We will not follow the prisoner to the place of his confinement, or
dwell upon his dismal reflections behind the grated bars of a felon’s
cell. He was not a prisoner of war, entitled to the courtesies and
respect due to a brave but unfortunate soldier. He was a criminal,
guilty of a most base and ignominious act, for which his thorough
knowledge of military law told him he must die. He had landed without a
flag, entered the enemy’s quarters in disguise, and there sought to
bribe an officer to the betrayal of his trust. There was no hope. He
felt it. He must die upon the scaffold. In vain, with impotent rage, did
he heap curses upon the heads of his imbecile agents. They were at
liberty, and he was the victim. If any thing could aggravate his
wretchedness, it was the reflection that the day of his arrest was the
day of his expected nuptials. No time was lost in his trial. A military
court was convened on the ensuing day, before which the prisoner made an
ingenious but useless defence. He was convicted, and sentenced to death,
and the sentence was immediately forwarded to the commander-in-chief for
approval.
The minutes of the trial, which were also sent to General Washington,
were fully explanatory of the particulars of his arrest, and of the
personal reasons which had influenced Gansevoort in resorting to
measures for its procurement, which the latter would otherwise have
considered objectionable. To these, the commandant added his express
desire, that if the circumstances afforded any ground for a mitigation
of punishment, the prisoner might have the full benefit of it.
During the few days that elapsed before a return could be expected, no
exertions were spared by the unhappy man that seemed to offer a chance
for his escape. At times, inflated with the idea of his personal
importance, he indulged the hope that Washington would not dare to
proceed to extremities against him. If that distinguished leader
entertained any idea of compromising the national quarrel, it certainly
would be bad policy to widen the breach between the opposing parties, by
unnecessary rigor. He did not, therefore, neglect to magnify his own
importance by allusions to his family connections, his expected
promotion to the peerage, and, stretching a point for that purpose, his
intimacy with royalty itself. He succeeded so well by these means, in at
least convincing himself of his security, that he soon began to resent
even the indignity of a personal confinement. His first expostulations
on this point, addressed to an officer on guard, were met by the
assurance that his cause of complaint would be speedily removed. The
order for his execution had arrived. Blanched with terror, he refused to
believe the tidings. He had not entertained a doubt that whatever the
decision of the commander-in-chief should be, the importance of the
transaction would at least induce the personal attendance of that
officer. When, however, pursuant to his request, the report of his trial
and sentence was shown to him, bearing the simple endorsement,
“Approved—Geo. Washington,” his humiliation was complete. Losing at
once all sense of personal dignity and fortitude, he begged his life in
the most abject terms. Resolutely refusing any personal interview with
the prisoner, Gansevoort was importuned by letter. Entreaties, threats,
and promises, mingled together, and urged with all the energy and
earnestness of despair, formed the staple of his epistles. They were
read and returned with the simple reply that his execution would take
place on the ensuing day at sunset. We will pass over that dreadful
interval, in which hope had entirely forsaken the breast of the doomed.
Coward-like, he died a thousand anticipatory deaths.
The day and the hour approached. The giant shadows of the western
mountains began to stretch toward the environs of Fort Constitution. As
the declining sun lingered above the summit of the hills, its rays were
reflected by the bayonets of a military guard, encircling a scaffold, a
prisoner, and a coffin. To that sun the executioner looked for his
signal. Its disk was resting on the horizon, and a hundred eyes were
watching its motion. At this moment there was a sudden movement in the
crowd—a parting to give way to some new comer, and a messenger,
breathless with haste, placed a letter in the hands of Count De Zeng.
Not heeding that it was addressed to the commandant, he hastily opened
and perused it. The blood forsook his cheeks, as with a trembling hand
he passed the note to Gansevoort, and made a signal to the executioner
to forbear. As the eyes of the other ran rapidly down the page, mingled
rage and terror shook for a moment his manly frame. Recovering himself
with an effort, he directed the serjeant in command to approach.
“Remand the prisoner to his cell,” he said, “the execution must be
deferred.”
Before explaining the cause of this sudden change in the aspect of
affairs at the fort, it will be necessary to travel back a short period,
and take up another clew of this singular history.