The skill of the Culpers led to an impressive list of achievements. For example, late in 1779, they uncovered a plot by British agents to smuggle counterfeit money into Connecticut to help the Loyalists pay their taxes and devalue Continental currency. It was probably Townsend who picked up this bit of intelligence as he carefully eavesdropped on conversations among British officers in a Manhattan coffee shop. The Culpers remained a constant, reliable source of military intelligence for most of the war. We can only guess how the war might have gone differently without their daring secret service.
IN 1775, THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS created the Committee of Secret Correspondence to gather intelligence, establish communication with Patriot sympathizers in Great Britain and elsewhere, and also seek alliances with foreign nations. It chose sixty-nine-year-old Benjamin Franklin to lead the European delegation.
In October 1776, Franklin sailed to Paris along with Silas Deane and Dr. Arthur Lee; their goal was to induce the French monarchy to support the colonies in their fight against England. Seeking aid from France was a logical step since France and England had been bitter rivals for years. In addition, France had her eyes on the high dividends that trade with the colonies could pay. For the Americans, the appeal to France was made in desperation. As Robert Morris, a member of Congress, wrote to Franklin, “In a Word, Sir, we must have it.”
In addition to securing much needed assistance from France, Franklin and his associates became deeply involved in espionage activities. One of their specialties was creating and distributing propaganda. One of Franklin’s most creative acts of propaganda was a letter purportedly written by a Prussian prince to the commander of the Hessian mercenaries who were fighting for the British. In the letter, the “prince” complained over the low casualty figures among Hessian troops. The British were paying him a bounty, he said, for each Hessian killed in battle, so, in order to keep casualty numbers up, he recommended that any wounded Hessians be left for dead. After all, “a crippled man,” as he put it, is of no use as a soldier.
This masterpiece of propaganda was widely circulated in Europe, as well as in the colonies among the Hessians. The reaction from Europe sharply criticized the royal government for paying “blood money” for foreigners whose governments “sold” their citizens to the British. Franklin didn’t stop there. With his connections back in the colonies, he was able to fashion a fake Boston newspaper. Among local legitimate news and ads, Franklin added an article or two of his own. One article explained how the British were paying their Indian allies a bounty for each scalp they could turn in. The “reporter” noted that many of the scalps looked to be taken from women and children. Needless to say, this bit of misinformation caused a firestorm in England and gave the Whig critics of the war “facts” to bolster their opposition.
Benjamin Franklin also used his skill at deception on the French. After the rebels had won a decisive victory over the British at Saratoga, New York, in the fall of 1777, the British began making peace overtures to the colonies. The French, though impressed with the victory of the rebels over a larger army, were still hesitant to commit themselves to a formal military alliance with the Americans. To nudge the French further along the road to an alliance, Franklin agreed to speak with the British about a possible reconciliation. Even though he had no intention of making peace with the British, he knew that if there was one thing that the French did not want, it was an American reconciliation with England. Franklin’s “perception management” (or out-and-out deception, some might say) did the trick. He knew that word would get back to the French about his meeting with the British. So it was that on February 6, 1778, the French Royal Council signed a treaty to enter into an offensive and defensive alliance that would prove to be a lifeline for the colonies in their battle against England.
The significance of Franklin’s work for the rebel cause in France cannot be minimized. The French provided 90 percent of the gunpowder used by the rebels in the first years of the war. In addition, France pumped tens of millions of dollars into the war effort and supplied troops, officers, and naval support. In fact, when General Cornwallis surrendered to the Continental army at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, ending the war, there were more French troops than American troops present.
While Benedict Arnold is remembered by most people as a spy and a traitor, few know that he served as a daring and courageous officer in the Continental army. In fact, some historians believe that the war would have been lost without his early battlefield heroics. Nonetheless, this fearless officer went on to betray the country he served for many years.
Arnold was born in 1741 in Norwich, Connecticut, and, at fourteen years old, he ran away from home to fight in the French and Indian War (1755–1763). Whether he actually fought in the war is open to debate. Regardless, Arnold had gotten a taste for life in the military and joined the Continental army in the spring of 1775. So began a military career in which Arnold distinguished himself on the battlefield time and again. Washington would come to consider Arnold to be his finest field commander.
Arnold lost no time making a name for himself in the army. He hurried to Boston at the start of the Revolutionary War to work with Patriot leaders. He led a victorious attack on Fort Ticonderoga and secured twenty-one cannons that the rebels dearly needed. He was rewarded by being named colonel of a company of Massachusetts soldiers.
Arnold’s reputation as a brave warrior continued to grow when his men joined the forces of General Richard Montgomery and attacked the British stronghold on Quebec. The fighting was fierce, resulting in a serious leg wound for Arnold, who spent the next six months recuperating. Once his leg healed, he accepted his next assignment as commander of a seventeen-ship fleet on Lake Champlain, on the border between New York State and Vermont.
Although Arnold had reason to believe that his heroism and valor would be rewarded, he was sorely disappointed. The Continental Congress passed him over for promotion, instead promoting five officers with less experience. To add to this insult, the Massachusetts colony authorities refused to reimburse him for military expenses that he had paid out of his own pocket. The final blow came when he received news that his wife had died while he was away from his Connecticut home. Angry and dispirited, Benedict Arnold went home to New Haven.
