Part 1
# General Washington's spies on Long Island and in New York ### By Pennypacker, Morton
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Transcriber’s Notes
This book contains both Footnotes and Endnotes. The Footnote numbers and their references are numbered 1-72 and are enclosed in [square brackets]; the Endnote numbers and their references are numbered 101-142 and are enclosed in (parentheses).
Superscripts on page 80 are indicated by a caret symbol: ^l and ^t.
Other Notes will be found after the Index.
GENERAL WASHINGTON’S SPIES
_On Long Island and In New York_
LONG ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
OFFICERS
President B. Herbert Smith First Vice-President Guy Du Val Second Vice-President William H. Cary Corresponding Secretary Norman Taylor Recording Secretary Richards M. Cahoone Treasurer John D. Talmage Assistant Treasurer Guy Du Val Librarian Miss Edna Huntington
DIRECTORS
Joseph Dana Allen, Litt.D. Hon. George E. Brower Richards M. Cahoone William H. Cary Francis D. Dodge, Ph.D. Guy Du Val Rev. Phillips Packer Elliott Lewis W. Francis George Hewlett David H. Lanman A. Augustus Low Evelyn Pierrepont Luquer D. Irving Mead Walter M. Meserole Hon. Howard Pervear Nash Frederic C. Paffard, M.D. William A. Robbins Arnold W. Sherman B. Herbert Smith John D. Talmage Norman Taylor Edwin H. Thatcher
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
B. Herbert Smith, _Chairman_
Joseph Dana Allen Richards M. Cahoone William H. Cary Guy Du Val Lewis W. Francis William A. Robbins John D. Talmage Norman Taylor
COUNCILORS
_Kings County_
Miss Jessie A. Addoms, J.D. Mrs. Samuel K. Frost Rev. John H. Lathrop, D.D. Lester D. Mapes Frank L. Van Cleef Wheeler N. Voorhees
_Nassau County_
George D. A. Combes Courtney R. Hall, Ph.D. Henry Hicks Jesse Merritt Rt. Rev. Ernest M. Stires, D.D.
_Suffolk County_
Mrs. J. D. Cockcroft Perry Duryea Ralph G. Duvall Morton Pennypacker Wallace Reid Mrs. Joseph H. Willets
_Queens County_
William G. Clossen Arthur White
[Illustration:
Painted by John Ward Dunsmore. (Used by permission of the Title Guarantee & Trust Co.)
GENERAL WASHINGTON’S COUNCIL OF WAR AFTER THE BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND
In the Philip Livingston house, later known as the Teunis Joralemon House, east side of Hicks St., Brooklyn.
In the picture are General Washington, Samuel Parsons, Joseph Spencer, Thomas Mifflin, John Morin Scott, Alexander McDougall, Israel Putnam, Peleg Wadsworth and John Fellows.]
GENERAL WASHINGTON’S SPIES _On Long Island and In New York_
_BY MORTON PENNYPACKER_
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK _Published by the Long Island Historical Society_ PIERREPONT STREET CORNER CLINTON STREET _1939_
COPYRIGHT, 1939, BY MORTON PENNYPACKER EAST HAMPTON, L. I.
PRINTED BY COUNTRY LIFE PRESS CORPORATION GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
PREFATORY NOTE TO “THE TWO SPIES, NATHAN HALE AND ROBERT TOWNSEND.”
