Long Island

History

culper spy ring

THE SHOW "Turn" 
WHEN | WHERE Premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. on AMC 
WHAT IT'S ABOUT In Setauket, a young father and husband, Abe Woodhull (Jamie Bell), assumes the Revolutionary War raging to the north and west has little to do with him -- until his cabbage crop fails and a captain in His Majesty's service is murdered. Suspicion falls upon Abe, who also needs to pay off a pressing debt. A smuggling run across the Sound to Connecticut lands him squarely in a nest of patriots, who "turn" him. They need "eyes" on British transport movements, especially into New York. Anna Strong (Heather Lind), wife of Abe's debtor, conspires with him to design a series of signals, and the "Culper" ring is born. And this: Abe's father, Judge Richard Woodhull (Kevin McNally), is a staunch Tory. The series is based on "Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring" by Alexander Rose. 
MY SAY Glance out a window wherever you may be at this moment, and there, once upon a time, history was unfolding. Redcoats and loyalists controlled most of Long Island. Connecticut was a hotbed of insurrectionist troublemakers, and several major battles of the Revolution took place just across from Manhattan, to the east, west and north. Drama -- maybe even drama that would change the course of history -- was outside that window. 
OK, maybe not all the windows, but you get the idea: The colonies that would one day comprise the "tristate area" were full of intrigue and danger. That's reasonably apparent from the first three "Turn" episodes provided for review. This is a thoughtful, dutiful historic drama filled with all the requisite period details and British accents, too. But what's missing here, glaringly so, are passion and sweep -- a sense that the great cycles of history are moving, and these men and women are the ones making them move. "Turn" isn't particularly interested in the broader scope of the war, which is where the real action was -- the battles, the giant personalities like George Washington or Lord Howe. 
Instead, the major protagonist is Abe, a classic AMC hero beset with moral ambiguity and a debt he can't pay. He's supposed to be the everyman spy, torn by conflicting loyalties, and a father who cares more about his own legacy than his country's. But, as a character, he's taciturn, ascetic and brooding -- the guy at a party you want to avoid. Bell's portrayal of the spy who remains "in the cold" for the duration of the war may be accurate. That doesn't make him a particularly engaging TV character -- and he's not. 
BOTTOM LINE Intelligent drama absent passion and the sweep of history. 
GRADE B-

Entertainment

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'Turn' review: LI's lord of the spy ring

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Setauket is about to get a national TV close-up, but it's totally unrecognizable. There in the distance, from a low-slung hill, is the peaceful expanse of the harbor, with just one boat at anchor -- a two-master of indeterminate design or vintage. A cluster of buildings crowds the shore, while over them looms a windmill, its huge blades thumping in the breeze. No cars, no roads, only the greens and blues of a bygone world filled with cows, Tories, Redcoats and ... spies. 
Craig Silverstein, executive producer of AMC's new Revolutionary War drama series, "Turn" (premiering Sunday at 9 p.m.), based on the Culper Spy Ring, readily admits the view will be unfamiliar to modern eyes -- a special-effects job pieced together from computer bytes, real scenery (from around Richmond, Va.) along with a few local details collected by producers on scouting missions. 
"We digitally created Long Island," he says, noting that all the other visual flourishes were collected in northern Virginia, "where they have a lot of great, old, standing historic buildings." 
This Long Island of the deep past only begins to hint at the challenges facing a Revolutionary War TV drama based on an obscure, if important, spy ring. Most of that past has been expunged -- or, more bluntly, paved over -- while so much of the historical minutiae, from how people fought this long-ago war here to how the average person lived in a place like Setauket in 1778, has been lost to time as well. 
THE REAL STORY The Culper Spy Ring, headed by Setauket cabbage farmer Abraham Woodhull (Jamie Bell of "Billy Elliot"), was virtually ignored by historians until the 1930s, and only recently the subject of two books, "George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution," by Fox News host Brian Kilmeade; and "Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring," by Alexander Rose, upon which "Turn" is based. 
The story, says Silverstein, is complicated, even if the basics are not: Woodhull, on a smuggling run to Connecticut, which was controlled by patriots, was caught by soldiers in Gen. Washington's army and eventually "turned" to become a spy. Washington needed eyes on British-held Long Island and New York. The task fell to Woodhull and other locals who will people this intricate tale. 
Dramas based in the Revolutionary War era are exceedingly rare on TV, the last being 2008's HBO miniseries, "John Adams." Cost is certainly a factor: An entirely reimagined metropolitan area (much of the series takes place in Connecticut and New York City) doesn't come cheap. 
Silverstein, in a recent phone interview, points to another factor: Historically, the war "was a very protracted and whitewashed story." 
"The reality is much more complicated," he says. "It's been revised and simplified, made more into a David versus Goliath; it needs to be 'Schoolhouse Rock' . But great drama is about the truth, and if you want to tell the 'Schoolhouse Rock' tale of the Revolution, they sense that somehow everyone couldn't have been so impossibly brave, so impossibly noble." A theme of AMC's "Turn" is that the houses here are quite literally divided against themselves: father against son, wife against husband. Families were torn by conflicting loyalties, even on Long Island, where Loyalist sympathies prevailed. That's "Turn's" story, as much as the story of "aliases, cover stories, dead drops, the 'black budget and a lot of cryptography' invested by the Culper Ring." 
As its signature series, "Mad Men," comes to an end next year, AMC has dozens of shows in development, and, like eclectic, against-the-grain "Turn," no two are alike. Silverstein says that's the idea: "If you look at 'The Walking Dead,' that's pretty different from 'Mad Men,' which was pretty different from 'Breaking Bad.' Maybe the theory here is, 'Let's not try to repeat ourselves.'" By that standard, "Turn" certainly qualifies.

