USA > New York > Rockland County > The history of Rockland County > Part 11
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A short time elapsed, when the row boat again approached shore, and, landing under the mountain, at a place near the foot of the Long Clove road, John Andre stepped ashore and was conducted to the presence of Arnold, who was waiting near the spot. What transpired in that solemn night conference is only know to the Omniscient. Daylight found the business unfinished, and the warning voice of Smith bade the conspirators make haste. It was with reluctance that Andre consented to mount the spare horse Arnold's servant rode and accompany his new acquaintance to a
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more secluded spot, but there was still so much left unsettled and the bait was so alluring, that overcoming his scruples, Andre assented to visit Smith's house with Arnold. On their ride to that residence, the hail of a sentinel near Haverstraw warned Andre that he was within the American lines without flag or pass, but it was then too late to turn back, even if he had wished to.
At dawn Smith's house was reached, and the morning of September 22d, 1780, was passed by the two men in perfecting their plans. At length the conference was ended, and Arnold, after giving Andre a paper containing a full account of the fortifications and forces at West Point, and providing him with a pass, bade him adieu and departed in his barge up the river to his quarters.
The remainder of the day, after his departure, was passed by Andre alone. As the shades of evening began to fall, he applied to Smith to convey him back to the Vulture, which, having been fired upon from Cro- ton Point in the early morning, had weighed anchor and dropped further down the stream; but this Smith positively refused to do, pleading an attack of ague and a fear of the night air on the water. At his earnest entreaty, and with no other means of return open to him, Andre at last consented to cross the river and ride down to New York by land. Fol- lowing Arnold's advice, Andre changed his military coat for a civilian's dress, and a little before sunset on September 22d. accompanied by Smith and a negro servant, he rode down to Kings Ferry at Stony Point and embarked for the opposite shore.
Three nights later, an aid clattered through Haverstraw at his topmost speed, bound for Gen. Greene's quarters at Tappan. These he reached at midnight, with an order from Washington directing Greene to move the whole left wing of the army to Kings Ferry as speedily as possible. In the midst of the intense blackness and driving rain of a stormy night the movement was begun, and before dawn of September 26 the whole divi- sion was on its march up the King's highway. Little did Greene know, when he obeyed his commander's orders, that but a few miles away, across the river, Andre was also riding north through the storm, while Arnold had passed down the stream but a short distance from him to endless infamy.
The cause for the movement of Greene's division was the discovery by the Commander-in-Chief of Arnold's treason, and his uncertainty as to how far the disaffection had spread, or as to what the next move of the enemy would be. In this period of doubt he wished a large force to guard an important point under his immediate supervision. Whatever
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suspicions might have been in Washington's mind, of the fidelity of his other officers, they were speedily dispelled, and by September 28th Greene's forces were again in camp at Tappan.
During that date, September 28th, 1780, Andre, guarded by a strong force of cavalry commanded by Major Talmadge, once more passed through Haverstraw; passed Smith's house, where, but a short week be- fore, his horoscope had seemed so bright; passed again near the spot where he and Arnold had met in the shadow of High Tor, to enter that other shadow of the Valley of Death.
Conveyed by water from West Point to Kings Ferry, the prisoner was then taken to Tappan and there confined in the inn, formerly kept by Casparus Mabie and still standing as the "'76 House." On the following day Washington arrived at Tappan, taking up his quarters in the De Windt House, and immediately ordered a Court of Inquiry composed of the fol- lowing officers:
Major General Greene,
Major General La Fayelle,
Sterling,
R. Ilowe,
St. Clair,
Baron Steuben,
Brigadier General Parsons,;
Brigadier General Hand,
James Clinton,
Starke,
Knox,
€4 Huntington,
Glover,
Patterson,
General Nathaniel Greene was President of this Board and John Lau- rence Judge Advocate General.
