Alexandria Gazette, Commercial And Political

Andre's Captors
Col. Talmadge's attack on the
character of the 3 American yeoman,
who captured Major Andre having
been made known to one of
them, Mr. Van Wart, he came down
yesterday from West Chester county.
to see me on the subject, and to take
measures to rebut those charges, the
object of which is to take from him
and his companions, not only all
claims of merit but to render them
infamous, by representing them to
have been Cowboys, in plainer Eng-
lish cattle stealers
Being introduced
himself by a letter from the Rev.
Mr. Smith of Tarrytown In this
letter Mr. Smith expresses himself
in these words.
"It is a truth as incontestible as the
existence of the sun, that Isaac Van
Wart sustains as excellent a charac-
ter as any in the county of West
Chester, & ever did from his youth.
No proof can be made by some hun-
dreds of persons now living, that
neither Van Wart, Paulding nor
Williams, ever were in the British
camp, and that they never were sus-
picious persons, but on the contrary
were true supporters of the rights
and liberties of their country. Up-
on this subject there is not a single
observation made by Mr. Talmadge,
which points at the true characters
of these men
A gentleman who accompanied
Mr. Van Wart, and on whom I can
rely, assures me, that his character
has been during his whole life, en-
tirely unimpeachable, in every res-
pect, and that he is a strictly moral
and religious man, having been for
twenty years a member in commu-
nion with the church.
Mr. Van Wart intends to make a
statement, upon oath, of all that
took place, at the capture of
Andre and in support it, with such fur-
ther
corroborative proof, as shall
leave
no doubt on any man's mind.
in this
have promised him all the
assist-

ance in my power and hope to have
every
thing
prepared
for publication
in the course of a fortnight
I was much pleased with Mr. Van
Wart's personal
appearance:
respectable
and being
advanced
years, even
venerable.
his
face is
one of those in which honesty
is writ-
ten most legibly; and when he came
to speak on the subject of his
patriotism
it was more in sorrow
than in anger'
He appeared
solicitous for
the restoration of his
fair
name
and that of his companions.
His
circumstances are easy and comfort-
able, as he owns a farm of
about a hundred and fifty acres which
he cultivates with skill and industry.
In politics he has been a uniform
supporter of the principles of the
Washington school and has been to
this day and is now a federalist"
I must confess, I could not but sym-
pathise with him, when he learned
that it was from a federalist that he
had received the deep and enormous
injury of which he complained.