Washington: Spymaster
Major Benjamin Tallmadge’s Memoir is the only written account of Washington’s Farewell in the Long Room of Fraunces Tavern. The author, Major Tallmadge, played a significant role in the intelligence ring that ran through British-occupied New York.
The city Washington left behind was changing rapidly under British occupation. The port city became the nerve center of loyalist activity. Washington understood the wealth of enemy information flowing through Manhattan’s streets and recruited Long Island native Major Benjamin Tallmadge to lead an information ring, known as the Culper Spy Ring.
Written by Major Benjamin Tallmadge in 1778, this report contains information on intelligence gathered on Long Island on British military operations.
The name derives from Culpeper County, Virginia, land which Washington surveyed during his early career. Tallmadge and his associates created an intelligence flow from New York City, Long Island, Connecticut, and into Washington’s hands. Together, Washington and Tallmadge implemented a series of tactics to gather intelligence, as well as confuse the New York Loyalist community:
Washington, to further throw off opponents, encouraged members of the Spy Ring to spread disinformation. He asked members to exaggerate his troops’ size and strength, including false military plans regarding troop movements and attacks.
A system of three-digit numbers served as words or phrases to encrypt the ring’s information, in case the intel would fall into the wrong hands. For example, instead of writing “New York,” members would write down “727.” Each agent of the Culper Spy Ring received their own unique identification code – Tallmadge was known as “721” and Washington was known as “711.” Learn more about the Culper Spy Ring Codes.
Additionally, they utilized a variety of code names assigned to lead contributors to maintain secrecy. Essential to the spy ring was Robert Townsend or “Samuel Culper, Jr.,” a loyalist coffee-shop owner and society reporter. They would pass intel overheard at British gatherings over to Abraham Woodhull or “Samuel Culper” to transport across Long Island to secret locations known as “dead drops” (Tallmadge’s alas was “John Bolton”).
Only a fraction of the intelligence work done during the war, the Culper Spy Ring’s actions ultimately helped to defeat the British in 1781. Moreover, the ring worked to capture Major John Andre, who was known for his collaboration with the infamous turncoat Benedict Arnold. The Culper Spy Ring laid the groundwork for today’s intelligence community. Without it, the outcome of the American Revolution might have been drastically different. In the words of British Major George Beckwith, “Washington did not really outfight the British. He simply outspied us.”