Before this court Andre appeared and told his story in a straight- forward way. He was then remanded to his place of confinement, and, after a long consultation, the Court decided that he should be considered as a spy and, as such, suffer the penalty of war. On the following day, September 30th, Washington confirmed the finding of the Court and ap- pointed the following day, October Ist, and the hour of five P. M., as the time for execution.
The sympathy of all the American officers was with Andre, and every effort conformable with the laws of war was made to save him. In pur- suance of these endeavors both correspondence and an interview with officers from the enemy were used and the time of execution delayed. All conference proved futile, and at 12 M. on October 2d, 1780, in the presence of the troops, of all the officers stationed at Tappan, save the Commander-in-Chief and his personal staff, and of a vast concourse of people assembled from the surrounding country, John Andre was hanged, and by his death gained that immortal fame for which he had so earnestly toiled in life ; for which he risked that life ; for which he died.
# See note at end of chapter.
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Dr. Thacher, a Surgeon in the Continental Army, who was present, thus speaks of the last hours : " Major Andre is no more among the living. I have just witnessed his exit. It was a tragical scene of the deepest in- terest. * * * The fatal hour having arrived, a large detachment of troops was paraded, and an immense concourse of people assembled. * * Melancholy and gloom pervaded all ranks, and the scene was awfully affecting. I was so near, during the solemn march to the fatal spot, as to observe cvery movement, and to participate in every emotion 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.
* * * 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.
While waiting, and standing near the gallows, I observed some degrec 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 opportu- nity 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."
I have had the good fortune to obtain the following account of another eye witness of Andre's execution, through the great kindness of William G. Hacselbarth. Mr. Haeselbarth obtained the data when he first entered our County in 1850 and used it in a series of lectures, which he later de- livered, but this is the first time it has appeared in print. The story bears the stamp of truth, especially the error made by a camp attache in regard to the place of confinement. The Dutch Church building had been and at that time was used as a military prison, and Andre's trial had taken place in it. Nothing would be more natural then than for a private sol-
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dier, quartered perhaps at some distance from the spot, to suppose that Andre had been confined there.
"I was at that time," says the narrator, "an artificer in Colonel Jeda- than Baldwin's regiment, a part of which was stationed within a short dis- tance of the spot where Andre suffered. One of our men, whose name was Armstrong, being one of the oldest and best workmen at his trade in the regiment, was selected to make his coffin, which he performed and painted black, after the custom of those times. At this time Andre was confined in what was called the Dutch Church, a small stone building with only one door, and closely guarded by six sentinels. When the hour appointed for his execution arrived, a guard of three hundred men was paraded at the place of his confinement. A kind of procession was formed by placing the guard in single file on each side of the road. In front was a large number of American officers, of high rank, on horseback; these were followed by the wagon containing Andre's coffin, then a large number of officers on foot, with Andre in their midst. The procession moved slowly up a moderately rising hill, about a quarter of a mile to the west. On the top was a field without any enclosure. In this was a very high gallows, made by setting up two poles or crotches and laying a pole on top. The wagon that contained the coffin was drawn directly under the gallows. In a short time Andre stepped into the hind end of the wagon, then on his coffin, took off his hat and laid it down, then placed his hands upon his hips, and walked very uprightly back and forth as far as the length of his coffin would permit, at the same time casting his eyes upon the pole over his head and the whole scenery by which he was surrounded. He was dressed in a complete British uniform, the coat being of the bright- est scarlet, faced or trimmed with the most beautiful green, his vest and breeches were bright buff.
He had a long and beautiful head of hair, which, agreeable to the fashion, was wound with a black ribbon and hung down his back.
Not many minutes after he took his stand upon the coffin, the execu- tioner stepped into the wagon with a halter in his hands, on one end of which was what the soldiers called 'a hangman's knot,' which he at- tempted to put over the head and around the neck of Andre. By a sud- den movement of his hand Andre prevented this. He then took off the handkerchief from his neck, unpinned his shirt collar, and, taking the end of the halter, put it over his head, placed the knot directly under his right ear, drawing it snugly to the neck.
