Summary and Analysis of Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring: Based on the Book by Alexander Rose

Summary and Analysis of Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring: Based on the Book by Alexander Rose

by Worth Books
Summary and Analysis of Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring: Based on the Book by Alexander Rose

Summary and Analysis of Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring: Based on the Book by Alexander Rose

by Worth Books

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Overview

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Washington’s Spies tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Alexander Rose’s book.
 
Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader.
 
This short summary and analysis of Washington’s Spies includes:
 
  • Historical context
  • Chapter-by-chapter overviews
  • Profiles of the main characters
  • Detailed timeline of key events
  • Important quotes
  • Fascinating trivia
  • Glossary of terms
  • Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work
 
About Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose:
 
Alexander Rose’s New York Times–bestselling book Washington’s Spies offers an in-depth account of the network of men who operated covertly under George Washington’s command during the Revolutionary War. These men, referred to as the Culper Ring, worked largely in southern New York, sending and receiving coded messages from across Manhattan to Long Island, and getting crucial British intelligence to General Washington.
 
Rose delves into the varied personalities and motivations of the Culper Ring, explores the espionage techniques of the time, including encryption and the use of invisible ink, and describes the differences in the British and American methods of gathering intelligence. Washington’s Spies inspired the television series Turn, with author Alexander Rose serving as a historical consultant and producer.
 
The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781504046367
Publisher: Worth Books
Publication date: 05/02/2017
Series: Smart Summaries
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 30
Sales rank: 802,451
File size: 2 MB

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Worth Books’ smart summaries get straight to the point and provide essential tools to help you be an informed reader in a busy world, whether you’re browsing for new discoveries, managing your to-read list for work or school, or simply deepening your knowledge. Available for fiction and nonfiction titles, these are the book summaries that are worth your time.
 

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Summary and Analysis of Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring

Based on the Book by Alexander Rose


By Worth Books

OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA

Copyright © 2017 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5040-4636-7



CHAPTER 1

Summary

Chapter One

"As Subtil & Deep as Hell Itself": Nathan Hale and the Spying Game

Nathan Hale was a young man attending Yale with his best friend Benjamin Tallmadge in the years of escalating tension before the Revolutionary War. After graduation, the two men both became school teachers. Hale enlisted in Connecticut's Seventh Regiment on July 6, 1775, about three weeks after the Battle of Bunker Hill. Shortly thereafter, the Seventh was sent to Long Island, where General George Washington was expecting the arrival of British troops, under the command of General William Howe, at any time. When the British arrived, the Americans retreated to Harlem Heights, and then further north. Washington began seeking someone to go behind enemy lines for information. By September 1776, Hale was leading a group of Rangers, and he volunteered to conduct a covert mission. Unfortunately, the arrival of his ship caught the notice of Robert Rogers, an American ranger in the British army. Rogers approached Hale in a tavern and pretended to be a fellow Patriot, whereupon Hale, believing himself in the presence of a comrade, confessed his espionage mission. Hale was promptly arrested, and his death warrant signed by General Howe. He was hanged September 22, 1776.

Need to Know: The Patriots were informed immediately of Hale's death, and were obviously angry and dismayed, but Washington used this as a learning experience to improve the methods and secrecy of his spies in the future.


Chapter Two

The Year of the Hangman

With Washington's troops having retreated to Harlem, some well-meaning Patriots thought it better to set fire to Manhattan rather than cede it to the British. A few of these Patriots were caught and executed in the streets by British soldiers. Afterward, New York City fell into a derelict state of shanty towns and black-market trading. Amid clashes at White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton, New Jersey, Washington conducted a search for reliable spies. One came to him from New York's Committee for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies — Nathaniel Sackett — who would work with Nathan Hale's classmate Benjamin Tallmadge, and Major John Clark. Messages were carried to Setauket on Long Island, to Connecticut, and on to Washington (then, stationed in New Jersey). Sackett sent men into Long Island pretending to be Loyalists in order to get closer to British troops and report back. Washington fired him after only a few months of service, although it is unclear why. British and American troops alike were aware that there were spies among them, and executions over mere suspicions were frequent.

