* * * * * * *
As the April 19 anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord approaches--the moment the American Revolution moved from tension to action--it's a great time to uncover the hidden forces that helped guide the birth of a nation.
George Washington's Secret Six:The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade spotlights the Culper Spy Ring, a Revolutionary War espionage network that operated from 1778-1783, during the British occupation of New York City. The story unfolds across Manhattan and Long Island-- Brooklyn, Setauket, Oyster Bay...not far from Massapequa, where Kilmeade was born, and near Long Island University in Brookville, where he studied. I was born in Queens and grew up on Long Island, surrounded by historical markers and stories about Revolutionary War events and sites. All the local schoolchildren knew about Sally, the teenage heroine from Oyster Bay: when the British soldiers were quartered in Raynham Hall, her family home, they never dreamed that a child--and a girl--might be perceptive enough to understand any overheard snippets of their plans. But they were wrong, and she famously passed valuable info along a chain of intelligence to Washington.
And I remember the picturesque Roslyn Grist Mill, which first started grinding grain with its waterwheel in 1715, and was a mainstay of the town. The last time I was there, it was a quaint tea room filled with the histories of revolutionary life. When I researched the main players in this drama, I discovered I am related to most of them, so maybe those histories are in my bones, too.
The Culper Ring, organized by Major Benjamin Tallmadge and General George Washington, was an extraordinary gamble that saved the Revolution from disaster on several occasions. Among other important intelligence, they discovered a British plan to counterfeit American currency, which was cleverly foiled in the nick of time. They uncovered the disastrous plans of Benedict Arnold just before he was to hand West Point over to the British. And perhaps most importantly, they provided the intelligence that allowed the victory at Yorktown, the decisive battle of the American Revolution.
The spy ring was so effective at secrecy that they almost completely erased themselves. George Washington never knew the identities of all his operatives. He tried, unsuccessfully, to learn who the operational kingpin, "Culper Jr.", was-- in order to thank him. That identity wasn't confirmed until 1929 by handwriting analysis; he was Robert Townsend--older brother of the teenaged Sally who had overheard talk of the imminent defection of Benedict Arnold.
The role of James Rivington was firmly established in the 1950s. As publisher of The Royal Gazette: "Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty," he was the last person anyone might have suspected to be a Patriot spy. His real role was so hidden that the Sons of Liberty burned him in effigy as a Loyalist! And as recently as 2015, new evidence surfaced identifying additional supporters of the ring.
One of the most important agents--a woman known only as "355" remains unidentified. She obtained some of the most valuable intelligence. Absolutely indispensible and absolutely invisible. (Sound familiar?) From the biblical Judith who employed the prejudiced patriarchal eye to help her kill an enemy general, and on throughout history, women have used patriarchal blindness to their distinct advantage, especially when apparent invisibility enhanced their power. And 355 certainly seemed to know how to wield this power. Like others, I wonder whether she might have been the matriot Peggy Shippen, the socially-connected young wife of Benedict Arnold...
Shortly before the Culper ring was initiated, the 21-year-old Nathan Hale had been selected for spydom by General George Washington, based on the youth's bravery. Captured within days, he was tragically undone by his inexperience and loose talk. His fate became a warning to Washington to choose potential spies more carefully, perhaps seeking more wisdom than bravery.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