Andre then took another handkerchief from his pocket and tied it over his eyes. At this time the officer who commanded spoke in rather a loud
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voice and said that his arms must be tied. Andre at once pulled down the handkerchief he had just tied over his eyes, drew from his pocket a second one, which he gave to the executioner, and then replaced his hand- kerchief. His arms were tied just above the elbows and behind his back. The rope was then made fast to the pole overhead.
The wagon was very suddenly withdrawn from under the gallows, which, together with the length of the rope, gave him a most tremendous swing back and forth, but in a few minutes he hung entirely still. During the whole transaction he appeared little daunted, but his face was pale. He remained hanging from twenty to thirty minutes, and, during that time, the chambers of death were never stiller than the multitude by which he was surrounded. At the expiration of that time orders were given to cut the rope and take down the body without letting it fall. This was done and the body carefully laid on the ground.
Shortly after the guard was withdrawn, and the bystanders were per- mitted to pass and view the corpse, but the crowd was so great that it was sometime before I could get an opportunity. When I reached the body, the coat, vest and breeches had been taken off, and the corpse lay in the coffin covered by some underclothes. The top of the coffin was not yet on and I viewed the corpse more carefully than I had ever done that of any human before. His head was very much on one side, in consequence of the manner in which the halter drew upon his neck. His face appeared to be greatly swollen and very black, much resembling a high degree of mortification ; it was indeed a shocking sight to behold.
There were at this time standing at the foot of the coffin, two young men of uncommon short stature-not more than four feet high. Their dress was extremely gaudy. One of them had the clothes just taken from Andre hanging on his arm. I took particular pains to learn who they were and was informed, that they were his servants sent up from New York to take care of his clothes, but what other business I did not learn.
I now turned to take a view of the executioner, who was still standing by one of the posts of the gallows. I walked nigh enough to him to have laid my hand upon his shoulder, and looked him directly in his face. He appeared to be about twenty-five years of age. His face was covered with what appeared to me to be blacking taken from the outside of a greasy pot, while his beard was of two or three week's growth. A more frightful looking being I never beheld. His whole countenance bespoke him to be a fit instrument for the business he had been doing. Wishing to see the closing of the whole business, I remained upon the spot until scarce twenty persons were left, but the coffin was still beside the grave,
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which had previously been dug. I then returned to my tent with my mind deeply imbued with the shocking scene I had been called to wit- ness."
At the time of the removal of Andre's remains, James Buchanan, under whose charge the disinterment took place, misled by one of the many er- rors in statement that Andre's execution gave rise to, became the unhappy means of spreading a rumor that the grave had been rifled by Americans, by the following statement : "After which I descended into the coffin, which was not more than three feet below the surface, and with my hands raked the dust together, to ascertain whether he had been buried in his regimentals or not, as it was rumored among the assemblage that he was stripped ; for if buried in his regimentals I expected to find the buttons of his clothes, which would have disproved the rumor ; but I did not find a single button or any article, save a string of leather that had tied his hair, in perfect preservation, coiled and tied as it had been on his hair at the time. I examined the dust of the coffin so minutely (as the quan- tity would not fill a quart) that no mistake could have arisen in the exam- ination. Let no unworthy motive be attributed to me for recording this fact ; I state it as one which I was anxious to ascertain for the reasons given. I do not pretend to know whether buttons would moulder into dust, while bones and strings would remain perfect and entire ; but sure I am there was not a particle of metal in the coffin."
