Brief History Of The Culper Spy Ring

The Culper Spy ring was founded by Benjamin Tallmadge. He was appointed by General Washington as the directory of military intelligence. His objective was to gather intel about the British forces in New York City. Tallmadge enlisted close friends to join him in his cause. These added members were: Abraham Woodhull, Caleb Brewster, Anna Strong, Austin Roe and Hercules Mulligan. There was a female member whose name still is still unknown to this day. The only information regarding her name was Agent 355. In their letters to each other, they used pseudonyms to conceal their true identities. For example, Tallmadge’s new identity’s name was John Bolton. Nathan Hale, one of General Washington’s other spies, was captured and hung in 1776. Due to this,

Tallmadge created a system where numbers were substituted for commonly used words, names, and places to encode messages, and he provided a key to Washington, Woodhull, and Robert Townsend, or any other member of the spy ring to reference. Another tool used by the spy ring was invisible ink. This was supplied by Washington. The invisible ink was generally applied on the back of letters whose appearances were completely normal. To read the hidden message, the recipient would apply a chemical reagent. This tactic was most commonly used during the entirety of the war. General Washington wrote “ I have not any of the Ink, but I will endeavor to provide some of it as soon as possible” to Tallmadge and Woodhull regarding them requesting more ink to continue their hidden writings. The Culper Spy ring also concealed messages by applying a grille or a mask to hide messages. The key part of this spy tactic that whether you have the mask on the letter, it makes sense either way but still hiding the true meaning of the letter. For example: Henry Clinton wrote a letter to John Burgoyne on August 10, 1777 demonstrating this

By this time / however he has filled Chesapeak bay with surprize and terror. Washington marched the greater part of the Rebels to Philadelphia / in order to oppose Sir Wm's. army. I hear he is now returned upon / finding none of our troops landed but am not sure of this, great part / of his troops are returned for certain. I am sure this countermarching / must be ruin to them. I am left to command here, half of my force may / I am sure defend everything here with much safety. I shall therefore / send Sir W. 4 or 5 Bat [talio] ns. I have too small a force to invade the New England / provinces; they are too weak to make any effectual efforts against me and / you do not want any diversion in your favour. I can, therefore very well / spare him 1500 men. I shall try some thing certainly towards the close / of the year, not till then at any rate. It may be of use to inform you that / report says all yields to you. I own to you that I think the business will / quickly be over now. Sr. W's move just at this time has been capital. / Wahingtons have been the worst he could take in every respect. / sincerely give you much joy on your success and am with / great Sincerity your [ ] /