CAPTURE OF MAJOR JOHN ANDRE PAINTING BY C. A. JOHN.

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/10/2024

Oil on canvas, laid-down on panel, 25 x 30 inches; signed ‘Chas. A. John’ on lower right corner. Charles Augustus John (American, fl. 1830-1850) was active and lived in New York and is primarily known for portrait and genre painting. John’s venture into history painting is demonstrated by this fine composition depicting the capture of Major Andre during the Revolutionary War. Major John André was Adjutant General of the British Army in America and in also in charge of its espionage operations. Andre began negotiating with Major General Benedict Arnold who commanded the Continental Army fortress at West Point and had agreed to surrender it to the British for £20,000 and a general’s commission in the British Army—a move that would have enabled the British to cut off New England from the rest of the colonies. André met with Arnold in secrecy and they conferred until nearly dawn, after which they traveled to the Joshua Hett Smith House in West Haverstraw, New York. The ship that brought Andre up the Hudson was fired upon by American artillery and forced to retire downriver without him. To aid Andre's escape through American lines, Arnold provided him with civilian clothes and a passport which allowed him to travel under the name John Anderson. He bore six papers hidden in his stocking, written in Arnold's hand, that showed the British how to take West Point. André rode on in safety until stopped outside of Tarrytown on the morning of the 23rd, where militiamen John Paulding, Isaac Van Wart, and David Williams stopped him. Andre thought that they were Tories and stated, "Gentlemen, I hope you belong to our party." "What party?" asked one of the men. "The lower party," replied André, meaning the British. "We do," was the answer. André then told them that he was a British officer who must not be detained, when, to his surprise, they said that they were Patriots and that he was their prisoner. They searched him and found Arnold's papers in his boot. Andre offered them his horse and watch if they would let him go, but they did not accept the bribe. Paulding realized that he was a spy and took him to a Continental Army post. During his subsequent court martial, he was found guilty of being behind American lines "under a feigned name and in a disguised habit". He appealed to George Washington to be executed by firing squad but by the rules of war, he was hanged as a spy on October 2nd.