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'Turn' on AMC centers around Revolutionary War LI spy ring

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Those familiar with Gen. George Washington's Culper Spy Ring during the American Revolution may watch the initial episodes of AMC's "Turn" and question the absence of a central character. 
That would be Robert Townsend, aka Samuel Culper Jr., the Oyster Bay native most historians agree ended up as the most important of the spies gathering information in Manhattan and transmitting it via Long Island and across the Sound to Washington. 
The reason Townsend doesn't appear in the first 10 episodes is that he was a late addition to the ring. The Culper operation began in 1778, and it wasn't until the next year that Townsend was recruited. 
If the series is renewed, Townsend will show up next year and play his proper major role, executive producer Craig Silverstein said. 
The other question history buffs will be asking is how accurate the series is. 
"The show is not a documentary, it's a drama," said Alexander Rose, author of "Washington's Spies," the 2006 book on which the series is based and an adviser to AMC. "You have to take some liberties," Rose said. "Dramatically, it works brilliantly." 
Historians who have seen the first episode have noticed a few of those liberties. 
Probably the best-known vignette from the Culper story is that Anna Strong of Setauket signaled whaleboat captain Caleb Brewster where to pick up dispatches by arranging a black petticoat and other laundry on her clothesline. "Turn" shows that. But Harriet Gerard Clark, executive director of Oyster Bay's Raynham Hall Museum, the Townsend family home, said, "There's nothing documenting the use of the laundry." 
Rose responded, "It's a great story. It's an oral tradition. I looked into it as closely as I could. It has a ring of truth to it. It might have happened, or it might not have happened." 
The other quibble is that Richard Woodhull of Setauket, a magistrate and father of Abraham Woodhull, the initial chief Culper spy, is portrayed in the first episode as an ardent Tory or loyalist cozy with the British, even though in the real story the Redcoats almost beat him to death later. 
Silverstein said, "Yes, that's the chief liberty that I took because that really was a dynamic going on in other households." 
Overall, the author said, "When you're doing a historical drama, you have to focus on plausibility and authenticity. In other words, does the show feel real? As a historian, I feel it is plausible and authentic." 
Verne Gay contributed to this story.

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Author Alexander Rose talks 'Turn'

