George Washington's Long Island Spy Ring

our speaker this evening is Elizabeth Kahn Kaplan who lived for 25 years in and around Stony Brook Setauket I got that right okay and Oldfield in New York State along Long Island Sound we're really one of if not the best organized espionage group that General George Washington organized operated she was director I know you currently still executive director step step down to do lecturing all right but you were a director of education for the three Village Historical Society and she is a historian but she was determined to bring the story of the culper spy ring to a wider audience and so from 2010 she's been operating on a twenty thousand dollar matching grant from the New York Council for the Humanities to create what became an award-winning exhibit at the three village Historical Society and I think this is your title of the exhibit spies how a group of Long Island Patriots helped George Washington win the revolution fair enough okay also New York State University asked her to serve on a committee to purchase two letters George Washington letters which I think you're going to share with I'll just note here we also at the Museum have a George Washington letter it's our oldest artifact and it is on view there and that letter in that letter actually George Washington is setting up a spy ring and has a retainer that he advances to the individual setting it up so Elizabeth Kaplan has bringing her subject and this is has been your primary subject is the culper spy ring throughout New York and also speaking at the Summer Institute for educators throughout the nation so it is with great pleasure to have you here and a subject very dear to our heart because we've tried so hard to bring home to students and teachers we have many teachers here who come on their own and also in groups we've tried to bring home how intelligence has figured so strongly in our history since the very beginning and that's exactly where you take it so we're delighted to have you here please help me welcome Elizabeth so talking about your Washington very quickly who is going to be the leader of the spy ring he is the primary intelligence figure in this country how did you describe it Peter you just told me the name is he is the head of intelligence originally a father that was the term I missed father of American intelligence so these are three famous portraits and the first one on the left he was only 23 years old when this was painted he was fighting for the British King in the uniform of a British soldier in a militia unit in Virginia the central one of course is what he looked like during the Revolution I don't know I'm looking around this audience very carefully I really don't think there's anybody old enough here to remember John Wayne does anybody remember John Wayne okay he would be perfect casting for George Washington right almost six foot four inches tall the best athlete and horseback rider in of certainly in Virginia and possibly in the 13 colonies because one had to ride a horse to lead an army no Jeep no helicopters nothing like that and of course the one on the right is the famous portrait by Gilbert Stuart that's on our dollar bills this is at the end this was painted at the end of his second term he was an old tired man and he didn't live much beyond 1795 he died in 1799 so do not think of our hero George Washington as either the first or the third portrait think of him in that central guise as John Wayne but when he was only 23 years old this is what he said there is nothing more necessary than good intelligence to frustrate a designing enemy and nothing requires greater pains to obtain he knew that from day one in his military service without information you are nothing and the only way to get information was not to turn on the TV and see what CNN was doing and it was not to telephone somebody and get an eyewitness account no you had to spy being a spy was a dishonorable profession in those days not today theater not today very honorable today but in those days if you were gentlemen you wouldn't use the term spy about yourself it meant that you were somebody willing to lie willing to look we're not supposed to look willing to read people's correspondence willing to do all those things that an eighteenth-century gentleman literally would not be caught dead doing so you're going to learn that the spies here in our story never talked about what they did and it was only in the 1930s that we really learned about it they went to their graves pretty much not telling their families what they had done during the revolution he was a spy master extraordinary he loved it he loved the nitty gritty of spying he wanted to know exactly what was going on in every part of the colonies if he had to conspire to do it and even though he had to worry with Congress fight with Congress to get money for his soldiers starving men no uniforms out of ammunition trying to negotiate a deal with France to get help he had a lot on his plate he spent equally amount of time on his spy ring and the letters that he wrote many many letters prove how devoted he was to espionage now of course one of the cast of characters I'm going to introduce all the characters to you one of them is this man and of course we all know he wasn't on our side but when he became King at the age of 22 think of Prince William becoming King today that's just about what King George was when he became King young man he made a lot of mistakes caused a revolution but when he became King in 1760 everybody in the colonies cheered they thought he would be a big improvement over his predecessor well this is gentleman who is going to be his first chief of intelligence one could argue that he was the head of the first head of the c.i.a they didn't call it central intelligence agency but he was the chief of intelligence he was a soldier on Washington staff a dragoon is like a cavalry horseback rider he's that soldier who rides a horse basically and fights on a horse so he was from Setauket Long Island that's where he'd been born I'll show you where Setauket is here if you've know the East End where everybody all the wealthy people are summering right now getting ready for barbecues Montauk for fishing in East Hampton for swimming and partying and lots of beautiful beaches Jones Beach and you head west toward Manhattan through the five boroughs Queens and New York which is Manhattan right there Bronx Staten Island and of course