page_title: John André
section_title: Head of British Secret Service in America
hierarchical_section_title: John André / Career / Intelligence work / Head of British Secret Service in America
caption_attribution_description: English: Location where American General Arnold and British Major John Andre plotted to surrender West Point. Located on the shore pathway south of Haverstraw in the historic Dutchtown area, 41.1779, -73.9434.
context_page_description: John André was a major in the British Army and head of its Secret Service in America during the American Revolutionary War. He was hanged as a spy by the Continental Army for assisting Benedict Arnold's attempted surrender of the fort at West Point, New York, to the British.
context_section_description: In 1779, André became Adjutant General of the British Army in America with the rank of Major. In April of that year, he took charge of British Secret Service in America. By the next year (1780), he had briefly taken part in Clinton's invasion of the South, starting with the siege of Charleston, South Carolina.
  Around this time, André had been negotiating with disillusioned American General Benedict Arnold. Arnold's Loyalist wife Peggy Shippen was one of the go-betweens in the correspondence. Arnold commanded West Point and had agreed to surrender it to the British for £20,000 (approximately $3.65 million in 2018)—a move that would have enabled the British to cut off New England from the rest of the colonies.
  André went up the Hudson River on the British sloop-of-war Vulture on Wednesday, 20 September 1780 to visit Arnold. The presence of the warship was discovered by two American privates, John Peterson and Moses Sherwood the following morning on September 21. From their position at Teller's Point they began to assail the Vulture and a longboat associated with it with rifle and musket fire. Pausing to secure more aid, Peterson and Sherwood headed to Fort Lafayette at Verplanck's Point to request cannons and ammunition from their commander Col. James Livingston. While they were gone, a small boat furnished by Arnold was steered to the Vulture by Joshua Hett Smith. At the oars were two brothers, tenants of Smith's who reluctantly rowed the boat six miles on the river to the sloop. Despite Arnold's assurances, the two oarsmen sensed that something was wrong. None of these men knew Arnold's purpose or suspected his treason; all were told that the purpose was to do good for the patriot cause. Only Smith was told anything specific, and that was the lie that it was to secure vital intelligence for the American cause. The brothers finally agreed to row after threats by Arnold to arrest them. They picked up André and placed him on shore. The others left and Arnold came to André on horseback, leading an extra horse for André's use.
  The two men conferred in the woods below Stony Point on the river's west bank until nearly dawn, after which André accompanied Arnold several miles to the Joshua Hett Smith House (Treason House) in West Haverstraw, New York, owned by Thomas Smith and occupied by his brother Joshua. On the morning of 22 September, the two American patriots, Peterson and Sherwood launched a two-hour cannonade on the Vulture, which sustained many hits and was forced to retire down river. Their repulsion of the British sloop effectively stranded André on shore.
caption: American General Arnold and British Major John André plotted the surrender of West Point at this spot on the shore pathway south of Haverstraw, New York, in the historic Dutchtown area. Today this is part of Hook Mountain State Park
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