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This story first appeared in 1998 as part of "Long Island: Our Story" 
Spying was risky business. Gen. George Washington wanted the newly recruited Culper Spy Ring to be aware of just how risky it was. 
"There can be scarcely any need of recommending the greatest caution and secrecy in a business so critical and dangerous," Washington wrote from his New Jersey headquarters to his chief of intelligence, Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge, on July 10, 1779. 
With the British controlling New York City, there was much that the commander in chief needed to know: The sizes and numbers of vessels in the harbor, and how they were protected; the number of men guarding the city, and how they were deployed; descriptions of forts and redoubts that had been built by the British, and whether pits had been dug in front of them "in which sharp pointed stakes are fixed"; and last, "The state of the provisions, forage and fuel to be attended to, as also the health and spirits of the army, navy and City." 
The spy ring had begun its activities on a small scale in 1778, with Abraham Woodhull of Setauket, alias Samuel Culper, doing much of the snooping in New York. But his absences in Setauket started to become noticeable. In the fall he found Robert Townsend of Oyster Bay, who was his father's purchasing agent in New York, to take over that job. Townsend exacted a promise that no one, not even Washington, would ever know his real name. He took the spy name Culper Jr., making Woodhull Culper Sr. Townsend's real name was not learned until 1930, when Suffolk historian Morton Pennypacker, aided by a handwriting expert, matched Culper Jr.'s handwriting with Townsend's. 
As Culper Jr., Townsend dug out most of the important information needed by Washington. He was not only a merchant, he also worked part time, without pay, as a journalist for Rivington's Gazette, a pro-British New York newspaper. And he became a silent partner in a nearby Wall Street coffeehouse run by the paper's owner, James Rivington. It was frequented by British officers eager to get their name in the paper, so they talked freely to Townsend. 
Here is how the spy ring worked: Imagine a communications loop running from Washington's headquarters somewhere in New Jersey, across Westchester County, then Connecticut, then across Long Island Sound to Setauket. From there the loop would make its way into New York City, where British headquarters lay. 
Sometimes, Washington would have a specific request, which would be sent around the loop into the city. Once gathered, the information would return in the reverse direction. At other times, Townsend in New York would come up with some vital information on his own, and send it on its roundabout way to the general. 
Austin Roe, the Setauket tavern-keeper, made the 55-mile ride into New York at least once a week, sometimes more often. His cover story was that he needed to purchase supplies for his business. He would meet Townsend, and when the papers were ready, return to Setauket, where he would deposit the information in a box in the corner of one of Abraham Woodhull's farm fields. 
After checking the drop-box, Woodhull would use a spyglass to keep a close watch on the clothesline of his neighbor across Little Bay. That was Anna Smith Strong, better known as Nancy, whose husband, Judge Selah Strong, had been imprisoned by the British in New York for "surreptitious correspondence with the enemy." 
Woodhull was looking for Nancy Strong's black petticoat, which she would hang out only when she knew that Agent 725, Caleb Brewster, had arrived from Connecticut in his whaleboat. She would add to the line one to six white handkerchiefs, indicating in which of six coves Brewster was hiding. No one has ever figured out how Anna Strong knew when Brewster was in town, or where he was hiding. 
Under the cover of night, Brewster would sneak through the British boats guarding the nearby waters and make his way across Long Island Sound to Fairfield, Conn., which was still controlled by the Americans. A courier would take the papers to Tallmadge, and Tallmadge would send them to Washington. 
Toward the end of the war, Washington got impatient with waiting for a response to his questions. And British counterintelligence raised suspicions about the Setauket connection. The route was eventually shortened to go across the Sound near Cow Neck, the modern Port Washington. 
From the very start, the general made clear that his standards were high. In a June 27, 1779, letter to Tallmadge, Washington enclosed 10 guineas to reimburse Culper Sr. for expenses, and then commented somewhat sharply -- not an unusual trait for Washington -- on his expectations for Culper Sr.'s successor in New York, Culper Jr.: 
His successor (whose name I have no desire to be informed of provided his intelligence is good, and seasonably transmitted) should endeavor to hit upon some certain mode of conveying his information quickly, for it is of little avail to be told of things after they have become matter of public notoriety, and known to every body. 
Even the respected Tallmadge was not immune from the general's tongue. Within a week, Tallmadge's camp was attacked by the British, and in the ensuing battle, he lost his horse, most of his baggage, Washington's letter and the 10 guineas. Washington wrote to Tallmadge on July 5: 
The loss of your papers was certainly a most unlucky accident, and shows how dangerous it is to keep papers of any consequence at an advanced post. I beg you will take care to guard against the like in the future. If you will send me a trusty person, I will replace the guineas. 
LEGACY: ANNA STRONG'S GRAVE 
Spy ring member Anna Smith (Nancy) Strong is buried with her husband, Selah Strong, in the St. George's Manor Cemetery on Strong's Neck, Setauket. First used for the burial of William Smith in 1705, the small, private family cemetery is on Cemetery Lane, off Dyke Road. It can be visited by the public.