Brooklyn which isn't labeled here and Brooklyn is the most important of the five boroughs in terms of today's story right where the Y is in New York that's where a big battle is going to take place but I get ahead of myself we're still talking about Benjamin Tallmadge he had grown up in Setauket he had many childhood friends they'd gone to a one-room schoolhouse built in 1737 in Setauket so in 1761 Tallmadge started school he was very bright most children didn't start till 8 he already read Latin when he started school his father was a minister he was 6 years old in his classroom was eight year old Abraham Woodill I'm sorry 10 year old Abraham Whittle four years old Austin Roe who was 12 and Kayla Brewster who was 13 all in one room school house and they had grown up to depend on each other loyalty of childhood friends they had a neighbor annasmith strong who was 20 years old when he started school as she's going to have a small role in the spy ring one of the questions is fact or fiction did she really do what people say she did well when the Revolution began then in 1775 and all through it these were men in their 20s and the oldest was Caleb Brewster he was 140 about 30-something they were young they played key roles Tallmadge of course was a genius Benjamin Tallmadge his father was a minister of mister talk at Presbyterian Church the church became a center of Patriot resistance interestingly enough in a Setauket with two churches on the village green the Episcopal and the Presbyterian the Episcopal were loyalists and the Presbyterians were all Patriots we had a civil war we always forget the American Revolution was the first civil war okay to get back to my text here are they were all Patriots of the Presbyterian Church members included Benjamin schoolmate and best friend Abraham wouldl along with Caleb Brewster Austin Roe and Patriots Anna or known as Nancy nickname for Anna was Nancy strong and her husband Selah Selah went to prison on the prisoner ship Jersey because he was suspected of surreptitious correspondence with the enemy that was the charge so a bond based on complete trust and loyalty to each other had formed in childhood and had been created that's important because spies could not be trusted duh they're a spy you don't really trust them right and in those days and probably even today I'm sorry to say there are double agents so they'll work for whomever pays the most to them you know I'll gather information from you for money and then I'll sell Jay him for money and then sell it back to you that's why spies had such a bad reputation among the well-bred eighteenth-century gentlemen so Austin Roe who was a youngster in the classroom with Benjamin Tallmadge he grew up to be a tavern owner and that was a good thing because he had an excuse to go into New York City often the target is 55 miles from New York City by car it takes an hour and a half except for the Long Island Expressway who won't go into that and in those days it was if you didn't stop you had to change horses but of course if you rode 55 miles each way you couldn't do it in a day he had to stop on the road somewhere so he had a good excuse to go into the city nobody else would go in but he had to go to buy things so that was a perfect job for him to be the courier for the messages which were going to talk about Caleb Brewster was the courier by sea he was a bit whale boat captain also in the artillery and on that boat you will see a cannon whoops sorry about that right because this is a whale boat but he's ready to fight the British who are on Long Island Sound I'm still getting ahead of myself Abraham Woodall a farmer that was Benjamin Talmadge's best friend four years older the question I've always asked I'm going to ask you is why would Abraham Woodill become a spy number one he was sickly very frail he was small and thin his older brother had already died at the age of 32 he is now about 25 he's in charge of the family farm he's got two elderly parents that depend on him he's got two sisters that depend on him he works day and night as a farmer and he's in for health why would such a man become a spy well we'll find out so we've introduced the cast of characters up with one exception man you're going to meet who becomes very important who's not from Setauket I'll leave that name in limbo for a minute that was the cast of character the prologue I'm going to run through the revolution very quickly just to refresh your memories some of your experts and could get up sir you could get up and teach about the the American Revolution here's a high school teacher of how many years John Welch certainly has a lot to teach us about the revolution but I'm going to go through it quickly the revolution is you know began in Massachusetts the first shot heard round the world April 19 1775 as you will notice the British militia British Army is here in perfect formation and in the foreground of course other rebels the militia from Massachusetts who don't have uniforms if they're lucky they have a militia hat and they're not exactly disciplined would you say that's fair to say yeah okay two months later after that first shot heard round the world when the Americans shot at British soldiers we have the Battle of Bunker Hill which really took place at breeds Hill but we won't quibble and the Americans would have won that battle except they ran out of ammunition and 500 British soldiers went home wounded on ships and when the ship landed in London King George who was still in his youth he was in his mid-30s he said this has got to stop and I'm sure all of us here are old enough to remember the first Iraq war and Donald Rumsfeld's comment shock and awe the first shock and awe was from King George the third who made up his mind to squelch this little revolution before it got out of hand he couldn't stand the sight of what had happened to his redcoats his well trained soldiers as they came home off the boats from Massachusetts so he sent an army of course and we know that was about to happen after Bunker Hill Congress said we need a commander in chief they picked George Washington of course because who else was there this was a man who didn't say much but what he said you could believe completely he was totally committed to the Patriot cause felt strongly that we had to be of England of course he looked like John Wayne that helped to and he wore his uniform to Congress every day the only one who did so they picked him and he reviewed