Correspondence indicates that she had regular contact with Major John Andre, the chief of British intelligence, and Benedict Arnold, both of whom were stationed in the city. It is more likely that Agent 355 was not Anna Strong, but a woman of some social prominence living in New York, possibly even a member of a Loyalist family. Selah was confined on a British prison ship in New York harbor for “ surreptitious correspondence with the enemy.” Strong was the wife of Selah Strong, a judge who had been arrested in 1778 on suspicion of seditious activity. It is possible that she was Anna Strong, a neighbor of Woodhull’s, who sent signals to Brewster via her laundry line. In 2015, a letter was discovered that revealed Roe’s brothers Phillips and Nathaniel were also involved in espionage.Īgent 355 was the only known female member of the original spy network, and historians have been unable to confirm who she was. Riding on horseback, he regularly made the 55-mile trip between Setauket and Manhattan. During the war, Brewster also ran smuggling missions from a whaling ship.Īustin Roe worked as a merchant during the Revolution, and served as a courier for the ring. A skilled boat captain, he navigated through hard-to-reach coves and channels to pick up information gathered by the other members, and deliver it to Tallmadge. The descendant of one of the original Mayflower passengers, Caleb Brewster worked as a courier for the Culper Ring. In 1929, historian Morton Pennypacker made the connection by matching handwriting on some of Townsend's letters to those sent to Washington by the spy known only as "Culper Junior." Townsend was one of the last of the Culper members to be identified by modern researchers. Robert Townsend was both a journalist and merchant, and owned a coffeehouse that was popular with British soldiers, placing him in a perfect position to gather intelligence. The boarding house was a residence for a number of British officers, so Woodhull and the Underhills obtained significant information about troop movements and supply chains. By sending his civilian agents out on reconnaissance missions, and creating an elaborate method of passing information back to Washington’s camp in secret, Tallmadge was effectively America’s first spymaster.įarmer Abraham Woodhull made regular trips into Manhattan to deliver goods, and stayed at a boarding house run by his sister Mary Underhill and her husband Amos. Originally from Setauket, on Long Island, Tallmadge initiated a series of correspondences with friends in his hometown, who formed the key members of the ring. Hulton Archive / Getty Imagesīenjamin Tallmadge was a dashing young major in Washington’s army, and his director of military intelligence. Working together, they organized a complex system of gathering and relaying intelligence to Washington, risking their own lives in the process.īenjamin Tallmadge was the spymaster of the Culper ring. Washington's director of military intelligence, Benjamin Tallmadge-who had been Nathan Hale's roommate at Yale-managed to recruit a small group of friends from his hometown each of them brought other sources of information into the spy network. The Culper Ring was thus formed out of sheer necessity. Over the next few months, he organized several different groups to collect information, operating under the theory that civilians would attract less attention than military personnel, but by 1778, he still lacked a network of agents in New York. Washington was in a tough spot, and had no way to learn about his enemies’ movements. To make matters worse, the spy Washington sent to gather intelligence, Nathan Hale, had been captured by the British and hanged for treason. He and his troops had been forced to abandon their position in New York City and flee across New Jersey. However, by the end of the year, things weren’t looking so good for General George Washington and the Continental Army. Developed by Tallmadge, the Culper Code Book was essential in protecting the vital communications and identities of this important intelligence gathering group.In July 1776, colonial delegates wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence, effectively announcing that they intended to separate from the British Empire, and soon, war was underway. Informants used fake names and a numerical code book consisting of seven hundred and sixty-three numbers representing words, names, and places to communicate their information. Under the orders of General George Washington, Major Benjamin Tallmadge organized the Culper Spy Ring in 1778 to gather information on British troop movements, fortifications, and military plans in the New York area.
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