Release as a Prisoner of War

On December 2, 1776, John André wrote a letter to Caleb Cope from Reading, Pennsylvania, explaining that he believed he was on his way to be exchanged after his first tour as a prisoner of war. André had met and befriended Cope’s son during his captivity as a prisoner of war in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and had taken on the youth as a student in an attempt to help improve John Caleb improve his talent in sketch drawings. By December 2, 1776, André had already been a prisoner of war for a year and one month following the fall of Fort St Jean (Fort St. John’s) in the Canada campaign of November 3, 1775. Before being captured along with the rest of the British soldiers in Fort St. Jean in 1775, André had not had a chance to see much action which meant that by December 1776, most of his military career had been spent on tours of observation and as a prisoner of war. It is clear in his letters to Cope during his captivity, and regarding the lessons of Caleb Cope’s son, that André had already grown tired of the service, and wished to go home. He continuously asked Caleb Cope in his numerous to allow him to take his son John under his care so he might have a pretense to return to England honorably, but by December of 1776 André now displayed a genuine hope to return to British lines to continue serving the mother country and a sincere hope that someday he and his young student would meet again.

André’s hopes about being exchanged were finally realized during the general exchange of prisoners of war that had originally been captured at Fort St. Jean as the close of 1776 drew near, and by the end of December, André was a free man once again. Only a small force that had once been the 7th regiment of foot was left after the exchange and it was moved from Pennsylvania to a new station in New York. New recruits and clothes were sent from England to the regiment so that by the end of the month, the 7th had full ranks. André would not remain in New York long, however, for by Mid-January he obtained his Captaincy in the 26th regiment of foot.

The Death of General Montgomery by John Trumbull, Canada 1775 expedition

Siege of St. Jean/St. John's in 1775