Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War facts for kids

Paul Revere's ride

During the American Revolutionary War, both the American and British armies used secret ways to gather information. This was called espionage, and it helped them plan their battles. They also used secret actions, tried to stop enemy spies, and spread messages to influence people.

The American leaders, called the Continental Congress, watched over their spy efforts. They wanted to get information for the Continental Army to help them fight the British. Congress set up special groups: a Secret Committee for spying at home, a Committee of Secret Correspondence for spying abroad, and a Committee on Spies to find enemy spies among the American supporters.

The British Army also had its own spy efforts. These were mostly focused on getting military information for their operations.

American Spy Groups

Secret Committee

The Second Continental Congress started the Secret Committee on September 18, 1775. This group worked closely with the Committee of Secret Correspondence. Its main job was to secretly get military supplies like weapons and gunpowder and give them out. They also sold gunpowder to privateers, which were private ships allowed to attack enemy ships.

The committee kept its work very secret. They even destroyed many of their records to protect their information. They sent agents to other countries and gathered information about secret British supply places. They also bought military supplies through others to hide that Congress was the real buyer. They used foreign flags on ships to try and protect them from the British navy.

Important members of Congress were on this committee, including Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris.

Committee of Secret Correspondence

The Second Continental Congress knew they needed information from other countries and friends abroad. So, on November 29, 1775, they created the Committee of Correspondence, which was soon renamed the Committee of Secret Correspondence. This was America's first foreign spy agency.

Its first members included Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Harrison V. Later, James Lovell joined. He became an expert in codes and ciphers, which are secret ways of writing messages. He is sometimes called the father of American cryptanalysis, which is the art of breaking codes.

This committee used secret agents in other countries and ran secret operations. They created codes and ciphers, paid for messages to influence people, and even opened private mail. They also gathered foreign newspapers to learn more and set up a system for sending messages. They even had their own ships. They talked regularly with British and Scottish people who supported the American cause. In December 1775, they secretly met with a French spy in Philadelphia.

On April 17, 1777, this committee was renamed the Committee of Foreign Affairs. It continued its spy work. Later, on January 10, 1781, the Department of Foreign Affairs was created. This was the start of today's Department of State. Its job was to get "the most extensive and useful information about foreign affairs."

Committee on Spies

On June 5, 1776, Congress formed a committee to decide what to do with people who gave information or supplies to the enemy. Members included John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. They had to update the rules of war about spying against American forces.

This was a big problem because Dr. Benjamin Church, a top doctor for the Continental Army, had already been caught as a British agent. But there was no clear law for civilian spies. George Washington felt the military law wasn't strong enough. On November 7, 1775, the punishment for spying was changed to death in the rules of war. However, this rule didn't apply to past cases, so Dr. Church was not put to death.

On August 21, 1776, Congress passed the first spy law. This law was made stronger on February 27, 1778. It now included anyone in the states whose spy activities helped the enemy capture or kill American soldiers.

British Spy Groups

Compared to the Americans, British spy efforts were not as strong during the first four years of the war. General Henry Clinton was in charge of the British Army's spy work. But it didn't have a big effect on their military plans.

In May 1779, Clinton put his helper, John André, in charge of British spy operations in North America. André started to build a more organized spy system. He created a spy network that reached beyond New York City and used secret codes to protect messages with his spies.

Stopping Enemy Spies

One of the first groups made to stop enemy spies was the Committee for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies. This group was set up in New York between June 1776 and January 1778. Its job was to gather information, catch British spies, and question people suspected of supporting the British. It acted like a "secret service" and could arrest people, decide if they were guilty, and even imprison or deport them. A group of soldiers worked for them.

The committee handled over 500 cases involving people who were not loyal or were trying to cause trouble. John Jay is sometimes called the first chief of American counterintelligence because of his work on this committee.

