The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-10-16
ANDRE, THE MARTYR.SPy.

A ToashInb Romance Of the American
Revolution.
It was a tragedy, but a tragedy sane
tilted and glcriRed by an Auta Of pity
and pathos, of poetry and romance,
which was enacted at TapRah oh the
Hudson, 115 years ago to-day. The
Story Of Major John Andre is one Of
the most touching themes Of the revo-
lution. His youth, his beauty, his
captivating manners, his varied and
graceful accomplishments, his love for
his Honora, his calm courage in the
face Of an ignoble death, all combine
to move world to sympathy, and to
Undue the literature of two hemi-
spheres with the tenderest tribes to his
| memory. Even his captors and his
| exeoutioners wept at his untimely fate,
while Westminster Abbey, the final
ambition of monarohs, statesmen, poets
and warriors, gathered his ashes under
its wall and commentaries his name
| III marble.
And yet be vas a spy. In conspir-
acy with despicable traitor. Andre
| sehemed to buy with gold What steel
had failed to win, West Point, the
key Of the Hudson, and the last hope
Of the American cause. Under an
assumed name and in Disguise, hsIwas
captured within an mys'fneMand
treasonable documents swae Tdund
concealed upon hissperson.:s Hnaeay.
ors to bribe his captorss as hezhad
bribed the recreaht hero of Saratoga,
failed. he was captured as spy,
tried and convicted as spy, and
hanged as spy. A shameful and ig-
nominious death, indeed, but war is
war; and it's stern DEGREES are as i'm
mutable and ine1orable as those OF
Fate.
The story is familiar one, story
in which, after more than a century,
there is no abatement Of tender inter-
est. John Andre was a brilliant, ac-
complished, chivalric and ambitious
young adjutant in the army Of Sir
Henry Clinton, then in possession of
New York and lower Westchester.
Benedict Arnold, smarting under a
lreprimand Of congress, was in COM
mand of the strong garrison at West
Point. These two men, under the
nom-deplumes of "John Anderson"
and "Gustavus, !" entered into trea-
sonable correspondence for the sur
render of West Point to the enemy,
and thereby practically to close the
war for independence. A meeting
was arranged. Andre was brought up
the Hudson by the sloop Vulture, and
| in a thicket below Haverstraw, in the
darkness of September 81, 1880, Arm.
old and Andre met. Seven thousand
pounds and a brigadier generalship: in
the British army were to be the price
of West Point. Arnold provided
"John Anderson" with pass through
the American lines and gave him full
information as to the armament and
defense of West Point and how the
sham capture was to be effected.
These incriminating papers were con-
cealed in Andres stockings. The
| next day he crossed the river to Yer
planck' Point, accompanied by Joshua
Smith. at whose house on "Treason
Hill" he had stayed the night before.
They rode southward along the river
l,road through the American lines,
Arnold pass seeming to odisarm suspi-
| ccion.j Remaining all night Of the 22d
within the enemy's lines at Crum
Pond, he marched on the next morn
ing happy, garrulous and tuneful. At
Pines Bridge, Smith left him to go
on alone. Through Sing Sing and
| Sparta, past the old Sleepy Hollow
| Church, the young major blithely rode
and approached bridge over the little
| brook near Tarrytown, which was to
be his fatal Rubicon. There be was
halted by three young minute men,
Paulding, Williams and Van Wart,
Whom Andre at first mistook for
friends, and incautiously declared
his idenity. Perceiving his mistake,
he presented Arnold's pass, but their
suspicious being then aroused, on a
careful search, the reasonable papers
were discovered. Princely bribes were
offered, but spurned, but Andre was
taken first to West Point, then to
| Washington headquarters at Tappan,
on the west side of the Hudson, near
Piermont. An august tribunal, in.
cluding Lafayette and Steuben, tried
Andre by court-martial: He was ad-
judged guilty and condemned to the
halter as a spy. Every effort was
made by the British officers to save
him, but in vain. Andre, undisturb-
| ed by fear of death, asked only to die
as soldier, and not as spy. But
the stern rules of war again interpos-
| ed. "I pray you to bear witness that
I meet my fate like brave man,
were his last words, as at noon on
Saturday, October 2, 1880, the band
age settled over his eyes and shut out
forever the light of the world.
It has been counted by many blot
upon the fame of Washington that he
listened to the promptings of policy
and justice, and not to those of mercy.
He was called "remorseless murder
er," and Miss Annie Seward, Andres
friend, denounced in poetry his "Nero-
thirst for guiltless blood" In the
British army the widest indignation
broke out against the American gem
eral. The execution Of Nathan Hale
in New York, only four years before,
under conditions more cruel and cir
cumstances almost as pathetic, was
entirely forgotten by them in the viru.
lence of.their condemnation. Yet We
know from concurrent testimony that
Washington's kind heart was pro-
foundly moved, and that he would
have prevented the sacrifice, had not
the gravest public necessity demanded
it. He even refused to meet the brave
young spy, lest pity and sorrow might
overcome his sense of duty to his
country.
Major Anlre was buried at Tappan,
but in 1882 his remains were taken to
Westminster Abbey, where splendid
memorial commentaries his virtues
and his untimely death. His brother
was knighted, and various MEMBERS of
his family received marks Of favor