NEWS ANALYSIS
In 1783, the American Revolutionary War ended. The former 13 British colonies, now the new United States of America, had won their independence — its freedom– from the British king and his oppressive government.
Among the many thousands of American heroes who fought in the long seven-year war, there was one small group of men and women who history forgot.
Why? Because they wanted it that way.
The group was known as the “Culper Spy Ring.” The ring was a network of General George Washington’s spies that successfully operated in and around New York City for five years without ever being discovered by the British.
Members of the ring knew the price they would pay if they were caught. Washington’s first attempt at placing a spy on Long Island had cost Captain Nathan Hale his life. Hale’s mission to supply information to his commander was an utter failure. Within two weeks of volunteering for the assignment, he was dead, hanged by the British as a spy.
“George Washington” by Weidenbach, Augustus. (Image courtesy Library of Congress)
Hale’s death touched Washington on many levels. He realized the need for more than just one man to collect the military information he needed. What he needed was a network of spies.
In November of 1778, Washington assigned Major Benjamin Tallmadge as his director of military intelligence. He had found his spymaster. His informants? They were selected from the friends the major had made while going to school on Long Island. The ring included Austin Roe, Caleb Brewster, Abraham Woodhull, James Rivington, and Anna Strong.
Though Woodhull was Tallmadge’s chief agent, Robert Townsend was an important informant who posed as a Loyalist coffee shop owner and merchant while working as a society journalist. As a reporter, Townsend was able to obtain information from the British at social gatherings, according to Mount Vernon’s website.
The Culper Ring successfully supplied information about British military strength and possible attacks against the Continental Army.
The ring was also directly responsible for the arrest of Major John Andre, the British spy who had been plotting the takeover of the fort at West Point with General Benedict Arnold. Plans of the fort were found in Andre’s boots when he was captured.
Being a good spymaster, Tallmadge kept the identities of his spies a closely guarded secret. After all, one loose lip, one slip of the tongue by anyone, could and would cost them their lives, and possibly even the lives of their families.
According to MountVernon.org, the major developed a way to identify his spies with pseudonyms and invented a numerical substitution system to identify his informants rather than use names. Seven hundred and sixty-three numbers were used, with 711 denoting General Washington, 745 representing England, and 727 for New York. Tallmadge and his associates also wrote in invisible ink.
Portrait Miniature of Benjamin Tallmadge (1754-1835) (Image courtesy: Collection of the Litchfield Historical Society, Litchfield, Connecticut)
The identities of the Culper Ring were such a closely guarded secret that even Washington didn’t know who they really were. As Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaegar noted in their New York Times best-selling book George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution, “several members of the ring (Townsend in particular) had been insistent that Washington never learn their names.”
Even after the war was over, the members of the ring kept their identities a secret. In April of 1790, Washington visited Long Island, including Setauket, where the ring had operated. The once-commanding general and now President of the United States reportedly visited with several members of the ring during his visit, but whether he knew who they really were, he did not say.
One member of the ring he wanted to thank was Townsend, who had risked his life almost every day for his country. But according to Kilmeade and Yaegar, “Townsend never stepped out of the shadows to reveal himself to his commander-in-chief. It was a great honor to be sure, but not one that Townsend sought. he did not want praise or celebration; the greatest reward Washington could give him was simply a return to a quiet and unassuming life as a man subject to no king but God.”
Tallmadge and the members of the Culper Ring took their secret to their graves. The public wasn’t aware of the spy ring’s existence until the 1930s. Townsend’s identity as “Samuel Culper Jr.” was discovered in 1929 after a historian was going through Townsend’s correspondence. Rivington was confirmed as being one of Tallmadge’s spies in the 1950s. And even today, there’s still one spy who has yet to be identified — Agent 355.
Over the years, there have been numerous monuments and statues erected to Nathan Hale’s sacrifice across the country. High schools, middle schools, elementary schools, university buildings, dormitories, a Revolutionary War fort, a U.S. Army installation in Germany, a U.S. Navy submarine, and even a town in New York bears his name.
Yet, there are no statues to be found for any members of the Culper Spy Ring. They do stand alongside many other heroes of the American Revolution. Under the direction of Tallmadge, the Culper Spy Ring risked all to serve their country in a war that had deemed unwinnable by the rest of the world. After all, they were up against the British Army, one of the mightiest militaries on the planet at the time.
As Kilmeade and Yaegar wrote, “They never sought credit, never received accolades, and never revealed the risks they took or the sacrifices they made to serve our country.”
What is the lesson Washington’s spies can still teach us today? The lesson of humility.
In this social media-driven “Look at Me” culture that we live in, it is a lesson from which we can all learn, and perhaps that in itself is their best epitaph.
***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN