Washington, while not eager to execute André, found himself in an equally sticky spot. Without some sort of compelling legal reason, he could not release André without appearing to cave in under British threats.

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Consequently, nothing came of Washington’s suggestion, and after a week’s delay, he ordered André’s execution–trembling, witnesses reported, as he did so. On 2nd October, 1780, André walked to the gallows, asking everyone present ‘to bear witness that I meet my fate like a brave man.’ As he died, many of the Americans who had gathered to watch the execution cried. In the 1820s, his body was returned to England, to be reburied in Westminster Abbey, in a spot reserved for illustrious poets.

Arnold lived on until 1801. He was buried in the Church of St. Mary’s, Battersea, but a clerk entered the deceased’s name into the church records incorrectly, so that when the church underwent renovation a century later, workers had no idea whose grave they had opened when they disinterred him and tossed his body into an unmarked common grave, with dozens of other anonymous remains.

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