George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 10

His letter was received on the twenty-fifth, too late for an order to be given for his release, and only in time for Arnold himself to escape down the river to the ‘Vulture.’ Washington, who had turned aside to examine the condition of the works at West Point, arrived a few hours after his flight.

The first care of the commander-in-chief was for the safety of the post. The extent of the danger appeared from a letter of the twenty-fourth, in which Andre avowed himself to be the adjutant-general of the British army, and offered excuses for having been ‘betrayed into the vile condition of an enemy in disguise’ within his posts. He added: ‘The request I have to make to your Excellency, and I am conscious I address myself well, is, that, in any rigor policy may dictate, a decency of conduct towards me may mark, that, though unfortunate, I am branded with nothing dishonorable, as no motive could be mine but the service of my king, and as I was unvoluntarily an impostor.’ This request was granted in its full extent, and in the whole progress of the affair he was treated with the most scrupulous delicacy.¹ Andre further wrote: ‘Gentlemen at Charleston on parole were engaged in a conspiracy against us; they are objects who may be set in exchange for me, or are persons whom the treatment I receive might affect.’ The charge of conspiracy against Gadsden and his fellow-sufferers was groundless; and had been brought forward only as an excuse for shipping them away from the city, where their mere presence