The Execution of Major Andre

by John Evangelist Walsh

In his winning novelistic style, John Evangelist Walsh tells the story of one of the most fascinating figures of the American Revolution, Major John Andre, the gentleman-spy hanged for his ill-fated conspiracy with Benedict Arnold to crush the American battle for independence. A handsome, well-bred poet, playwright, actor, and partygoer, Andre was the dilettante spymaster for Britain with a vast Loyalist network. He blundered into rebel hands carrying Arnold's plans for an attack on West Point and was hanged at Tappan, New York on October 2, 1780, under Washington's orders. At the execution, Americans wept openly for the popular officer sacrificed by the British to insure Benedict Arnold's safety. His remains were interred in Westminster Abbey. Walsh brings Andre and his role in American history to light in a book that readers of popular history will embrace.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

239 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

John Evangelist Walsh was an American author, biographer, editor, historian and journalist. He was best known for leading a team of 7 editors tasked with creating a condensed version of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Reviews

[LaMissile · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a deep obsession with John Andre, so I was willing to go through hell and back again for any new information on him. What I found here was incredibly in-depth and well researched, BUT, I have an issue with how the author presented them. First off, the author was ridiculously self-congratulatory and always referred to his work as “In reality,..”. He even mentioned what great lengths he went to to bring us this very important, life-changing information. He was also convinced that Andre shamelessly acted everything he did and was a terrible person. Quite the villianizing. It was definitely a new perspective, if nothing else.

[P.Wiltse · Rating 1 out of 5]

A more apt title would be The Character Assassination of Major André. The author writes about André like some kid on tumblr writes about the canon love interest that interferes with their ship, and I immediately lose respect for anyone who takes what he says seriously. (Ok, many of them are people with graduate degrees in literature, so it might not be possible for me to lose any more respect for them, but at least one is an actual history professor.)

I mean, he literally makes things up to make André look bad. For example. He has this whole bit where André tells Alexander Hamilton that he has a dear little girl back home that he's going to marry after the war named Honora Sneyd etc etc, supposedly in order to make Hamilton feel sympathetic toward him because Hamilton is also engaged. So this I'm going to check the sources for, because the only sources I had heard of for André still being into Honora after, like, 1770 are Anna Seward and an excerpt from a letter from 1774 that no one today takes seriously because they think Anna made it up, or at least heavily edited it. If I find a different source for him still being into her I'll start to believe it. The sources he gives are Flexner's The Traitor and the Spy, the Robert McConnell Hatch bio, the pointless 1940s Tillotson bio, and Sargent's biography and an article in the Atlantic Monthly, also by Sargent. I had already read all of them except the Atlantic Monthly article, which is readily available on the internet (as are the other books I just listed), but I went and checked all of them again, and read the Atlantic Monthly article. None of them claim that André ever talked to Hamilton about Honora, most of the pages cited are about André's relationship with her back in 1769, and the older sources, which are less dismissive of the idea that he was still in love with her after he went to America, either get this from Anna Seward or don't list a source and there source was probably Anna Seward.

[Linda Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this book several hears ago wanting to follow up on a character deeply implicated in the treason of Benedict Arnold. It actually took me in a different direction from my original impression of Andre to a much less sympathetic view. For students of the America Revolution I would recommend.

[Granger · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I disagree with the author’s thesis that André was a self-serving conniving individual (and I feel the author failed to support this claim in any compelling way!) I still really enjoyed this book. There are so many interesting facts presented here that I’ll be using this book as a starting point for future research.

[Matthew Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed. Found this in a used bookstore and picked up on a whim. It’s focus on this specific incident was well done

[Travis Pitcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt that this version of events was laden with an obvious (and somewhat inexplicable) dislike for Major Andre himself. The author seems to think that John Andre was a calculating and manipulative narcissist who bent the impressions his captors' and superiors' alike had of him to raise himself up in their eyes. I have read three or four books on Major Andre, and while this author's opinion is original, I question whether some of the conclusions he draws from Andre's actions are justified. An interesting read, but I'm too big of a fan of Major Andre's to really have enjoyed this completely negative take on his character.

[Todd Van Meter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating historical novel detailing the circumstances surrounding the capture and eventual execution of British Major John Andre during the Revolutionary War. The book details the ethical conflict faced by George Washington in determining whether Andre should be treated as a spy or a prisoner of war. The book is very easy to read and engages the reader as it details the alleged plot involving Andre, Benedict Arnold, and other famous figures of the Revolutionary War.

[Monte Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and good details on the ineteractions between Major Andre and Benedict Arnold help understand many of the questions concerning the treason. However, the book ends without much of a conclusion on the treachery, but does a decent job on follow-up on the captors and history of the event as interpreted later.