‘Treason of The Blackest Dye’ On Display At The Pocantico Center

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Among those attending the opening (left to right)were Assemblywoman MaryJane Shimsky, Revolutionary Westchester250 president Connie Kehoe, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins, Greenburgh Councilwoman Ellen Hendrix, Ellie Kelly and Judy Clark from the Pocantico Center of the the Rockefeller Brothers Fund” White Plains Mayor Tom Roach and Sleepy Hollow Mayor Martin Rutyna

September 26, 2024

By Barrett Seaman–

Two hundred forty-four years to the day, September 25, local historians, elected officials and American history buffs gathered in the cavernous “car barn” on the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills to examine and admire a display focused on the capture of British spy Major John Andre in nearby Tarrytown. The papers Andre carried provided ample evidence that a plot was underway to allow the British to commandeer the army fortress at West Point. The primary culprit in this plot was one of General George Washington’s most prominent lieutenants, General Benedict Arnold, at that time the commanding officer of the troops stationed at West Point.

Washington, when he learned of Arnold’s treachery from Alexander Hamilton, he declared that “Treason of the Blackest Dye” had been committed.

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The drama of Arnold’s betrayal and Andre’s capture is brought to life in a display surrounded by Nelson Rockefellers collection of vintage automobiles. Its colorful storyboards depict the chain of events leading up to and following Andre’s capture, along with authentic costumes and uniforms. The display includes many primary source written exchanges, including Arnold’s original hand-written request for Andre’s safe passage through American-held Westchester, letters to and from Andre and Arnold about their plans to escape, and detailed inventories of the armaments at West Point that would have allowed the British to exploit the fort’s vulnerabilities in an attack.

These original artifacts came from many sources: the New York State Archives and State Museum, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Dr. Sara Mascia of the Historical Society of Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown, as well as Revolutionary Westchester 250 curator Char Weigel and several private collectors.

Some of the primary source, hand-written documents from the period

Original documents from private collectors will not be there beyond this week’s opening ceremonies, but the overall display will be open to the public until December 11^th.

In remarks to the assembled dignitaries, Connie Kehoe, president of Revolutionary Westchester 250, called the exhibit “the launch of what will be a national commemoration of the American Revolution”—no less a big a deal, she said, than the 1976 bicentennial celebration. “That,” Kehoe predicted “is what’s going to be playing out across this country.”

The drama surrounding the capture of John Andre is spelled out on colorful storyboards

Thanks to Kehoe and others, Westchester is well positioned to attract visitors from around the world. It will also serve, as Assemblywoman Mary Jane Shimsky observed, “to educate our children and our grown-ups about what happened here, under our feet.”

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