The Culper Spy Ring: The Beginning of Modern Espionage

The Culper Spy Ring has long been a subject of interest for historians, conspiracy theorists and people who love spies and secret societies and groups. There have been many stories that stem from early spy-craft in the United States, including the story of John Honeyman who is credited with saving George Washington in the early days of the Revolution. Some of these stories, like Honeyman’s, are simply stories that have been distorted over time.[1] In the long list of stories about the Revolution, the Culper Ring stands as an example of espionage that was a well-kept secret and one that despite sounding fantastical, is a true story of an early spy ring. The Culper Spy Ring was an important part of the American Revolution. The Culper Ring was made up of men and women who facilitated information being shared between the Continental Army and other Patriots fighting for freedom in the American Revolutionary War. Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones wrote in his book, Cloak and Dollar, “George Washington made frequent and effective use of secret intelligence in the second half of the eighteenth century. This circumstance has inspired prolific writing—much of it speculative—based on flimsy or imaginary evidence, in stark contrast to Washington’s own conservative style and discriminating judgments.”[2] His book examines the important changes to military and secret intelligence in the United States and the contributions of the Culper Ring to future espionage. The Culper Ring was the first Spy Ring in early America, and what follows in this paper will examine some of the “speculative,” stories and information about the Culper Ring and will highlight the important actions of the Culper Ring and their contributions to the Revolutionary War.

The Culper Spy Ring or The Culper Ring was organized in 1778 under orders of General George Washington during the British occupation of New York City. It was a network of civilians and operatives trusted by Washington and his officers. They were charged with the mission to obtain information about British movements and operations. Interestingly the Culper Ring was not well known to the American public until the 1930s, over one-hundred and fifty years after the Revolutionary War.[3] A historian, Martin Pennypacker, noticed the handwriting on letters he was examining, in a trunk belonging to Robert Townsend, looked similar to letters he had seen in a collection to George Washington that had been signed “Samuel Culper, Jr.” Further study would go on to confirm Townsend’s identity as a member of the Culper Ring. [4]

            This following will explore some of the members and their various methods of spy-craft. It will also look at the establishment of the Culper Ring and how they were formed, the methods they used and how it influenced the outcome the War and the future of espionage and spy tactics in the United States. There is an ample amount of resources about the ring as well as code books and letters that have been saved and are housed in museums, archives and the Library of Congress, including letters and the original code book.[5] There are tons of resources on the ring and despite only knowing about its existence for a little over one-hundred years, historians have been able to compile a host of resources and write about them, so there is a lengthy historiography about the Culper Ring and its importance to the Revolutionary War. Without the brave men and women members of the Culper Spy Ring, the patriots may not have won the American Revolution. The methods, techniques and individual men and women who were members of the Culper Ring all played important roles in the war and their techniques shaped the face of modern espionage in matters foreign and domestic.

Methods

            The Culper Ring used many methods of spy craft. The agents within the group, and the sources that passed along information used several systems in order to pass along coded message. One of these methods was invisible ink. Abraham Woodhull, a member of the Culper Ring, used invisible ink in his messages and letters to Benjamin Tallmadge. Tallmadge, one of the founders of the Ring, had tapped Woodhull as an agent because he believed that his ability to smuggle resources and supplies to the Continental Army, would translate into an ability to smuggle secrets about the British. Woodhull would visit his sister, and it gave him access to British soldiers. He was then able to relay this information to other members of the Culper Ring, usually via letter. The problem with letters written in plain black ink was how easy it would be to read the notes if someone was caught. This was a very real threat, because at the time, this was a crime of treason. In her the chapter Revolutionary Ink, in her book, Prisoners, Lovers, and Spies: The Story of Invisible Ink from Herodotus to al-Qaeda, Kristie Macrakis discusses how the Culper Ring was able to handle this problem. After messages had been intercepted, a need for invisible ink arose. James Jay, the brother of future Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay, developed a method of invisible ink that would allow members of the ring to communicate.[6] The ink, which was made water and ferrous sulfate, would be used to write messages in between the lines of a letter that seemed innocous to anyone who did not know it held a secret. The reader, if they were a member of the Culper Ring, could hold the letter over heat or use another chemical agent, like sodium carbonate, and it would reveal the hidden contents of the letter.[7] Invisible ink was not new, but this was a new method that the Jay brothers developed with the materials they had access to during the War.

