Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Culper Ring

Episode Date: November 19, 2021

In 1778, in the middle of the Revolutionary War, while camped outside New York City, General George Washington and Major Benjamin Tallmadge hatched a plan. They created a network of spies that would provide information about British military effort, which could be used by the colonists in fighting the war. It turned out to be pivotal in the war for independence. Learn more about the Culper Ring, and America’s first spy network, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1778, in the middle of the Revolutionary War, while camped outside New York City, General George Washington and Major Benjamin Talmadge hatched a plan. They created a network of spies that would provide information about the British military effort, which could be used by the colonists in fighting the war. It turned out to be pivotal in the war for independence. Learn more about the Culper Ring, an America's first spy network, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Do you ever climb into bed ready to sleep, only to have your mind start racing the moment your head hits the pillow?

Thoughts bouncing around, replaying the day, or jumping ahead to tomorrow? That is exactly why Catherine Nikolai created Nothing Much Happens. Each episode is a gentle, cozy bedtime story where, well, nothing much happens. No drama, no tension, nothing you need to follow closely. Just soft narration, calming repetition, and soothing sensory details designed to help your mind slow down and your body relax. It's not about entertainment, it's about rest. And millions of listeners around the world use it every night to quiet their thoughts and finally fall asleep.

If you've ever struggled to shut your brain off at night, this might be exactly what you've been missing. You can listen to Nothing Much Happens wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are every Monday and Thursday. The result of the American Revolution was never a foregone conclusion. If there were odds given for the success of the revolution at the start of the war, I would have put the British as overwhelming favorites. They had more money, more people, more resources,

the world's largest navy, and a much better trained and equipped army. The only thing that the colonists really had going for them was home field advantage and a plucky never-say-die attitude. And the French, but we'll leave that for another episode. When the revolution started, the lines were not clear-cut. About a third of the population were patriots and a third were British loyalists. And the other third were pretty indifferent. The divisions often ran within families, and you couldn't easily tell one group from another. When the war began in 1775, the colonists had no real plan or organization.

It was something that sort of coalesced over time. Intelligence is an important part of any military enterprise. As the war progressed, the colonists provided intelligence to the continental army, but it was an incredibly disjointed effort. People would sometimes come forward with what they knew or send information individually, but it was no way to conduct formal military intelligence. There was no way to verify the information or the trustworthiness of the source. The lack of colonial intelligence came into play during the Battle of Long Island, where the colonial army was, routed, and the only reason they survived was due to an incredibly daring nighttime escape. The entire revolution was almost lost right there. After this fiasco in August of 1776,

General Washington made the first attempt at organized information gathering. He instructed Colonel Thomas Knowlton to recruit men to engage in reconnaissance and espionage. These men were known as Knowlton's Rangers. The most famous of Nolton's Rangers was a man named Nathan Hale. He was secretly sent into New York City under a false identity and was captured by the British. He was executed without trial, and before he was hung, he said his famous last words, quote, I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country. Being a spy was very risky business. Washington desperately needed intelligence for New York City in the surrounding area. New York was under British control, and it was the primary port for

almost all British shipping and troop movements coming into and out of the Americas. If the colonists had better eyes and ears around New York, it would give them a better idea of what the British were planning and how to prepare. The next attempt at military intelligence was in 1777. The plan was to use civilians instead of soldiers. Washington thought that civilians would be less conspicuous and find it easier to gather intelligence. He recruited one Nathaniel Sackett who lived on Long Island. Sackett did manage to bring in some information, but ultimately it was felt that he wasn't bringing in enough intel and it wasn't fast enough. While Sackett didn't pan out, his military contact and the man overseeing the program, Major Benjamin Talmadge did. In August of 1778, a year

after the unsuccessful Knowlton's Rangers, the intelligence gathering efforts of the Continental Army finally began to come together. Washington appointed Talmage as the director of the Continental Secret Service. One of his first acts was to recruit two men, Lieutenant Caleb Brewster of Norwalk, Connecticut, who came forward to offer his intelligence services, and a civilian farmer named Abraham Woodhall, who was a childhood friend to both of them, who lived to to talk at Long Island. The spy network was organized differently than before. For starters, Washington didn't know who Woodhull or any of the civilians were. He only knew them by their codenames. The codename given to Woolhull, who served as the day-to-day organizer, was Samuel

Culper. It was selected by Washington himself, which came from Culpeper County, Virginia, where he used to work as a surveyor when he was younger. Tomidge took the alias, John Bolton. The codename of the entire operation became known as the Culper Ring. The system was set up such that the various parties were separated from each other. Woodhull would give reports to Brewster, who lived on the other side of Long Island Sound. Brewster would then pass them on to Major Talmadge, who would then report to General Washington. Woodall frequently would visit New York City because he had a sister that lived there, and it gave him an excuse to visit. During his trips, he would take note of the number and type of British ships in the port and the activities of the troops.

Abraham Woodhull slowly began to recruit more people to the ring. In June of 1779, he recruited Robert Townsend, who was a merchant in New York City. Because he lived in the city, his presence would be less conspicuous than Woodhull coming into the city. Townsend also wrote a column in a loyalist newspaper and was part owner of a coffee house where British officers would congregate. Townsend then went by Samuel Culper Jr., and Woodhull went by Samuel Culper Sr. James Rivington, who co-owned the coffee house with Townsend and was the owner of the loyalist newspaper, was also a member of the ring. With spies located inside New York, Woodhall didn't need to make as many trips. They recruited a Satakat cavern keeper named Austin Rowe, who served as a courier between Townsend and Woodhall.

He would take messages from New York and then use a dead drop in the middle of a farm field where Woodhull would collect the messages. Anna Strong, a Satakot housewife and the wife of an imprisoned local judge, was also part of the ring. She would send codes when a message was ready for pickup from Brewster by hanging certain articles of clothing out. If she hung out a black petticoat, it was a signal for Woodhull that Brewster was in town. She would then hang a set number of handkerchiefs to indicate which of six prearranged drop points the message was located for Brewster. The messages themselves used a decoded system. They had a codebook that was required to decode the messages.

Washington was simply referred to as number 711. 7.45 was England and New York was 727. There were 53 different proper nouns given codes between 711 and 7663. They also used invisible ink with messages written between the lines of normal letters. They even coded words in the newspaper to send communications. This was, by late 18th century standards, a very sophisticated spy operation. Over the five years, the Culper Ring was in operation, from 1778 to 1783, they were the most successful intelligence operation of the war by either side.

Their information prevented a British ambush of French forces in Rhode Island. They discovered a British plan to counterfeiting. continental currency on the same paper used by the colonist, which allowed the Continental Congress to retire the notes early. Perhaps most notably, in 1780, they discovered the correspondence between American General Benedict Arnold and British Major John Andre about Arnold's defection. The identities of the members of the Culper Ring were kept secret well after the end of the Revolutionary War. It wasn't until 1929 that Robert Townsend was identified as Culper Jr. through handwriting analysis. The Culper Spy Ring has been used as the basis for several novels, as well as in the recent TV series, Turn Washington Spies, which ran for four seasons.

And I highly recommend the series if you haven't watched it. In the end, the British never caught or uncovered any member of the Culper Spy Ring. Their commitment to secrecy, aliases, dead drops, and coded messages, all of which became the norm and spycraft later on, were the keys to its success. The associate producers of Everything Everywhere Daily are Peter Bennett and Thor Thompson. If you'd like to support the show, please join the list of patrons over at patreon.com. And also remember, if you leave a review or send me a question, you two can have it read on the show.