any person to row the boat. 1 The reason he gave, was an attack of the ague, but this did not prevent him, as will be seen, from accompanying André on horse
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back in his nocturnal journey, or from crossing the river with him. Smith's reasons for not taking the spy on board the sloop of war, have never been explained. We know that Andre was compelled to take the route Smith pointed out, which was to cross the river and proceed in the direction of White Plains. It had been settled between the two principals in the treacherous business, that, if the adjutant-general, should be obliged to return to New York by land,
Ac- he should exchange his military garb, for a citizens dress. cordingly Smith's clothes were made use of, and we must suppose, that this circumstance would make him suspect, if it did not make known to him, the quality of Arnold's mysterious visiter ; although it is pretended that the military habiliments of the spy, were repre- sented to Smith as merely the consequence of Anderson's vanity, who, wishing to make a figure, borrowed them from an acquaint- ance. 'That Joshua was so credulous is not to be believed.
The uniform cont of the adjutant-general was left at Smith's house : and with a coat of Joshua's, covered by the dark great coat with a wide cape, and buttoned close to his neck, André was equip- ped for the journey. Accordingly, in the evening, he and Smith proceeded to King's Ferry. On the way Smith endeavoured to draw his companion into conversation, but without success. He was reserved and thoughtful. On the contrary, Joshua accosted several of his acquaintance on the road, and even stopped at a sut- tlers tent and joined in discussing a bowl of punch, while André walked his horse slowly to the ferry alone ; and there waited Smith's arrival.
As they passed through the works at Verplanck's Point, Smith rode up to Colonel Livingston's tent, while Andre and a servant who attended him, (a negro of Smith's,) rode on. To the colonel's enquiries, Smith said, he was going up the country, and took charge of letters for General Arnold and Governour Clinton. He excused himself from stopping, as a gentleman waited for him, whose busi- ness was urgent. He then overtook his charge, and they proceeded until between eight and nine at night, when they were stopped by a patroling party, whose officer appeared suspicious, asked many questions and would not suffer them to pass until he had guarded them to an adjacent house, and read the talismanick pass of the commander of the district. All this was gall and wormwood to the spy, but Smith re-assured him, and, by lying with an impudent face, carried him through. The officer, although yielding obedi- ence to his general's orders, was particularly inquisitive to know of Smith, what urgent business induced him and his companion to tra- vel so late at night near the enemies lines ; expressed his fears that they would fall in with the Cow-boys; who, he assured him, were out. These were the refugee plunderers, attached to the British part ; called themselves loyalists ; and were particularly active in
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making prisoners of unarmed rebels, aad carrying off rebel cows or any other article animate or inanimate, that might be turned to account in New York city. The Americans had a set of rol- bers near the British lines, who, were as notorious for licentious exploits as the cow-boys, and passed under the appellation of Skinners. Westchester county lay between the lines of the two hostile armies, and was the field on which these worthies, whether loyal or patriotick, exhibited their atrocious dexterity.
To the queries of the captain, Smith answered that he and Mr. Anderson, were employed by General Arnold to meet a person near White Plains, who was expected to give intelli- gence of importance. Still Captain Boyd advised delay till morn- ing. He represented the danger of travelling by night, so power- fully, that Smith was alarmed ; but Andre, who had more fears of those who surrounded him, than of the refugee Cow-boys, insisted upon proceeding. Smith then consulted the American officer as to the safest road, and was told that the Tarrytown road was most in- fested by Cow-boys, but both exceedingly dangerous : his repre- sentations induced Smith to determine upon passing the night at the house of one Andreas Miller, and Andre, much against his will acquiesced. They were hospitably received, but could only be accommodated with one bed, and, according to Smith's account, his companion passed a weary and restless night. In this we may believe Mr. Smith.
André was first to leave the bed of thorns, as it must have proved to him. He roused the servant-ordered the horses- and by dawn of day the party took the road to Pine's bridge, which crosses Croton river on the way to North Castle. Being, as he thought, freed from the American patroles, Andre became cheerful and animated ; astonishing his companion and guide by the sudden change in his character, from gloom and taciturnity, to gaiety and easy conversation. At Pine's bridge, Smith previously determined to leave Mr. Anderson, as the Cow-boys had recently been above, and the region below was considered as their appropriate domain. The travellers breakfasted on suppawn and milk at the house of a Dutch woman who had been plundered by the refugees, and then the guide left his charge, who heard of the marauding parties from below with more satisfaction than his companion.
Smith returned towards his home, but made a circuit and took Robinson's house in his way, that he might give Arnold an account of the progress Mr. Anderson had made in his return to the city.
