A Condemned Officer Dressed Himself To Die Like A Soldier

On the morning he was to hang, British Maj. John Andre dismissed his weeping servant and prepared himself alone. He shaved, then put on his red regimental uniform, which had been brought from New York so he could die in proper dress.

He no longer asked to be spared or freed, only to choose how he died. His request was to be shot by a firing squad, as a soldier, rather than hanged on the gallows as a spy.

George Washington, the American commander, had refused. Under the rules of war, a man caught with enemy defense papers behind American lines would hang, and Washington believed firmness was needed after the betrayal by Benedict Arnold, the American general who had agreed to hand West Point to the British.

After a last meal, Andre told his guards he was ready. Outside his small prison in Tappan, rows of soldiers stood at attention, while almost all the senior officers on hand looked on from horseback as drums beat a slow march up a hill.

He walked calmly between two officers, bowing politely to men he recognized. Then he saw the gallows ahead on the hill, and stopped.

He said he accepted death but hated dying in that way. As a cart bearing a dark coffin passed, his legs briefly gave way as he started to climb. Then he murmured that it would be only a momentary pang, and pulled himself up.

At the top waited an executioner whose face was darkened to hide who he was. When the man reached for him, Andre saw that his hands were filthy too.

He did not want them to stain his uniform, so he said he would put the noose around his own neck. He took the rope, slipped it over his head, and adjusted it carefully. Then he drew a white silk handkerchief from his pocket and covered his own eyes.

Given a chance to speak, Andre said in a clear and steady voice, "I pray you to bear me witness that I meet my fate like a brave man." An officer tied his hands behind him, the order was given, and the rope tightened around his neck.