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Subject: Oct 2, 1780
Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2005 11:47:50 EDT

October 2

1780 British spy executed in Arnold affair
During the American War for Independence, British Major John André is hanged
as a spy by U.S. military forces in Tappan, New York.
Ten days before, André had been apprehended by three highwaymen sympathetic
to the Patriot cause, and they turned him over to U.S. authorities after
finding intelligence information hidden in his boot. The intelligence papers
revealed that André was returning from a secret meeting with U.S. General
Benedict Arnold, who, as the commander of West Point, had offered to surrender the
strategic Hudson River fort for a bribe of $20,000. With the plot uncovered,
Arnold fled to the British warship Vulture and joined the British in their
fight against his country. Benedict Arnold had been a hero of the Patriot cause,
distinguishing himself in a number of battles, but henceforth his name
became synonymous with the word "traitor" in American speech. He died in London
in 1801.

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