You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast. Hello and thank you for joining the American Revolution.

This week episode 266 hanging Major Andre.

Now in our last episode Arnold's treasonous plot to give up West Point and General Washington

to the enemy was exposed when Major John Andre was captured near the British lines

while carrying a pass from Arnold and documents relating to the defenses at West Point.

Washington had been returning from his meeting with French General Rochambault in Connecticut when this whole plot fell apart. in Arnold's abandoned home at West Point, first had to get over the shock that one of his top generals,

the man who weeks earlier Washington wanted to be second in command of the Continental Army,

had been working with the enemy for some time and had plotted to hand the British a major victory.

What became immediately clear to Washington from the documents seized with Major Andre, was that Arnold's plans

involved a British capture of West Point.

Washington had just inspected those defenses and now understood why they were such a mess.

The plans captured with Andre could have meant an attack was imminent.

He didn't know that any attack was dependent on Arnold's successful cooperation,

and Washington had to assume that a British attack was coming either way.

So Washington immediately appointed Nathaniel Green as the new West Point commander.

He sent dispatches to some of his best units in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut

to march directly to West Point and prepare to defend against a British attack.

If the attack was imminent, there would be no time to fix the defenses or wait for the arrival of

reinforcements, but Washington had General Green do whatever he could to prepare.

As I also mentioned last time, Peggy Arnold was sent back to Philadelphia to be with her family.

She was probably the only actual conspirator in continental hands but was never tried or even seriously questioned.

Arnold's two military aides, Colonel Varic and Major Franks, were initially arrested.

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