_It is nearly one hundred and ten years since America’s first great novel was written, it being James Fenimore Cooper’s second book. With “The Spy” for title, it was hailed with unprecedented enthusiasm. There can be no question but what Governor John Jay’s recital of the work of the spies made a deep impression upon Cooper, but years passed before he attempted to record it permanently. Meanwhile, he had many opportunities to converse with others who were more intimately connected with the Secret Service work than he ever realized. Elizabeth Floyd was his mother-in-law, and the visits to members of her family on Long Island were frequent. Two years preceding the publication of “The Spy,” he became temporarily a resident of Sag Harbor, although still retaining his home in Westchester County. It is not, therefore, surprising to discover that so much that he has placed in Westchester County actually happened on Long Island._
_To Cooper “The Spy” must have been a disappointment, particularly after Enoch Crosby had been exploited. Crosby did not conform to his ideal, but the spies of Washington did. When Tallmadge wished to send Long Island assistance in October, 1780, Townsend’s reply, as will be found in these pages, was, “I do not choose that the person you mention, or any other of his character, should call on me.” When Abraham Woodhull discovered our country’s need for ready money, he used his own for incidental expenses of the Secret Service, such as repairs to their four whaleboats and feed for the horses, and never complained, although more than seven years of peace passed before our government reimbursed him. It is inspiring to a greater patriotism to discover the type of men that these pages reveal._
_The story of Nathan Hale will commend itself for brevity. No statements at the present day known to be incorrect are even quoted therein. The hitherto unpublished statement regarding his capture is on the authority of Robert Townsend, whom General Washington says he found always reliable. This might have been known seventy years ago had not Henry Onderdonk added confusing details that discredited it._
_An elaborate chapter was in preparation detailing the scientifically planned investigation that made certain the identity of Robert Townsend as the “Culper Junior” of the American Revolution, when it was observed that the material collected and here published evinced that beyond comment. Therefore, no documents are here offered to prove what obviously is a fact._
_Many startling revelations will be discovered by the careful reader of these pages. Some of them will be observed only after referring to the secret code printed among the Notes. The return of Major André after he had been started on his way to freedom is timely as well as interesting, for we are this fall celebrating the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his execution. A strange hesitancy to-day, as during the life of Major Tallmadge, may necessitate patient waiting for more intimate details that will be merely stronger confirmation of this interesting fact._
_Where letters from either of the Culpers have been condensed for the sake of brevity, a figure within parentheses has been used to indicate that the same letter will be found among the Notes beginning on page 232. A more perfect analysis is thus assured to the student of history._
_Acknowledgment is due for assistance to so many, particularly among the heads of the larger public libraries and historical societies, that it becomes impracticable to name them individually. They have shown a uniform enthusiasm and untiring effort that makes the present publication possible._
MORTON PENNYPACKER
_Kew Gardens, L.I._
_September, 1930._
CONTENTS
FOREWORD 1
NATHAN HALE 19
GENERAL WASHINGTON’S SPIES 30
SECRET SERVICE SECRETS 60
TOWNSEND’S PERSONALITY 102
SPIES AND SPIES 112
JOHN ANDRÉ AND ARNOLD’S TREASON 120
ARNOLD AND ANDRÉ MEET 144
EYEWITNESSES EXPLAIN ANDRÉ’S CAPTURE 160
AFTERMATH 184
CODES AND CAMOUFLAGE 209
A CREW THAT DOUBLE CROSSED 219
NOTES AND AMPLIFICATION 232
INDEX 289
ILLUSTRATIONS
COUNCIL OF WAR, BROOKLYN, AUGUST 29th, 1776 Frontispiece
_From a painting by John Ward Dunsmore_
Showing Generals George Washington, Samuel Parsons, Joseph Spencer, Thomas Mifflin, John Morin Scott, Alexander McDougall, Israel Putnam, Peleg Wadsworth and John Fellows.
FACING PAGE
MAJOR TALLMADGE AND GROUP OF AMERICAN GENERALS 32
Philip Schuyler, Marquis de LaFayette, Nathaniel Green, George Clinton, Robert Howe, Israel Putnam, John Lamb and William Heath.
JOHN JAY’S LETTER TO WASHINGTON 52
Introducing the mode of secret correspondence invented by his brother James.
WRAPPER ENCLOSING URGENT MESSAGES 82
This is in the handwriting of Abraham Woodhull, made directly from the original without reduction.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S LETTER TO LAFAYETTE 84
Showing how quickly messages from the Culpers were forwarded through Lafayette to the French fleet.
HOUSES ONCE OCCUPIED BY WASHINGTON’S SPIES 102
Raynham Hall, Oyster Bay, L. I. Home of Culper Junior and his sister Sarah Townsend. These contemporary silhouettes give their only known likenesses.
Lower left--Present-day home of the Colonial Dames of America. Built by one of Washington’s spies. (See p. 10 in this volume, and Iconography of Manhattan, vol. 6, p. 79.) Lower right--Culper Senior’s home at Setauket. His three great-great-grandchildren in the foreground.