his troops at Cambridge in Massachusetts July it's a year before the Declaration of Independence a year before and if you take a look at the soldiers of course the the officers can afford to buy uniforms but the ordinary men don't and they come with their own guns from Massachusetts we have a letter in the three Village Historical Society archives from a local boy 17 years old begging his mother to provide him with a gun the one he had taken from the farm didn't work right we didn't have GIS government is UGI government issue ah most soldiers wore what clothes they had and they brought their own food sometimes and they bought their own weapons okay now go back to Boston the British first occupied Boston in 1774 7576 are they were out because George Washington with the help of a fellow named Henry Knox had cannon on Dorchester Heights and he fired them down on the ships in the harbor British ships they had blockaded Boston you may remember Boston was under blockade and to get them out of there he had the cannons up there and there was an agreement a gentlemen's agreement we won't fire on your ships and you won't burn down Boston the British said we will leave without burning the city if you don't fire on us well where did those ships go here's Boston immediately the British sailed for Nova Scotia Halifax and Saint John because that was Canada which they owned right so it's a safe harbor for them so they all went to Canada and of course George Washington being a good military strategist not the best he was a great leader he was not a great general I will repeat that he was a great leader he was not agreed general every military man will agree with that statement made a lot of mistakes militarily but his goal was always his I was on the prize and he led us to victory in any case Washington knew that eventually the ships had to come back and they wouldn't go to Boston they would go to New York why because New York really controlled the influx in and out of the center with a Hudson River going north and south and then the Mohawk River this way so if you control New York you could control the northern part of the state and the northern part of the colonies a few months later in Philadelphia remember this is now 1776 March 76 the British left to go to Canada a few months later in Philadelphia we know what happened this famous painting by John Trumbull who also drew that sketch of Benjamin Tallmadge that we just saw this is not the signing of the Declaration this is the presentation of the Declaration to Congress and you probably know who the committee people are does anybody recognize this gentleman just call it out if you do John Adams right and this gentleman you probably recognize Thomas Jefferson our hero here for the story of the Declaration and this is Benjamin Franklin and do you know who the other two are okay most people don't robert Livingston from New York and Roger Sherman from Connecticut they were on the committee but actually Jefferson did most of the work and now it's only June 28th it's going to be six days of debate more than well about six days four to four days really so they have to decide now what's going on the war comes to New York while they're debating now you know Philadelphia is not that far from New York it's like two days away the British Navy comes back and sails right to Boston just as everybody suspected okay now this is what you would have seen if you lived in Brooklyn or New Jersey or Staten Island or Manhattan they said it looked like a forest of trees sailing in from the because they were all wooden mast ships look like a forest of trees and the first ships arrived June 29th we still haven't signed the Declaration of Independence they're still debating it and yet those gutsy men you've got to give them credit they knew that they could all hang as Benjamin Franklin said we all hang together we all hang separately they sign this document knowing they would be considered traitors even though the British fleet was two days away British Army I say July 2nd because that's when they voted and agreed it was printed July 4th so that's why we celebrated well by August 15th the end of the summer 400 British ships in New York Harbor 32,000 British and Hessian soldiers who know the Hessians were from a place in Germany called HESA AG SSE so they were called Hessians King George the 3rd could not get enough soldiers to fight because we were British two people would be shooting on their nephews their uncles their cousins right so he hired mercenaries and the boats of course couldn't land in New York Harbor so they had flat boats carrying the soldiers and they went to Staten Island to Train now a great battle will take place on Long Island on August 27 76 lieutenant Benjamin Tallmadge will take part in it he is 22 years old lieutenant in the army and just to refresh your memory about the geography the ship sailed in from the Atlantic right and into New York Harbor there's the Statue of Liberty today it wasn't there then as you know came on Drude years later and then they sailed up the Hudson River it was called the North River inland and could only get as far as here for Kip see more or less Peekskill and came back all the loyalists and I really hate to break this to you folks I'm glad you're sitting down because at that time beginning of the revolution only 1/3 of the American people wanted to break away from England another 1/3 said are you crazy that's my king there I'm a loyalist I am loyal to him I'm a loyalist sure my King has made mistakes but we can work with him and it'll get better and then of course one-third of the people as usual were just watching American Idol or not not paying it not paying attention so okay so all the loyalists in New Jersey of which there were many and all the loyalists on Staten Island in which there were many and all in Brooklyn and even Manhattan all the loyalists for cheering as the boats went up and down the river the Patriots of course felt differently so true or false the Battle of Long Island is also known as the Battle of Queens what is the name of it the Battle of Brooklyn right and there's going to be a big battle right where Greenwood Cemetery is today if you've been to Brooklyn so this is what took place of course in the 18th century armies were very formal supposedly and you would line up in ranks and this fellow would shoot his gun and then when he ran out of ammunition he had backup while he reloaded right he's reloading his gun but this fellow still shooting on the Patriots side that didn't happen let's take a look British and Hessian troops were 20,000 American troops 8800 old soldiers have uniforms muskets bayonets and cartridge boxes on the British side on the American side few soldiers have uniforms bayonets Oh can't remember they brought their guns from home you did not need a bayonet on a farm in Setauket you brought a musket that's all you had the only people would bayonets were officers so they were outnumbered not only by manpower but by technology ah they are not well trained disciplined and experienced if you've read the great book by um da da da da oh dear dear dear David Hackett Fischer get it it's called Washington's crossing it's all about the Year 76 that ends in December at Washington's crossing he describes the scene where George Washington had to break up fights as you may know between New Jersey men and Kentucky men between Tennessee men and mainmenu etc we were not a country we were 13 separate colonies and with our own likes and dislikes so Washington knew even before he left to go to the battle which he didn't actually he wasn't even there um he knew he was gonna lose he asked Congress can we just leave New York let's just not fight there I want to wait until I can get my army together and well-trained Congress said of course you can't abandon New York you've got to stand up and fight so he knew he was going to lose and there is a picture painting 1860 of what the battle looked like in the distance we have the Marylanders and the Delaware units holding off the British army very brave while the rest of them fled it was a total rout he got very lucky will flow and find out why in a minute so General Washington had three choices he could surrender his army to the British he could tell the soldiers to fight to the last man no matter how many were killed wounded or captured and many were killed wounded or captured he could order a retreat to save what was left of his army so they could fight another day what do you think would be the best choice number three and that's what he did and he got very lucky a trained as they never described it before August 28th 1776 and it rained so heavily that of course the war had to stop the battle had to stop you can't fire your guns in the rain and muskets with powder and under cover of darkness and fog he led his men to plan B plan a was supposed to be to win the battle which he knew he couldn't do so Plan B was to get a retreat and he's got his boats lined up in the East River and they all escaped under cover of darkness and fog which muffles sound and only two men were captured because they came back to loot the bodies two Americans everybody else got to safety the ones that were left there were many dead left on the battlefield so now he has to run away there was no other way to put it he is going to get as far away from the British as he can and not stand and fight because he knows if he stands and fight he's gonna lose because he doesn't have a well-trained army or a well-equipped army so here's the battle in Brooklyn the red lines are the British the blue are the Patriots and there were only a couple of battles that they won in White Plains captain Benjamin Tallmadge he was lieutenant in August by the end of September he's a captain he fought bravely at the Battle of White Plains and he gets across the river in boats provided by the Marblehead mass whale boat men okay General Washington now is out of New York he needs spies very badly he asked the volunteer to spy on the British that was the only way he would know what the British were planning and one brave young captain was eager to help his name was Nathan Hale how many have heard of Nathan Hale okay he and Benjamin Tallmadge had been roommates and best friends at Yale University in Connecticut graduating in 1773 they both become schoolteachers for a while now they were both captains in the Continental Army led by George Washington Nathan Hale volunteered every single one of his friends said for heaven's sake don't being a spy is despicable it's a dishonorable occupation you will lose all credibility as a gentleman don't do it Nathan Hale said I want to help my general so he was based in Connecticut then they rode him over at night to a Huntington where's our people from Huntington yes and there's a place called Hale site where he landed so he called sweetheart with Huntington's right around there to the right of Cold Spring Harbor so he was rode across from Fairfield Connecticut over there left on his own no cover house no um back up and he was to make his way to New York City and make notes about military maneuvers of the British well he did and he wrote the material down and put it in his boots and when he got as far as Flushing New York which is probably about there in Queens today he stopped at a tavern and he was tricked by a man who was in disguised as a patriot however you disguise yourself as a patriot he was really working as a soldier for the British in a militia unit British militia and Nathan Hale untrained innocent truthful in other words a terrible spy he revealed all he confessed he'd not confessed he told that he was a patriot he was immediately arrested searched they found the documents in his boots he was taken immediately the next morning to Manhattan and was strung up on what is now about 66th Street and 3rd Avenue in Manhattan it was an orchard there he was supposed to have said I I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country he did not say that I'm sorry but he did not say that those are lines from a famous play called Cato that he had studied in college and the only document I could find when I curated the exhibit at the Long Island's on Lynn spies at the three village Historical Society the village Historical Society uses this image and with it we have text that says the eyewitness account there was an eyewitness a British soldier of course who wrote what he said all he did was this this is a British soldier wrote that he conducted himself honorably bravely and said he was prepared that all soldiers should be prepared to support their leader that was it the other words you know I agreed that I bought one life to lose for my country was said many years later put into his mouth by a historian Nathan Hale was not trained to be a spy General Washington had not taken steps to keep him safe now George Washington and his supporting staff Benjamin