America Untold:
Forgotten heroes, Forgotten Stories
Scarlet Ingstad
Christian, Independent Author, Historian
Christian, Independent Author, Historian
Welcome to my new series, Revolutionary Voices, where I seek to highlight the names and stories of American Revolutionary War heroes and heroines who have, by and large, gone untold. America is a diverse and beautiful nation, and her history should reflect this fact. We owe our freedom to those whose names we do not know. It is my goal to help change this. Future installments of this series will be posted at the beginning of each month. Did you know that America’s first head of military intelligence also founded its first spy network? Did you know that he also was only in his 20s and spent his post-years fighting for the rights of others? Meet Major Benjamin Tallmadge: Soldier. Spy. Revolutionary. Humble Beginnings Tallmadge served in the American Revolution from 1776 all the way through 1783. He was born and raised in Setauket, New York on Long Island and was the second of five sons, born to Reverend Benjamin Tallmadge and Mrs. Susannah Tallmadge. He received his education from Yale University, graduating in 1773. During his time at Yale, Tallmadge befriended a man by the name of Nathan Hale. They were dorm mates and became fast friends. Hale operated as a spy for George Washington shortly after graduating from Yale, but was caught by the British (Robert Rogers to be exact), and subsequently hanged in September of 1776. This event likely had a lasting impact on Tallmadge and may have affected some of the decisions he made with the creation of the spy network. After Yale, Tallmadge took a position as a teacher in Connecticut. However, after the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill, he considered joining the ranks of the newly-formed Continental Army. In 1776, a lieutenant position opened up in a Connecticut Regiment. Captain Chester of Wethersfield offered it to Tallmadge and he readily accepted the position. His first engagement was at the Battle of Long Island in August of 1776. During the battle, his older brother, William, was taken prisoner and, according to Tallmadge’s memoir, his brother “literally starved to death in one of [the British] prisons." Rising Ambition Despite the back-to-back deaths of both his best friend and his older brother, Tallmadge found a way to press forward. He earned the rank of major and was put in charge of a dragoon unit. He then fought in the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of Monmouth. But it would not be long before Tallmadge received yet another promotion, this time, from the head of the Continental Army himself. In the summer of 1778, General George Washington appointed Tallmadge to the position of director of military intelligence and ordered him to create a spy network. The British had already been running their own complex network, and both Washington and Tallmadge saw the need and benefit of developing their own, utilizing innovative methods that would go on to define American espionage and lay the foundation for the future of American intelligence operations. The Culper Spy Ring For the spy network, Tallmadge recruited not fellow soldiers, but friends he grew up with on Long Island. They included Caleb Brewster, Abraham Woodhull, Austin Roe, and Anna Strong. Brewster operated as a whaleboatman and part-time privateer before serving in the Continental Army. He later became a courier, transporting information from Connecticut across Long Island Sound to Woodhull in Setauket. Roe delivered messages between New York City and Setauket, using the excuse of obtaining supplies in town for his tavern as his cover story. Strong hung laundry using a system of signals for the ring. She hung a black petticoat on the line to signal that Brewster was in place with the intelligence, and then she would hang one to six white handkerchiefs to indicate which of the six coves he was waiting in. This complex system later became known as The Culper Spy Ring, named by Washington after Culpeper County, Virginia. As the Culper Ring developed, Tallmadge added another man by the name of Robert Townsend, stationed in New York. Having a spy inside the British-occupied city provided valuable intelligence for the ring. Tallmadge and Washington also developed a complex system of numerical codes alongside code names to disguise their messages from British interception. Tallmadge created code books and distributed them to the members of the ring so they could decode and craft their messages. Tallmadge later began to use what was called “sympathetic stain,” a form of invisible ink, invented by Dr. James Jay, the brother of John Jay. The messages were written using this ink, then once the letter reached its destination, it was treated with a re-agent that revealed the hidden message. Major Accomplishments The Culper Ring stopped a sizeable British fleet from sailing into Rhode Island in July of 1780, thanks to intelligence that was passed from Woodhull to Tallmadge. A subsequent misinformation