J. L. GARDINER EIGHTEENTH CENTURY RECORD 115
His record made near 150 years ago, of a whispered conversation with Clinton, Major André and Col. Simcoe that had been overheard by a servant.
A BENEDICT ARNOLD CODE LETTER 126
Advising the British commander that he has accepted the command of West Point and will betray it.
COL. SIMCOE AND PROMINENT BRITISH OFFICERS 136
Lord Cornwallis, Major John André, Sir Henry Clinton, Admiral Arbuthnot, General John Burgoyne, General Riedesel and Lord Rawdon.
THE CAPTURE OF MAJOR ANDRÉ 160
_Engraved from a painting by J. Halpin_
ALEXANDER HAMILTON’S NOTE 178
Informing General Washington that he was too late to have Arnold recalled.
WASHINGTON’S LETTER 192
Thanking those who engaged in the capture of Fort St. George near Mastic, Long Island.
WASHINGTON IN NEW YORK, 1783 206
_From a painting by J. R. Chapin_
There is a story, perhaps true but lacking satisfactory proof, that one of the mounted figures at the right of the picture is there to represent Major Tallmadge and the other, one of his Dragoons; and that the man this way from him with hat in air is Robert Townsend, otherwise Culper Junior.
MASKED LETTER USED BY BRITISH 208
Sir Henry Clinton thus informed Burgoyne that there would be no British army to meet him at Albany.
ROBERT MORRIS’ LETTER TO WASHINGTON 216
His Quaker friends approved the work of the Culpers, and he could get money for them when it was refused for other purposes.
CODE USED BY WASHINGTON’S SPIES 218
This was prepared by Major Tallmadge and used by the Culpers, Senior and Junior.
HANDWRITING THAT DISCOVERED ROBERT TOWNSEND TO BE GENERAL WASHINGTON’S CULPER JUNIOR 232
PORTRAITS ON JACKET.
General Washington, Major Tallmadge, John Paulding, Nathan Hale, James Rivington, Sarah Townsend, Robert Townsend, alias Culper Junior.
_On backstrap of jacket_, Washington in 1772.
FOREWORD
Certainly there are but few Americans to whom the name of Nathan Hale is not as familiar as a household word. Everybody has heard of that Martyr Spy and almost everybody knows his life story. A graduate of Yale College in 1773 he became a school teacher[1] and more, a patriot, in every sense the word implies. He enjoyed his work as a pedagogue but his country’s call was irresistible. Soon he was captain of a Company and on Long Island he received from the British his Baptism of fire. Then illness caused him to wonder if after all to him would come the privilege of rendering worth while service. Can it not be said he hoped, or better he prayed that he might be useful, and then, sooner than he expected, he was called to render an unusual service. There was no reckless haste in his decision. He considered well the hazard of the work he had been asked to do. It was more than to report the position of the British Army. It was to discover their intentions, and to report his findings to General Washington.--A week later he was dead--and not a line from him had reached the Commander in Chief. His work was a magnificent failure but the spirit that prompted him to undertake it entitled him to the everlasting glory which is his.
Hale’s was an unnecessary sacrifice that more careful planning might have prevented, but as yet there was no time for organized effort, and for some months no better method was devised than to entrust some officer to get what was needed, either by the capture of prisoners or by sending a trusted man into the enemy’s camp. Upon these latter occasions individuals were met with who seemed anxious to be of service. Among them were two men later to be known as Culper Junior and Senior. Certain officers, particularly General Chas. Scott, became popular with General Washington because of their ability to locate these men and to get from them intelligence that could be relied upon. It will be seen that they later formed the Secret Service Bureau that was so helpful to General Washington all through the Revolutionary War.