In late April of 1777, however, he got word that the British were retreating to New York City and would be passing through nearby Ridgefield, Connecticut. He immediately raised a group of one hundred volunteers who were ready to fight the rearguard of the retreating redcoats. Although the rebels claimed victory, it came at a high price for Arnold, who was injured when his horse was shot out from under him and landed on Arnold’s left leg.
Because Arnold had distinguished himself on the battlefield, General Washington called on him to join the battle to retake Fort Ticonderoga. Washington needed Arnold to join the Northern Department of the Continental army. Arnold demonstrated an aggressive style of command in a series of battles that turned the tide of the war in the favor of the colonists.
Benedict Arnold’s involvement in the so-called Saratoga campaign was key in the rebel victory. But because of petty bickering between Arnold and Major General Horatio Gates, who found Arnold to be a “pompous little fellow,” he was left out of the final battle plans. But Arnold would not let Gates stop him from serving his army. Without receiving any orders to act, Arnold entered the battle and rallied the American troops. At day’s end, British general John Burgoyne — out of supplies and cut off from retreat — realized that he had no choice but to surrender.
What should have been a proud day for Arnold turned into an insult. General Gates relieved Arnold of his command and gave him no credit for his role in the victory. In fact, Gates soundly criticized Arnold for disobeying orders and exceeding his authority.
During the Saratoga campaign, Arnold had once again injured his leg. The damage was so severe that doctors considered amputating it. Arnold would have no part of that. Instead, he spent a few months in the hospita
l wracked with horrible pain. When he was discharged from the hospital, Arnold was permanently scarred and his left leg was two inches shorter than his right. Despite his injury, Arnold spent the winter of 1777–1778 with the Continental army in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, enduring the grim hardships of that wretched season.
Although Arnold’s battlefield heroics were the stuff of legend, he was dogged by rumors and gossip about his behavior: that he had let smallpox spread through the American camp in Quebec, that he had mismanaged the fleet on Lake Champlain, and that he had exhibited poor judgment and character by earning money from business schemes while he was in the army. Arnold’s promotion by Congress to major general did little to diminish his resentment. Not only did he feel that he should have been promoted sooner; he also felt that he should have received a higher rank. When Congress later recommended that he be court-martialed for some of his money-making schemes, Arnold saw himself as the victim of the judgments of incompetents who’d never seen battle.
Benedict Arnold’s fortunes — though not his resentments — changed in June 1778, when he was appointed military commander of Philadelphia. He immediately moved into a sumptuous mansion and decorated it with costly furnishings. He threw lavish parties, always serving the finest food and drink. As Arnold spent more and more money, the government was building its court-martial case against him.
Not long after his marriage to Peggy Shippen, daughter of a prominent Philadelphia Loyalist and nearly twenty years his junior, he was court-martialed. The charge: questionable practices as military governor, such as having a friend set up a company that bought supplies the army would need, then sold them to the army at inflated prices, turning a tidy profit for General Arnold and himself.
The trial was long and difficult for Arnold, but in the end he felt vindicated when he was acquitted. While four of the presiding officers wanted Arnold discharged from the army, it was determined that his punishment would be a reprimand from the commander in chief.
Benedict Arnold was angry and disgusted with the treatment he had received. So it came as no surprise to his wife that, in early May 1779, he secretly offered his services to the British. In fact, she may have encouraged his treasonous actions. Although the negotiations with the British took over a year, a deal was finally struck. Arnold would gain command of the garrison at West Point, New York, and then surrender the fort and its three thousand soldiers to the British. In return, he would receive a comparable rank in the British army and receive a cash payment equivalent to about one million dollars today.
Benedict Arnold began to act with the cunning of an espionage agent. He sent word to General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, the acting British commander in New York, that he was prepared to “undertake the part in question.” However, Arnold wanted to make sure he and his mission were protected. He asked for a “small sum of ready money.” Further, he wanted to make sure that the field agent he would meet was authentic. Von Knyphausen gave Arnold a ring, informing him that he should trust only an agent who wore an identical ring.
Not satisfied with betraying the rebel cause, Arnold also began spying for the British. Using the code name Mr. Moore, he wrote to British general Henry Clinton revealing Washington’s plans to invade Canada and to add six thousand troops to his force of four thousand. Arnold also informed Clinton that, although Arnold had not yet received the command of West Point, it was only a matter of time before he took over the strategically crucial garrison. Arnold confided in the British general that he had “a drawing of the works on both sides of the river done by a French engineer.” With this map, Arnold assured Clinton, the British “might take [West Point] without loss.”
Like many spies, Benedict Arnold sent his military intelligence in secret code. His code used Blackstone’s Commentaries, a classic legal book, as a codebook. He had sent a copy of this book to Clinton with directions on how they would use it to communicate. Each word in their messages would be found in the pages of Blackstone’s and encoded with a number that would indicate the page number, the column on that page, and the place in the column for that word. For example, the word garrison might be encoded as 3520216, indicating that the word appeared on page 352, in the right-hand column (01 would indicate the left-hand column), and sixteen words from the top of that column. Arnold soon abandoned Blackstone’s in favor of a best-selling English dictionary with words listed alphabetically, making the encoding and decoding processes much easier.
