A History of the County of Westchester, Vol. I
But the fatal sentence being already passed, the flag was sent back without the hoped for clemency in his favor. Major Andre received his condemnation with that fortitude and resolution which had always marked his character, and is represented going', with unshaken
COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 229
Scarce lit by day's meridian sun, Thy marble bust may sadly smile, Yet is there darkness on thy name, Though gentle pity mourns for thee, While patriots bless the holy flame. Which kept thy captor's spirit free. ■.s. ' . - [Westchester and Putnam Republican.
A remarkable incident is said to have befallen the celebrated white wood tree near which the spy was captured. It was struck by lightning on the same day that the intelligence of General Arnold's death arrived at Tarrytown. This tree was a fine specimen of the ancient forest, being twenty-six feet in circumference, and its stem forty-one feet in length. At the present day not a vestige remains of " Major Andre's tree," as it was familiarly called. It is thus beantifully described by the author of the Sketch Book : " This tree towered like a giant above all the other trees of the neighborhoo 1, and formed a kind of landmark. Its limbs were knnrled and fantastic, large enough to form trunks for ordinary trees, twisting down almost to the earth, and rising again into the air. It v/as connected with the tragical story of the unfortunate Andre, who had been made prisoner hard by, and was universally known by the name of ' Major Andre's tree.' The common people regarded it with a mixture of respect and superstition, partly out of sympathy for the fate of its ill-starred namesake, and partly from the tales of strange sights, and doleful lamentations told concerning it." It was while passing beneath this whitewood tree that Ichabod Crane, in his midnight career toward Sleepy Hollow, "suddenly heard a groan, his teeth chattered, and his knees smote against the saddle.