Setauket

The Culper Spy Ring was a spy network operating during the Revolutionary War, that provided George Washington with information on British troop movements. In November of 1778, George Washington appointed Major Benjamin Tallmadge to the director of military intelligence. Tallmadge was in charge of creating a spy ring in New York City, the site of British headquarters.

This network became known as the Culper Spy Ring and operated successfully in and around New York for five years, during which time no spy was ever unmasked. Even George Washington did not know of the spies’ identities. Tallmadge’s informants consisted of friends he made at school on Long Island, including Austin Roe, Caleb Brewster, Abraham Woodhull, and Anna Strong. Robert Townsend was also an important informant who posed as a local coffee-shop owner and merchant while working as a journalist. As a reporter, Townsend was able to obtain information from the British at society gatherings.

In order to safeguard the identity of his spies, Tallmadge gave his informants pseudonyms and invented a numerical substitution system to identify his informants rather than use names. 763 numbers were used in total…with 711 denoting General Washington, 745 representing England, and 727 for New York. Tallmadge and his associates also wrote in invisible ink.

All information sent to General Washington had to be transported through British-held territory. Austin Roe rode horseback from Setauket to New York City to deliver messages. In 1780 the group learned that the British were about to launch an invasion in Rhode Island. Tallmadge alerted Washington, who immediately ordered his army into an offensive position causing the British to thwart the attack.

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