Tallmadge were devastated by the death of Nathan Hale Washington because he knew he really hadn't should not have let this man without any training and backup go off and he'll be caught under Tallmadge because he'll was his best friend it took two years before Washington would ask Tallmadge to form a spy ring on Long Island after General Washington and the Continental Army left New York the British occupied New York City and Long Island for the rest of the war seven long years from August 31st until November 18 1783 so now George Washington is desperate for information what's going on he's not there Long Island is going to become the center of the story after General Washington and the army left the British soldiers now could not find him to fight they're going to be here a long time King George has sent them over expecting them to be home in three months shock and awe victory immediate and now George Washington the the Fox they called him a fox tricked them and got away so they have to feed their men they have to feed their horses they have to build fences they have to do everything where are they going to go Long Island nothing but farms beautiful farmland had everything the British needed the hay for the horses and the food for the men etcetera etcetera so they come out to Long Island and plunder they come in there's no police force there's no soldiers to protect anybody and so soldiers can come into your house and take your grandmother's candlesticks to melt down four bullets they can take the foul the flour everything they want they can knock on you door and say mr. Smith how many beds that we've got and your mr. Smith says I've got five beds good one two three four five soldiers of mine come on this is where you're now quartered you're going to stay here and mrs. Smith you cook meals for your family you're going to be cooking for my soldiers too and you may or may not get paid to do that depending and you can use your own foodstuffs thank you very much people on Long Island who had been loyalists and many of them had been suddenly are not so loyal nothing like being occupied to make you become more of a patriot so people left as many as they could George Washington sent boats from Connecticut because Connecticut was still in Patriot hands and people fled General Washington desperately needed intelligence about British troop movements in and around New York City and Long Island and now we have the birth of the spy ring Washington asked Ragunan major Benjamin Tallmadge who's on his staff chief of intelligence to form a spy ring of people that could be trusted Tallmadge turned to his childhood friends he took a boat to Setauket and you're going to see this map a few times this is where a Benjamin Tallmadge was headquartered a boat would come over the Long Island Sound right to Setauket this was called the devil's belt Long Island Sound because it was full of plunderers of both colors loyalist and Patriot and he boat was fair game there were British ships patrolling it and you could be shot at and there were thieves so it was dangerous and as soon as he got his a talk at the first person he spoke to was Abraham Woodall we do not have any good image of Abraham Woodill all we know is that he was frail and sickly this is what we see of him here on the left now why would Abraham Whittle sickly in charge of the farm his parents are ill his brother has died he has nobody but himself to run that farm he besides to be a spy well British dragoons attacked American Revolutionary War general Nathaniel Whittle after his surrender on August 28 76 this is at the Battle of Long Island it's just as the Battle of Long Island is going on Nathaniel Whittle a cousin of Abraham woodles father in other words Abraham's second cousin he was asked to go out and collect hay stopped at a tavern a British Dragoon troop came by stopped him said repeat after me god save the king I once said that in a school auditorium in that voice and everybody in the auditorium said god save the king because I said repeat after me god save the king which is what the Dragoon said the British Dragoon and Woodhull replied god save us all and that angered this British soldier and he slashed Nathaniel Whittle across the head in the arm and they left him to bleed to death took him three weeks to die local people gave him water that was it so when the family the world-old family heard about this they were horrified and that probably may be the reason why would Oh was willing to risk his neck to be a spy but I always asked this question because there's no wrong answer so I'm going to ask you to pick your favorite number one he thought spying would be exciting number two his friend asked him to remember childhood friend Benjamin Tallmadge he hated the British or he wanted help General Washington win the war so just for the sake of my own curiosity how many think number one is probably the reason he was looking for excitement no okay his friend asked him to hmm he hated the British hmm he wanted to help General Washington I would say a combination of those three so now Benjamin Tallmadge wants to ensure the safety of his spies he doesn't want what happened to Nathan Hale to happen to any of his friends including of course Abram Whittle so he gives everybody a code number and the first one he gave a code name to was General Washington he became number 711 lucky yes I know when I passed the 7-eleven on Long Island I always salute but that's not why they named it 711 okay so General George Washington if he's mentioned in the letter by a spy is given the number 711 Dragoon major Benjamin Tallmadge gives himself an alias John Bolton instead of just a number he's also number 721 but it's the alias that most people use in the letters Abraham Woodall is called Samuel culper that's why it's called the culper spy ring why culper because George Washington's first job as a surveyor was in Culpepper County Virginia and he took the name of Cole pepper and cut out a P and an E and we have culper it was George Washington who gave them that name so he's number 722 alias Samuel culper and Caleb Brewster number 720 caliber Brewster never had an alias not only that he didn't care that the British knew he was a spy he was bold well I'm trying to think of a cast of characters if John Wayne is um George Washington the perfect casting would be for a young George Clooney to be um Caleb Brewster you know come on get me I'm here I'm brave I can do anything so he