The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1879-10-17
A MONUMENT TO ANDRE.

Thursday, October 2, was the hundredth
anniversary of the execution of Major An
Dire. The story of his arrest by three farm
ers, who were for the time being acting as
videttes for the Continental Army, is IA
miliar to every school-boy. Paulding, Van
Wart and Williams will always figure in
American history as sturdy patriots, although
they were very humble and very obscure
persons. Pauding was soldier, but at the
time of the capture of Andre he seems to
have been out of the service. In our days
these three unattached partisans of the rev
olutionary cause would have been called
'bushwackers.'
The amiable and generous Andre deserv.
ed a better fate. However, his execution
was not only in strict accordance with the
laws of war, but the British had set a pre-
cedent in the hanging of Lieutenant Nathan
Hale, who was captured under circumstan-
ces almost precisely similar, which General
Washington could not overlook. Whatever
may be said at this day of the stern sense OF
duty which compelled the sacrifice of the
life of brave and honorable man, the
British were in no position to question the
absolute justice of the act. Andre spent a
good deal of time in Philadelphia and was
great favorite in society His body was
buried near the spot where he was executed
and remained there until 1921, when his
bones were taken to England, and now he
sleeps among the illustrious dead who have
been honored with a memorial tablet in
Westminster Abbey.
The farm on which Andres body was bur-
led is now owned by Mr.. Cyrus w. Field
and out of regard for his English friends
and especially at the solicitation of Dean
Stanley, Mr.. Field has erected monument
to mark the spot. 1t is handsome shaft,
six feet seven inches in height and three
feet square at the base. Dean Stanley wrote
the inscription, and surely it is worthy OF
its author
Here died. october 2, 17sO,
Major John Andre Of the British Army,
who entering the American lines
on secret mission to Benedict Arnold
for the surrender OF West Point
was taken prisoner, tried and condemned as a spy.
His death,
though according to the stern code OF war,
moved even his enemies to pity,
and both armies mourped the fate
OF one so young and so brave.
In 1891 his remains were removed
to Westminster Abbey
hundred years after his execution
this stone was placed above the spot where he lay
by citizen OF the state. against which he fought
not to Perpetuate the record OF strife,
but In token OF those better feelings
which have since united two nations,
one In race, in language and in religion,
with the earnest hope that this friendly union
viii never be broken.
Arthur Per-hyn Stanley, Dean Of Westminster.
Mr. Field and few friends set up the
monument on Thursday, the hundreth an
niversaay of the tragic event. He will in
close small park around it apd invest a
sum sufficient to keep it in repair in perpetu-
am. There has been some discussion about
the propriety of erecting a monument to
the memory of a hostile soldier, who died
the death Of spy, but the better opinion
seems to be that Dean Stanley's epitaph suf-
ficiently explains the reasons for this act of
magnanimity, efter the passions and resent
ments of the struggle for independence have
been buried out of sight by the lapse of a
hundred years-Press