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Washington's Eyes and Ears: Based on Long Island, the Culper spies give the Americans a valuable edge

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This story first appeared in 1998 as part of "Long Island: Our Story" 
Fearing that their messages might get intercepted by the British, the Culper spies quickly resorted to both secret code and invisible ink. 
Here is the beginning of a coded letter sent by Abraham Woodhull, alias Culper Sr., to Gen. George Washington. 
"729 29 15th 1779. 
"Sir. Dqpeu Beyocpu agreeable to 28 met 723 not far from 727 &amp; received a 356 . . . Every 356 is opened at the entrance of 727 and every 371 is searched, that for the future every 356 must be 691 with the 286 received." 
Translated, it reads: 
"Setauket August 15th 1779 
"Sir. Jonas Hawkins [an early messenger] agreeable to appointment met Culper Jr. not far from New York &amp; received a letter . . . Every letter is opened at the entrance of New York and every man is searched, that for the future every letter must be written with the ink received." 
Though the codes used by the Culper spies were elementary by today's standards, they apparently were good enough for the Revolutionary War. It wasn't until 1939 that historian Morton Pennypacker revealed the Culper secret code system for the first time. He said that Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge, Washington's spy chief, prepared codebooks for four people: Washington, Abraham Woodhull, Robert Townsend, alias Culper Jr., and himself. He took hundreds of words from a commonly used dictionary of the day, then assigned numbers to each word. 
All the spies, as well as other people important to the ring, also were given numbers. For example: Washington was 711; Tallmadge, 721; Robert Townsend, 723. Many places were given numbers: New York, 727; Long Island, 728; London, 746. There were numbers for the months of the year. And for each of the 26 letters of the alphabet, a different letter was substituted, a so-called substitution cipher. 
Even more important to the spy ring was the use of invisible ink, called by Washington a "sympathetic stain," or "white ink." It had been invented by James Jay, a physician living in England, the brother of John Jay, who would become the first chief justice of the United States. The invisible ink was first used on a blank piece of paper, which, after the message was written, was inserted in a half-ream of new paper. By an earlier agreement, Washington knew by counting from the top of the half-ream how to find the page with the message. He would then use a second solution to make the message reappear. Later, thinking that carrying a blank piece of paper might invite suspicion, Washington ordered the invisible messages to be written between the lines of, or under, a regularly written message. 
Spying was a risky game, and great chances were taken by all the members of the ring. In October, 1779, Culper Sr. wrote to tell the general about getting mugged on Long Island. 
"It is too great a risque to write with ink in this country of robbers. I this day just saved my life. Soon after I left Hempstead Plains and got into the woods I was attacked by four armed men, one of them I had frequently seen in N. York. They searched every pocket and lining of my clothes, shoes, and also my saddle, which the enclosed was in, but thank kind Providence they did not find it. I had but one dollar in money about me. It was so little they did not take it, and so came off clear." 
Though Washington was publicly a reticent man, he occasionally made clear his approval of the work of the Culper Spy Ring. Of Culper Jr., he wrote on Feb. 5, 1780: "His accounts are intelligent, clear and satisfactory ... I rely upon his intelligence." In May, 1781, Washington recorded in his diary: "Of the Culpers fidelity and ability I entertain the highest opinion." 
With the war officially ended in 1783, the Culper Spy Ring disbanded. 
VEILED MESSAGES 