            On top of using invisible ink, the Culper Ring developed a codebook to communicate with. The codebook was written out by Major Benjamin Tallmadge and is available to view at Mount Vernon. The codebook is filled with symbols and numbers that correspond to words. This would allow the agents of the Culper Ring to communicate without the use of invisible ink, they just had to know and understand the code. Spy codes have been used in espionage for a long time, but the re-discovery of the Culper Spy Ring in the early twentieth century created a renewed interest in codes. There were numbers that corresponded to specific words. For example, the number 47 is code for “ammunition,” and the number 54 is code for “bring.” Written together, 54, 47, would be, “bring ammunition.”[8] Some codes corresponded to specific people, at least as Agent numbers. For example, Agent 355 was thought to be one of several women, including Anna Strong, Robert Townsends Wife or someone else entirely. The code for Agent 355 would have translated to Agent “lady,” which is why it was believed that she was a woman. There were also numbers that corresponded to proper names, which is how we know that General Washington’s code was 711, which also made him Agent 711. Agent 722 and Agent 723 were Samuel Culper and Culper Junior, which were code names themselves for Abraham Woodhull and Robert Townsend.[9] For the most part, the Culper Spy Ring Code has been translated, with very few exceptions due to damage to the Code Book. This has granted historians insight into how the spies communicated and has given them the ability to read some of the coded messages, now that we have access to the code to decipher the letters and messages that were sent by the spies.

Members of the Ring

            When considering the agents that were involved in the Culper Ring, there is not definitive proof that Agent 355 was a woman, thought there is evidence to suggest that the agent was a lady, which corresponds to the code 355. The use of women as agents and informants was something that the Culper Ring did frequently. Women were unassuming to the British officers and were often able to collect information. In her article, “America’s Evolution of Women and Their Roles in the Intelligence Community,” Amy J. Martin discusses the importance of women in the intelligence community and the beginnings of women in American intelligence. Martin highlights how women were instrumental to counterintelligence and intelligence gathering during the American Revolution. The women working with the Culper Spy Ring were typically recruited because of their access to British soliders and officers. Martin notes that the women of the Ring were instrumental in the capture and exposure of Benedict Arnold when he committed treason against the Continental Army.[10] The infromants used letters to communicate and developed a system of using clotheslines to relay messages to other members of the Ring. This system was developed and used used by Anna Strong, who is one of the women suspected to be Agent 355. Abraham Woodhull, who was Strong’s neighbor would smuggle information to her. She would then signal Caleb Brewster, another Agent, that there was information for him to pick up. “Strong would hang her laundry to dry, in plain sight of British soldiers. Strong hung a black petticoat on her clothesline, along with a number of handkerchiefs. The black petticoat signaled that a message was ready to be picked up and the handkerchiefs would relay where the message was hidden. Six coves along the shore of Long Island were designated as dead drop locations. The number of handkerchiefs hung corresponded to one of the six coves. This messaging system was never broken throughout the entire Revolution and no one in the Culper Ring was ever caught. As a woman, she was severely underestimated, and by doing her laundry, a normal womanly thing to do, no one suspected that she was doing anything out of the ordinary.”[11] Women were instrumental to getting information to the members of the Culper Ring and were largely unassuming to the British soldiers. This made the use of women and intelligent option for this early intelligence ring. This was not something that was unique to the American side of the Revolution, but the women working alongside the Culper Ring were never caught, unlike some of their British counterparts.

            There were several other women who have received study and scrutiny by historians. One of these women was discussed in The Original American Spies: Seven Covert Agents of the Revolutionary War, Lydia Barrington Darragh. Darragh was a Quaker, and this made her and her family pacifists. Despite this, her son Charles joined the Continental Army. As the war continued, Darragh began to provide information about British movements to her son on a regular basis. She would write in code and smuggle the information out in large buttons.[12] She was able to get close enough to gain access to information, because as a Quaker, it was established that she would not be a supporter of the War, and it made her an unassuming candidate for a spy.