William Duer and Nathaniel Sackett were very good at finding British agents. Their biggest success came from one of their own agents, Enoch Crosby. Crosby was an American soldier who was mistaken by a British supporter as someone who shared his views. He learned about a secret enemy military group being formed and joined it. Crosby reported this to the committee and was "caught" with the group. He then "escaped" and joined another secret British unit, which was also caught. He did this several times before the British supporters became suspicious. Crosby was the inspiration for the main character in James Fenimore Cooper's book The Spy (1821), which was the first spy novel written in English.

Another successful American agent was Captain David Gray. He pretended to be a soldier who had run away from the American army. He then joined the service of a British spy officer, Colonel Beverly Robinson, and became his messenger. This meant the Americans read every message Robinson sent before it reached its destination. Gray later became the messenger for Major Oliver DeLancey, Jr., the head of the British secret service in New York. For two years, Gray secretly helped the Americans by carrying messages for the British. After his mission, Gray returned to the American army.

Major Benjamin Tallmadge, a senior spy officer under Washington, played a key role in catching Major John André. André was the chief of the British secret service in New York before DeLancey. One of Tallmadge's agents told him that Major André was talking to someone named "John Anderson" who was planning to surrender an important military base. When Tallmadge heard that a "John Anderson" had been captured, he rushed to where André was being held. Three American soldiers, John Paulding, Isaac Van Wert, and David Williams, had captured André. André mistakenly thought they were British supporters and said he was a British officer. When he realized his mistake, he tried to use a pass given to him by Benedict Arnold. The soldiers searched André and found secret papers hidden in his socks. Paulding understood the papers showed "Anderson" was a spy and refused to let him go for money.

When Tallmadge arrived, he found that the acting commander had sent André back to General Arnold. After Tallmadge strongly argued, the commander ordered "Anderson" to be brought back for questioning. "Anderson" admitted he was André. He was tried and put to death as a spy. Arnold, learning that André was caught and his own betrayal was known, quickly fled before he could be captured and joined the British forces.

General Washington wanted his officers to do good spy-stopping work. On March 24, 1776, he wrote that he worried about enemy spies. He wanted "honest, sensible and diligent men" to question anyone unknown who couldn't explain themselves well. Washington sometimes had to deal with his own spy officers who used their positions for their own gain or did unauthorized things. Once, Washington found that two of his agents were just stealing things instead of gathering information. He sent a special team to investigate and arrest them.

Spy Techniques

Getting Information from Other Countries

The first spy hired by the Secret Correspondence Committee was Arthur Lee, who lived in London. On November 30, 1775, the committee told him it was very important to know what was happening in Europe. They sent him money and told him to find out how other countries felt about America. They also warned him to be very careful and keep everything secret.

The next agent was Charles W. F. Dumas, a Swiss writer in the Netherlands. He was taught how to use fake names and secret drop-off points for his reports. He also put stories in a Dutch newspaper to make the United States look good for getting loans.

On March 1, 1776, the Committee sent Silas Deane, a former member of Congress, to France. He was told to pretend to be a merchant. His job was to make secret purchases and try to get secret help from the French king. Later, both Deane and Lee became secret representatives to France.

Other agents included William Bingham in France and Martinique, and Major Jonathan Loring Austin.

Keeping Secrets Safe

The Committee of Secret Correspondence insisted that information about funding and instructing spies stay within the committee. Congress allowed them to keep the names of their agents secret. On May 20, 1776, when the committee's reports were read in Congress, it was done "under the injunction of secrecy."

The Continental Congress had "Secret Journals" to record decisions about foreign intelligence and military matters. On November 9, 1775, Congress created its own strict oath of secrecy. On June 12, 1776, the first secrecy agreement for new government employees was adopted. It said: "I do solemnly swear, that I will not directly or indirectly tell any matter or thing which shall come to my knowledge as (clerk, secretary) of the board of War and Ordnance for the United Colonies. . . So help me God."