In the summer of 1777, British General John Burgoyne set out from Canada, hoping to unite with the troops of two other contingents, General Howe's and Sir Henry Clinton's, and separate New England from the rest of the colonies. Burgoyne was defeated in battle near Fort George, and when his expected reinforcements did not come, he was forced to surrender. In Pennsylvania, General Howe engaged with Washington's troops near Brandywine, en route to capture Philadelphia. The Patriots were forced to retreat. Washington continued to run spies, some of whom were feeding the enemy false information. Upon Major Clark's retirement, Benjamin Tallmadge, now a major with an impressive tour of duty under his belt, stepped into his place as spy recruiter. The British found their position in Philadelphia too precarious and abandoned the city. General Howe resigned as commander-in-chief, and Henry Clinton was promoted.

Need to Know: Sackett virtually invented the espionage long game. Whereas before, spies were sent on brief missions to peek behind enemy lines and quickly report back, Sackett was the first to plant moles with invented identities to stay among the enemy for extended periods of time.


Chapter Three

Genesis of the Culper Ring

In August 1778, French Admiral Charles-Hector, Comte d'Estaing, engaged with the forces of Admiral Howe (brother of General Howe) near Newport, Rhode Island, and was forced to retreat. Shortly thereafter, Washington began receiving reports from Lieutenant Caleb Brewster, a former whaleboatman, through Tallmadge, charting the movements of Howe's fleet. Tallmadge also recommended a friend of his to join the spy ring, a farmer named Abraham Woodhull who had been passing freely through enemy lines as a smuggler, before he was caught and arrested by the Americans. Washington had him freed from jail to join his team of spies, which they would call the Culper Ring, a reference to Woodhull's code name, Samuel Culper, later "Culper Senior." Woodhull, Tallmadge, and Caleb Brewster were all from Setauket originally; Caleb's father had been the town minister, and when he resigned, his congregation was taken over by Tallmadge's father. Woodhull preferred life on the family farm, but he was motivated into action by the death of his cousin Nathaniel, a general who had been captured by the British army and suffered horribly from negligence in prison, dying of a gangrene infection. Woodhull officially joined the spy ring in October 1778, making reconnaissance trips to New York and reporting back to Tallmadge and Washington. In November, he filed a detailed report of the locations, numbers, and movements of the British troops stationed on Long Island.


Need to Know: It was paramount that Brewster, Woodhull, and Tallmadge grew up together in Setauket because of the level of trust required in executing their missions. These men had known each other their wholes lives. It is fitting, also, as Setauket was a largely Presbyterian community, and members of this faith were much more likely to be Patriots, as opposed to the Loyalist Anglicans.


Chapter Four

711 and the Sympathetic Stain

Washington needed to receive his reports in a timely manner for the information to be useful, and Woodhull's fifty-mile journey from New York City to Setauket, where he met Caleb Brewster, was difficult. The ring hired two messengers, Jonas Hawkins and Austin Roe, to work as go-betweens. Both men were also longtime Setauket residents whose discretion was assured. In February 1779, Brewster reported on a growing number of privateers stationed around the harbors. Privateers were tacitly permitted by both sides, as they were always good for attacking enemy ships, but they were predominately motivated by money, not loyalty. Freed from the time-consuming task of traveling to Setauket, Woodhull was able to observe an increase in British troops around King's Bridge at the northern tip of Manhattan, which presaged a raid on Connecticut by New York governor William Tryon.

In April 1779, Tallmadge, seeking to improve security measures, began using an invisible ink invented by Sir James Jay, physician and brother of the prominent politician John Jay. The ink required the application of a second liquid, or "reagent," in order to become visible; in this case the reagent was ferrous sulphate. They called the invisible ink "the sympathetic stain." In July, Tallmadge and his troops were attacked in the night by British Legion troops, who had apparently been tipped off about his location from an intercepted Culper letter that had also mentioned the ink.


