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On the night of September 21, 1780, Benedict Arnold met secretly with British Major John André on the western bank of the Hudson River. They finalized the plan. Arnold gave André documents — detailed plans of West Point's defenses, written in Arnold's own hand. André hid the papers inside his boot. He began the journey back to British lines. But he never made it. Three American militiamen — John Paulding, Isaac Van Wart, and David Williams — stopped a man traveling alone near Tarrytown, New York