Here is a sampling of the secret code used by Gen. Washington, Benjamin Tallmadge, Robert Townsend and Abraham Woodhull. Each of the four men had a codebook of hundreds of commonly used words that were assigned two- or three-digit codes: 
<table style="width:300px"> 
 <tbody> 
 <tr> 
 <td>Code</td> 
 <td>Translation</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>15</td> 
 <td>advice</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>60</td> 
 <td>better</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>73</td> 
 <td>camp</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>121</td> 
 <td>day</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>156</td> 
 <td>deliver</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>151</td> 
 <td>disorder</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>178</td> 
 <td>enemy</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>745</td> 
 <td>England</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>174</td> 
 <td>express</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>230</td> 
 <td>guineas</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>286</td> 
 <td>ink</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>309</td> 
 <td>infantry</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>317</td> 
 <td>importance</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>322</td> 
 <td>inquiry</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>345</td> 
 <td>knowledge</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>347</td> 
 <td>land</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>728</td> 
 <td>Long Island</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>349</td> 
 <td>low</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>355</td> 
 <td>lady</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>356</td> 
 <td>letter</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>371</td> 
 <td>man</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>727</td> 
 <td>New York</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>476</td> 
 <td>parts</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>585</td> 
 <td>refugees</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>592</td> 
 <td>ships</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>660</td> 
 <td>vigilant</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>680</td> 
 <td>war</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>691</td> 
 <td>written</td> 
 </tr> 
 <tr> 
 <td>708</td> 
 <td>your</td> 
 </tr> 
 </tbody> 
</table> 
*Each letter had a substitute for spelling words 
a = e b = f c = g d = h e = i f = j g = a h = b i = c j = d k = o l = m m = n o = p p = r q = k r = l s = u t = v u = w v = x w = y x = z y = s z = t&nbsp; 
AFTER THEIR REVOLUTION WAS WON 
Here is what happened to the chief players in the Culper Spy Ring: 
Benjamin Tallmadge (1754-1835) settled in Litchfield, Conn., where he became a merchant. He represented his district as a Federalist in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1801-1817. He died in 1835 at age 81. 
Abraham Woodhull (1750-1826) returned to his farm. He served as judge of the Court of Common Pleas for six years, then was named a Suffolk County judge, 1799-1810. 
Robert Townsend (1753-1838) returned to his Oyster Bay home, continuing his work as a merchant and helping to manage the estate of his father, Samuel Townsend. 
Austin Roe (1749-1830) continued operating Roe's Tavern in Setauket. In 1798 he moved to Patchogue, where he founded Roe's Hotel. 
Caleb Brewster (1747-1827), who settled in Fairfield, Conn., was pensioned by Congress for gallantry in action in a whaleboat raid. For many years he was the captain of a revenue-cutter (an armed government vessel used to prevent smuggling) in the New York area. 
Anna Smith (Nancy) Strong (1740-1812) remained on Strong's Neck in Setauket after her husband, Selah, was released from a British prison in New York and took the children to Connecticut. At war's end the family was reunited in Setauket, where the family property was restored to its former status as St. George's Manor.

