[35] Orderly Book, September 24, 1780. Original in the Adjutant-General’s Office, War Department, Washington, D.C.
JOHN ANDRÉ AND ARNOLD’S TREASON PLOT
Had the treason of Benedict Arnold been less carefully planned there might be more excuse for his conduct. Certainly at the moment many conspired to convince him that the time was approaching when it would become necessary to make peace with the mother country. The best spies of the enemy were falling into the hands of our Colonel Sheldon’s men or visiting General Parsons, and all were forwarded to Arnold, where they were able to accomplish the work they were employed to do, which was to prejudice him against his country. Letters such as Parsons’ of September 5th, in which he says “the wretches who have crept into Congress are almost below contempt: our country will never prosper in their hands and they will starve us in the midst of plenty: to deny the very obvious justice and to insult us when we require it, is left only for Politicians of the New World.” Such, and there were others reached him besides Parsons’, must have induced him to believe that self government would not succeed. But while these may have encouraged his treason they are not sufficient to excuse it. Every detail of his plot was planned with cunning. His attempt to locate all the spies is an example. The historian Marshall says he received from Lafayette the information that Arnold endeavored to procure from General Washington the names of his secret emissaries in New York, otherwise known as the Culpers. Dunlap[36] says: “An incident which the gallant and honest Lafayette tells us, marks the character of Arnold more distinctly than ever the dénouement of his diabolical plot. Before leaving the army for West Point, he went to the marquis, and mentioning his knowledge that the noble Frenchman had spies in New York, employed at his own expense, he asked their names and addresses; suggesting that their intelligence might reach him more certainly and expeditiously by the way of West Point, and suggesting that if he was in possession of their names, he might facilitate the intercourse. The gallant and ever honorable Lafayette escaped the snare laid by the arch traitor, merely through his honest and upright sense of duty—replying that those individuals had confided in him, and he could not divulge their secret to any person whatever.”
* * * * *
With our General Howe he had better success. In his letter from Robinson’s House, August 5th, he says:
“As the safety of this Post and garrison in a great measure depends on having good intelligence of the movements and designs of the enemy, and as you have been fortunate in the agents you have employed for that purpose, I must request, with their permission, to be informed who they are, as I wish to employ them, for the same purpose. I will engage upon them to make no discovery of them to any person breathing. Your complyance will oblige Dear Sir, Your affectionate and obed. Hbl. Servt.
“B. Arnold.”
The reply of Robert Howe on August 14th, was:
“The two most intelligent and confidential I got to undertake with difficulty, and they did it with the greatest reluctance and not without my pledging in the most solemn manner my honor not to inform any person upon earth of their names, or of their acting in the capacity of emisarys, they are persons of character and property, who cannot without utter ruin get out of the enemy’s power, and yet devoted to America, have agreed to serve in a way they do not like, but which is the only way they can at present serve her in. I have written to them and urged them to let me give their address to you, but having suggested to them long since how it would benefit service if I should be removed to South Carolina if they would suffer me to inform some general officers of them, they in the most positive terms refused; and it is not without great persuasion and difficulty that they are prevailed upon to continue their acting even for me; this makes me fear they will not consent to it tho I sincerely wish they may. I cannot indeed blame this caution, as their life and the ruin of their families must be the certain consequence should any accident happen to them. I have a tolerable agent who acts by way of Long Island and has been very faithful, intelligent and useful to me; he too has property. I have written to him also pressing him to disclose himself to you and have his answer: he says that he will give you information of every circumstance which relates to your post or to any part under your command, that he will task himself to give every information of the enemy’s intentions, and will faithfully report to you every movement which relates to you; he will correspond with you under the name of John Williams, and has made me pledge my honor that you will not endeavour by any means to learn his real name and if by accident you find it out that you never disclose it; this sir I have pledged myself for your assurance of. He will mark the letters Private, and you must injoin your family not to open any letters so marked.