209 



ANDRE, JOHN. 



ANDREOSSI, COUNT. 



210 



truce, the ostensible object being to effect some arrangement as to the 

 sequestrated property of the colonel. For this purpose a letter was 

 sent from Robinson to Arnold, soliciting a meeting ; but it happened 

 to reach the hands of Arnold while in company with General Washing- 

 ton, instead of, as had been anticipated, after Washington's departure 

 to pay a visit to the French General Rochambeau. To keep up appear- 

 ances, Arnold judged it best to show the letter to Washington, and 

 ask his advice upon it ; and Washington strongly recommended him 

 not to grant the request, but to refer Robinson to the civil authorities. 

 This advice being publicly given, Arnold did not venture to act against 

 it, and he therefore took measures for bringing about a secret inter- 

 view. He prevailed on Mr. Joshua H. Smith, who resided within the 

 American lines, to go on board the ' Vulture ' at night, and deliver a 

 packet to the parties he would find on board. Smith asserts, in a 

 narrative of the transaction which he published at London in 1808, 

 that he was the bearer of a flag of truce, but he assigns no reason for 

 its being sent in the dark. He delivered his letters to Colonel Robin- 

 son, and was desired to return with Andre 1 , who passed as Mr. Anderson, 

 but wore his uniform. Arnold met them on the shore, and it was 

 arranged that the attack on West Point should be made on the 24th 

 or 25th of that month (September, 1780), about which time the return 

 of Washington was expected ; and proper passwords and signals were 

 agreed upon. Arnold alo delivered to Andrd, for Sir Henry Clinton, 

 a number of papers relating to the fortress, with maps and plans, an<l 

 memoranda of the weakest points, as well as of the positions to which 

 the American troops would be ordered by Arnold so as to assure the 

 easiest success to the British forces. Andre 1 intended to return to the 

 ' Vulture ' in the boat which had brought him ashore, but in the 

 meanwhile the sloop, galled by a fire from the American posts, had 

 dropped lower down the Hudson, and the boatmen refused to row the 

 distance. In this dilemma it was arranged that Andre should pass 

 the day at Smith's house, a measure which made it necessary to enter 

 the American line*, and should return next night to New York by 

 land, the papers being concealed, at Arnold's suggestion, in the major's 

 boots ; and his military coat, also by Arnold's wish, being replaced 

 by a plain coat of bis host's. To prevent detention on the journey at 

 any of the American outposts, both Andre aud Smith, who was to be 

 his guide, were provided with regular passports from Arnold. They 

 started accordingly, but came in contact with an American party 

 during the night, the captain of which represented the danger of night- 

 travelling to be so great, that, for fear of awakening his suspicion, 

 they thought it best to remain where they were till morning. The 

 next day they proceeded to Pine's Bridge, a village on the Croton 

 River, not far from the English lines, where Smith took his leave of 

 Andrd, as all danger seemed to be over. Andre had nearly reached 

 Tarrytown, and was within sight of the English lines, when three 

 American militiamen, who were on the watch for any well-dressed and 

 mounted passenger who might possibly be an Englishman, rushed from 

 a thicket and stopped his horse. A moment's presence of mind would 

 have saved him, but instead of assuming the character of an American, 

 he inquired to which party they belonged. They answered "To 

 below," implying that they belonged to the English posts, and Andre 

 exclaimed "So do I ; I am an English officer on urgent business, and 

 I -do not wish to be detained." On being undeceived, he produced the 

 passport of Arnold. But it was now too late ; and he soon still further 

 betrayed himself by offering them large sums of money if they would 

 let him go. His offers were refused ; he was dragged into the thicket, 

 and his booU being drawn off, the papers were discovered. The 

 militiamen took their prisoner at once to the commander of the out- 

 posts, Colonel Jameson, who, confused and bewildered, sent on Andre! 

 to his superior officer, General Arnold. The arrival and prompt inter- 

 ference of Captain Talmadge an officer who lived long after to claim 

 his share of credit in the transaction alone prevented this; and at his 

 suggestion Andrd was sent for back, and the papers were forwarded to 

 Washington. Colonel Jameson however thought it proper to send 

 word to Arnold, that " John Anderson, the bearer of his passport, had 

 been detained." This message saved Arnold's life ; on receiving it he 

 fled on board the ' Vulture,' and joined Sir Henry Clinton at New 

 York. When Washington on his return reached West Point, and 

 found it without a commander, the arrival of the messenger with the 

 papers from Jameson cleared up the whole affair. 



Andrd retained his assumed character until he judged Arnold beyond 

 reach, when he declared hi* real name and rank as adjutant-general 

 of the British army. Washington referred his case to a board of general 

 officers, who reported that, in consideration of his having been taken 

 in disguise, and under a false name, with information obtained under 

 that disguise within the American lines, he was a spy, and in conformity 

 with the law of nations should suffer death. The most strenuous 

 exertions were made by the British commander to save him : and, 

 among other proceedings, General Robertson was despatched on a 

 minsion to Washington to represent that Andrd having arrived in the 

 American lines under a flag of truce, and having been directed in all 

 hia movement* within them by a general in the American service 

 Arnold himself he could not be considered a spy according to the 

 rules of war. Sir Henry Clinton also permitted Arnold to forward 

 two letters on the same subject, but their contents, those of one espe- 

 cially, which assumed a threatening tone, were not calculated to do 

 any good. The American commander was inflexible. Washington 



BIOO. DIV. VOL. t 



did indeed cause it to be intimated to Clinton that there was one way 

 of saving Andrd's life, by exchanging Arnold for him ; but such a 

 proposition of course could not be listened to. 