campaign conducted by Tallmadge and Washington diverted the British troops and prevented an ambush, allowing for the safe arrival of the Marquis de Lafayette, Comte de Rochambeau, and their 6,000 troops. Tallmadge played a critical role in the capture of Major John Andre, the head of British intelligence and the same man who turned Benedict Arnold, the infamous American traitor. Were it not for Tallmadge’s quick thinking and good instincts, Andre might have gotten away with critical information about West Point. Had he done so, this would have created a disastrous situation for Washington’s forces and possibly could have cost them the war. Major Andre was later hung as a spy. Post-War Efforts In 1800, Tallmadge was elected to the House of Representatives as a Federalist and served until 1817. During his last year of service, Tallmadge did something that baffled many: he defended the legacy of Major John Andre against the three men who captured him. These three men petitioned Congress, 40 years after the fact, for increased pensions for the capture of Andre. Tallmadge took to the Congress floor and adamantly argued against their claims, stating that the men were nothing but opportunistic cowards who would have let Andre go if only he’d had more money on him at the time. Tallmadge said the only reason they even found the correspondence from Benedict Arnold in Andre’s boots was because they were searching for loot. Their actions were not patriotic, but rather they were self-serving. Why did the former head of American intelligence defend the former head of British intelligence? Alexander Rose posits in his book, Washington’s Spies, that Tallmadge was defending John Andre out of respect for both him and the dangerous business they were both involved in during the war. In the television show TURN: Washington’s Spies, the narrator (Abraham Woodhull) states that Tallmadge did this because “if we spies don’t look out for each other, who will?” At the end of Tallmadge’s term in Congress, he became heavily involved in philanthropy efforts. He fought for the rights of women, Native Americans, and even became an ardent abolitionist as his religious views changed. He also established the Litchfield Society Ameliorating the Condition of the Jews, an early attempt to thwart anti-Semitism in America. Benjamin Tallmadge died in 1835 at 81 years old. The man who helped establish the very foundations of American intelligence and espionage spent the last years of his life fighting for the rights of others. He is, in every sense of the word, an American hero and a Revolutionary Voice worthy of being heard. Sources George Washington and Benjamin Tallmadge correspondence from 1778-1783, Founders Online. https://founders.archives.gov/. Rose, Alexander. Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring (New York: Bantam Books Trade Paperbacks), 278. Tallmadge, Benjamin. Memoir of Benjamin Tallmadge: Leader of the Culper Spy Ring (Columbia, 2016). White, Kathryn. “Benjamin Tallmadge,” George Washington University, Washington Library, Center for Digital History. Want to Learn More? Books: George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War by Thomas B. Allen Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose Memoir of Benjamin Tallmadge: Leader of the Culper Spy Ring by Benjamin Tallmadge -Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution by John A. Nagy Web Sources: George Washington’s Mount Vernon: o Tallmadge o Washington, Spymaster o Culper Ring o Culper Code Book Founders Online Digital Archive: o Search for Tallmadge, Brewster, Anna Strong, Culper, and Woodhull to find correspondence between members of the Culper Ring Benjamin Tallmadge District website Litchfield Historical Society Other: TURN: Washington’s Spies – Television show with all 4 seasons available on Netflix. This show is based on the Culper Ring, with Benjamin Tallmadge as a main character. However, it should be viewed through a historical fiction lens. It’s phenomenally written and with a wonderful cast. Next Month’s Hero Did you know that America’s first double-agent was an enslaved man? Or that his efforts played a vital role in America’s victory in the final decisive battle of the Revolution? Watch for next month’s post of Revolutionary Voices to learn more about the incredible story of James Armistead Lafayette!
1 Comment
Kimberly Wylie
8/7/2021 05:42:20 am
Fascinating article! I've always been a bit curious as to what Tallmadge did after the war, and it's wonderful to hear of his doings - arguing for the rights of women, Native Americans, etc. Definitely a hero worth learning about! Thanks for sharing! :)
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Scarlet Ingstad
I am an independent author and historian seeking to uplift the stories of the lesser-known heroes and heroines of the American Revolution, alongside modern-day heroes and heroines who have served in the U.S. military and continue their service through their historical work. Archives
March 2022
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