The gross injustice of embodying scandalous rumors against the American Army in an official report, when the basis for the rumors was ignorance, so exasperated Dr. Thacher, that he investigated the whole matter, publishing the result in the New England Magazine for May, 1834, under the caption. " Observations relative to the execution of Major John Andre, as a spy in 1780, correcting errors and refuting false imputations." From this article I can but quote extracts. From the Continental Jour- nal and Weekly Advertiser, of October 26th, 1780, this sentence, taken from a letter dated Tappan, October 2d, 1780, is given. "He was dressed in full uniform, and after the execution, his servant demanded his clothing, which he received." A letter from Major Benjamin Russell, contains these words: "He was dressed in the rich uniform of a British Staff Officer, with the exception, of course, of sash, gorget, sword and spurs. * It was stated at the time in England, and, if I mistake not, in America, that he was buried in his regimentals. I can add my testimony, to that of others, that I saw the servant of Andre receive the military hat and stock of. his master, immediately before the execution. I did not see the body placed in the coffin, but I did sce, as I marched by the grave, that
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servant standing near it, and evidently overseeing the interment." It is but just to add that, when Mr. Buchanan's attention was called to his er- ror, he at once apologized by a public letter in the New York Albion, on March 7th, 1834, and promised to forward the correction to the United Service Journal in London.
The body of Andre was interred at the foot of the gallows, and there remained till the year 1821, when it was exhumed, under the direction of James Buchanan, the British Consul at New York, and removed to Eng- land. The interest manifested in Andre at the time of the removal of the body, caused a Mr. Spafford, evidently an ardent American, to write to the Gazeteer in 1824:
" The memory of the spy and the traitor are, however, alike consigned to infamy. Snuff-boxes, royal dukes, poetry and sickly morality, fable, fiction, American clergymen, Westminster Abbey and the monument to the contrary notwithstanding."
The ravages of those who visited the grave, led the owner to remove the boulder which marked it, and which had been inscribed by the order of a New York merchant named Lee, from the spot and it was well nigh lost. Through the exertions of Henry Whittemore, three men, who had been pre- sent at the exhumation-John J. Griffiths, still living, David D. Brower, and John H. Outwater; located the place of the grave in 1878. Shortly after this event, the spot was visited by Cyrus W. Field and Arthur P. Stanley, Dean of Westminster, and these gentlemen agreed, one, Mr. Field, to erect a monument, the other to write an inscription. The monument was unveiled Oct. 2d, 1879. Three years later a member of the Order of Socialists in New York City, named Hendrix, evidently imbued with the ideas of Mr. Spafford, blew up the monument. As if to add to the tragedy of everything connected with the spot, Hendrix met a violent death at the Brooklyn side of Fulton Ferry in the spring of 1884.
Of those belonging to this County, who were connected with the attempted treason, Joshua Hett Smith, after leaving Andre, rode to Fish- kill. At that place he was arrested on the night of Sept. 25th, by Colonel Gouvion, a member of Lafayette's suite and chief of artillery, and taken to Robinson's house, where he was examined by Washington, and remanded under guard to West Point. Three days later-Sept. 28th-he was con- veyed to Stony Point and, under the same guard that held Andre, reached Tappan. Here he was confined in the old Dutch Church till called for trial before a court martial. That trial lasted four weeks and ended in his ac- quittal for want of evidence.
On Nov. 10th, he was removed to West Point and there detained till
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Nov. 18th, when he was taken to Goshen and delivered into the hands of Sheriff Isaac Nicoll for civil trial, and by him placed in jail, a proceeding which, if the suspicion of the Marquis de Chastellux be correct, probably saved him from being lynched by his patriot neighbors. For a long time he remained in jail without indictment or trial, till, finally succeeding in making his escape, he made his way disguised as a woman to New York, where he remained till the surrender of that city, and then sailed for Eng- land with the British army. Some time previous to 1818, he returned to the United States and died in New York during that year.
The Colquhon brothers, who, at Arnold's command, conveyed Andre from the Vulture to shore, as well as Major Keirs, under whose supervision the boat was obtained, were justly exonerated from all suspicion. Strick- land, the executioner of Andre, who was in confinement in the camp at Tappan as a dangerous Tory at the time of the trial, and was given his liberty for accepting the duty of hangman, returned to his home in the Ramapo Valley or Smith's Clove, and all further knowledge of him is lost.
