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John Bakeless, Turncoats, Traitors, and Heroes (J.B. Lippincott, 1959) is the most recent full-length effort, but it deals exclusively with espionage and does not discuss covert action. G.J.A. O’Toole has five useful chapters on all of the war’s intelligence aspects in Honor-able Treachery: A History of U.S. Intelligence, Espionage, and ...
Jan 4, 2021 · Under the direction of Benjamin Tallmadge, agents Abraham Woodhull, Caleb Brewster, Anna Strong, Austin Roe, and others spied on the British beginning in 1778 and for the duration of the war. The agents choose pseudonyms—Tallmadge was known as “John Bolton,” while Woodhull became known as Samuel Culper, the namesake of the group.
Spouse. Charlotte Sprowles. . (m. 1841) . Timothy Webster (March 12, 1822 – April 29, 1862) was a British-born American lawman and soldier. He served as a Pinkerton agent and Union spy, and was the first spy in the American Civil War to be executed.
- The Power of Intelligence
- The Culper Ring
- Ciphers and Codes
- Mulligan and Armistead
- The Fate of Captured Spies
From the beginning of Washington’s meteoric rise, intelligence gathering helped shape his military career. He first learned to use on-the-ground information from Native Americans and deserting French soldiers during the French and Indian War. Intelligence, he learned, could make the difference between victory or death. So in 1775, when the Second C...
In November 1778, General Washington appointed Benjamin Tallmadge director of military intelligence and ordered him to construct a spy ring inside New York City, which was by this time occupied by the British—and would be for the duration of the war). Dubbed “the Culper Ring” at Washington’s suggestion—a riff on Culpeper County in his home state of...
The Culper Ring used code names to hide the identities of operatives. Even Washington had one—Agent 711. As head of intelligence, Tallmadge created the Culper Code Book, which assigned ciphers to 763 names or words. The number 219 denoted “gun”; 223 meant “gold”; 701 meant “woman.” The brother of founding father John Jay, named James, invented an e...
One of the most prolific spies in New York City began his activities before the establishment of the Culper Ring: Hercules Mulligan, assisted by his enslaved manservant Cato. Mulligan ran a clothing emporium catering to wealthy New Yorkers, including many high-ranking British officers. Mulligan became so chummy with these British military men, he m...
In the annals of the Revolutionary War, there are two instances in which high-profile spies were captured—one from each side. Early in the war, when Washington knew that the British were going to attempt to sack New York City, he called for a spy behind enemy lines. Benjamin Tallmadge chose Nathan Hale, a classmate at Yale before the war. Hale was ...
The FBI was a step away from uncovering what its director, J. Edgar Hoover, would call “the crime of the century.”¹ Greenglass admitted to the FBI that, during a visit to Albuquerque, his wife Ruth (code-named WASP) conveyed a proposal to spy for the NKGB from his brother-in-law, Julius Rosenberg.
An unsung hero of the Revolution, Hercules Mulligan was one of America’s most important spies. B orn in 1740 in Coleraine Ireland, he emigrated to New York City with his family at six years old. After graduating from King’s College, Mulligan married Elizabeth Sanders, the niece of Admiral Sanders of the Royal Navy.
Often overlooked is Jay’s exemplary record leading the Committee for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies. As a result of his numerous successes in exposing British espionage activities and spoiling plots against the rebellion, Jay is widely considered the founding father of American counterintelligence.