doesn't have an alias now here we go back to our map again remembering that Benjamin Tallmadge came from Connecticut to Setauket asked Abraham Whittle to spy to spy meant to go into Manhattan because that's where the British headquarters was fifty five miles each way over roads that are terribly dangerous not just because they're rocky and you can break your neck but because there are highway men who will rob you because there are British patrols out etc and they will stop you so this fearful and he was always scared all his letters he was scared got to Manhattan now his sister lives in Manhattan she's married to a an innkeeper on Cherry Street so they put him up but let's face it if you go in every week along a 55 mile road where you're breaking your neck and tell the British guards well I'm going to visit my sister not too many people love their sister that much to do it every single week so he was looking for somebody based in Manhattan to do the spy and then he would get a courier who we've already met Austin row to come get the letters and bring them back so he waited a while it took about three or four months of his going into the city to Manhattan till he found a man in his sister and brother-in-law's rooming house who turned out to be a patriot he didn't look like a patriotic for a loyalist paper he didn't look like a patriot he owned a shop with British soldiers shout everybody thought he was a loyalist but over time they discovered they had a lot in common he was from Oyster Bay and his name is Robert Townsend and we have a descendant right here would you raise your hand from Raynham Hall the family home in Oyster Bay so Robert Townsend is the only one of the spies in the culper spy ring as far as we know because we don't know all of them he was not from Setauket but he was from Long Island okay so Robert Townsend now becomes a spy he needs a name I'll give you his name in a minute this is where his um the coffee house of James Rivington where Robert Townsend would hang out the shop and store and then house on Peck slip if you ever get a parking ticket in Manhattan you go to Peck slip to pay it that is where it used to be where Robert Townsend shop was and here's the East River from Brooklyn you take a ferry and it was very easy for the courier to get on the ferry after coming Setauket go a few blocks to get messages and go back he's given the name Samuel culper jr. right and a code number 723 so now Abraham Woodall has become Samuel culper senior and Robert Townsend is Samuel culper jr. and sometimes they sign their letters senior or junior so now there is Robert Townsend in the taverns in the coffee houses in lower Manhattan and he's pretending to read a newspaper but he's really doing that spy thing he's eaves dropping what no gentlemen would ever do there he is and he takes the information and writes the letters and waits for the courier to pick them up right again Tallmadge came to Abraham Woodill Abraham Whittle went into Manhattan found Townsend and now they need somebody to pick up the letters and that we know is going to be Austin roll he's the land courier he owns a tavern he's got a good excuse to go into the city every week to shop no British soldier is going to be surprised to see him every week on the road today we call him Long Island's Paul Revere he did not shout the British are coming he has a code number but not a code name and then he takes those messages back on horseback and he doesn't go up to Abraham Woodall's house and say yoo-hoo Abe got a message for you no he goes to the field on his farm woodles farm and buries it in what's known as a dead drop that's a box hidden somewhere will you leave messages now in the land on Abram woodles farm a good distance from the house at 4:00 in the morning when the British soldiers who are living in Abraham woodles house in the next room there are British soldiers asleep he was scared out of his whit's but he did it that's one thing I really like to tell children being brave does not mean you're not scared being brave means you do it anyway so he went out and got the letters and now he has to wait for somebody to pick them up to take them across Long Island Sound to Benjamin Tallmadge and that man is Caleb Brewster he was the oldest of the boys in the school room 13 years old when Tallmadge was six played by George Clooney in the movie that were riding of course so he's a whale boat captain and he leads his men across to pick up the messages and then where does he go he hides in one of possible six possible coves this is a map of Setauket the devil's belt is Long Island Sound and there are so many inlets there you'll have to come visit it's very pretty and we have the three Village Historical Society right there see the exhibit but Caleb Brewster would hide now how did Abraham would all know where to bring the ladders has always been a mystery and a legend has arisen Nancy Smith strong definitely a patriot definitely a good friend of Abraham wouldl he could see her house across Little Bay there they were practically neighbors how old does she look in this drawing just call out how old he thinks you know at the time we're speaking of she was 40 with six children okay so so much for our the legend now the legend is that somehow Caleb Brewster would let her know which Kohl he was in remember there were six she would put her laundry out on her laundry line in front of the eyes of British soldiers because the British soldiers were living in her house she had vacated her master the manor house the big house and was living in actually what was a slave cottage on her property and she would string her laundry line if she hung a black petticoat it meant that Caleb Brewster was nearby because most women in those days I didn't know this most women wore red petticoats oh no red petticoats but she would hang a black one and then the number of white handkerchiefs said which Cove he was in so if she hung five white handkerchiefs he was hiding out in Cove number five which as we saw on the map was one of these this is drowned meadow number five he'd be there so it was a perfectly ingenious system there's only one little problem we really don't know if it's true because as historians if we can't document it in some way with a diary entry a letter a first-person account somehow we don't know if it's true plus the story did not surface remember they never talked about themselves annasmith strong went to her grave not mentioning it no matter