John André was a British army officer in the American Revolution (1775–83). He was famous for working with Benedict Arnold, an American general who switched sides during the war. André was caught by American soldiers and was executed as a spy in 1780.
André was born on May 2, 1750, in London, England. Not much is known about his childhood. He joined the British military in 1771, but a year later he left to study mathematics. André rejoined the military in 1774 in Quebec. The American Revolution began the following year, and he fought in many battles. In 1778 André became an aid to General Henry Clinton, the commander in chief of the British forces.
One of André’s jobs was to communicate with American spies. At the time, Arnold was planning to hand over West Point, an important American military post, to the British army. André and Arnold wrote letters to each other disguised as a business transaction. In these letters André took the name John Anderson, and Arnold signed the name Gustavus. In September 1780 André met with Arnold, who gave him full details about how to take over West Point.
Two days after his meeting with Arnold, André was captured. Papers given to him by Arnold were discovered in his boots. André was brought before a military board, and he was found guilty of being a spy. Clinton refused to hand over Arnold to the Americans in exchange for André. André was hanged on October 2, 1780, in Tappan, New York.
