George Washington,

1
GeorgeWashington,

• Spymaster

How the Americans Outspied the British and Won
the Revolutionary War
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French Indian War

• George Washington would later recall There is
  nothing more necessary than good Intelligence to
  frustrate a designing enemy, nothing that
  requires greater pains to obtain.

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Committees of Correspondence

• These committees, just like modern intelligence
  communities, operated openly by holding anti-tax
  meetings or printing propaganda.
• Committees operated secretly by running spy
  networks.
• Some committees contained British spies.

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George Takes Charge!

• George Washington was named Commander in Chief of
  the Continental Army by the Second Continental
  Congress on July 3, 1775.
• George also became the secret spymaster of the
  Revolutionary War.
• George paid his first spy 12 days later!

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A Spy Must Die

• A young woman was brought to George for
  questioning about a coded letter.
• She finally admitted that Dr. Benjamin Church, a
  trusted member of the Boston Sons of Liberty,
  wrote the letter.
• Dr. Church was allowed to leave for the West
  Indies, and his ship was lost at sea.

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Special Operations

• Sergeant Thomas Hickey, one of Washingtons
  bodyguards, boasted of a plot to kidnap
  Washington while in jail for spending counterfeit
  money.
• Hickey was tried and hanged.
• British troops landed on Staten Island.
• George wanted a special operations unit, who
  could both fight and gather intelligence. He
  started Knowltons Rangers.

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Nathan Hale

• Nathan Hale was the 1st ranger with a mission to
  slip behind enemy lines on Long Island.
• Hale was tricked by a British officer who
  pretended to be a Patriot spy.
• Hale was caught and sentenced to death without a
  trial.

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I only regret that I have but one life to lose
for my country.

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Sleeper!

• December, 1776, and the Continental Army was
  losing hope.
• Washington ordered his soldiers to find and
  arrest a Tory named John Honeyman, who sold meat
  to the British.
• George questioned Honeyman alone soldiers were
  ordered to shoot to kill if he tried to escape.

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• A haystack caught on fire, and Honeyman managed
  to escape.
• Honeyman found his way to the Hessian encampment
  at Trenton, and told the commander he had no
  reason to fear an attack. They were an army too
  hungry to fight.
• The Hessians, on Christmas morning, were sleeping
  off a big feast when Washington appeared and took
  the Hessians prisoner.
• Honeyman was a sleeper, or an agent under cover
  in enemy territory and awaiting orders for a
  single vital mission.

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• When Honeymans neighbors heard about his escape,
  they rushed to his home and threatened to burn it
  down.
• Mary, Honeymans wife, handed the leader of the
  mob an official-looking paper. It said that
  Honeymans wife and children were to be
  protected from all harm even though they were
  kin of the notorious Tory, now within the
  British lines and probably acting the part of a
  spy.
• The paper was signed by George Washington.

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John Honeymans House
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Culpers Spy Ring

• Washington chose Benjamin Tallmadge to set up a
  spy ring outside of New York City, the British
  Army headquarters.
• Tallmadge started with trusted friends in his
  home, Long Island, who formed the Culper Ring.
• Tallmadge recruited NYC people who played the
  parts of merchants and publishers and Tories.
  They befriended Major John Andre, chief British
  intelligence officer in NY. They really worked
  for Washington.

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• Roe, a tavern owner, would take his wagon into
  NYC for supplies.
• Roe took reports to a box buried on a farm.
• The farmer would dig up the report, and check the
  clothes line of his neighbor, Anna Smith Strong.
• A black petticoat meant Brewster had arrived in
  his boat. White handkerchiefs told which of six
  coves Brewster was hiding in.
• Brewster took a boat to Connecticut to Tallmadge,
  who would send the report to Washington.

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Anna Strongs Laundry Code
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More Secret Codes

• The British often used a mask to keep their
  messages secret.
• Hidden within what looked like an ordinary letter
  was a secret message, only revealed when the
  reader used the mask.
• The letter was sent by one rider, the mask by
  another rider, another route.

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Using a Mask
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(No Transcript)
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Old Mom Rinker

• Old Mom Rinker knitted on her rock. When she had
  a message, she would drop a ball of yarn.
• Fellow spies would unwind the dropped ball of
  yarn to find the letter.

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Lydia Darragh

• Lydia lived in Philadelphia when British troops
  entered the city in 1777.
• British General Howe allowed Lydia to stay in her
  home, even though it was needed to house British
  officers.
• Lydia eavesdropped on a meeting to plan a
  surprise attack on Washington, then slipped back
  into bed, pretending to be asleep.

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• Lydia carried the report to Washington, foiling
  the British plans.

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Benedict Arnold

• General Arnold had been wounded and could not
  hold a field command.
• Washington put Benedict Arnold in charge of the
  Philadelphia command.
• Arnold lived grandly, and needed money to keep up
  a stylish life, so he contacted the British and
  offered to sell secrets.

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• Andre taught Arnold how to use a book code, a
  tough code to break.
• Arnold was about to sell the fort at West Point
  to the British, an important fort that kept the
  British off the Hudson River. Arnold insisted on
  a face-to-face meeting with Andre, commander of
  British Intelligence.
• Andre was caught and searched, Militiamen found
  papers linking Benedict Arnold to Major Andre.

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• Major Andre was hanged as a spy.
• Benedict Arnold successfully conducted his career
  as a British Officer until the end of the war,
  when he moved to England.

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James Armistead

• Armistead was a slave whose master had given him
  permission to join the war. Armistead volunteered
  to spy on the British.
• He found his way to Arnolds headquarters,
  claiming to be an escaped slave. He would work as
  a servant if the British would free him after
  they won the war. The British put him to work--as
  a spy!

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• Armistead is now a double agent, carrying false
  documents to the British.

• James Armistead was not successful in trying to
  help kidnap Benedict Arnold, but his work made
  him one of the most important spies of the war.

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Spy Letter Methods

• Sympathetic Ink (heat or chemical reaction made
  the invisible ink appear)
• Ciphers (AZ, BY, CX, etc.)
• Mirror Writing
• Book Codes (page.line.word)
• Mask Messages (hidden note inside letter,
  revealed with a mask)