The Two Spies: Nathan Hale and John André

by Benson John Lossing

The Smith House.

The place appointed for the meeting of the conspirators was at a lonely spot in a thicket at the foot of Torn Mountain, near the west shore of the Hudson, about two miles below Haverstraw. It was outside the American lines. Smith appeared in a small boat, with two stout oarsmen, at the side of the Vulture at midnight. André was ready to accompany him. He covered his scarlet uniform with a long blue surtout. Clinton had instructed him to have nothing to do with papers of any kind, and he went ashore empty-handed.

It was a little past midnight when André was landed on the beach at the mouth of a little creek. He was conducted by Smith to Arnold's place of concealment, and there in the dimmed starlight these notable conspirators, who had long communed through mysterious epistles, met face to face for the first time. At Arnold's request, Smith went back to his boat to await the return of André, who was to be conveyed again to the Vulture before daybreak.

The interview was long protracted. It was not ended when the eastern horizon began to kindle with the dawn. Both men were anxious to complete the business at that time. Arnold had two horses with him, one of them ridden by his servant. He now proposed that André should mount his servant's horse and ride with him to Smith's house and there complete the arrangement. The major reluctantly consented to do so, with the understanding that he was to be conveyed to the Vulture as soon as possible.

As the two horsemen approached the little hamlet of Haverstraw they were challenged by a sentinel. André was alarmed. He was, unwittingly, within the American lines; but he had gone too far, however, to recede, and they rode on together to Smith's house. By ten o'clock they had finished their business, when Arnold, after handing André some papers containing all needed information concerning the post to be surrendered, departed in his barge for West Point.

It had been arranged that Sir Henry Clinton should ascend the Hudson with a strong force on the 25th, and attack the important post; and Arnold, after making a show of resistance, should surrender it, with all the men and munitions of war, on the plea of the weakness of the garrison. A part of the plan was the seizure of Washington, who was to return on the 27th. For this service the traitor was to receive from the king the commission of brigadier-general in the royal army, and fifty thousand dollars in gold. The surrender was not effected, but Arnold received the commission, and nearly forty thousand dollars in gold.

When the conspirators arrived at Smith's house at sunrise, André was alarmed at the disappearance of the Vulture. She had been cannonaded from Verplanck's Point, and compelled to drop down the river.

Just after the departure of Arnold, the Vulture reappeared at her anchorage of the night before. André urged Smith to take him to the sloop immediately, but he declined, giving various reasons for his conduct. He was really afraid to perform the service, and the British adjutant-general was kept in a state of great anxiety on Treason Hill until evening. Arnold had intimated that the major might be compelled to cross the river and return to New York by land. To provide for any contingency, he furnished passports, one to secure to André a safeguard through the American posts to the neutral ground, and another to secure such safety in passing down the river in a boat to Dobb's Ferry.

Smith decided that André must return by land. He tried to procure an American uniform for the major's disguise, but could not, and his guest was compelled to accept an old purple or crimson coat, trimmed with threadbare gold lace, and a tarnished beaver hat belonging to Smith. The rest of his suit was his military undress, nankeen small-clothes, and white-topped boots. His long surtout with a cape covered all.