Turncoats, Traitors And Heroes: Espionage in the American Revolution

by John Bakeless

Overview

Besides reexamining in fresh perspective such well-known figures as Paul Revere, Nathan Hale, Benedict Arnold, and John André, the author, a former general staff intelligence officer in World War II, reveals the exploits and tribulations of scores of other spies: Ann Bates, the Tory agent who spied at Washington's headquarters and who, when fleeing for her life, paused to count American artillery; the high-ranking traitor Dr. Benjamin Church, the Continental Army's Director General of Hospitals, caught as a result of a careless mistress; Sergeant Major John Champe, who posed as a deserter from the rebel army in order to capture Benedict Arnold; and many others. From the plot to kidnap George Washington to the fall of Yorktown, here are the clandestine activities of the spies, counterspies, and double agents who risked life and honor in a silent, anonymous shadow war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306808432
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	03/22/1998
Edition description:	1 DA CAPO
Pages:	408
Sales rank:	551,177
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Bakeless (1894–1978) was the author of Spies of the Confederacy, Daniel Boone: Master of the Wilderness, Fighting Frontiersmen, and many others.

What People are Saying About This

Richard B. Morris

The most complete picture we have to date….[Bakeress] has given us a collection of exciting stories based upon substantial documentation….[This book] combines fascinating reading with impressive scholarship.
—(Richard B. Morris, co-editor of The Spirit 'Seventy-Six)

Editorial Reviews

Exciting and valuable. To general readers it offers a wealth of spy stories. To students of the Revolution it shows a familiar terrain become strange under an eerie light….[Bakeress] writes very well. He tells with spare effectiveness the adventures of brave people who risked death, alone among enemies, first by their mission to frequent the most dangerous places and to woo the confidence of the very officers entrusted with the responsibility of exposing and hanging them. [Bakeress] gives [each agent] the sharp focus of a close-up, adding both to the impact and the originality of the book.
—New York Times Book Review

James T. Flexner