ANDRE, fin'dret or an'dri, JOHN (1751-80). An English soldier in the American Revolution who met his death under circumstances which have given his name a place in history. He was born in London of Genes-one and French parentage, entered the English army at the age of twenty, and in 1774 joined his regiment in Canada. He was captured by General Mont gomery in November, 1775. at St. Johns, and until December, 1776, when lie was exchanged, he was held as a prisoner at Lancaster, Pa. He was promoted to be captain in 1777, and soon afterward became an aide to General Charles Grey. In the following year he was raised to the rank of major, and was appointed adjutant general of the English army in America and aide to Sir Henry Clinton. During time negptiations between Clinton and General Arnold, in 1780, for time betrayal into the hands of the British of West Point. with its stores and magazines, including nearly the whole stock of powder of time American army, Major Andre acted as the confidential agent of General Clinton, and at tended to most of the correspondence. In order to perfect plans for carrying out time plot. Andre. under the assumed name of "John Anderson," left New York on September 20, ascended] the Hudson in the British sloop-of-war nature, and on the 21st and 22d met Arnold in secret and made the necessary arrangements. During their interview, the Vulture was forced down stream by the fire of an American battery, and Andre, armed with a pass from Arnold, and disguised (against General Clinton's explicit instructions) as a civilian, started on horseback for New York, carrying several incriminating papers, in Ar nold's handwriting, eoneealed in his boots. Near Tarrytown at 9 A.M. on the 23d—when almost within sight of the British lines—he was cap tured by three American militiamen (John Paul ding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wart), who found the documents, and refusing all brib.s, handed their prisoner over to Lieutenant-Colonel Jameson, by whom Arnold was blunderingly notified, and thus enabled to escape. A military court, presided over by General Nathanael Greene, and consisting of six major-generals and eight brigadiers, convened on September 29th, at Washington's request, and unanimously convict ed Andre of being an English spy. In accordance with military usage, he was therefore condemned to be hanged, and on October 2d the sentence was carried out at Tappan, New York, Andre behaving with the utmost courage and serenity, and calling upon the American officers to witness that he died like a brave man. his fate aroused
much sympathy everywhere, and his death has passed into history as one of the most pathetic incidents of the Revolutionary War; but it is now generally recognized both in this country and in England that Washington could not have acted otherwise than as he did, and that, by the rules of war, Andre clearly brought upon himself the punishment he received. A monument was erected to Andre's memory in Westminster Ab bey, and in 1821 his body was disinterred at Tap pan and conveyed to a grave near the monument.
Andre had a singularly attractive personality, which has added much to the general interest in his fate. Vivacious, witty, and strikingly hand some, he had. moreover, a charm of manner which made him a general favorite in the English army and endeared him even to the American officers who came in contact, with him during his captivity. He was, besides, remarkably ver satile, and, in particular, had considerable lit erary, artistic% and musical talent. A facile and pleasing writer, he carried on much of Clinton's correspondence, and wiote many fugitive verses, some of which, such as The Cow Chase, Yankee Doodle's Expedition to Rhode Island, and The Affair between (leverals irowe and Gadsden, were very popular at the time in the English army. During the winter spent by the English in Philadelphia, he was the life and soul of all the gayeties and festivities there, and took the leading part in the famous "Mischianza"— a pageant given in honor of the departing Lord Howe. Interest in Andre has been much height ened, also, by the romantic story of his early attachment to a Miss Honora Sneyd, of Lich field, England, who was subsequently married to the father of Maria Edgeworth.
In Volume VI. of the Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (18581 is the "Case of Major Andre. with a Review tpf the Statement of it in Lord Mahon's History of by Charles J. Biddle—an essay containing a full narrative of the ease, with a discussion of all the questions of law and duty raised in connec tion with it. Consult also an excellent work by Sargent, Life and Cmeer of Major John Andre Boston, 1861), and Lossing, Two Spies (New York, 1886). Many of the documents relating to Andre's capture, trial, and conviction are con tained in H. W. Smith's .1ndrea»a (Philadelphia, 1865), and in Dawson, Papers Concerning the Capture and Detention of Major John Andre (Yonkers, 1866).