British Major John André is executed, October 2, 1780
Benedict Arnold’s contact in his plot to surrender the colonial fort at West Point to the British in exchange for £20,000 (the equivalent of $3.5 million), André was apprehended by three colonial militia men, who discovered six pages of maps, diagrams, and notes hidden in his boot. While only one of them could read, they all certainly could recognize the plans for West Point. A board of colonial officers convicted André of espionage. George Washington offered to spare his life in exchange for Arnold, but the British refused. André’s remains now rest in the Hero’s Corner in Westminster Abbey.