In the meantime, Arnold continued to lobby George Washington for command of West Point, which he considered the “key to America,” because if the British controlled West Point, they could effectively drive a wedge between the two wings of the Continental army. Although Washington had other plans for Arnold, he issued new orders, notifying Arnold that he was to “proceed to West Point and take command of that post and its dependencies.”
Benedict Arnold wasted no time putting his treacherous plan into motion. Anxious to deliver more useful intelligence to General Clinton, Arnold tried to penetrate the American spy network. He wrote to American general Robert Howe and to General Lafayette, asking for the names of the spies that they had used. There was nothing suspicious about such a request. It was common practice for a new commander to have this information so he could continue using the operatives. However, both generals turned down his request, undoubtedly saving the lives of a number of Patriot spies.
Despite this rebuff, Arnold knew it was time to meet with a British officer who had the authority to approve final plans for the surrender of West Point. Arnold, changing his code name to Monk, began a coded communication with Mr. John Anderson, the code name for Major John André, Clinton’s adjutant general. Arnold wanted “Mr. Anderson” to come “mysteriously” and meet with him. André supported such a meeting because he wanted to finally meet the man who had provided such valuable intelligence.
André’s first attempt to meet with Arnold was aborted when the American patrol boats in the Hudson River fired on André’s ship, the HMS Vulture. Arnold had failed to notify the gunships that the Vulture would be arriving under a flag of truce. With a keen sense of disappointment, André returned to give the news to Clinton.
Ten days passed before André made another attempt to meet with Arnold. This trip seemed ill fated from the start. First, André disregarded Clinton’s warning about not traveling at night. His ship anchored in a safe spot, and he was carried upriver in a small boat. However, by the time he reached the meeting place, six miles from the Vulture, it was nearly two o’clock in the morning. He and Arnold would barely have two hours to discuss their deal before daylight. While there is no record of the particulars they discussed, they obviously reached an agreement on the betrayal. While Major André never got to give his side of the story, Arnold had this to say:
[Major André] was so fully convinced of the reasonableness of my proposal of being allowed 10,000 pounds sterling for my services, risks, and the loss which I should sustain in case of a discovery of my plans should oblige me to take refuge in New York before it could be fully carried into execution, that he assured me, though he was commissioned to promise me only 6,000 pounds sterling, he would use his influence to recommend it to your Excellency.
Arnold needed to return to the garrison at West Point, so he left André in the care of Joshua Hett Smith, one of his associates. Smith accompanied André back to the river’s edge. However, the farmers who had rowed André upriver refused to take him back downriver to the Vulture because they feared traveling in daylight in plain sight of the cannons on the other side of the river. When Smith realized that no amount of arguing would change the farmers’ decision, he and “Mr. Anderson” climbed on horses and raced the six miles to the Vulture.
Despite Arnold’s direct order to Colonel Henry Livingston, commander of the heavy guns at Teller’s Point, not to open fire, Livingston panicked at the sight of the Vulture. If he didn’t fire, he reasoned, what would stop Loyalists in the area from rowing out to the ship and plotting mayhem? A two-hour
gun battle ensued. Despite efforts to move the Vulture out of range, the ship was pounded. However, the ship did manage to score a hit on Livingston’s powder magazine. She then slipped downriver.
André wanted to wait for the Vulture’s return, but Smith advised against it, arguing that the ship was unlikely to risk more enemy fire. André decided to return to the British lines on horseback — an extremely risky venture.
No one knows why André decided at this point to exchange his uniform for civilian clothes, but for whatever reason, André took off his uniform coat and slipped into a burgundy coat with gold-laced buttons and buttonholes that Smith had brought. In addition, he wore a yellow cotton waistcoat and breeches, but he retained his shiny white-topped riding boots. Over all this he wore his own blue cape. André knew that, with that change of clothes, death on the gallows was inescapable if he were caught. Had he remained in uniform, he would have been treated as a prisoner of war, with the protections that come with that designation.
To further seal his fate, Major André jammed the papers he had gotten from Arnold into one of his boots. When Arnold had warned him to dispose of the papers if he were caught, André told him that he would throw them overboard. But now, André was traveling on horseback over the roads of New York, where safely disposing of the papers presented more of a problem.
These incriminating papers contained pieces of military intelligence, including a summary of the Continental army’s strength and a report about the number of troops that the British would need to have at West Point and other area defenses. In addition, they included a report from Arnold on the weapons at West Point and the plan of cannon installations in case of an attack. Finally, the papers included a copy of the minutes from a Council of War meeting of September 6 that Washington had sent Arnold, as well as Arnold’s own report of the defensive shortcomings at West Point. Indeed, André’s boot was filled with information enough to hang him and Arnold as well, since many of the notes were in the traitor’s handwriting.
The Dark Game Page 2