            There have also been stories and tales handed down over the past few hundred years that were untrue, or embellished for effect. One of these stories is about Lydia Barrington Darragh, who was said to have crossed enemy lines in order to personally deliver information to General George Washington while the British occupied Philadelphia.[13] Historian’s have taken a more in depth look at this story in recent years, and have determined that these claims are unsubstantiated, and in some ways it undermines the work she did do in providing infromation to her son Charles. Another person who has received a lot of attention and stories that have been questioned by historians is John Honeyman. Honeyman was a spy and informant for George Washington and was charged with the task of spreading disinformaton to the British. This was basically an operation of counterintelligence. Later stories about Honeyman seem to portray him as a hero who saved Washington’s life at the Battle of Trenton by getting him infomration at the last minute that helped Washington win.[14] There has been a lack of evidence to coroborate the claim about the Battle of Trenton, and Honeyman’s role in it and his case, like Darragh’s, these embellished stories undermine their importance and the roles that they played as spies.[15]

The majority of the agents and informants in the Culper Ring were men. Some of the most notable members, aside from the founders and leaders, were Nathan Hale, Hercules Mulligan and James Rivington. James Rivington would have been the last person to be suspected of spying for the Culper Ring. He ran a loyalist newspaper, Rivington’s Gazette. Nonetheless, Rivington was a spy, and one who went undetected. He had been tapped to join the Ring by Robert Townsend, one of the founding members, who also happened to be a silent partner in Rivington’s coffee house. He would get information and communicate it by placing it in the cover boards of books in his shop.[16] In later years, he refused to leave New York, and many thought him to be a traitor. Another important and well-known spy is Hercules Mulligan. Mulligan has received fame in recent years because of the Broadway musical Hamilton. His actions were far more important than this though and he and his slave Cato, who was also a Patriot, saved General Washington’s life on more than one occasion and they were able to exploit Mulligan’s skills as a tailor, by offering the services to the British army and officers. As their tailor, and as a tailor’s slave, Mulligan and Cato were able to overhear information being shared by the British and smuggle out the information to Washington. On several occasions, Washington was able to use this information to change his plans and avoid capture or loss of life and supplies.[17] Another of the more well-known heroes and spies of the American Revolution is Nathan Hale. Hale was one of the earliest intelligence gatherers in the war. He was a soldier and spy for the Continental Army and is known for his ability to gather intelligence and for being caught and executed by British forces for doing so.[18] His death inspired other spies, like his friend Benjamin Tallmadge, to take a more practical approach to intelligence gathering. In his book, Daigle writes about how Hale’s friends initially believed him to be a poor choice for the task of spying on the British, because they thought he was incapable of deceit. Hale’s contributions and his sacrifice highlight how serious the job of being a spy for the Culper Ring was. It was a task that could result in execution and he was one of the many soldiers and spies who gave his life for the pursuit of liberty.[19]

Being an agent for the Culper Spy Ring was not a job for the faint of heart. The men and women who were spies and informants for the Ring were constantly putting their lives in danger by collecting information and relaying it to their fellow patriots. Many people lost their lives in pursuit of liberty, but it seems that those who did so, did so with pride. Writing about the Culper Spy Ring almost one-hundred years after their operations were made known to the American public is something that many historians seem to be doing and research and evidence continues to be found highlighting the lives of the members of the Ring and the important role that they played in retrieval and relaying of information to General George Washington. The men and women who were a part of the Culper Spy Ring truly helped to turn the tide of the American Revolution and modern espionage has taken many of their tricks and fitted them to their needs. Espionage has been around since the dawn of time and advent of war, and in the case of the Culper Ring and future spy agencies, they helped to protect what is now the United States of America from threats and today, we have the Oath of Allegiance and the men and women of the Culper Ring and those who fought in the American Revolution to thank for the words that still ring true today. “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”[20]

Bibliography

 

Bakeless, John. Turncoats, Traitors And Heroes: Espionage in the American Revolution. Boston: De Capo Press, 1998.

Culper, Samuel. "George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Samuel Culper to John Bolton." Library of Congress. November 13, 1779. https://www.loc.gov/item/mgw456138/ (accessed January 18, 2020).

Daigle, Kenneth A. "Nathan Hale and the British Occupation of New York City." In Spies, Patriots, and Traitors: American Intelligence in the Revolutionary War, by Kenneth A. Daigle, 93-110. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2014.

Darrach, Henry. "Lydia Darragh One of the Heroines of the Revolution." City History Society of Philadelphia , November 1915: 379-403.

George Washington's Mount Vernon. Spy Techniques of the Revolutionary War. 2020. https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-revolutionary-war/spying-and-espionage/spy-techniques-of-the-revolutionary-war/ (accessed February 25, 2020).

Howat, Kenna. Revolutionary Spies: Women Spies of the American Revolution. November 9, 2017. https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/revolutionary-spies (accessed February 25, 2020 ).

Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri. "The Washington Style." In Cloak and Dollar: A History of American Secret Intelligence, by Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, 11-23. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.

Kilmeade, Brian and Don Yaeger. George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Save the American Revolution. New York: Penguin Group, 2013.

Macrakis, Kristie. "Revolutionary Ink." In Prisoners, Lovers, and Spies: The Story of Invisible Ink from Herodotus to al-Qaeda, by Kristie Macrakis, 84-103. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.

Martin, Amy J. "America’s Evolution of Women and Their Roles in the Intelligence Community." Journal of Strategic Security, 2015: 99-109.

Misencik, Paul R. The Original American Spies: Seven Covert Agents of the Revolutionary War. Jefferson: McFarland, 2013.

Rose, Alexander. "The Spy Who Never Was: The Strange Case of John Honeyman and Revolutionary War Espionage." CIA Studies in Intelligence Journal, 2008: 27-41.

—. Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring. New York: Bantam Books, 2006.

Tallmadge, Major Benjamin. "Culper Spy Ring Code." George Washington's Mount Vernon. 1778. https://www.mountvernon.org/education/primary-sources-2/article/culper-spy-ring-code/ (accessed January 18, 2020).

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America. June 25, 2014. https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/naturalization-test/naturalization-oath-allegiance-united-states-america (accessed February 28, 2020).

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[1] Rose, Alexander. "The Spy Who Never Was: The Strange Case of John Honeyman and Revolutionary War Espionage." CIA Studies in Intelligence Journal, 2008: 27-41.

[2] Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri. "The Washington Style." In Cloak and Dollar: A History of American Secret Intelligence, by Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, 11-23. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.

[3] Kilmeade, B. a. (2013). George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Save the American Revolution. New York: Penguin Group.

[4] Culper, Samuel. "George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Samuel Culper to John Bolton." Library of Congress. November 13, 1779. https://www.loc.gov/item/mgw456138/ (accessed January 18, 2020).

[5] Tallmadge, Major Benjamin. "Culper Spy Ring Code." George Washington's Mount Vernon. 1778. https://www.mountvernon.org/education/primary-sources-2/article/culper-spy-ring-code/ (accessed January 18, 2020).

[6] Macrakis, Kristie. "Revolutionary Ink." In Prisoners, Lovers, and Spies: The Story of Invisible Ink from Herodotus to al-Qaeda, by Kristie Macrakis, 84-103. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.

[7] George Washington's Mount Vernon. Spy Techniques of the Revolutionary War. 2020. https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-revolutionary-war/spying-and-espionage/spy-techniques-of-the-revolutionary-war/ (accessed February 25, 2020).

[8] Tallmadge, Major Benjamin. "Culper Spy Ring Code." George Washington's Mount Vernon. 1778. https://www.mountvernon.org/education/primary-sources-2/article/culper-spy-ring-code/ (accessed January 18, 2020).

[9] Tallmadge.

[10] Martin, Amy J. "America’s Evolution of Women and Their Roles in the Intelligence Community." Journal of Strategic Security, 2015: 99-109.

[11] Howat, Kenna. Revolutionary Spies: Women Spies of the American Revolution. November 9, 2017. https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/revolutionary-spies (accessed February 25, 2020 ).

[12] Howat.

[13] Darrach, Henry. "Lydia Darragh One of the Heroines of the Revolution." City History Society of Philadelphia , November 1915: 379-403.

[14] Misencik, Paul R. The Original American Spies: Seven Covert Agents of the Revolutionary War. Jefferson: McFarland, 2013.

[15] Rose, Alexander. "The Spy Who Never Was: The Strange Case of John Honeyman and Revolutionary War Espionage." CIA Studies in Intelligence Journal, 2008: 27-41.

[16] —. Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring. New York: Bantam Books, 2006.

[17] Misencik, Paul R. The Original American Spies: Seven Covert Agents of the Revolutionary War. Jefferson: McFarland, 2013.

[18] Daigle, Kenneth A. "Nathan Hale and the British Occupation of New York City." In Spies, Patriots, and Traitors: American Intelligence in the Revolutionary War, by Kenneth A. Daigle, 93-110. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2014.

[19] Bakeless, John. Turncoats, Traitors And Heroes: Espionage in the American Revolution. Boston: De Capo Press, 1998.

[20] U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America. June 25, 2014. https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/naturalization-test/naturalization-oath-allegiance-united-states-america (accessed February 28, 2020).