Jonathan Trumbull Sr. was an American politician and statesman who served as Governor of Connecticut during the American Revolution. Trumbull and Nicholas Cooke of Rhode Island were the only men to serve as governor of both a British colony and an American state, and he was the only governor to take up the Patriot cause at the start of the Revolutionary War. Trumbull College at Yale University, the town of Trumbull, Connecticut, Trumbull County, Ohio, and Jonathan the Husky are all named for him.
During the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Army and British Army conducted espionage operations against one another to collect military intelligence to inform military operations. In addition, both sides conducted political action, covert action, counterintelligence, deception, and propaganda operations as part of their overall strategies.
Benjamin Tallmadge was an American military officer, spymaster, and politician. He is best known for his service as an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He acted as leader of the Culper Ring during the war, a celebrated network of spies in New York where major British forces were based. He also led a successful raid across Long Island that culminated in the Battle of Fort St. George. After the war, Tallmadge was elected to the US House of Representatives as a member of the Federalist Party.
The Culper Ring was a network of spies active during the American Revolutionary War, organized by Major Benjamin Tallmadge and General George Washington in 1778 during the British occupation of New York City. The name "Culper" was suggested by George Washington and taken from Culpeper County, Virginia. The leaders of the spy ring were Abraham Woodhull and Robert Townsend, using the aliases of "Samuel Culper Sr." and "Samuel Culper Jr.", respectively; Tallmadge was referred to as "John Bolton".
Alexander Rose is an author and a historian.
James Rivington was an English-born American journalist who published a Loyalist newspaper in the American colonies called Rivington's Gazette. He was driven out of New York by the Sons of Liberty, but was very likely a member of the American Culper Spy Ring, which provided the Continental Army with military intelligence from British-occupied New York.
Abraham Woodhull was a leading member of the Culper Spy Ring in New York City and Setauket, New York, during the American Revolutionary War. He used the alias "Samuel Culper", which was a play on Culpeper County, Virginia, and was suggested by George Washington.
355 was the code name of a female spy during the American Revolution, part of the Culper Ring. She was one of the first spies for the United States, but her real identity is unknown. The number 355 could be decrypted from the system the Culper Ring used to mean "lady."
Robert Townsend was a member of the Culper Ring during the American Revolution. He operated in New York City with the aliases "Samuel Culper, Jr." and "723" and gathered information as a service to General George Washington. He is one of the least-known operatives in the spy ring and once demanded Abraham Woodhull never to tell his name to anyone, even to Washington.
Andrew Colville is an American screenwriter.
Caleb Brewster was a member of the Culper spy ring during the American Revolutionary War, reporting to General George Washington through Major Benjamin Tallmadge. He carried messages across Long Island Sound between Major Tallmadge and the ring's main spies on Long Island, New York, and in New York City. He also made direct reports to Washington concerning naval activities in the New York City area.
Turn: Washington's Spies is an American period drama television series based on Alexander Rose's book Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring (2007), a history of the Culper Ring. The series originally aired on the AMC network for four seasons, from April 6, 2014, to August 12, 2017.
Anna Smith Strong of Setauket, New York was an American Patriot, and she may have been one of the only female members of the Culper Spy Ring during the American Revolution. Her perceived main contribution in the ring was to relay signals to a courier who ran smuggling and military missions for General George Washington. No information has been found concerning Anna's activities after the war other than that she and her husband, Selah Strong, lived quietly in Setauket for the rest of their lives. She died on August 12, 1812.
Jonas Hawkins was an American Patriot and a member of the Culper Spy Ring during the American Revolution.
Cato Howe was an enslaved African American Black Patriot spy and courier during the American Revolution. Cato's enslaver, Hercules Mulligan, gathered intelligence through his personal connections as well as clients at his New York City tailoring shop, and Cato carried the information on horseback to Continental Army officers and other revolutionaries, including Alexander Hamilton and George Washington, and often through British-held territory. Cato's messages are credited with likely saving Washington's life on two occasions. Other than his intelligence activities with Mulligan, little definite information about Cato is available, though an excavation of his home after the war provides historians with more information about his life after the war.
Austin Roe was a member of the Culper Ring, a successful spy network during the American War of Independence that was organized in 1778 by George Washington.
Hercules Mulligan was an Irish-American tailor and spy during the American Revolutionary War. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty.
Sarah "Sally" Townsend (c.1760–1842) was thought to be an informant for George Washington's Culper Ring, a spy ring founded in the summer of 1778. Townsend lived in Oyster Bay and passed information to her brother, Robert Townsend, a main member of the ring. She died in December 1842 and is buried at the Townsend Cemetery.
Nathaniel Sackett was the spymaster appointed by General George Washington to create a network of civilian spies located in New York during the American Revolution. Sackett and his new spy ring would report to William Duer, a Continental Congressman, and General Washington. Sackett's later lack of progress led him to be relieved of his post. He was replaced with Benjamin Tallmadge, who built upon Sackett's work and established the Culper Spy Ring.
The Whaleboat War was a series of actions fought by American privateers in the aftermath of the British victory Battle of Long Island and in the context of the subsequent Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga. The Americans used whaleboats rowed from the New Jersey into New York Bay and from Connecticut into Long Island Sound to capture and disrupt British commercial shipping, occasionally making raids on the coast of British occupied Long Island. They quickly sold their prizes, dividing their profits with the financier and the state.