Congress was careful to protect its secret allies. Even after France openly joined the war against England, their earlier secret help remained a secret. When Thomas Paine wrote letters to the press in 1777 and revealed details of this secret aid, France's Minister to the United States complained. Congress fired Paine and publicly denied receiving such aid.

In 1779, George Washington and John Jay, who was president of Congress, disagreed about sharing some spy information. Washington wanted to make some good news public to boost morale. Jay said the information was too sensitive and needed to stay secret. Jay's view won.

Using Fake Identities

Robert Townsend, an important American agent in British-controlled New York City, pretended to be a merchant. Silas Deane also used this cover when he went to France. Townsend was often called "Culper, Junior" as his secret name. He was also a secret partner in a coffee house where British officers often talked, which was a great place to overhear useful information.

Major John Clark's agents near British-controlled Philadelphia used several covers, like farmer, peddler, and smuggler. They were so good that only a few were caught. These agents moved freely in and out of Philadelphia. They gave Washington information about British troops, forts, and supplies, and even about a planned surprise attack.

Enoch Crosby, a spy-catcher, pretended to be a shoemaker (his real job) to travel through southern New York and join British loyalist groups. When the loyalists started to suspect him, his bosses moved him to Albany, New York, where he continued his secret work.

John Honeyman, an Irish weaver, offered to spy for the Americans. He used several covers, including butcher, loyalist, and British agent. He gathered information on British military activities in New Jersey. He also helped trick the Hessian soldiers in Trenton so they were not ready for Washington's attack on December 26, 1776.

Changing Appearance

In January 1778, Nancy Morgan Hart, a tall and strong woman, dressed up as a "touched" or mentally unwell man. She went into Augusta, Georgia, to get information on British defenses. Her mission was successful.

In June 1778, General Washington told Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee to send an agent into the British fort at Stony Point, New York. The agent needed to find out how many soldiers were there and how far along they were in building defenses. Captain Allan McLane took the job. He dressed as a simple country person and pretended to escort a Mrs. Smith into the fort to see her sons. McLane spent two weeks gathering information inside the British fort and returned safely.

Invisible Ink and Codes

While in Paris, Silas Deane used a special invisible ink for some of his spy reports. This ink became visible when heated. Even better was a "sympathetic stain" created by James Jay, a doctor and brother of John Jay. This "stain" needed one chemical to write the message and a second to make it appear, making it more secure. Dr. Jay, who had been knighted by George III, used this "stain" to send military information from London to America. He later gave some to George Washington and Silas Deane.

Washington taught his agents how to use the "sympathetic stain." He suggested writing reports in invisible ink "on the blank leaves of a pamphlet... a common pocket book, or on the blank leaves at each end of registers, almanacks, or any publication or book of small value." He also recommended writing a normal letter in regular ink and then using the invisible ink to write the secret message between the lines.

Even with all this care, it's thought that the British caught and decoded more than half of America's secret messages during the war.

American leaders used different ways to hide their messages. John Jay and Arthur Lee used dictionary codes. In these, numbers referred to a specific page and line in a dictionary where the real message could be found.

In 1775, Charles Dumas created the first diplomatic cipher for the Continental Congress and Benjamin Franklin to talk with agents in Europe. His system replaced letters with numbers based on a chosen French paragraph. This was safer than simple number-for-letter codes because each letter could have more than one number.

The Culper Spy Ring used a number code made by Major Benjamin Tallmadge, their leader. They started using it after the British found papers showing Americans near New York were using invisible ink. Tallmadge assigned numbers to hundreds of words from a dictionary and dozens of names of people or places. For example, 38 meant "attack," 192 was "fort," George Washington was 711, and New York was 727. An American agent pretending to be a deliveryman carried the messages. One member, Anna Strong (spy), used laundry hung out to dry to signal where a message was hidden. A black petticoat meant a message was ready, and the number of handkerchiefs showed the meeting spot on Long Island Sound.

