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American Revolution - Militiamen Capture British Spy | |||||||||||||||
American Revolution - Militiamen Capture British Spy The capture of British Major John André by three Westchester citizens is one of the most notable events in the history of Westchester County. André was a spy in league with Benedict Arnold in a scheme to sabotage American forces during the Revolutionary War. Events transpired as follows:
"The next day the Americans fired upon the Vulture from Croton Point, forcing it to leave without André. Benedict Arnold gave André a horse and recommended that André travel to Tarrytown, a neutral territory. André was riding south on the eastside of the Hudson River when he encountered John Paulding with David Williams and Isaac Van Wart. Paulding, who had recently escaped from a British prison in New York City, was wearing a Hessian coat. "It was September 23, 1780, when André approached the group thinking they were allies. The three militiamen questioned André and became suspicious. Upon further investigation they found plans to West Point hidden in André's boot. Major André was carrying papers describing the fortification of West Point, given to him by Benedict Arnold. "André attempted to bribe the militiamen with large sums of money and goods. Although the three militiamen were farmers of modest means, they refused the large monetary bribes offered by Major John André, and brought him to Army headquarters. André was tried and convicted as a spy and hanged in Tappan, New York on October 2, 1780. Benedict Arnold escaped to England." The actions of these three patriots thwarted a plot between Major John André and General Benedict Arnold in which Arnold had planned to surrender West Point to the British. When George Washington, Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, was told of these events, he personally recommended that the militiamen are rewarded. On October 7, 1780, General George Washington, wrote to the President of Congress “to communicate the names of the three persons who captured Major André, and who refused to release him, notwithstanding the most earnest importunities and assurances of a liberal reward on his part.” Washington said that the service of John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wart, “merits our warmest esteem; and I beg leave to add, that I think the public will do well to make them a handsome gratuity. They have prevented in all probability our suffering one of the severest strokes that could have been meditated against us." The United States Congress passed a resolution on November 3, 1780, commending the three captors. In gratitude for having captured André, “whereby the dangerous and traitorous conspiracy of Benedict Arnold was brought to light, the insidious designs of the enemy baffled, and the United States rescued from impending danger,” they were awarded a silver medal and an annual £200 pension ("two hundred dollars in specie or an equivalent in the current money of these States") for the rest of their lives. In addition, the New York legislature voted to give each of them farmland valued at £500.
Their Patriotism is remembered
"The people of Westchester County have erected this Monument, as well to commemorate a great Event, as to testify their high estimation of that Integrity and Patriotism which, rejecting every temptation, rescued the United States from most imminent peril by baffling the arts of a Spy and the plots of a Traitor. Dedicated October 7, 1853." On the north side of the block an inscription reads: "Their conduct merits our warmest esteem. They have prevented, in all probability, our suffering one of the severest strokes that could have been meditated against us" written by George Washington. Benedict Arnold, From Patriot to Traitor by Dell, Pamela. 2005, Publisher-Compass Point Books Collections of the Clements Library, and the Goldstar Collection Spy Letters of the American Revolution History of Westchester County: New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, by John Thomas Scharf, Publisher L. E. Preston & co., 1886 Original from the New York Public Library.
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