Washington's Spies
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109. Tiedemann, “Patriots by default,” William and Mary Quarterly, pp. 47–49.
110. J. G. Simcoe, Simcoe’s military journal: A history of the operations of a partisan corps, called the Queen’s Rangers, commanded by Lieut. Col. J.G. Simcoe, during the war of the American Revolution; now first published, with a memoir of the author and other additions (New York, 1844 ed.), pp. 93–94.
111. Luke and Venables, Long Island in the American Revolution, pp. 42–43; Irwin, Oyster Bay in history, pp. 100–2.
112. Tiedemann, “Patriots by default,” William and Mary Quarterly, p. 62.
113. Letter, Charles Stuart to Lord Bute, September 16, 1778, in Stuart-Wortley (ed.), A prime minister and his son, p. 132.
Chapter Six: The Adventures of the Culper Ring
1. Letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, July 15, 1779.
2. Letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, June 29, 1779.
3. Letter, Washington to Congress, July 9, 1779.
4. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, July 1, 1779.
5. P. D. Nelson, William Tryon and the course of empire: A life in British imperial service (Chapel Hill, N.C./London, 1990), pp. 169–70.
6. Letter, Washington to Congress, July 9, 1779. As Washington mentions receiving a report from Trumbull dated July 10, his own letter to Congress must have been sent either on July 10 or July 11.
7. See, for instance, Trumbull to Washington, July 10, 1779; and also, letter, Washington to Thaddeus Betts and Colonel Stephen St. John, July 11, 1779. On his “defensive plan,” see letter, Washington to Congress, July 9, 1779; for the “one essential point,” see letter, Washington to Trumbull, July 12, 1779.
8. Letter, Washington to Trumbull, July 12, 1779.
9. Letter, Washington to Congress, July 9, 1779.
10. Letter, Washington to Trumbull, July 12, 1779.
11. Letter, Washington to Trumbull, July 12, 1779.
12. Nelson, William Tryon, pp. 171–72.
13. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, July 1, 1779.
14. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, July 9, 1779.
15. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, July 15, 1779.
16. Letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, July 15, 1779.
17. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, August 12, 1779.
18. Letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, September 11, 1779.
19. Letter, Washington to Tallmadge, September 24, 1779.
20. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, August 15, 1779.
21. Letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, September 11, 1779.
22. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, August 15, 1779.
23. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, October 10, 1779.
24. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, August 15, 1779.
25. For Selah and Anna Strong, see http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~drmott/Mott/g0000112.html#I3325; for Selah’s parents, see http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~drmott/Mott/g0000119.html#I3324; for Hannah Woodhull’s parentage and siblings, see http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~drmott/Mott/g0000133.html#I1203; and for Hannah’s relationship to General Woodhull, see http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~drmott/Mott/g0000133.html. These URLs may change in the future.
26. F. G. Mather (ed.), The refugees of 1776 from Long Island to Connecticut (Albany, 1913), pp. 582, 587; B. Tallmadge, Memoir of Col. Benjamin Tallmadge (New York, 1858; rep. 1968), p. 5. On Selah Strong, see B. J. Thompson (ed. C. J. Werner), History of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time (New York, 3 vols., 3rd ed., 1918; orig. 1839), II, p. 306.
27. Pennypacker, in General Washington’s spies, II, pp. 34–35, spins an utterly fantastical and fanciful tale out of this single, brief mention of the woman, whom others have dubbed “Agent 355.” (See also C. Ford’s fictionalized A peculiar service: A narrative of espionage in and around New York during the American Revolution [Boston, 1965], especially pp. 206–8, which adds to the romance.) The trouble begins when Pennypacker misreads the letter: Instead of accepting that Woodhull was referring, as he openly states in his dispatch, to “a 355”—a lady—he drops the “a” and argues that Woodhull was talking about a female agent code-named 355. Agent 355, the story goes, was Townsend’s paramour, but she was captured by the British and detained aboard the prison ship Jersey, where she was interrogated (but kept stoutly mum) and died—but not before giving birth to Townsend’s love child. A charming story, though it’s nonsense, not least because females were not kept aboard the prison ships, there’s no record whatsoever of a birth, and, I think most pertinently, the son who claimed Robert Townsend as his father was born some years after the war. His mother, rather prosaically, was Townsend’s housekeeper, not the fictional “Agent 355”—and it’s questionable whether Townsend was even the real father. Also, rather importantly, the actual letter is written by Woodhull (who accordingly signed it “722,” his code number), not Townsend, as others have assumed.
28. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, September 19, 1779. Captain Nathan Woodhull signed the List of Associators, printed in Mather (ed.), Refugees of 1776, Appendix H, p. 1058, dated June 8, 1775.
29. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, November 13, 1779.
30. Letter, Tallmadge to Washington, November 1, 1779.
31. Letter, Washington to Clinton, November 3, 1779.
32. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, November 13, 1779.
33. See, for instance, letter, Washington to Tallmadge, August 28, 1779, in which he reiterates: “The period is now come (in the arrival of the enemy’s reinforcement) when the intelligence of C——r Junr. may be interesting and important. To delay his communications till they are matters of public notoriety, is answering no valuable purpose; but to be early precise and well informed in the several accots. transmitted, is essential. To know as nearly as may be the amount of the enemy’s reinforcements with Arbuthnot. how many and the names of the complete Corps which compose it; whether there is any bustle in preparing for a movement of troops by land or water, or both, and the destination of it, as far as can be discovered from appearances, information or surmise are much to be wished, and if you can with safety, request these matters of him I shall thank you.”
34. Letter, Washington to Tallmadge, September 24, 1779.
35. Letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, September 29, 1779.
36. Letter, Tallmadge to Washington, November 1, 1779.
37. Letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, October 21, 1779.
38. C. S. Hall, Benjamin Tallmadge: Revolutionary soldier and American statesman (New York, 1943), p. 51.
39. Instructions, passed on by Tallmadge to Woodhull and Townsend, October 14, 1779.
40. Letter, Washington to Jonathan Trumbull, William Livingston, and George Clinton, September 27, 1779.
41. Letter, Washington to Congress, October 4, 1779.
42. Letter, Washington to d’Estaing, October 4, 1779.
43. Letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, October 9, 1779.
44. Samuel Davis, father of future Confederate president Jefferson Davis, and Major Pierce Charles L’Enfant, the future architect of Washington, D.C., fought at Savannah.
45. Letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, October 9, 1779.
46. Letter, Washington to d’Estaing, October 4, 1779.
47. Letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, October 21, 1779.
48. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, October 26, 1779. See also, letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, October 29, 1779.
49. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, November 5, 1779.
50. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, November 12, 1779.
51. Letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, November 29, 1779.
52. Quoted in K. Scott, “Counterfeiting in New York during the Revolution,” in Narratives of the Revolution in New York: A collection of articles from the New-York Historical Society Quarterly (New York, 1975), p. 140.
53. On this subject, see Scott, “Counterfeiting,” pp. 145–51; John Broome, “The counterfeiting adventures of Henry Dawkins,” American Notes
and Queries, VIII, (1950), pp. 179–84.
54. New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, January 20, 1777.
55. New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, March 31, 1777.
56. New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, April 14, 1777.
57. Letter, Washington to Congress, April 18, 1777.
58. Quoted in Scott, “Counterfeiting,” p. 155.
59. Woodhull alerted Washington that he had met a man who said “he had left 20 odd thousand pounds of counterfeit money of your late emissions in the hands of the Toreys—to pay their taxes with.” Letter, Woodhull to Washington, September 1, 1780.