The Spy had now to pass alone through the neutral ground as it was called, where the warfare of robbers prevailed, and where Cow-boys or Skinners were equally feared by the inhabitants ; but Mr. André had the American general's pass to produce to the one party, and his true character to protect him from the other.
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Still he could not but feel that his situation was one of peril. The remarks he had heard from the captain of the patrole on the pre- ceding night seems to have induced the adjutant-general to take the Tarrytown road as the one most frequented by the Cow-boys; for it was understood by Smith that he would proceed towards White Plains. Upon what apparently chance-circumstances the fate of individuals and armies, and states, appears to depend ! Had this bearer of ruin to thousands proceeded on the road at first intended, he probably would have accomplished -the treason in safety to himself: but a few words uttered at random by the American officer to Smith, respecting the danger of the road nearest the Hudson, determined the spy to turn that way as most frequented by his friends-and by that Heaven-directed turn, the impending ruin was averted and the lives of thousands saved.
1
From Pine's bridge the adjutant-general of the British army had proceeded about eleven miles, and approached within a few hundred yards of the Hudson without interruption, and probably felt himself beyond the reach of detection. About half a mile north of Tarrytown the road crosses a small brook. A few rods from this brook a period was put to the journey of the spy and the progress of the treason.
On this fated morning, seven of the inhabitants of this region had by agreement taken their arms and proceeded to the neigh- bourhood of this brook, and bridge, to prevent cattle from being driven towards New York ; and to seize as legal prize, any such loyal cows or oxen as might be destined for his majesty's troops by their friends. Four of this band were stationed on a hill com- manding a view of the road : the others, John Paulding, Isaac Van Wart and David Williams, were concealed by bushes very near the road.
At Smith's trial,* which was by a court martial, and commenced the day after Andre's examination, Paulding and Williams gave the following testimony. Paulding said,t " Myself, Isaac Van Wart, and David Williams were lying by the side of the road about half a mile above Tarrytown, and about fifteen miles above Kingsbridge, on Saturday morning, between nine and ten o'clock, the 23d of September. We had lain there about an hour and a half as near as I can recollect, and saw several persons we were acquainted with, whom we let pass. Presently one of the young men, who were with me, said, 'There comes a gentlemanlike- looking man, who appears to be well dressed, and has boots on,
* See Spark's Amer. Biog. Vol. III, p. 223.
t See the trial and Smith's book, published in London 1808, called " An Au- thentick Narrative," &c. &c.
VOL. II.
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and whom you had better step out and stop, if you don't know . him.' On that I got up, and presented my firelock at the breast of the person, and told him to stand ; and then I asked him which way he was going. 'Gentlemen,' said he, 'I hope you belong to our party.' I asked him what party. He said, " The Lower Party.' Upon that I told him I did. Then he said, ' I am a British officer out of the country on particular business, and I hope you will not detain me a minute ;' and to show that he was a British officer he pulled out his watch. Upon which I told him to dismount. He then said, ' My God, I must do any thing to get along,' and seemed to make a kind of laugh of it, and pulled out General Arnold's pass, which was to John Anderson, to pass all guards to White Plains and below. Upon that he dismounted. Said he, ' Gentle- men, you had best let me go, or you will bring yourselves into trouble, for your stopping me will detain the General's business ;' and said he was going to Dobbs's Ferry to meet a person there and . cet intelligence for General Arnold. Upon that I told him I hoped : he would not be offended ; that we did not mean to take any thing from him ; and I told him there were many bad people, who were going along the road, and I did not know but perhaps he might be one."
Mr. Paulding said further, that he asked the unknown gentleman his name, and he answered " John Anderson,"-that on seeing General Arnold's pass he should have let him go, if he had not previously said he was a British officer ; and that when he pulled out his watch, he understood it as a confirmation of that assertion, and not as offering it to him. Mr. Williams confirmed the above statement, with these particulars :-
" We took him into the bushes, and ordered him to pull off his clothes, which he did; but on searching him narrowly we could not find any sort of writings. We told him to pull off his boots, which he seemed to be indifferent about ; but we got one boot off, and searched in that boot, and could find nothing. But we found there were some papers in the bottom of his stocking next to his foot ; on which we made him pull his stocking off, and found three papers wrapped up. Mr. Paulding looked at the contents, and said he was a spy. We then made him pull off his other boot, and there we found three more papers at the bottom of his foot within his stocking.
