John Andre (2 May 1750 – 2 October 1780) was a Major in the British Army who served as Adjutant-General of the British forces in North America during the American Revolutionary War. Andre was involved in intelligence and counterintelligence, which saw him recruiting Robert Rogers and the Queen's Rangers to carry out tasks for William Howe in late 1776, attempting to eradicate the Culper Ring, capturing Charles Lee, and turning Benedict Arnold to the Tory cause. Andre would be captured in 1780 while dressed as a civilian and carrying false documents, and he was hanged as a spy.
Biography[]
Head of Secret Intelligence[]
A self-portrait of John Andre, 1780
John Andre was born on 2 May 1750 to a wealthy family of Huguenots from Switzerland and France, and he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the British Army in 1770, joining the Royal Fusiliers in British Canada in 1774. Andre was given command of the secret intelligence of Great Britain's army in the Thirteen Colonies in 1776, and Andre was involved in coordinating Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant Robert Rogers' activities with the Queen's Rangers with the overall British commander in America, Major-General William Howe in New York, using the Continental Army Major-General Charles Lee as his source for obtaining intelligence. Andre was able to kidnap Lee with the assistance of his lover Philomena Cheer, who posed as the tavern wench "Iris Endicott" to lure Lee into the British Army's hands at a tavern in Basking Ridge, New Jersey on 13 December 1776 as he stayed behind his retreating army. However, in 1777 he would be given the ability to overhaul any provincial units before they became disorderly and destructive banditti, as Inspector-General Innes put it. Andre had Rogers sent back to England, where he would be granted a charter to claim the Northwest Passage for the crown and replaced as commander of the Queen's Rangers. Later, Andre passed command of the rangers to John Graves Simcoe, taking him from the commissary in Philadelphia to become the new ranger commander.
Involvement with Arnold and death[]
John Andre and Peggy Shippen dancing
In 1779, Andre was promoted to Adjutant General of the British Army in America with the rank of Major, and in 1780 he decided to make contact with General Benedict Arnold of the Continental Army through his loyalist wife Peggy Shippen, who had previously fallen in love with Andre when they first met in Philadelphia in late 1777 (Shippen wanted to elope with Andre, but Andre had to go to New York, promising to return to that they could marry with her father's permission; Arnold would marry her without giving her much of a choice). In September 1780, Andre met with Arnold in West Haverstraw in Rockland County, New York, having been transported by the Vulture up the Hudson. However, Benjamin Tallmadge found out about the plot to betray West Point to the British by Arnold, and the militia commander James Livingston and his men arrived at Verplanck's Point across the river and fired on the HMS Vulture.
Benedict Arnold gave Andre six letters on how to take over the fort, civilian clothes, and a passport claiming that his name was "John Anderson", and he rode safely for one day before three militiamen who were Skinners halted him at Tarrytown on 23 September 1780. Andre mistakenly believed that the men were Tory Cowboys because one man wore the overcoat of the Hessians, and Andre gave up his identity as a British spy to them. They found out about his loyalties from this accidental fooling of Andre, and they captured him. Arnold escaped from West Point due to one of his men sending him a letter saying that Andre claimed that he was a traitor; the soldier did not want to be in trouble if he falsely claimed that Arnold was a traitor. Andre was was sentenced to suffer death as a spy despite his objections that he was a prisoner-of-war, and on 2 October 1780 he was hanged at Tappan in New York with American generals in his presence (Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette cried at his execution).