The Americans had two big successes in breaking British codes. In 1775, Elbridge Gerry and another team separately decoded a letter that showed Dr. Benjamin Church, the chief surgeon, was spying for the British.

In 1781, James Lovell figured out the code British commanders used to talk to each other. When a message from Lord Cornwallis in Yorktown, Virginia, to General Henry Clinton in New York was caught, Lovell's code-breaking helped Washington understand how desperate Cornwallis's situation was. This helped Washington plan his attack on the British lines. Later, another decoded message from Lovell warned the French fleet near Yorktown that British help was coming. The French scared off the British ships, helping the Americans win.

Catching Messages

The Continental Congress often received intercepted British and loyalist mail. On November 20, 1775, they got some letters from Ireland and formed a committee to decide which parts to publish. They later printed and shared a thousand copies. A month later, another batch of intercepted mail came. Congress decided that the contents of these letters and any actions taken because of them should be kept secret. By early 1776, there were problems with this practice. Congress then decided that only certain colonial councils could open mail.

When Moses Harris reported that the British had hired him as a messenger for their secret service, General Washington suggested a plan. He wanted General Schuyler to "find a way to open them without breaking the seals, make copies of the contents, and then let them go on." This way, Washington learned about British secret messages between New York and Canada.

Spy Gadgets

Dr. James Jay used the best technology of his time to create the "sympathetic stain" for secret messages. Perhaps the most advanced American spy gadget was David Bushnell's Turtle. This was a one-person submarine designed to attach timed bombs to the bottom of enemy ships.

The "Turtle" was a wooden chamber about five and a half feet wide and seven feet high. It moved with a pedal-powered propeller at about three miles per hour. It had a way to measure depth, a pump to go up or down, and weights to control its balance.

Bushnell learned that the candle used to light the instruments inside the "Turtle" used up the oxygen. So, he asked Benjamin Franklin for help. The solution was foxfire, a glowing fungus. The first mission failed due to strong tides. The second failed because the British ship had a copper bottom that the submarine's drill couldn't get through. (However, the "Turtle" did blow up a nearby smaller ship.) The secret weapon likely would have worked against a warship if it hadn't sunk in the Hudson River when its support ship was sunk by the British in October 1776.

An early way to hide spy reports when traveling by water was a weighted bottle. This could be thrown overboard if capture was likely. Later, a thin lead container was used. A message was sealed inside. It would sink in water and melt in fire. It could be used on land or water. The only problem was lead poisoning if swallowed. So, it was replaced by a silver, bullet-shaped container that could be unscrewed to hold a message. This would not poison a messenger who had to swallow it.

Tricking the Enemy

To make up for the British having more soldiers and firepower, General Washington often used tricks and false information. He let fake documents fall into enemy hands or be talked about when enemy agents were around. He allowed messengers carrying fake information to be "captured" by the British. He also put fake documents into British messages that were then allowed to continue to their destination. He had army officers pretend to buy large amounts of supplies in places chosen to make the British think a big American army was gathering there. Washington even built fake military bases. He managed to make the British believe his three-thousand-man army outside Philadelphia was forty thousand strong.

After learning from the Culper Ring that the British planned to attack a French group that had just landed in Newport, Rhode Island, Washington planted information with known British agents. This information suggested he planned to attack New York City. The British commander then held back the troops meant for Rhode Island. With clever tricks, Washington hid his movement toward Chesapeake Bay and Yorktown by making the British believe he was moving on New York.

At Yorktown, James Armistead, a slave who joined Lafayette's service, went into Cornwallis's camp pretending to be an escaped slave. Cornwallis then hired him to spy on the Americans. Lafayette gave Armistead a fake order for a large number of non-existent soldiers. Armistead delivered the crumpled, dirty order to Cornwallis, saying he found it on the road. Cornwallis believed him and didn't realize he had been tricked until after he surrendered. Armistead was later given his freedom for this and other war service.