This organized service differed from that of Hale’s time in that it became a business with the men who conducted it, and enabled them usually to have some one who could get the information when they feared they were suspected or for any other reason they believed it too hazardous to undertake themselves. It is remarkable that although their lives were every moment in danger so carefully were their secrets guarded that not only to the end of the war but for a hundred and fifty years thereafter, in spite of frequent efforts to discover their identity the real men were never suspected. Primarily this was due to the caution of the men themselves, each declaring that if to any one other than those of their own selection they should learn that their names were known they would leave the service and never return; but it was also due to the care of General Washington in exacting from all who knew them the most solemn pledge that not to any one at any time or under any circumstances would they reveal their identity. It is interesting at this day to observe the fear they had that their handwriting might betray them, and to note that although they practiced several styles of writing with the intention of concealing their real hand nevertheless it was finally this that first enabled positive identification. It will also be discovered that although those in the Secret Service requested that the letters they were sending for General Washington should be destroyed the majority of them were preserved by him, and that on the contrary with one exception the letters from General Washington to the Culpers were promptly destroyed by them in order that they should not be betrayed thereby if searched. That the contents of so many of the letters to the members of the Secret Service from General Washington is known is due to his system of saving copies of them and these as a rule are in the handwriting of the General himself.
Long before the Culpers were requested to do their own writing both furnished intelligence, and it is not possible to say which was first so engaged. Culper Senior had made his fourteenth written report when Culper Junior’s first was sent, but most of Senior’s information was furnished by Junior, and probably Scott had it from him before Senior had attempted it. Their work did not end with the closing days of 1783 but General Washington’s temporary retirement occasioned them to look to others who may have been less careful in preserving the records. After the war Culper Senior was from 1799 to 1810 First Judge of Suffolk County but Junior never accepted any important political position, although Oliver Templeton, a leader among the business men of the day, wrote to Culper’s brother when in 1789 it was announced that his father had been made a member of the Council of Appointment, saying: “I am informed your father is one of the Council of Appointment. For God’s sake if that is the case, write your father immediately not to forget his sons. I am afraid for the opportunity he may have too much modesty.... Your Brother Robert is fitted for any office.” He wielded an influence however that was almost uncanny. No one knew the real patriots in the City of New York at the close of the war as he did and much that seemed mysterious at the time can be traced to him, for besides Washington and Tallmadge, Alexander Hamilton, Richard Varick and several others were familiar with his handwriting and gave weight to his suggestions and opinions.
Publication of “The Two Spies, Nathan Hale and Robert Townsend”[2] by Houghton Mifflin Company in 1930 revealed for the first time the names of those in the secret service employed by General Washington. It was discovered that Culper Senior was Abraham Woodhull[3] of Setauket, Long Island, and that Culper Junior was Robert Townsend of Oyster Bay. It was Robert Townsend who remained in New York City from the beginning of the war until and after its close. Culper Junior was the man whose identity every historian from Judge William Smith to those at the present day was trying to discover. Smith was a co-worker with him and at times they would both hand communications to James Rivington for his newspaper at the same moment, but Smith never guessed that Townsend was General Washington’s Culper Junior. Jared Sparks later went to the greatest pains to try to identify him, begging those who he knew could tell him if they would, but no one at any time was willing to break the pledge by revealing his identity. To prevent any misunderstanding as to Rivington’s part in the Secret Service a brief sketch of him here seems necessary.
James Rivington was the son of Charles and Eleanor Rivington. He was born in 1724. Was twice married, his second wife being Elizabeth Van Horne of New York, by whom he had two sons and a daughter. A brother was John, with whom he was in partnership in the publishing business in London until 1756, when he joined James Fletcher, son of the bookseller of Oxford. Their most successful venture was Smollett’s History of England, upon which they cleared ten thousand pounds, the largest profit then known to have been made on any single work. A growing love for horse-racing and gambling possessed him until most of his money was gone. He then came to America and settled as a bookseller in Philadelphia in 1760. The following year he opened a book store at the lower end of Wall Street in New York. Then in 1762 he commenced bookselling in Boston, where he failed. In 1764 he was in Bermuda, where he opened a printing office for a short time. He soon returned to New York where in April, 1773, he began “Rivington’s New York Gazetteer.” By 1775 the matter he permitted to appear in the Gazetteer was so offensive to the Sons of Liberty that on May 10th his office and home were mobbed and he with Miles Cooper was obliged to seek refuge on a British man-of-war in the harbor. Although his plant was damaged his assistants were able to continue the paper whilst he petitioned the Continental Congress, saying:
“It is his wish and ambition to be an useful member of society. Although an Englishman by birth, he is an American by choice, and he is desirous of devoting his life in the business of his profession, to the service of the Country he has adopted for his own. He lately employed no less than sixteen workmen, at near one thousand pounds annually: and his consumption of printing paper, the manufacture of Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay, has amounted nearly to that sum. His extensive foreign correspondence, his large acquaintance in Europe and America, and the manner of his education, are circumstances which, he conceives, have not improperly qualified him for the situation in which he wishes to continue, and in which he will exert every endeavour to be useful.”