Need to Know: As the invisible ink was not always readily available, Tallmadge also began working out the best possible encoding method for the Culpers' correspondence. He settled on an alphanumeric code featuring transposed letters and numbers assigned to common names and places.


Chapter Five

The Man of Parts and Halves

All spring and into summer, Abraham Woodhull grew increasingly anxious about being detected, at one point overturning his desk in fright when his nieces entered the room while he was writing a letter. In June he was reported to British authorities for supposedly suspicious behavior by a privateer looking to endear himself to the British, but the accusations were dropped after Woodhull's friend vouched for him. Nevertheless, he was frightened and was tempted to resign and go home to Setauket, although he did not. Instead, he employed a new point man so that he could function more as an overseer and be in less immediate danger.

This recruit was a merchant named Robert Townsend. Townsend was from Oyster Bay, where his father Samuel Townsend had been a prominent Quaker with Patriot sympathies in a Loyalist community. In 1776, when it became clear that the British were en route to New York, Samuel Townsend was involved in a mission with General Nathaniel Woodhull (cousin of Abraham) to ferry valuable livestock out of Queens County so it would not fall into enemy hands. Robert Townsend got his start working for a discount retail outlet in a slum neighborhood known for its taverns and prostitutes before establishing his own dry goods business.

In September of 1776, the British occupied New York and Samuel Townsend was arrested for being part of the rebellion, though he was released after taking the oath of allegiance to Britain. Robert bought a share in a local coffee shop frequented by indiscreet British officers, where he was ultimately able to pick up useful information for the Culper Ring. It is believed that Townsend was radicalized by Thomas Paine's Common Sense, which appealed to his modernized Quaker belief system, as well as the treatment of his Oyster Bay neighbors by the occupying British forces who looted personal property, overcharged for supplies, and even committed murder with impunity. The particularly callous Colonel John Graves Simcoe dismantled the local churches to provide his forces with firewood, and then billeted himself in the Townsends' home.


Need to Know: Robert Townsend's business partner at the coffee shop was James Rivington, the owner of a local paper called the Royal Gazette that specialized in yellow journalism and pro-British propaganda, spreading specious rumors of Washington's illegitimate children, or claiming he had promised the conversion to Catholicism of all Americans to secure the French alliance.


Chapter Six

The Adventures of the Culper Ring

The Culper letters warning of the imminent attack on Connecticut by New York governor William Tryon did not reach Washington in time, having taken five days in transit. Tryon and his forces raided New Haven, East Haven, Fairfield, and Norwalk without impediment. However, other letters had served their purpose — one warned Washington that the British might attempt a diversionary attack to draw him out of his fortress in New Windsor, so when Tryon attacked Connecticut, Washington stayed back. In another letter, Townsend alerted his compatriots to a British spy in their midst.

Meanwhile, Jonas Hawkins left the ring, leaving Austin Roe as the lone Culper messenger. Washington sent formal instructions to Woodhull and Townsend about where to station themselves and what information to report back, mainly descriptions of fortifications, weaponry, and the quantity of various supplies the British might have in reserve. This was in preparation for the return of French General Comte d'Estaing who, unfortunately, was spotted immediately by the British upon arrival. D'Estaing took his troops to Georgia, where he suffered a loss and promptly fled to the West Indies.

Townsend issued a letter warning of the British endeavor to ruin the young American economy with a massive counterfeiting operation, which was so successful Congress had to declare bankruptcy. Washington, frustrated by a lack of useful correspondence from Woodhull, planned to fire him from the ring. Townsend briefly hired his teenage cousin James, who proved himself a liability by drinking and talking too much. Townsend attempted to resign over this debacle, but was convinced to continue giving information verbally after he claimed he would write no more letters.

Nevertheless, Townsend sent a letter in mid-July warning that the British knew of another approaching French regiment's arrival (this was the work of their own spy, Benedict Arnold) and were en route to Rhode Island to ambush them. Alexander Hamilton received this letter in Washington's stead and sent along a warning to the French. Townsend declared his willingness to continue his service for the time being.


