Abraham Woodhull And The Culper Spy Ring

The Revolutionary War was the beginning of our fight for independence as a nation from Britain. Without the men and women who selflessly aided in the fight for independence, the United States of America would have never formed. A vital part of the Revolutionary War as well as any war is intelligence or information gathered on the enemy. The amount and importance of gathered intelligence can win or lose a war. During the war, a group of motivated Patriots played a vital role in gathering important intelligence on the British military. This group of people lived on Long Island and worked for General George Washington. The intelligence gathered and the people involved became known as the Culper Spy Ring. The spies used intricate and simple ways

He was a fitting candidate for the simple fact that he was a native Long Islander from Setauket (Tallmadge, pg5). What also made Washington put Tallmadge in charge was the fact that Brewster knew Tallmadge, and grew up together in Setauket. Setauket became the base of operations for intelligence agents due to many British soldiers and officers living there, as well as its close proximity to the Long Island Sound. Tallmadge began to recruit people he knew and trusted from Setauket. One of the major players in the spy ring was Abraham Woodhull. Woodhull is known as “America’s first spy” and was in charge of daily intelligence operations. He was a farmer and as a result traveled to New York City to sell his crops. Tallmadge told Woodhull to gather as much intelligence as he could while in the city. Since there were no operatives in the city, Woodhull was the best candidate. Woodhull’s code name during the operation was Samuel Culper Sr, this is how the operation gained its name (Felch,

She housed British officers in her residence and acted as a mother to them. She became involved in the spy ring after the British imprisoned her husband (Allen, pg56). Her actual intentions were to gain information from them, and transmit them to the other intelligence operatives. She did so in a very intelligent manner. When she had information to pass along, she would hang her clothes up in a certain manner indicating so. She would pass information to Woodhull (Allen, pg56). Some of the ways she did this is when a black petticoat was on the clothesline it meant Brewster arrived, and the number of white hanker chiefs meant which cove he was in with his boat (Allen pg56). As a result, the British officers never suspected a thing and successfully passed important information along. Even Washington had a codename, Agent 711 (Allen,