The Post Hannock House is where George Washington presented medals to the captors of Major John André, a British officer who conspired with Benedict Arnold to capture the American Fort in Garrison.

Here is a brief summary: it involves  Benedict Arnold and Major André, and It all happened 246 years ago-- during the fifth year of the American Revolution. For a few days in 1780, the fate of the nation hung in the balance. 
We all know that Benedict Arnold was a traitor. In fact, the name Benedict Arnold, and the name traitor, have become synonymous.   American Benedict Arnold conspired with British Major Andre to make possible the capture of the fortifications at West Point & the Hudson Highlands.
When the plot was discovered, Major Andre was captured and executed. Those who captured him received medals directly from George Washington,  at the Post Hannock House, here in Cortlandt, in the Hamlet of Verplanck.

Benedict Arnold was an American General and hero of the Battle of Valcourt Island and Saratoga.  Because of his success, he was placed in charge of the Fort in Garrison, a very strategic point along the Hudson River-- now known as West Point. In Washington's words, West Point was the “key to America.” Having decided to “switch sides” and betray the American cause, Arnold wanted to complete his treacherous final plans to sell  West Point to the British. To make this deal, he conspired with the British officer Maj. Andre. Major John André, then 29 years old, was Deputy Adjutant General to Sir Henry Clinton, Commander of British land forces in America south of Canada, and headed Clinton's cloak‐and‐dagger operations. From his New York headquarters, André had been corresponding with Benedict Arnold since June, 1779, through a series of coded letters. Arnold called himself "Gustavus" to hide his identity. 

Benedict Arnold and British major André planned their rendezvous.  André the Spy arrived on the British ship Vulture, and landed on September 21, 1780. Arnold and André conferred until dawn when André was supposed to return to H.M.S. Vulture. However, American Col. James Livingston, who was in command of an American position on the opposite side of the river, opened fire on the Vulture, damaging the vessel and forcing her captain to drop downstream to the Tappan Zee. This stranded André.
Benedict Arnold provided Maj. Andre with a pass allowing “John Anderson,” André's code name, to pass American outposts. Andre took Arnold's written plans for treachery and, hid them in a stocking!!
Fate was with the Americans, and not with Andre. On September 23, 1780 New York militiamen John Paulding, Isaac van Wart and David Williams suspected something was wrong and  Andre was taken into the bushes, stripped, searched, and relieved of his geld watch and the hidden treacherous papers.

Washington was presented with André's letter and the incriminating Arnold papers. Washington,  who now made his headquarters in Tappan at the DeWint House, a Dutch colonial farmhouse built in 1700, wanted to make an example of Arnold and Andre. Alexander Hamilton quarreled With Washington over his mode of death. André wrote Washington requesting a firing squad, but Washington felt compelled to make an example of him. He would be hanged.  André was executed by hanging on Oct. 2,1780. 

Meanwhile, when Arnold heard about the capture of André, he went upstairs to tell his wife Peggy the jig was up. He then came down to say he was needed at the Point, ordered his horse and galloped down the slope across the road to the river. He continued his escape and commandeered a barge and its crew. Leaving his wife and child behind, he ordered the crew to row him out to the British ship, “The Vulture,” which was now anchored out of range of West Point artillery. Arnold escaped, joined the enemy and fought with the British forces against Americans in Virginia and Connecticut. He remained a traitor as an officer of the British. He had successfully escaped and was never captured.

George Washington personally presented Maj. Andre’s captors with meritorious medals, here in Cortlandt, at the Post Hannock House. Although the structure is no longer in existence, an historic marker was installed in 1999 to commemorate the location. It is located on Kings Ferry Road, in the Hamlet of Verplanck, New York.

-Richard H. Becker, M.D.
Supervisor,
Town of Cortlandt