Need to Know: The Culpers employed one woman in their espionage: Anna Strong, a neighbor of Abraham Woodhull. In the company of Strong, Woodhull could pass more easily behind enemy lines, as a man traveling with his "wife" would be viewed with less suspicion than a man traveling alone.


Chapter Seven

On His Majesty's Secret Service

In May 1779, Henry Clinton hired Captain John André to run British intelligence, and André recruited the American general Benedict Arnold as a spy. Arnold had been turned as a result of his bitterness over perceived career slights and his romance with the daughter of a Loyalist. In summer 1780, Clinton set his sights on Washington's fortress at West Point, where Arnold was stationed. On September 21, André and Arnold met to hash out a plan for turning West Point over to the British, but two days later André was captured by Patriots while trying to return to his base. They robbed him and turned him in at the nearest American fort, which was at North Castle. André was discovered to have West Point blueprints and letters from Arnold in his possession. Tallmadge heard about this and, concerned because Arnold knew details about the Culper Ring, made for North Castle. André confessed in a letter addressed to Washington. Coincidentally, Washington was at West Point when he received the letter, but Arnold was able to make an escape.

André was tried and sentenced to death for espionage, and executed on October 2, 1779. As a fellow intelligence agent, Benjamin Tallmadge respected André and was disheartened by his fate, but it was inevitable due to the magnitude of the crime.


Need to Know: Up until this point, the British and the Americans were running very different spy games. Washington preferred keeping his men in place undercover, writing reports, which he would study to meticulously piece together the enemy's plans. Clinton, on the other hand, relied largely on quick reconnaissance missions. This changed with the recruitment of Benedict Arnold.


Chapter Eight

Spyhunters and Whaleboatmen

All of the spies were on high alert, as Arnold, who had specific knowledge of the Culper Ring, escaped to join the British in New York. Townsend, in particular, had ceased communication with the ring. On October 20, Washington employed a sergeant named John Champe as a mole with the mission to infiltrate the enemy's camp, gain their trust, and ultimately kidnap Arnold. The operation began perilously, as Champe was pursued by a party from his clueless regiment who believed he was deserting. Champe made it to the Hudson and the "safety" of a British ship just in time and was taken to see Henry Clinton, who put him in touch with Arnold. After weeks of careful preparation, Champe conceived of a plan in which he would jump Arnold on his nightly walk, knock him unconscious, and carry him, with the help of another New York spy, to a prearranged boat waiting for them, and on to New Jersey. Unfortunately, the night he was to be kidnapped, Arnold was moved to another location to prepare his troops (including Champe) for an excursion in Virginia. Champe was finally able to escape months later, whereupon Washington paid him handsomely for his service and discharged him.

The spies (minus Townsend) turned their attention to the British privateers that were still swarming around New York. Privateers on both sides were engaging in increasingly reckless and destructive raids and kidnappings, referred to by locals as the "Whaleboat War." They would frequently get their wires crossed and attack citizens on their own side, and the people of Long Island were hit particularly hard. The Culper messengers had also been harassed by privateers, adding another layer of danger to their missions. Tallmadge conducted a raid of his own on the British privateers' base of operations at Long Island's Lloyd's Neck, where he destroyed ships and took prisoners. With that accomplished, Tallmadge set his sights on Fort St. George in southern Long Island where the British were stockpiling supplies. On November 22, Tallmadge and his troops took the fort easily, though perhaps overzealously, as Tallmadge had to issue an order to end the "slaughter" taking place. The victory was without loss of life on the American side and the fort was burned to the ground. Inexplicably, shortly thereafter, Tallmadge received a letter from Benedict Arnold inviting him to join the British side, promising him a high-ranking position.

Need to Know: One possible reason for Townsend's silence was the arrest of Hercules Mulligan, a friend of Alexander Hamilton and a member of the Sons of Liberty. Mulligan ran a clothing store near Townsend's and regularly passed him information intended for Washington. He was ultimately released, but it was enough to make Townsend wary of his own possible fate.


(Continues...)

Excerpted from Summary and Analysis of Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring by Worth Books. Copyright © 2017 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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