Another trick at Yorktown involved Charles Morgan. He entered Cornwallis's camp as a soldier who had run away from the American army. When the British questioned him, he convinced them that Lafayette had enough boats to move all his troops against the British in one landing. Cornwallis was fooled and stayed put instead of marching out of Yorktown. Morgan then escaped in a British uniform and returned to the American lines with five British soldiers who had run away and one prisoner.

Spreading Messages to Influence People

When Congress learned that the British were hiring Hessian soldiers from Germany, they formed a committee. Their goal was "to devise a plan for encouraging the Hessians and other foreigners... to quit that iniquitous service." The result was a plan, likely written by Thomas Jefferson, offering land to German soldiers who left the British side. It was translated into German and sent among the Hessians.

Benjamin Franklin helped with this plan. He arranged for the papers to be disguised as tobacco packets so ordinary Hessian soldiers would find them. Christopher Ludwick was sent by Washington into the enemy camp, pretending to be a deserter. His job was to talk to the Hessians and encourage them to leave. He is credited with many hundreds of German soldiers leaving the British side.

In 1777, Benjamin Franklin created a fake letter. It was supposedly from a German prince to his soldiers' commander in America. The letter claimed the British were lying about how many German soldiers had died, saying the real number was much higher. The prince also encouraged the officer to let wounded soldiers die instead of saving them if they would only become disabled.

Between 5,000 and 6,000 Hessians left the British side during the war, partly because of American messages.

Political Actions

France

While American spy committees met in Philadelphia, Arthur Lee met in London with Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. Beaumarchais was a famous French writer and a French agent. Lee's exaggerated reports of American strength convinced Beaumarchais to support the American cause. Beaumarchais urged the French king to help the Americans right away. On February 29, 1776, he told Louis XVI that Lee offered a secret trade agreement in exchange for secret war aid. Beaumarchais explained that France could give this aid secretly, saying "secrecy is the soul of business."

Beaumarchais suggested setting up a trading company as a cover for the secret aid. He asked for and received one million French livres to start a company called Roderigue Hortalez et Cie. By the time Silas Deane arrived in Paris, French weapons and other aid were already on their way to the Americans. Deane expanded this relationship, working with Beaumarchais and other French merchants to get ships, hire privateers, recruit French officers, and buy French military supplies that were declared "extra."

On September 26, 1776, Congress chose three representatives to France: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Silas Deane. They decided that "secrecy shall be observed." Because Jefferson's wife was sick, Arthur Lee was appointed instead.

When Franklin arrived in France on November 29, 1776, the French mission became a center for spying and spreading messages in Europe. It was an unofficial diplomatic office and a place to coordinate aid from America's secret friends. It also recruited French officers like Lafayette. In October 1777, the American army won a key victory at Saratoga. On February 6, 1778, France and America signed a treaty to become allies. On March 30, 1778, Franklin, Lee, and Deane were officially received by the French king as representatives of the United States. On July 7, Comte d'Estaing's fleet arrived in the Delaware River. France was now openly in the war; the mission to Paris had succeeded.

Spain and Its Colonies

Spain, encouraged by France, also gave one million livres for Beaumarchais's company. But secret Spanish aid had started even earlier. In the summer of 1776, Luis de Unzaga y Amezaga, the governor of New Spain at New Orleans, secretly gave five tons of gunpowder from the king's stores to American captains. The gunpowder traveled up the Mississippi River under the protection of the flag of Spain and helped stop British plans to capture Fort Pitt.

Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans businessman, helped the Americans. When Bernardo de Galvez became governor of New Orleans, Pollock worked closely with him to provide more supplies. Galvez also agreed to protect American ships while seizing British ships as smugglers. He also allowed American privateers to sell their captured goods in New Orleans. Havana also became a place for secret Spanish aid. From Galvez, the Americans received gunpowder and supplies for the George Rogers Clark expedition. Funds from Galvez's secret service helped Colonel Clark capture Kaskaskia and Vincennes. When Spain officially joined the war on the American side on June 21, 1779, Oliver Pollock, who went bankrupt helping the cause, rode with Galvez in the capture of Baton Rouge, Natchez, Mobile, and Pensacola.

