81
The following is my last Will and Testament, and I appoint as Executors thereto,
Mary Louisa Andre, my Mother; Andrew Giraudot, my Uncle; John Lewis Andr£, my
Uncle. To each of the above Executors I give Fifty Pounds. I give to Mary Hannah
Andre" my Sister, Seven Hundred Pounds. I give to Ann Marguerite Andre" my Sister,
Seven Hundred Pounds. I give to Louisa Katharine Andre, my Sister, Seven Hundred
Pounds. I give to William Lewis Andre" my Brother, seven Hundred Pounds. But the
conditions on which I give the above-mentioned Sums to my four Sisters and brother, are
that each of them shall pay to Mary Louisa Andr£, my Mother, the sum of Ten Pounds
yearly during her Life. I give to Walter Ewer, Jun'r, of Dyer's Court, Aldermanbury,
One Hundred Pounds. I give to John Ewer, jun'r, of Lincoln's Inn, One Hundred
Pounds. I desire a Ring, value Fifty Pounds, to be given to my friend Peter Boissier, of
the Eleventh Dragoons. I desire that Walter Ewer Jr. of Dyer's Court, Aldermanbury,
have the inspection of my Papers, Letters, Manuscripts. I mean that he have the first
inspection of them, with Liberty to destroy or detain whatever he thinks proper, and I
desire my watch1 to be given to him. And I lastly give and bequeath to my brother John
Lewis Andre the residue of all my effects whatsoever.
Witness my hand and seal, Staten Island, in the Province of N. York, N. America,
the 7th June, 1777.
John Andre,
Capt'n in 26th Regt. of Foot.
N. B. The currency alluded to in this will is sterling money of Great Britain. I
desire nothing more than my wearing apparel be sold by public auction.
A.
Remarks.
There were no witnesses to the will, and (so) it could not be proved, but on the
9th of October, 1780, Henry White and Wilham Seaton,2Esqs., both of the city of New
s Simcoe had his legion adopt black and white cockades in mourning, and Arnold vented his chagrin in a characteristic letter to Washington:
Sir,—The wanton execution of a gallant British officer in cold blood, may be only the prelude to
further butcheries on the same ill-fated occasion. Necessity compelled me to leave behind me in your camp a wife and offspring, that are endeared to me by every sacred tie.
If any violence be offered to them, remember I will revenge their wrongs in a deluge of American
blood.
Yours, etc.,
New York, B. Arnold.
October 5, 1780.
No reply was vouchsafed to this.—Upcott Papers, vi., page 65.
Mrs. Arnold was safely conveyed to Philadelphia, Major Franks escorting her.
Elias Boudinot, the American Commissary of prisoners—who was afterwards the first President of the American Bible Society—says Clinton shut himself up for three days on receipt of the news.
Peter Van Schaack says he saw Arnold and his wife, visiting the Abbey, stop and view the monument.—Van Schaack's Life of Peter Van Schaack, page 147.
The Gentleman's Magazine, July, 1801, records that Arnold died in Gloucester Place, London, June 14, 1801,
and on the 21st was buried at Brompton. But Mr. Everard Home Coleman, of London, informs me (1899)
that he has more than once tried to find his grave, without success.
As we have seen, Andre' had a gold and a silver one. It was the first one Colonel Smith bought, and sent to Robertson for the family in England. Yet in 1885 Bangs, Merwin and Co., of New York, sold at auction a gold watch, which they guaranteed to be the original one, to a purchaser unknown to them, giving the name of Peabody. I have been unable to trace it. It would be interesting to know how and why it never
reached England. This watch was exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial, and was later owned by Mr. Gabriel Furman, of East Orange, N. J. Andre's pocket-book in some unknown manner came into the hands of Joshua Barrell, of Bridgewater, Mass., and is now in the collection of the Connecticut Historical
Society, Hartford.
This was William Seton, afterwards the first cashier (1784-1794) of the Bank of New York. He was a noted
loyalist, but remained in the city after the British left. He was the last person to hold the office of Notary Public under a British appointment.