60. Letter, Washington to Horatio Gates, October 7, 1778. See also K. Scott, “New Hampshire Tory counterfeiters operating from New York City,” New-York Historical Society Quarterly, XXXIV (1950), pp. 31–57.
61. Quoted in Scott, “Counterfeiting,” p. 163.
62. Virginia Gazette, October 2, 1779, quoted in Scott, “Counterfeiting,” p. 164.
63. Letter, Lieutenant Samuel Shaw to Francis and Sarah Shaw, June 28, 1779, printed in J. Rhodehamel (ed.), The American Revolution: Writings from the War of Independence (New York, 2001), p. 528; Scott, “Counterfeiting,” pp. 163–64.
64. See Table C, in H. S. Commager and R. B. Morris (eds.), The spirit of ’seventy-six: The story of the American Revolution as told by participants (New York, 3rd ed., 1978; rep. 1995), p. 789.
65. Letter, Townsend to Tallmadge, November 29, 1779.
66. Letter, Washington to Congress, December 7, 1779. Washington errs slightly in dating Townsend’s letter to November 27.
67. See Commager and Morris (eds.), The spirit of ’seventy-six, p. 793.
68. Letter, Washington to Tallmadge, December 6, 1779.
69. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, December 12, 1779.
70. Letter, Washington to Tallmadge, February 5, 1780.
71. On James Townsend, who later became a successful merchant in New York, see J. C. and C. A. Townsend, A memorial of John, Henry, and Richard Townsend, and their descendants (New York, 1865; rep. and new ed., 1976), p. 118.
72. Deposition by John Deausenberry, March 23, 1780.
73. Poem, “The Lady’s Dress,” March 23, 1780.
74. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, April 5, 1780.
75. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, April 23, 1780.
76. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, May 4, 1780.
77. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, May 4, 1780.
78. Letter, Washington to Tallmadge, May 19, 1780.
79. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, June 10, 1780.
80. Letter, Washington to Tallmadge, July 11, 1780.
81. Letter, Tallmadge to Washington, July 14, 1780.
82. Letter, Tallmadge to Washington, July 18, 1780.
83. Letter, “Samuel Culper” [Townsend] to Floyd, July 20, 1780.
84. Note, Woodhull to Brewster, July 20, 1780.
85. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, July 20, 1780.
86. Letter, Arnold to John André, June 12, 1780, printed in C. Van Doren, Secret history of the American Revolution (New York, 1941), Appendix, no. 32.
87. See Plate II, in W. B. Willcox, “Rhode Island in British strategy, 1780–1781,” Journal of Modern History, XVII (1945), 4, pp. 304–31.
88. Letter, Hamilton to Lafayette, July 21, 1780. About a week after the Culpers’ report, Hamilton received a note from the mysterious agent “L.D.,” who sounded as if he lived somewhere outside the city in what today would be Queens. Nothing more is known of him. It is officially dated July 21 in the Washington Papers, but it was written over the course of four days as the author updated it, the last entry being written on the twenty-fifth. The first section was written in the evening of July 21. It reports that the troops ordered to embark are “in motion.” The second part, written on the afternoon of the twenty-second, says that the troops were moving up the North and East rivers, but the main fleet was staying the night between the “shipyards and Hellgate.” L.D. had seen sailors engaged in painting a frigate a “muddy yellow so that she may not be known.” His report was accurate, but late, too late to be of any use. See Intelligence Report, “L.D.” to Washington, July 21, 1780.
89. Letter, Tallmadge to Washington, July 22, 1780.
90. Letter, Gouvion to Washington, July 22, 1780.
91. Letter, Greene to Washington, July 21, 1780.
92. Letter, Washington to Lafayette, August 5, 1780.
93. Letter, Clinton to Germain, August 1780, printed in Pennypacker, George Washington’s spies, pp. 85–87. A similar letter, though much angrier in tone, was addressed to William Eden, August 18 and September 1, 1780, in B. F. Stevens, Facsimiles of manuscripts in European archives relating to America, 1773–1783. With descriptions, editorial notes, collations, references and translations (London, 25 vols., 1889–98), VII, no. 730. The best discussion of this subject is W. B. Willcox, “Rhode Island in British strategy, 1780–1781,” Journal of Modern History, XVII (1945), 4, pp. 304–31.