Andrd suffered death at Tappan, in the state of New York, on the 

 2nd of October, 1780, in his twenty-ninth year. He displayed the 

 utmost firmness, which was shaken only for a moment when he knew 

 that he was to perish by the halter, an ignominious death which he 

 had most strongly entreated Washington, by a letter written almost 

 in his last moments, to spare him. His fate excited the deepest 

 sympathy even among the Americans. Among his own countrymen, 

 and indeed throughout Europe, hia death excited a powerful sensa- 

 tion ; while the conduct of Arnold was viewed with almost equal 

 detestation by the English and the Americans. 



The whole British nrrny went into mourning for Andrd. A monu- 

 ment was raised to his memory in Westminster Abbey, and in the 

 year 1821 his remains were disinterred at Tappan, and conveyed to a 

 grave near his monument at Westminster. His friend Miss Seward 

 published a monody on his death, which had great popularity in its 

 day, and succeeded for a time in drawing down some share of popular 

 indignation on Washington, more especially for refusing the only 

 favour Andrd asked, a soldier's death. In her ' Letters,' published 

 after her death, Miss Seward withdrew her charges, and asserted that 

 Washington, after the peace of 1783, sent one of his aides-de-camp to 

 her purposely to disabuse her of the prejudices she entertained ; 

 among other things to assure her that he was outvoted by the rest of 

 the council on the question of hanging Major Andrd. It is by no 

 means clear that Washington sat on or interfered with the council 

 which originally condemned him ; nor was Washington a man who 

 would shrink from the infliction of a punishment which he judged to 

 be necessary in order to show the world that America claimed and 

 would exercise the powers of an independent nation. He held AndrtS 

 to be a spy, and for a spy the punishment is death by the halter and 

 not by the bullet. To have remitted the ignominious portion of the 

 punishment would have argued some doubt as to its justice. To Miss 

 Seward's ' Monody ' are attached three letters of Andrd's, written in 

 his nineteenth year ; but, however interesting in other points of view, 

 as literary compositions they are without merit. He was more suc- 

 cessful in his own published work, a satirical poein called ' The Cow 

 Chase' (New York, 1780), the last canto of which was published in 

 Rivington's ' Royfil Gazette ' on the very day of his arrest. It is a kind 

 of parody on ' Chevy Chase,' devoted to the ridicule of an exploit of 

 the American general Wayne, in attempting to drive off some cattle 

 from the loyalists. 



Andrd was an artist of considerable ability. A miniature of Honora 

 Sneyd, painted by himself, was the only portion of his effects which 

 he preserved after his first capture by the Americans in 1775, and he 

 succeeded only by secreting it in his mouth. A portrait of himself, 

 sketched with much freedom in pen and ink, is engraved in Sparks's 

 ' Life and Treason of Arnold,' from the original preserved in Yale 

 College. It was drawn on the morning originally appointed for his 

 execution, in order to be presented to an American friend for he had 

 many such during his imprisonment and it is doubly interesting as 

 affording proof of his powers as an artist, and of his courage at so 

 trying a moment. 



(Biographical Dictionary of Useful Knowledge Society.) 

 ANDREA DEL SARTO, or ANDREA VANUCCHI. [SABTO.] 

 ANDREOSSI, COUNT, was born at Castelnaudary, in the province 

 of Languedoc, in March, 1761. His family was of Italian descent. 

 At the age of twenty he was made lieutenant of artillery. In the 

 beginning of the French revolution he shared in the general enthusiasm 

 for the new order of things, and he afterwards served under Bona- 

 parte in the early Italian campaigns, where he distinguished himself at 

 the siege of Mantua, in 1796. He next followed Bonaparte to Egypt, 

 where he took a conspicuous part both in the military and the scientific 

 labours of that celebrated expedition. He was appointed a member 

 of the Institute of Cairo, and wrote several memoirs, ' On the Lake 

 Menzaleh,' ' On the Valley of the Natron Lake,' ' On the Waterless 

 River,' &c. When Bonaparte returned secretly to France, Andreossi 

 was one of the few officers who accompanied him, and he ever after 

 proved devoted to the fortunes of his great commander. Andreossi 

 served in the so-called Gallo-Batavian army under Augereau, on the 

 banks of the Mayne. After the peace of Amiens he was sent as 

 ambassador to England. When Napoleon assumed the imperial crown, 

 Andreossi was made inspector-general of artillery, and a count of the 

 new empire. He went afterwards as ambassador to Vienna, and 

 having quitted his post when the war broke out again between Austria 

 and France in 1809, he was present in the campaign of that year, and 

 was appointed governor of Vienna after the taking of that city. He 

 was next sent as ambassador to the Ottoman Porte, in which import- 

 ant situation he won the general esteem of both Franks and Turks. 

 After the abdication of Napoleon in 1814, Louis XVIII. recalled 

 Andreossi from Constantinople, and sent him at the same time the 

 cross of St. Louis. ' Andreossi was living in retirement when Napoleon 

 landed from Elba, but he tlieu appeared again on the political stage 

 to assist his old master in his last struggle. He was created a peer 

 during the hundred days. After the battle of Waterloo he withdrew 

 again to private life, and busied himself in revising and publishing 

 several interesting memoirs which he had written during bis residence 



