326 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



had business with the General. He would promptly inform them whether 

 or not he could engage in their affairs, if he declined, his reasons were 

 always polite and satisfactory ; if he consented, the applicant was sure of 

 an answer from Sir Henry within twenty-four hours. Clinton's con- 

 fidence was evidenced in the spring of 1779 by his appointment of Andre, 

 with Colonel West Hyde of the Guards, as commissioner to negotiate 

 with the Americans an exchange of prisoners.* The following extract is 

 from the Pennsylvania Packet, 1780-1781 : "Major Andre had ye 

 address to insinuate himself so much unto ye favour of his commander- 

 in-chief that he was said to have gained an absolute ascendency over 

 this officer. The consequence was that he disposed of all his offices and 

 favours and drove out from Sir Henry's family all his former favourites, &c. 

 Letter from a Carolina Exile. When Major Stephen Kemble, the brother- 

 indaw of General Gage resigned the adjutant -major- generalcy, it was forth- 

 with bestowed upon Andre, and thenceforth all the business at headquarters 

 of the Department passed through his hands. It was thus at the beginning 

 of the Fall in 1779, that he commenced the virtual discharge of the Adju- 

 tant-generalcy in which he continued till his death." It was in March 

 or April, 1779, that General Arnold, commanding at Philadelphia, had, 

 under the feigned name o*' Gustavus, begun a secret correspondence 

 with Clinton; who committed the matter to the hands of Andre. The 

 latter wrote over the signature of John Anderson; and was replied to as 

 "Mr. John Anderson, merchant, to the care of James Osborn, to be left 

 at the Rev. Mr. Odell's, Nw York." Though at the outset the Eng- 

 lish had no clue to their correspondent's identity, the character and val- 

 ue of his information soon led them to suspect it; and it is supposed by 

 some, that this letter to Mr. Arnold was written with the • iew of mak- 

 ing clear to her husband the character of its author, and tc i.wite a re- 

 turn of confidence. This may possibly have been the case; but all my 

 investigations show that the lady had not any suspicion of the dealings 

 between the parties, or was ever intrusted by either side with the least 

 knowledge of what was going on. Equally false, in my judgment, is 

 the charge that she tempted her husband to treason. Her purity and 

 elevation of character, have not less weight in the contradiction of this 

 aspersion, than the testimony of all chiefly concerned in the discovery 

 and punishment of the crime. "After the fall of Charleston in 1780, 

 we are told that there was an opinion current in the American line that 

 Andre had been present within its line during the siege, as a spy." It 

 is but just to add, that, if this story of Andre's having been a spy at 

 Charleston, received credence in respectable quarters, it was afterwards 



a Life of Major Andre by Winthrop Sargent. 



