Hd. Qrs., October 20, 1780
Dr. Sir:
The plan proposd for taking A - - ,1 the out lines of which are communicated in your letter which was this moment put into my hands without a date, has every mark of a good one,2 I therefore agree to the promised rewards, and have such entire confidence in your management of the business as to give it my fullest approbation; and leave the whole to the guidance of your own judgment, with this express stipulation, and pointed injunction, that he A - d is brought to me alive. No circumstance whatever shall obtain my consent to his being put to death. The idea which would accompany such an event would be that Ruffians had been hired to assassinate him. My aim is to make a public example of him. and this should be strongly impressed upon those who are employed to bring him off. The Sergeant must be very circumspect; too much zeal may create suspicion; and too much precipitancy may defeat the project. The most inviolable secrecy must be observed on all hands. I send you five Guineas; but I am not satisfied of the propriety of the Sergeants appearing with much Specie; this circumstance may also lead to suspicion as it is but too well known to the enemy that we do not deal much in this article. The Interviews between the Party in and out of the City, shd. be managed with much caution and seeming indifference or else the frequency of their meetings &ca. may betray the design and involve bad consequences; but I am perswaded you will place every matter in a proper point of view to rise conductors of this interesting business
and therefore I shall only add that I am etc.
1 Benedict Arnold.
2 Lee’s undated letter is filed in the Washington Papers at the end of September, 1780. "I have engaged two persons to undertake the accomplishment of your Excellencys wishes . . . The chief of the two persons is a sergeant in my cavalry. To him I have promised promotion, the other is an inhabitant of Newark; I have had experience of his fidelity, and his connexions with the enemy render him, with his personal qualifications very fit for the business. To this man I have engaged one hund. guineas, five hundd. acres of land and three negroes. . . . The outlines of the scheme . . . are that the Sergeant should join Gen. Arnold as a deserter from us, should engage in his corps now raising, and should contrive to insinuate himself into some menial or military birth about the Genls. person. That a correspondence should be kept up with the man in Newark, by the latterâs visiting the former every two days. When the favorable moment arrives they should seize the prize in the night, gag him, and bring him across to Bergen woods. . . . The Sergeant is a very promising youth of uncommon taciturnity, and invincible perseverance. . . . I have instructed him not to return till he receives direction from me, but to continue his attempts, however unfavorable the prospects may appear at first. I have excited his thirst for fame by impressing on his mind the virtue and glory of the act." The sergeant, John Champe, deserted on the night of October 20 - 21, and, to prevent a possible suspicion, Lee requested orders to move his corps to another position. Lee wrote Washington (October 25, in the Washington Papers): "My friend got safe into New York. He was before Sir Henry Clinton and passed all the forms of the garrison. He accidentally met Col. Arnold in the street which has paved a natural way for further acquaintance. The party entertain high hopes of success . . . I informed Mr. Baldwin, that I was under orders to march south. . . ." Champeâs attempt failed through no fault of his. For Leeâs account of the exploit see Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department, by Henry Lee.