" Upon this we made him dress himself, and I asked him what he would give us to let him go. He said he would give us any sum of money. I asked him whether he would give us his horse, saddle, bridle, watch, and one hundred guineas. He said 'yes,' and told us he would direct them to any place, even if it was that very spot, so that we could get them. I asked him whether he would not give us more. He said he would give us any quantity
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of dry goods, or any sum of money, and bring it to any place that we might pitch upon, so that we might get it. Mr. Paulding an- swered, 'No, if you would give us ten thousand guineas, you should not stir one step.' I then asked the person, who had called himself John Anderson, if he would not get away if it lay in his power. He answered, ' Yes, I would.' I told him I did not in- tend he should. While taking him along we asked him a few questions, and we stopped under a shade. He begged us not to ask him questions, and said when he came to any commander hic would reveal all.
" He was then dressed in a blue over-coat, and a tight body- coat, that was a kind of claret-colour, though a rather deeper red than claret. The button-holes were laced with gold tinsel, and the buttons drawn over with the same kind of lace. He had on a roand hat, and nankeen waistcoat and breeches, with a flannel waistcoat and drawers, boots, and thread stockings."
North Castle being the nearest military post, the prisoner was escorted thither and delivered to Lieutenant-Colonel Jameson, the commander, with all the papers : 1st, The orders directing each corps where to be stationed on an alarm. By this the British would know how to proceed in the work of death without danger to themselves. 2d, An estimate of the garrison. 3d, An estimate of the number requisite to man the works. 4th, A return of the ordnance. 5th, Remarks on the construction of the fortifications. 6th. Information respecting the probable operations of the campaign as far as the traitor had been enabled to gain them. These papers in Arnold's hand writing were delivered to Jameson ; he examined them, and one would think must have known for what purpose they were given to the spy ; and yet he suffered himself to be persuad- ed by Andre, (who saw in it the only chance of escape,) to send him back to Arnold. The sapient lieutenant-colonel of dragoons wrote to the traitor a letter saying, that he sent to him " a certain Jolin Anderson, who had been taken while going towards New York." " He had a passport signed in your name, and a parcel of papers taken from under his stockings, which I think of very dangerous tendency." He described the papers and added that he had sent them to General Washington. It is only wonderful that he did not send them to Arnold.
Major Talmadge, who was second in command at North Castle, and had been absent when the spy was brought in, was astonished at the conduct of Jameson, and offered to to secure Arnold, whose treason was palpable. This was not per- mitted : but at his earnest request the spy was remanded by an express sent after his conductors, but with orders for the officer of the escort to proceed with the letter to Arnold. The spy was brought back to North Castle, and for further security sent to
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Lower Salem, the quarters of Sheldon the colonel of the regiment : but the letter went to warn the traitor of his peril.
André knowing that the papers taken on his person had been sent to General Washington, and of course that all hopes of escape or concealment were at an end, wrote a letter to the American commander-in-chief, which he handed open to Major Talmadge, under whose escort he had been guarded from North Castle to Salem. In it, he endeavours to excuse the duplicity of his previous conduct, and avows his name and station. He says, he came by agreement to meet a person " upon ground not within the posts of either army," for the purpose of gaining intelligence. That withi- out his knowledge he was conducted within an American post. That by a refusal to reconduct him back as he had been brought, he " became a prisoner." That to effect his escape he quitted his uniform, and was taken at Tarrytown in disguise by some volun- teers. He requests decency of conduct towards him, as an acknowledgment that he is " branded with nothing dishonourable," because he was only serving his king. He requests permission to write an open letter to Sir Henry Clinton, and another to a friend for clothes and linen. IIe mentions certain gentlemen prisoners with the British, who " though their situation is not similar" may be exchanged for him or treated as he shall be treated.
Having written thus, the adjutant-general seemed to have con- vinced himself that he must be considered merely as a prisoner of war, and he became cheerful, and soon won the good will of the officers who had him in custody.
It is the momentous consequences that this affair involved, and not a participation in the fictitious admiration of this young gentle- man, which was created principally to cast odium upon General Washington and the sacred cause of an insulted people, that has caused me to be thus particular. If Mr. Andre, instead of being honoured by a court-martial of general officers, had been executed as soon as detected, it is probable that his fate would have attracted much less of the sympathy that has been expressed. The claim to be considered a prisoner of war, taken in honourable service, and the official station of Andre, probably influenced General Washing- ton's conduct towards him, which was still more marked by the characteristick prudence and profound consideration for the publick good, which governed all his actions. 1
That Mr. Andre should not feel any kindness for his captors is easily imagined, and that a British officer would feel perfect con- tempt for mere cultivators of the earth, especially provincials, and therefore consider them as acting from motives purely mercenary, is highly probable : accordingly, he asserted his conviction that if he had had money to offer these young men as the price of liberty, when they stopt him, they would have let him pass : and Major
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