Revolutionary War Spies

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Revolutionary War Spies
By Christopher, Kayleigh, and Eddy
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PATRIOT SPIES
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George Washington
Washington was a spy manager.
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George Washington was a skilled intelligence
collector. He had agents on both sides of enemy
lines. He was also able to use both British and
American sources for intelligence gathering.
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Washington even questioned travelers going near
enemy territory on what they had seen. He was
also skilled at deception.
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As a manager, Washington wrote out precise
instructions to his personnel and he wrote many
other letters. Because he was such a writing
buff, Washington made his spies write out all
they saw.
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Another reason why he did this was when you write
something, it can help you remember small,
seemingly useless details which could prove
important later on.
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Washington also got lots of reports so he
could-cross check information from them. This
also prevented all information from a general
area from being cut off.
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To fund all of his espionage, Washington got a
fund of gold from the Continental Congress.

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Washington's Helpers
Officers who helped in espionage.
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Washington was head of all of the Continental
Army espionage. He gave certain responsibilities
to his field officers.
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Washington didnt make them all do spying. He
relied on aides and specially-trained officers to
do a majority of the work.
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One of the first people Washington asked to do
this was Joseph Reed. He did a lot of work, but
eventually he was replaced by Hamilton.
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Hamilton made reports from received letters and
investigated suspected double agents.
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Another of Washingtons helpers was Elias
Boudinot. He served as Commissary General of
Prisoners.
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Parts of his duties were to screen prisoners and
to question the British on the condition of their
Patriot prisoners.
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Washington later realized that this job was a
good way to gather intelligence about the enemy,
so he added this to Elias job description.
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In 1778, Brigadier General Charles Scott became
Intelligence Chief under George Washington. Scott
stepped down and the position was given to David
Henley.
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Then it was given to Major Benjamin Tallmadge.
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Tallmadge practiced reconnaissance and recruited
agents from the British.
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Thomas Knowlton became the Continental Armys
first commander. He convinced Washington to send
an elite group of reconnaissance officers. He
convinced Washington to do this after an
intelligence failure in Long Island.
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The 1776 on the Armys Intelligence Service
emblem refers to the formation of a group called
Knowltons Rangers. They were the group that
resulted from Knowltons persuasion.
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Left Thomas Knowlton Above Seal (Army
Intelligence)
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PAUL REVERE AND HIS SIDEKICKS
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Paul Revere and the Mechanics were the first
spy network. They were a secret group of
Bostonian laborers and craftsmen. They branched
off the Sons of Liberty after the Stamp Act.
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The Mechanics resisted the British and gathered
information. Revere once wrote that he and the
others would go out in groups of two or three,
patrol the streets, record Tory actions, and
watch the British soldiers.
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This group also sabotaged British weapons. They
were able to discover Britains real reason for
marching on Lexington and Concord. Even though
they were good at collecting intelligence, their
security wasnt good. One of their officers was
really a British agent.
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Dr. Joseph Warren assigned Revere to warning
Samuel Adams and John Hancock of Britains
arrival. His helpers in this task were Dr.
Samuel Prescott and William Dawes.
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After they saw the famous lanterns in the Old
North Church, Revere, Dawes, and Prescott set out
on their midnight ride. On the way they were
caught by the British.
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Dawes managed to escape, Prescott got away very
soon afterwards, and Revere was interrogated and
was forced to make the rest of his journey on
foot.
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Revere was also responsible to take away
Hancocks trunk. This trunk was filled with
incriminating papers.
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WOMEN SPIES
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ANN BATES
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Ann Bates was a loyalist spy for the British
forces. She was teacher in a schoolhouse in
Philadelphia.
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Ann Began spying for the British sometime around
in the year of 1778. She posed as a peddler that
sold thread, needles, knives, and different kinds
of utensils to the American camp followers.
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She traveled with the rebel camps and counted the
number of men and their weapons. On May 12,
1780, Ann Bates requested to leave the British
spying ring to be with her husband. Her husband
was a gun repairman in Charleston, South Carolina
for the British forces.
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That a woman whom Craig / has trusted often
came to town / last night She is well
acquainted / with many of the R. A. 2
particular / known to Chabmers one who / C.B.
transacted a great deal of / business with it
is proposed to / send her out under the Idea / of
selling little Matters in the / R.C. she will
converse with / Chambers I will return whenever
/ she may have learned any thing / that shall be
desired to be known
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"MISS JENNY"
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Miss Jenny was a French women that spied for the
British by infiltrating the Americans French
allies camps. She reported her observations to
Baron Ottendorf who in turn sent her deposition
to Sir Henry Clinton. --There isnt much
information about the spy Miss Jenny.
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Rachel Walker Revere
Actress
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Rachel (Walker) Revere was the second wife of