what died in 1815 by then it would be perfectly safe to say that she had been a spy in 1937 I think it was a historian on Long Island Morton Pennypacker wrote about that legend we don't know if it's true tons of schoolchildren are crying because it may not be true because there are so many books about her maybe it's true we do know that she was a patriot and we do know on one occasion Abraham Woodhull asked her to go with him into Manhattan when he was still picking up messages because it was less likely for him to be stopped when he was going with a woman for whatever reason so now he exchanges the information with um with Caleb Brewster and Caleb Brewster is now going to go back with the information the spy letters to Benjamin Tallmadge and from there Benjamin Tallmadge will either go himself or he'll send a courier to wherever George Washington is and if you know about George Washington he was never in one place for very long he would go perhaps more down New Jersey or West Point or wherever and Tallmadge always knew where he was now a very important event took place this man is the brother of John Jay who became very important in Washington's cabinet secretary of state his brother James Jay had lived in France and then had gone to England and he brought from France a recipe for something called sympathetic stain does anybody know what we call sympathetic stain invisible ink and it's a real thing you write with this recipe and then it vanishes and then you can get it back by putting a reagent over what they called a reagent there was a recipe for that so he gave it to George Washington and George Washington shared it so how did George Washington help the culper spies and he devoted a lot of time to this letters were written in Talmadge's code letters were written in sympathetic stain secret messages were written between the lines of ordinary messages let's say Robert Townsend wrote a letter and he did wrote a letter to his father saying dear father I am fine the store is doing well please give my love to mother your devoted son Robert and then that letter arrived in the hands of George Washington now he thought to himself why do I need this letter and then he said maybe there's something written between the lines in invisible ink Robert Townsend had written the message that the British were about to attack White Plains in invisible ink it disappeared and when Washington read the letter dear father I'm fine or the story's good game I loved a mother he took the reagent that liquid and brushed it and out came the real message you've all heard of this gentleman he was ambassador of France appointed by George Washington he went over to France in 76 and worked very hard to get the king and queen who were to lose their heads later but fortunately not before they gave some boats and money to the revolution they supported the American Revolution and I just read recently that it may be because they were broke after helping us win our revolution that they couldn't afford to take proper care of their own people and had their own revolution that's one historians point of view finally after years literally 1780 Benjamin Franklin went over there in 76 took four years for him to convince the French to send money and ships and soldiers and a French army set sail under forgive my French French General jean-baptiste donnici under FEMA comp de la Shambo and they went to Newport Rhode Island so let's take a look here's New York and go right past Connecticut along the inner Ward this is Long Island Sound but right up to Newport which is right where the eye touches the land that would be Newport right there so that's where the French were landing George Washington was desperate to know if the British were aware that the French were coming and that they were practically here and that they were going to Newport he was afraid that if they did know the British would march from New York and attack the French before they got their land legs back you know it's a six week voyage and they wouldn't be ready to fight and he they could wipe out the French army he was very concerned about that so he said as every moment we may expect the arrival of the French fleet the correspondence will the culpers will be of very great importance that was written on July 11th little did he know that they had landed on July 10th that's what happens when you lose your cellphone that's what happens when you don't keep in touch getting information was not only hard to get it was hard to get it in a timely fashion anyway he wants to know if the British are aware so Robert Townsend is eavesdropping again and he hears something of great importance the British are planning to set sail to Newport he has to get that letter out to George Washington as fast as possible he got lucky Austin Rose showed up in his shop that day it might have been another week before he did he gave a very important letter to Austin row disguised as a bill of sale to a loyalist on Long Island written in invisible ink between the lines of the bill of sale but there was another handwritten letter that he also had as a cover letter when Austin Roe gave that to Abraham Woodill Abraham would all read it and wrote this letter here's the facsimile of it SC Samuel culper was written on July 20th sir the enclosed requires your immediate departure this day by all means let not an hour pass for this day must not be lost you have news of the greatest consequence perhaps that ever happened to your country John Bolton whom we know is Benjamin Tallmadge John Bolton must order your return when he thinks proper he's telling Caleb Brewster this letter is written to Caleb Brewster as a cover letter for the important letter he's writing to this to tell Bruce to forget about what you're here for Bolton will send you back another time just get back to Connecticut with this and they exchanged the letters and it gets back now what do we know it's a fact that on July 21st Alexander Hamilton was a captain on the staff of Washington received Townsend's urgent letter that 50 British ships transport ships were sailing up Long Island Sound to Newport Rhode Island carrying 8,000 troops to attack the French that's a fact we also know that the British ship sets sail for Rhode Island but soon turned back to Manhattan the British ships got this far they sailed out of New York what is now the frogs neck or White's the white stone bridge they got about that far wasn't there then and then they turned