94. Letter, Washington to Tallmadge, July 24, 1780.
95. Letter, Tallmadge to Washington, August 1, 1780.
96. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, August 6, 1780.
97. Invoice, Woodhull to Tallmadge, September 18, 1780.
98. Letter, Tallmadge to Washington, September 19, 1780.
99. Letter, “Samuel Culper, Jr.” [Townsend] to Floyd, August 6, 1780.
100. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, August 6, 1780.
101. Letter, Woodhull to Tallmadge, August 16, 1780.
102. Letter, Washington to Tallmadge, August 11, 1780.
103. Letter, Tallmadge to Washington, September 13, 1780.
104. Letter, Washington to Tallmadge, September 16, 1780.
Chapter Seven: On His Majesty’s Secret Service
1. On this subject, see G. C. Stowe and J. Weller, “Revolutionary West Point: ‘The key to the continent,’ ” Military Affairs, XIX (1955), 2, pp. 81–98.
2. Letter, Tallmadge to Sparks, February 17, 1834, printed as a footnote in H. Hastings and J. A. Holden (eds.), Public papers of George Clinton, first governor of New York, 1777–1795, 1801–1804 (Albany, 10 vols., 1899–1914), VI, p. 262.
3. Letter, Washington to Stirling, October 6, 1778.
4. Letter, Washington to Ogden, April 2, 1782.
5. R. Kaplan, “The hidden war: British intelligence operations during the American Revolution,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., XLVII (1990), 1, pp. 119–20.
6. This section is heavily based on Kaplan’s excellent article “Hidden war,” William and Mary Quarterly, pp. 115–38.
7. Kaplan, “Hidden war,” William and Mary Quarterly, pp. 123–26. For an interesting angle—from a professional viewpoint—on André’s management of Arnold, see R. Amory, Jr., “John André, case officer,” Studies in Intelligence (1961), pp. A1–A15. I am indebted to the CIA’s Public Affairs Division for providing a copy of this declassified article.
8. This biographical information is taken from B. A. Rosenberg, The neutral ground: The André affair and the background of Cooper’s The spy (Westport, Conn., 1994), pp. 19–25.
9. See letter, André to Washington, September 24, 1780.
10. See letter, Joseph Stansbury to Jonathan Odell, May 1779, in C. Van Doren, Secret history of the American Revolution (New York, 1941), Appendix, no. 6, p. 442.
11. Van Doren, Secret history, pp. 196–200.
12. Letter, André to Joseph Stansbury, May 10, 1779, in Van Doren, Secret history, Appendix, no. 1, p. 440.
13. D. Kahn, The codebreakers: The story of secret writing (New York, 1967), pp. 176–77. On André’s sourcebooks, see Van Doren, Secret history, pp. 200, 204, and letters, Stansbury to André, May 1779, in Van Doren, Secret history, Appendix, no. 4, p. 441; and Arnold to André, no date but mid-1779, no. 5, pp. 441–42. It was strange that Arnold did not suggest using a dictionary from the start, as that idea had been discussed as early as 1776 within the secret Patriot committees, but it was André who chose the
sourcebook and Arnold went along with it. On the dictionary, see Arthur Lee’s letter to the committee of secret correspondence in P. Force (ed.), American archives: Consisting of a collection of authentick records, state papers, debates, and letters and other notices of publick affairs, the whole forming a documentary history of the origin and progress of the North American colonies; of the causes and accomplishment of the American Revolution; and of the Constitution of government for the United States, to the final ratification thereof (Washington, D.C., 4th and 5th ser., 1848–53), 4th ser., VI, p. 686.