Paul Revere, the engraver and patriot. Rachel
met Paul outside his shop in Boston,
Massachusetts. They were married on October 10,
1773, five months after the death of Pauls first
wife. She sent letters with helpful information
to help the war. Rachel died on June 26, 1813.
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My Dear by Doctor Church I send a hundred
twenty five pounds / and beg you will take the
best care of yourself and not / attempt coming in
to this town again and if I have an / opportunity
of coming or sending out anything or / any of the
Children I shall do it pray keep up / your
spirits and trust your self and us in the hands /
of a good God who will take care of us tis all my
/ Dependance for vain is the help of man aduie my
/ Love from your /affectionate R. Revere
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Secret Methods And Techniques
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QUILL LETTER
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Letters were inserted into hollow quills that had
long feathers. They were cut into long thin
pieces to fit in the pen.
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Intelligence Letters
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Intelligence letters were very common for both
sides of the war to use. They contained military
strategies that spies collected information on.
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Some letters did not cross over into enemy
territory though. Miss Jennys letters usually
did not cross these lines.
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Baron Ottendorfs letters didnt either, so his
letters usually didnt contain a method of
disguising the information.
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Intelligence letters sometimes contained maps and
drawings of the enemys movements as well.
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Mask Letter
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The mask letter is one form of secret
communication used by the British. This
technique seems to be unknown to the Patriots. A
mask or grill was used to read this kind of
letter.
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This technique was invented by a Sixteenth
Century code-maker named Geronimo Cardan.
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This technique required a message that makes
sense that can be seen through the mask and a
message that makes sense without the mask on it.
Once the letter was written on the inside, extra
words were added to the beginning and end of each
line.
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One of the advantages of this letter is that the
mask can be sent on a different route than the
letter to reduce the risk of being discovered.
Even if it were to be discovered, the information
is altered and it would misinform the enemy.
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One famous user of the mask letter is Sir Henry
Clinton. He made his letters full of wrong
intelligence. Clinton also used this with
printed materials and used a blank paper with
small windows.
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The mask to the letter.
Sir Henry Clintons letter without the mask
Sir Henry Clintons letter with the mask
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SECRET CODES
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Both British and American spies used secret codes
and ciphers. Ciphers are letters, numbers, or
symbols being used in the place of words. To be
able to understand the letter, the recipient must
have a key to the code.
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Benedict Arnold used a cipher involving the
books Commentaries on the Laws of England and
Nathan Baileys Dictionary.
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When he wrote secret messages to John André,
Arnold wrote down the page number, line number,
and number of the position of the word from the
left.
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Arnold and André disguised themselves as
merchants and added business-like information
to the letter to make it less suspicious.
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Here is a copy of Arnolds letter to Andre on
July 12, 1780.
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Americans also used this method. Benjamin
Tallmadge made a code for Culper Gang using
Enticks Dictionary.
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Other methods include assigning numbers to
certain words, transposing the alphabet, and
changing names of people and places.
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Invisible Ink
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Invisible ink was used by both Patriot and Tory
armies. The ink was made of water and ferrous
sulfur. The secret message was written between
the lines of an innocent letter.
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To reveal the ink, the paper was held over a
candle to heat it or exposing it to a reactant.
British using this technique were required to
write an A for acid or an F for flame. This
told the recipient which technique to use.
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Letters with invisible ink needed to be handled
with care. Water would make the ink run would
render it useless. The paper also became brittle
after treating it.
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This is an example of a treated letter that
contains invisible ink. The darker lines are the
ones that were hidden.
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Many letters to George Washington often included
invisible ink. Sir Henry Clintons spy network
on the other hand, rarely used this method.
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Bibliography
Spy Letters Of the American Revolution. Secret
Methods and Techniques Intelligence Letters.
http//www.si.umich.edu/spies/method s-intelligen
ce.html . Spy Letters Of the American Revolution.
Secret Methods and Techniques Invisible
Ink. http//www.si.umich.edu/spies/method s-ink.
html. Spy Letters Of the American Revolution.
Secret Methods and Techniques Mask Letter.
http//www.si.umich.edu/spies/method s-mask.html.

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Bibliography
Spy Letters Of the American Revolution. Secret
Methods and Techniques Secret Code.
http//www.si.umich.edu/spies/method s-code.html.
Spy Letters Of the American Revolution.
Secret Methods and Techniques Quill Letter.
http//www.si.umich.edu/spies/method s-quill.htm
l. Personalities. http//www.odci.gov/publicat
ions/war indep/pers.html.
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Bibliography
Historical Characters. Rachel Walker Revere.
http//www.gis.net/mtf/revere.html. Paul
Revere. http//oncampus.richmond.edu/academi cs
/as/education/projects/webunits/kh istory/paul.htm
l. JamesMonroe.Org. Benjamin Tallmadge.
http//www.virtualology.com/virtualw armuseum.co
m/revo/BENJAMINTALLMADGE .COM From Revolution to
Reconstruction. A Biography Of Alexander
Hamilton. http//odur.let.rug.nl/usa/B/hamilt
on/hamilxx.htm.
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Bibliography
The American Republic to 1877. History
Textbook. American Revolution Resources.
http//www.vcsc.k12.in.us/tcr/liberty The Paul
Revere House. Paul Revere A Brief Biography.
http//www.paulreverehouse.org/theman/b io.html