Early in November, 1780, General Greene was detached from his com- mand at Tappan and sent to take command of the Southern armies, and on November 27th, Washington issued orders from his headquarters at Preakness for the disposition of the troops in their winter cantonments.
But one of these encampments is of interest as regards this County, that of the New Jersey Brigade, which had its quarters from Pompton up to and in the Ramapo Pass. On January 20th, 1781, this brigade broke out in open mutiny. Hope of payment for their services had ceased; starved, naked, frozen, they thought of the members of Congress who, while feeding them on promises, lived on more substantial victuals; who, well protected from the inclemency of the weather, gave little heed to their pinched and chilled bodies; and the comparison of their wretchedness with the comfort of that imbecile debating society, which carefully avoided the exposure and danger of war, led them to forget their duty.
But three weeks had elapsed since the Pennsylvania troops had re- volted, and, marching to Philadelphia, extorted from Congress a settlement of their demands. If the disaffection of the New Jersey soldiers was to end in a similar way, the morale of the army would be hopelessly ruined, and no one could predict the final issue. Reasoning thus, Washington ordered General R. Howe, with one thousand New England troops, to hurry down from the Highlands and nip this revolt in the bud. Howe speedily reached and surrounded the mutineers, and by the execution of two of the leaders reduced the remainder to order.
Among the minor military events in the County during 1781, were the
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entrance of three hundred troops by Kings Ferry at the close of January, and their march south to join the Pennsylvania regiments. During the following month, La Fayette with 1,200 New England troops passed through the Ramapo Valley, on his way to check Arnold's depredations in Virginia. In March, two hundred men with a gun marched from West Point and encamped at New City, while a militia camp was stationed at Tappan, and on June 22d, a portion of the army was encamped at the foot of the Long Clove in Haverstraw for some days.
Stony Point had been again occupied by the Americans after the with- drawal of the British, but not strongly fortified.' A messenger who passed there under the protection of a flag on April 21st, 1781, noted that some fifty flat bottomed boats lay at the Point, and that while he saw two field pieces, there were no works of any consequence; and later, on June 27th, Clinton was informed that thirty-five men, boys and blacks, with two pieces of cannon, were at Stony Point, and it was officered by a captain, lieutenant and ensign, while a lieutenant of artillery served both that and Verplanck's Point.
The last important move of troops through the County occurred on the occasion of the march to the seige of Yorktown. Ever since its cvacu- ation by the American troops in 1776, Washington had aspired to recap- ture New York, and at this time, 1781, when that city was weakened by the campaign of Cornwallis in the South, while the Continental army was strengthened by the French allies, the project seemed feasible. To ac- complish that recapture a junction had been effected between the allied armies in Westchester County, and for weeks the combined force lay with its right, composed of American troops, resting on Dobb's Ferry, while the French, who composed the left, stretched off toward the Bronx. Anxious as Washington was to expel the British from our metropolis, his wish was not to be immediately gratified, and New York was to be re- turned to the patriot army, not as the result of a bloody battle in her en- virons, but as a conquest of a glorious victory hundreds of miles away.
Strong reinforcements from across the sea reaching Clinton, and the disappointment of Washington by the French naval officers, led that Com- mander to suddenly change his plans and determine on the march to Virginia. Finding the plan possible, he at once set himself to the task of carrying it out successfully. To do this required the utmost secrecy, lest Clinton, learning of the movement, should detach strong reinforcements to Cornwallis.
Accordingly, the allied army was still handled as though New York was the determined object. Letters and dispatches, intended to mislead
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Clinton, were intrusted to De La Montagne, who was ordered to take them to their destination by the way of Ramapo Pass. It is said that this gentleman, well aware that the Pass was infested by cowboys and Tories, demurred to the route, but the peremptory order of Washington led him to overcome his scruples. In the Pass De La Montagne was captured, as the Commander-in-Chief intended, and his messages being delivered to Clinton, completely deceived that officer as to the intention of the Ameri- cans.
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