back the question historians have always asked is why why did the British turn back and one historian more than one says that Washington tricked them as a spymaster extraordinary he planted false information he wrote a letter saying he was about to attack New York City if the British left now New York City was much more important to the British even than defeating the French they couldn't afford to lose New York and so that is probably the reason why they turned back we may never know for sure but if that was what happened the plan worked French army was saved now why is it important to say the French army because a year later at Yorktown which I'm sure you've all heard of it was the French first their navy defeating the British Navy off the coast of Virginia the Battle of the Virginia capes called the most important naval victory of the 18th century where the British fleet was knocked for a loop by the French fleet that allowed the blockade to take effect the Americans Block hated Yorktown the British Army there under Cornwallis was being starved to death took three or four weeks and they surrendered this is a famous painting by John Trumbull the fellow who sketched a Benjamin Tallmadge for so nicely this is a famous painting and like many famous paintings it's a lie that tells the truth Pablo Picasso said art is a lie that tells the truth so what is the lie here well um George Washington magnanimously did not hold out his hand to the soldiers the troops did line perfectly French and Americans on one side while the opposite side while the British marched in between laying down their guns and this is the music that they played I won't sing it for you here's the lyrics the world turned upside down if ponies rode men and grass ate cows and cats were chased into holes by the mouse if summer were spring and the other way round and all the world would be upside down the British could not figure out how they managed to lose the war that was the world turned upside down they were the world's greatest army and the world's greatest Navy we really had neither we just had a leader who refused to quit and people who were determined to win and of course they were so many miles away it was very hard to keep themselves supplied statue of Rochambeau Newport perhaps some of you have seen it this is a bill that was struck up on the anniversary of the Yorktown victory in 1930 150 years later so we have de Grasse who was the french captain of the fleet George Washington and Hashem bow okay epilogue very quickly the British refused to sit for this painting Benjamin West in 1783 took two years to get a treaty two years before the British would finally say okay already I get it we lost they didn't want to admit it so at this sitting then doing West put in the figures of John J and Benjamin Franklin John Adams and Franklin's grandson William temple Franklin Henry law as a diplomat the British nowhere to be seen the flag came down on evacuation day the ships went out the 13 Stars and Stripes went up and the Union Jack came down and George Washington then rode into the city he had not been in knew you since August of September really of 1776 big victory parade you've heard of ticker tape parades Wall Street this was the first one without the ticker tape everybody turned out and many people still many soldiers still no uniforms wounded they said goodbye to the ark the officer said goodbye to Washington to Frances tavern we have a replica of the building the real building is gone but in that room as you know when you go through a very difficult time words fail you so the soldiers lined up shook his hand tears in their eyes never expecting to see him again as he wanted to go back to Mount Vernon he went back to Virginia it was called back to take an important role in Constitution writing sworn in as president in New York City and set the precedent for the presidents for all time war an ordinary business suit everybody said do we call you Emperor do we call you Your Majesty you should have an ermine robe for this inauguration they really said that because after all that's what they were used to and he said you will call me mr. president I will wear an ordinary suit I am nothing but a citizen he came out to Long Island to thank all his spies the year he was elected in 1789 in the spring of 1790 he came and visited when you hear about George Washington slept here he really did all over Long Island we've had reenactments of course that's a drawing of the original coach that he traveled in now what happened to General Washington's spies well we can talk about Benjamin Tallmadge at great length here's a painting that was done of him and his white wool this is of his wife he married the daughter of a signer of the Declaration of Independence he married the daughter of a William Floyd from mastic Long Island this is a famous picture by a famous artist Ralph Earle and this is his painting by Ezra James he was a congressman for eight terms sixteen years Litchfield Connecticut after the Revolution he moved to Connecticut with his bride from Long Island and lived there and died there and he's buried there so he he's a success story what about Abraham what'll he was a farmer yes he married had a few children became a judge of the County Court of Appeals so he was a very well-respected citizen led a quiet life basically Austin Roe opened another tavern he had the one in Setauket and he opened one father south in Patchogue he's buried in Patchogue successful businessman what about Caleb Brewster he became a blacksmith and then he'd be in Connecticut and then became a businessman to marriage and lived in Connecticut he's buried there what about Robert Townsend the only sad story he never married he lived at Raynham Hall with his sister also unmarried and according to most reports was a very melancholy person but he had done his part for the revolution for sure so on that cheerful note I will say I thank you for your attention you

Channel: IntlSpyMuseum

Views: 49,665

Rating: 4.7990432 out of 5

Keywords: George Washington Spy, Kaplan, spy ring, Culpers, Long Island, Patriots, spies, military, Secret, manhattan, Culper Ring, Spymaster, espionage, missions

Id: Rq9VwhU_RV8

Length: 64min 39sec (3879 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 17 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/boxcarboatfest]

I always like to post something patriotic on special days. Have a happy and safe Independence Day, CoI.