** The following is a copy of the letter:
"Salem, September 24th, 1780.
"Sir,—What I have as yet said concerning myself was in the
justifiable attempt to be extricated. I am too little
accustomed to duplicity to have succeeded.
"I beg your excellency will be persuaded that no alteration
in the temper of my mind, or apprehension for my safety,
induces me to take the step of addressing you, but that it
is to rescue myself from an imputation of having assumed a
mean character for treacherous purposes or self-interest; a
conduct incompatible with the principles that actuate me, as
well as with my condition in life. It is to vindicate my
fame that I speak, and not to solicit security. The person
in your possession is Major John André, adjutant general to
the British army.
"The influence of one commander in the army of his adversary
is an advantage taken in war. A correspondence for this
purpose I held, as confidential (in the present instance),
with his excellency Sir Henry Clinton. To favor it, I agreed
to meet, upon ground not within the posts of either army, a
person who was to give me intelligence. I came up in the
Vulture man-of-war for this effect, and was fetched by a
boat from the ship to the beach. Being here, I was told that
the approach of day would prevent my return, and that I must
be concealed until the next night. I was in my regimentals,
and had fairly risked my person.
"Against my stipulations, my intention, and without my
knowledge beforehand, I was conducted within one of your
posts. Your excellency may conceive my sensation on this
occasion, and must imagine how much more must I have been
affected by a refusal to reconduct me back the next night as
I had been brought. Thus become a prisoner, I had to concert
my escape. I quitted my uniform, and was passed another way
in the night, without the American posts, to neutral ground,
and informed I was beyond all armed parties, and left to
press for New York. I was taken at Tarrytown by some
volunteers. Thus, as I have had the honor to relate, was I
betrayed (being adjutant general of the British army) into
the vile condition of an enemy in disguise within your
posts.
"Having avowed myself a British officer, I have nothing to
reveal but what relates to myself, which is true on the
honor of an officer and a gentleman. The request I have to
make to your excellency, and I am conscious I address myself
well, is, that in any rigor policy may dictate, a decency of
conduct toward me may mark that, though unfortunate, I am
branded with nothing dishonorable, as no motive could be
mine but the service of my king, and as I was involuntarily
an impostor. Another request is, that I may be permitted to
write an open letter to Sir Henry Clinton, and another to a
friend for clothes and linen.
"I take the liberty to mention the condition of some
gentlemen at Charleston, who, being either on parole or
under protection, were engaged in a conspiracy against us.
Though their situation is not similar, they are objects who
may be set in exchange for me, or are persons whom the
treatment I receive might affect. It is no less, sir, in a
confidence of the generosity of your mind, than on account
of your superior station, that I have chosen to importune
you with this letter.
"I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, your
excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,
"John Andre, Adjutant General
André taken to West Point and thence to Tappan.—His Disclosures to Tallmadge.—His Case and Hale's compared
Pursuant to an order from General Washington, Andre was conducted to West Point, September, 1780 where he remained until the morning of the 28th, when he was conveyed in a barge to Stony Point, and from thence conducted, under a strong escort, to Tap-pan, about two miles westward of the present Piermont, the Hudson Hiver terminus of the New York and Erie rail-road. Major Tallmadge, who commanded the escort, and rode by Andre's side all the way, has left, in a communication to Mr. Sparks, an interesting account of the events of that day's march. As he and Andre were about the same age, and held the same rank in the respective armies, they agreed on a cartel, by the terms of which each one was permitted to put any question to the other not involving a third person. In the course of conversation, thus made as unreserved as possible, Andre informed Tallmadge that he was to have taken a part in the attack on West Point, if Arnold's plan had succeeded, and that the only reward he asked was the military glory to be won by such service to his king. He had been promised, however, the rank and pay of a brigadier general if he had succeeded. In reply to Andre's earnest inquiries respecting the probable result of his capture, Tallmadge frankly reminded him of the character and fate of the unfortunate Captain Hale. "But you surely do not consider his case and mine alike?" said Andre. "Yes, precisely similar," replied Major Tallmadge, "and similar will be your fate." Andre became troubled in spirit, and from that time until the hour of his execution his most poignant sorrow arose from the reflection that he was branded with the odious name of a spy. *
As soon as Washington had completed all necessary arrangements for the security of West Point, he hastened to the army at Tappan. The next day after his ar-September 29 summoned a board of general officers, and directed them to examine into the case of Major André and report the result. He also directed them to give their opinion as to the light in which the prisoner ought to be regarded, and the punishment that should be inflicted. We shall visit Tappan presently, and then the events in the last scene of this drama shall be rehearsed; for the present, let us stroll about Tarrytown during the remainder of this pleasant afternoon.
After sketching a view of the spot where Andre was captured, I walked to the famous old Dutch church of Sleepy Hollow, standing by the side of the post-road, about a mile northward. I can not better describe its location than by quoting the language of Mr. Irving concerning it. "The sequestered situation of the church," he says, "seems always to have made it a favorite haunt of troubled spirits. It stands on a knoll, surrounded by locust-trees and lofty elms, from among which its decent white-washed walls shine modestly forth, like Christian purity beaming through the shades of retirement. A gentle Ancient Dutch Church.* slope descends to it from a silver sheet of water,
* See Sparks's Amer. Biog., iii., 255-259.