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The Execution of Major Andre

Name: The Execution of Major Andre
Author: John Evangelist Walsh
ISBN: 9780312238896

by John Evangelist Walsh

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Overview

Under cover of darkness on the night of September 22, 1780, British Major John Andre met secretly on the shore of the Hudson River with the famous American General, Benedict Arnold. For a half-million dollars, Arnold offered to betray West Point, surrender it to the British, and thus crush America's hopes for independence. But, the plot failed when Andre, carrying Arnold's plans while returning to British headquarters in New York City, blundered into the hands of three American militiamen. Tried by a military court convened by George Washington, Andre was judged a spy and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed at Tappan, New York, on October 2, 1780, under Washington's orders. At the execution, Americans wept openly for the popular officer, and his remains were later interred in Westminster Abbey. What, though, is the true story of Major John Andre? Was he a spy justly doomed to die on the gallows or was he actually a soldier carrying out a legitimate military assignment, an offense for which he would have been imprisoned, but his life spared? For more than two hundred years, these questions have fascinated and confounded historians of the Revolution.

Synopsis

"Under cover of darkness on the night of September 22, 1780, British Major John Andre met secretly on the shore of the Hudson River with the famous American General, Benedict Arnold. For a half-million dollars, Arnold offered to betray West Point, surrender it to the British, and thus crush America's hopes for independence. But, the plot failed when Andre, carrying Arnold's plans while returning to British headquarters in New York City, blundered into the hands of three American militiamen. Tried by a military court convened by George Washington, Andre was judged a spy and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed at Tappan, New York, on October 2, 1780, under Washington's orders. At the execution, Americans wept openly for the popular officer, and his remains were later interred in Westminster Abbey. What, though, is the true story of Major John Andre? Was he a spy justly doomed to die on the gallows or was he actually a soldier carrying out a legitimate military assignment, an offense for which he would have been imprisoned, but his life spared? For more than two hundred years, these questions have fascinated and confounded historians of the Revolution."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Popular history writer Walsh (Midnight Dreary) offers an account of the serendipitous events that led to British Major John Andre's capture and execution in 1780 which arguably made possible the success of the American Revolution. Andre was the British spy dispatched to plot the fall of West Point with Benedict Arnold. The British capture of West Point would have most likely diminished or even ended the chance for an American victory. Andre, as described by Walsh, was a dashing and charming officer badly cast as a spy, but who nonetheless, out of greed and a desire for prestige, took the assignment to meet with Arnold on American soil. His subsequent capture was the result of a series of his own misjudgments, Arnold's miscalculations and bad luck. Much of the drama of the story is in Andre's machinations to rationalize his actions to Washington and the American tribunal that tried him. Walsh's history is "novelized," a literary device that is often distracting. We read unrecorded intimate conversations, internal dialogues and minute details of events. For example, Andre realizes "how dry his mouth felt, how thirsty he was." And readers are told, "The sour look on Andr?'s face showed the utter distaste he felt...." Walsh also has the even more distracting habit of inserting himself into the history by explicitly calling attention to the uniqueness of his interpretation of events. Nonetheless, despite these flaws as well as a pedestrian style, there is enough inherent drama in the telling of Andre's story to interest fans of American history. Illus. (Oct. 8) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

This is an excellent popular recounting of one of the most famous incidents in the American Revolution by an author whose previous works on the Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge legend (The Shadow's Rise) and the death of Edgar Allan Poe (Midnight Dreary) make him well qualified for such a book. The present volume concerns the trial and execution of Maj. John Andre, who was captured by American troops in September 1780 while en route from West Point to New York City. Andre was carrying a copy of plans hatched with Benedict Arnold for the hand-over of the fort at West Point to the British. With stern insistence, George Washington refused all appeals for clemency and ordered the execution of the young British officer. Most previous books on Andre have stressed his charming personality, sophistication, bravery, and honor. Walsh offers a different view, portraying Andre as starkly ambitious and crudely arrogant. Based on an extensive analysis of all the relevant primary sources and secondary literature, this book offers a sound and gripping account of this tragic episode. Recommended for all public libraries. T.J. Schaeper, St. Bonaventure Univ., NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.