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Crafty Codes of American Spies: How George Washington's intelligence gatherers enciphered their communiques

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This story first appeared in 1998 as part of "Long Island: Our Story" 
Girl Who Spied for Washington Died on Wallabout Prison Ship Say Child Was Born to Her in Hulk of Vessel 
This grotesque headline, sad and yet deliciously wicked, appeared in the Brooklyn Eagle on May 30, 1948. The Culper Spy Ring story behind it has been eagerly repeated ever since by writers who refer to the unidentified spy as Agent 355. Or the Mysterious Lady. Or Madame X. 
Here is a mystery that lingered long after the story of the spy ring was pieced together. And there's more. 
The father of the child, the lover of Agent 355, was said to be the lifelong bachelor Robert Townsend of Oyster Bay, known in the revolutionary spy business as Culper Jr. Agent 355, the story goes, was captured by the British and thrown aboard the prison ship Jersey, where she later died. But the love-child survived and became a respectable citizen named Robert Townsend Jr. The problem is that the story, though widely believed, is not true. 
Is this, then, an exculpation of Robert Townsend? Not exactly. Through some very nice detective work by two skeptical writers working independently of each other, Culper Jr. is still found to have a skeleton in his closet. 
The fact is that Townsend did have a son named Robert Townsend Jr. born out of wedlock. But Robert Jr.'s mother was not in the Culper Spy Ring. She was Mary Banvard, an immigrant from Nova Scotia, who was Townsend's housekeeper in his New York apartment. Robert Jr. was not born until Feb. 1, 1784 -- his mother was then 24 and Townsend 30 -- after the war was over and the spy ring disbanded. The baby was raised by his mother, who later married someone else. 
Part of the story appeared in the winter, 1993, edition of the Long Island Forum, in an article written by Estelle D. Lockwood of the Three Village Historical Society. Then, in 1995, in a detailed, three-part series that appeared in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (copyrighted by Dorothy Horton McGee, the Oyster Bay Town historian), writer Harry Macy seems to settle the question once and for all. 
Supporters of the myth about the mother's death on the prison ship Jersey point to Robert Jr.'s connection to a memorial to those who died on the prison ships as proof that his mother was one of them. But the facts don't bear this out. 
Robert Jr. became a carpenter, but he developed a lifelong interest in politics and government and was elected to a term in the New York State Assembly in 1836. He joined the Tammany Society in 1807, Macy writes, and he was soon appointed to seven-member Wallabout Committee, which was planning the memorial -- now known as the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument at Brooklyn's Fort Greene Park. As a member of this committee, Robert Jr.'s name was included on the cornerstone that was laid for the monument in 1808. But there is no evidence that his support of the memorial was anything more than civic duty. 
It is the family scrapbook of Robert Jr.'s cousin, Solomon Townsend, that gave Lockwood proof that Robert Jr.'s mother was not the mystery spy. The scrapbook is owned by Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay, the longtime Townsend family home. In it, Solomon writes that Robert Jr. was accepted in the family as Robert Townsend's son. But the mother, who Solomon did not name, was the housekeeper in the New York apartment, which Robert Townsend shared with his brother William, and another unidentified relative. In fact, Solomon suggests it was possible that William was the father of the boy, not Robert. However, Robert Townsend accepted the child as his responsibility, and paid for his education. 
Macy, it turns out, was researching the story at the same time as Lockwood, and what he produced two years later is a lengthy genealogical record of Robert Jr. Macy found out the name of Robert Jr.'s mother, and detailed his political involvement that led to the creation of the memorial to the prison ship dead. 
This seems to put to rest the legend of Agent 355, the spy who never was. The question is, how did it begin in the first place? 
The answer lies with the former Suffolk County historian, Morton Pennypacker, who wrote a number of books and articles about the Culper Spy Ring. In a 1948 book, Pennypacker told for the first time the story about a bold female spy who bore Townsend's child and who later died on a prison ship, with the child placed in the care of an unidentified benefactor. The problem is that little evidence was presented by Pennypacker to back it up. 
The only hint that there was even a woman involved at all is in a single line in a coded letter to Washington dated Aug. 15, 1779, by Culper Sr., Abraham Woodhull of Setauket. The line read: 
I intend to visit 727 [NEW YORK]before long and think by the assistance of a 355 [LADY]of my acquaintance, shall be able to out wit them all. 
There was no Agent 355; the number 355 meant simply the word "lady" just as the code number 371 meant "man." There may have been a woman in New York who assisted Woodhull in some manner in the early stages of the spy ring. Nothing else is known of her. 
The lady remains but a cipher. 
DESCENDANT: 
PAUL TOWNSEND 
Paul Townsend figures that in addition to being relatives separated by two centuries, he and Robert Townsend -- the spy known as Culper Jr. -- are brothers-under-the-skin. 
"I've always enjoyed the fact that Robert Townsend was in business in New York City, and he wrote a column for Rivington's Gazette," Townsend said. "I'm a columnist and he was a columnist. I'm in business and he was in business." 
Townsend, who is 78, is a columnist, editor and owner of the Long Island Business News. A former public relations consultant, the Bellport resident took over the paper in 1953 and made it into a major business force on Long Island.