However, before the close of the year, on November 23d, 1775, his plant was again mobbed. This time under Colonel Sears’s directions the presses were ruined and the type all carried away to later be melted into bullets. Rivington then went to England, but returned to New York in 1777, now as the king’s printer with a Royal commission and a grant of £100. per annum. He brought with him new machinery and type and began republishing his paper on October 4th of that year. He also had received commissions from several publishers to supply them with the news of British activities in this country. Several have stated that Rivington was permitted to remain in New York after the close of the Revolution; for example, in the news from Springfield, Mass., published in the Salem (Mass.) Gazette, December 25th, 1783, it was reported as “an undoubted fact Mr. Rivington, publisher, of New York was, as soon as our troops entered the city, protected in person, and property, by a guard and that he will be allowed to reside in the country, for reasons best known to the great men at helm.” But most have neglected to show that his treatment was worse than exile. A rival publisher in his issue of January 1st, 1784, says: “Yesterday Rivington, who has had the audacity to continue his obnoxious publications was waited on by General John Lamb, Colonel Willett and Colonel Sears, and forbid the prosecution of any further business in this city, in consequence of which, he has discharged his hands, and obeyed the order. To the joy of every one in the United States, Jemmy Rivington’s political existence terminated last Wednesday, the 31st ulto. [1783].”
Personal injury was soon to be added to insult, for on the 11th of the same month Nicholas Cruger gave him a violent beating, claiming he had suffered in prison during the war because of statements made by Rivington’s paper.
Rivington had a caller in 1794 in the person of Henry Wansey, who wrote in his Journal: “June 23d, I dined with James Rivington, the bookseller, formerly of St. Pauls Churchyard; he is still a cheerful old man, and enquired of me for Mr. Collins, and Mr. Baston, and many of his quandam acquaintances in England. During the time the British kept possession of New York, he printed a newspaper for them, and opened a kind of coffee-house for the officers; his house was a great place of resort; he made a great deal of money during that period, though many of the officers quitted it considerably in arrears to him.”
A record exists in a letter written on May 8th, 1797, showing that Rivington was then in jail for debts contracted by others but which he was held responsible for. On the fourth of July, 1802, he breathed his last, at the age of 78, and was buried in the cemetery of the New Dutch Church.
After discovering that the chiefs of General Washington’s spies were Robert Townsend and Abraham Woodhull the problem was still to be solved how these two men could so frequently meet without attracting suspicion. For many months it seemed beyond solution. Townsend’s books showed that he changed his boarding place usually after a year’s stay but this could be attributed to no more than a precautionary measure. However when the account books of Woodhull were compared with those of Townsend it was noticed that both men carried ledger accounts with these landlords. The first for example was Amos Underhill.[4] There seemed nothing significant in the name until the family genealogies were searched. Then it was discovered that on March 21, 1774, Amos Underhill had married Mary Woodhull. Mary Woodhull was the sister of Abraham Woodhull. The matter was solved! Townsend was an incidental roomer at the Underhills’ and Woodhull was a frequent caller on his sister and brother in law. Culper Senior and Junior could therefore be with each other whenever necessary without attracting the least suspicion.
Townsend next boarded with Jacob Seaman, who was married to Margaret Birdsall. This Margaret was the daughter of Col. Benjamin Birdsall who furnished our Gen. George Clinton with much valuable information.
Townsend and Woodhull found it necessary to personally scout for information at its source (see Woodhull’s letter dated Oct. 31, 1778). Their system also included a score of the most respectable citizens who were never seen anywhere in situations the least suspicious, but each employed trusted friends who regularly corresponded with them and the items they secured were promptly communicated to either Townsend or Woodhull. Much in these letters might be called camouflage. They usually began with some expression such as “We have no news” and then followed the style suggested by General Washington in several of his communications. Sometimes the information was promptly forwarded, the following letter being an example:
_My dear Friend_: