73
eyes of the immense multitude were fixed on him who, rising superior to the fears of
death, appeared as if conscious of the dignified deportment he displayed. Not a murmur
or a sigh ever escaped him, and the civilities and attentions bestowed on him were politely
acknowledged.
"Baldwin's" account says the guard marched in single file (probably
hollow square is meant), the mounted officers first, next the baggage-wagon with
the black-painted cof£n,la next the officers
on foot, then Andre himself with his s
immediate bodyguard. At the spot where <s^J?<?i''?Z/&7?%4/?l/
the troops wheeled to the left and quitted f*
the highway leading to Old Tappan to
enter the field to the south, Clinton's unfortunate Adjutant for the first time saw
the gallows, and realizing that his request for a "professional death" had thus
been denied, and an ignominious end awaited him, involuntarily stopped short for
an instant, overcome by the shock. The captain of the guard26 asked : " Why this
emotion, Sir?" Thacher's version of his reply is the usually-received one: " I am
reconciled to my death, but detest the mode." Bowman, however, who was certainly
nearer to him than was Thacher, told Tallmadge in 1816, that his reply was:
I have borne everything with fortitude, but this is too degrading! As respects
myself it is a matter of no consequence,3" but I have a mother and sister who will be very
much mortified by the intelligence.
By the kindness of Miss Ella M. Bowman, of Wilkes Barre, Pa., a great
great-granddaughter of Ensign Bowman, I am permitted to reproduce an exact
copy of his letter to Tallmadge, which differs slightly from that in print, and from
which I have heretofore quoted :
1 Sargent makes a singular mistake in saying the procession passed Washington's headquarters. The De Windt
house was east of the Mabie, and it was impossible to pass it unless a ditour was made for the purpose,
which the narratives of spectators prove was not done. See the map. Winsor repeats the error.
The two little daughters of Mr. De Windt were among the spectators. In old age one of them told Lossing
that she gave Andrei a peach, which he carried awhile and then gave to one of his guard. As he was
surrounded by troops, the account would be justly regarded as an invention, had it not come from the one
concerned in it.
2 Benjamin Russell was born in Boston, September 13, 1761, and died there January 4, 1845. At seventeen,
while an apprentice to Isaiah Thomas, a printer of Worcester, the latter was drafted for military service.
The youth volunteered in his stead, and was present at Andre's execution, as a private in the Worcester
militia.
He was the first American "war correspondent," as he supplied news to the Worcester Spy during his six
months' enlistment. After the war he founded the Columbian Centinel, of Boston, and was for many
years a member of the Legislature, and the chief spirit of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Asso-
ciation. He was the originator of the word "Gerrymander."
3 Timothy Hall was born in North Brookfield, Mass., June 4, 1758. In 1776 he enlisted as a private in the
Connecticut militia, and was in the battles of Long Island, Harlem Heights and White Plains. His
enlistment expiring with 1776, he seems to have studied medicine during the ensuing three years, as in
February, 1780, we find him commissioned as Surgeon's Mate of the Fifth Massachusetts, Colonel Rufus
Putnam. He served as such to January, 1781, and afterwards settled in East Hartford, Conn., where he
practised his profession with great distinction for many years, and where he died August 6, 1844.
la Considering the humanity with which Andrg had been treated, it would have been inconsistent to have paraded
his coffin before his face; hence I doubt this statement, which I call "Baldwin's" to identify it. Its
author was an unnamed private in Colonel Jeduthan Baldwin's Massachusetts regiment of Artificers
(Artillery).
2b "An officer by his side."—Thacher. Probably Hughes or Smith, as Bowman does not mention it. Another
account says he asked : '' Must I die in this manner ?''
8c it must be confessed that this conflicts with his request to be shot.