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The Mystery of Agent 355: Unraveling the case of the Patriot spy who never was

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This story first appeared in 1998 as part of "Long Island: Our Story" 
Here is how William Patchin, a 19-year-old foot soldier from Connecticut, saw his commanding officer, Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge of Setauket: 
He was a large, strong, and powerful man and rode a large bay horse which he took from the British. He was a brave officer, and there was no flinch in him. He was a man of few words, but decided and energetic, and what he said was to the purpose. 
A confidant of Gen. George Washington, Benjamin Tallmadge was one of the most exceptional Long Islanders to come out of the Revolutionary War. Not only did he lead a number of important whaleboat raids from Connecticut to Long Island, he was chief of Washington's secret service. Also, his name will be forever linked with the British spy, Maj. John Andre, who was captured and hanged in connection with Benedict Arnold's treason. 
This is quite a load to carry for a man who was only 22 when the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. 
Descended from a line of Tallmadges who had their roots in England, he was born in Setauket Feb. 25, 1754, the son of a minister. By the time he entered Yale College at age 15, he already had learned Greek and Latin from private tutors. He was a classmate and friend of Nathan Hale's, and, like Hale, he became a schoolteacher in Connecticut. On June 20, 1776, he was appointed a lieutenant in the Connecticut militia. 
Tallmadge was at the Battle of Long Island on Aug. 27, where his brother William was captured, later to die of starvation in a British prison. By the following April, Tallmadge had risen to the rank of major. He was, as he later put it, "full of ambition and panting for glory." 
After one battle near Philadelphia in late 1777, the handsome 23-year-old major rescued a damsel in distress whom he had met at a roadside tavern called the "Rising Sun." He relates the story in his "Memoir of Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge": 
After we had made ourselves known to each other, and while she was communicating some intelligence to me, I was informed that the British light horse were advancing. Stepping to the door, I saw them at full speed chasing in my patrols, one of whom they took. I immediately mounted, when I found the young damsel close by my side, entreating that I would protect her. Having not a moment to reflect, I desired her to mount behind me, and in this way I brought her off more than three miles up to Germantown, where she dismounted. During the whole ride, although there was considerable firing of pistols, and not a little wheeling and charging, she remained unmoved, and never once complained of fear after she mounted my horse. I was delighted with this transaction, and received many compliments from those who became acquainted with it. 
But Tallmadge had more serious business ahead of him. Washington chose him as his chief of secret service, and as such he led the activities of Long Island's Culper Spy Ring. At the same time, he led attacks on Fort Franklin at Lloyd's Neck, Fort St. George at Mastic, and Fort Slongo at what is now Fort Salonga. 
Tallmadge played a key role in the capture of the 30-year-old Maj. Andre in the affair of the turncoat Benedict Arnold in 1780. Arnold, who had taken command of West Point, conspired to surrender it to the British. The London-born Andre, a charming and personable man to whom both men and women were attracted, was chief of intelligence for the British, and an excellent officer. Tallmadge, too, would come under his spell. 
On Sept. 23, 1780, after a secret meeting with Arnold behind American lines in Westchester County, Andre -- who was using the alias "John Anderson" -- was captured by three militiamen. He was taken to North Castle, where Lt. Col. John Jameson was in command of American troops. After Andre produced papers signed by Arnold, Jameson sent him on his way to West Point. 
Tallmadge, who was operating out of North Castle, arrived later in the day and suspected foul play. Though he was Jameson's subordinate, he managed to have troops go out and bring "John Anderson" back. Andre revealed his true identity. Although Arnold got away, Andre, after a trial, was hanged as a spy at Tappan, N.Y., on Oct. 2, 1780. 
In the days following Andre's capture and leading up to his execution, Tallmadge found himself drawn closer and closer to the major, finding him "a most elegant and accomplished gentleman." In his memoir, he explained his feelings further: 
For the few days of intimate intercourse I had with him ... I became so deeply attached to Major Andre, that I can remember no instance where my affections were so fully absorbed in any man. When I saw him swirling under the gibbet, it seemed for a time as if I could not support it. All the spectators seemed to be overwhelmed by the affecting spectacle, and many were suffused in tears. 
But quickly, Tallmadge was thrust back into the turmoil of war, and three years later it was officially over. In 1784 Tallmadge married Mary Floyd, daughter of William Floyd of Mastic. He became a businessman in Litchfield, Conn., and then served from 1801 to 1817 in Congress. He married Maria Hallet of New York after the death of his first wife, and he died in 1835. 
At age 23, Tallmadge was panting for glory. When he died at age 81, he was covered in it. 
ORIGINAL SOURCE: RISKING HIS LIFE FOR HIS HORSE 
It was not just damsels in distress that Benjamin Tallmadge liked to rescue when the bullets began to fly. His horse got the same treatment. 
One of the last men to escape on the boats that ferried the Americans safely across the East River after the failed Battle of Long Island in August, 1776, Tallmadge had left his horse tied to a post at the ferry in Brooklyn. But then he had second thoughts, as he related in his memoir: 
The troops having now all safely reached New York, and the fog continuing as thick as ever, I began to think of my favorite horse, and requested leave to return and bring him off. Having obtained permission, I called for a crew of volunteers to go with me, and guiding the boat myself, I obtained my horse and got off some distance into the river before the enemy appeared in Brooklyn. As soon as they reached the ferry we were saluted merrily from their musketry, and finally by their field pieces; but we returned in safety.

LIOS.TALL

Leading the Charge: Benjamin Tallmadge, the revolutionary spy, soldier and hero from Setauket

TALLMADGE - CROPPED 

This story first appeared in 1998 as part of "Long Island: Our Story" 
One of the Culper Spy Ring's deepest secrets eluded historical detectives for almost a century and a half. The real name of the spy known as Culper Jr. was not uncovered until 1939, and the sleuth was a dedicated amateur historian named Morton Pennypacker. 
It was Pennypacker who discovered, with the help of a handwriting analyst, that the mystery spy was Robert Townsend. For 10 years, Pennypacker had searched for handwriting to compare to that in letters written to Gen. George Washington by Culper Jr. He finally came across "a chest of old documents" that was once the property of Robert Townsend of Oyster Bay. 
"It was found that the paper upon which they were written was identical," Pennypacker wrote. "The same watermark, the same shade, the same weight, the same laid marks minutely varying one from the other on the same sheet, but corresponding exactly with all the little variations and flaws with other sheets among the Townsend Papers. The handwriting, looking so similar, was not declared identical until the world's greatest expert, Albert S. Osborn, had examined it." 
That Pennypacker should make such a discovery was not surprising. Once he was asked by a reporter why he was such a passionate collector of books and documents having to do with Long Island history. The answer was simple -- he was in love, he said. 
"I'm doing this because I love Long Island and its history makers," Pennypacker said in a Dec. 4, 1923, interview in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. "They were splendid men and women. If people knew how interesting it all is, there would be more of them following in my lines. I am passionately fond of the work, and it is more than a hobby -- it is a love." 
Although he was not a professional historian, Pennypacker, who died in 1956 at age 84, had a remarkable effect on Long Island history. He published a number of books and articles, but his most notable contribution was a collection of books, pamphlets, maps and historic manuscripts that became the foundation for the Pennypacker Long Island Collection at the East Hampton Free Library. 
It is ironic that such a dedicated Long Islander as Pennypacker was not born or reared on Long Island at all. He was born Frank Knox Morton Pennypacker in Philadelphia on Aug. 13, 1872. The son of a merchant, Pennypacker was educated at home and never attended college. He learned the trade of printing, and for 18 years he and his brothers ran a printing plant in Asbury Park, N.J. He later took a job as a salesman with the Osborne Advertising Co. in New York, and moved to Kew Gardens, then Mineola and, eventually, East Hampton. He worked for Osborne from 1920 to 1952. 
But it was Long Island history that attracted Pennypacker, and he began collecting Long Island materials during the 1920s, sometimes item by item, other times in entire collections from other collectors. As part of his job, he traveled all over the Island, and as his collection grew, he began looking for a public place to deposit it. In 1930, the East Hampton Library became the happy recipient of what turned out to be 7,314 items, of which 2,600 were books, the rest pamphlets, clippings, manuscripts, maps and other historical miscellany. 
There were many attractions for Pennypacker in East Hampton. Not the least of these was Ettie Hedges, who had been named the library's first librarian in 1898 at the age of 19. In 1936, Hedges and Pennypacker were married, settling in the Hedges' old family house down the street from the library. It was the first marriage for both. She was 57; he was 63. 
Pennypacker, who was Suffolk County historian from 1943 to 1954, is perhaps best-known for his books -- "The Two Spies," about Nathan Hale and Robert Townsend, and "General Washington's Spies on Long Island and New York," an exhaustive study of the Long Island spy system. 
His passion, however, may have led him to conclusions about other aspects of the spy ring that are historically troubling. In his 1939 book, Pennypacker told a completely undocumented story about how the Culper Spy Ring was instrumental in the capture in 1780 of Maj. John Andre, the British spy, as he was about to meet secretly with Gen. Benedict Arnold at West Point. The story gives much of the credit to Townsend's sister, Sarah (or Sally), whose Oyster Bay home was then occupied by the British. 
In his 1953 book, "The Traitor and the Spy," historian James Thomas Flexner wrote, "The story is told in such detail that many documents would be needed for substantiation; Pennypacker cites no sources. Furthermore, the anecdote does not stand to reason." 
A second Pennypacker story is equally suspicious. In 1948, he told, for the first time, a story about a mysterious female in New York City who not only assisted Townsend, but became his lover. She became pregnant, was arrested by the British and thrown aboard the prison ship Jersey, where she died. The baby, the story ends, survived as Robert Townsend Jr. Though the story has been retold and heavily embellished by subsequent writers, it has recently been shown to be totally untrue. 
Pennypacker also was the first person to claim -- incorrectly, it seems -- that the so-called Hulbert flag predated Betsy Ross' flag as the first Stars and Stripes. 
Pennypacker's reputation, however, is based primarily on his creation of the Long Island Collection in East Hampton, a treasure trove of local history. 
LEGACY: THE LONG ISLAND COLLECTION 
This collection is . . . the history of Long Island, the first of the first editions. 
-- Morton Pennypacker, Sept. 10, 1931 
There is something for every researcher in the Long Island Collection housed in two recently remodeled rooms at the rear of the East Hampton Library on Main Street. Novels and poetry written about Long Island or by Long Islanders. Materials on the Quakers, agriculture, Long Island history, churches. There are maps, town records and fascinating old diaries and sermons by Long Island preachers. There is Vol. 1, No. 1 of Frothingham's Long Island Herald, the first newspaper published on Long Island, in Sag Harbor. There is even a book in Latin published in 1475, a few years after Johann Gutenberg introduced movable type to Europe.

LIOS.PENN

Passionate About the Past: Morton Pennypacker unraveled important stories of Long Island's history

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The Culper Spy Ring

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