The Caribbean

Another place for secret aid was St. Eustatia Island in the West Indies. This was a Dutch free port surrounded by English, French, Danish, and Spanish colonies. St. Eustatia became, as a British spy document said, "the meeting place of everything and everybody meant to be secretly sent to America." It was a major source of gunpowder for the Americans and perhaps the safest and quickest way for American representatives abroad to communicate with Congress at home.

Secret Operations

Bermuda

In July 1775, Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris worked with Colonel Henry Tucker of Bermuda. Their plan was to get the gunpowder stored at the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda. To give Bermuda much-needed food in exchange for the powder, Congress agreed on July 15, 1775, to allow food to be traded for guns and gunpowder brought to an American port. On the night of August 14, 1775, two American ships met Colonel Tucker's men off Bermuda. An American sailor was lowered into the arsenal through a roof opening and opened the doors. The gunpowder barrels were rolled to waiting Bermudian boats and taken to the American ships. Twelve days later, half the powder went to Philadelphia and half to American forces in Charleston.

America's second secret operation failed. General Washington, hearing about the Bermuda powder on his own, sent ships to buy or seize it. Because there was no central spy authority, he didn't know about the earlier success. When Washington's ships arrived in Bermuda in October 1775, the gunpowder had been gone for two months, and British ships were patrolling the waters.

Canada

Based on information from the Secret Correspondence Committee, Congress approved a secret plan on February 15, 1776. The goal was to convince the Canadians to join the fight against the British. A French printer was sent to Canada "to establish a free press" to publish things that would help the American cause. Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll were sent from Congress to lead this mission. Father John Carroll was asked to join to talk to the Catholic clergy in Canada.

The group was given some authority over American forces in Canada. They could raise six military companies in Canada and offer safety in the thirteen colonies to anyone who supported the Americans. However, American soldiers treated Canadians badly, the clergy were against them, and the American representatives couldn't offer much more than promises. This led to the failure of the project. By summer, both military and political actions in Canada had failed.

Special Operations

Privateering

On the high seas, British supply ships and troop ships were often captured by American privateers. These were private ships operating under special permission from the Continental Congress. Franklin, for example, ran a group of Irish and French privateers from the American mission in Paris. They were so successful at capturing British ships that the British accused their own captains of taking bribes from the Americans to surrender their ships. One privateer, working for Silas Deane and a French partner, was the Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones.

Sabotage

Only one sabotage mission is known to have been launched in England. After arriving in Paris, Silas Deane was visited by a young man named James Aitken. Aitken had recently returned from America and had rough but accurate plans of the Royal Navy Dockyards in England. He offered to damage them using a special fire-starting device he designed. Deane hired him and gave Aitken a passport signed by the French Foreign Minister.

In late November 1776, Aitken landed in Dover. On December 7, he started a fire at the Portsmouth dockyard that burned for hours. It destroyed twenty tons of hemp, ten one-hundred-fathom (183 m) cables, and six tons of ship cordage. After failing to get into Plymouth, Aitken went to Bristol, where he destroyed two warehouses and several houses. On January 16, 1777, the British government met urgently and demanded immediate action to find the mysterious "John the Painter" (Aitken was a house painter). Guards were increased at all military bases, and a reward was offered. By January 20, the government discussed suspending certain rights and putting the country under military rule. Five days later, the reward was increased to one thousand pounds, and newspapers reported panic across England.

Aitken was soon caught with a pistol and things that could start fires. He didn't admit to the sabotage when questioned. But he eventually told a friendly American visitor, who was secretly working for the British. Based on what he said, his personal items, including the passport from the French minister, were found. His trial was quick, and on March 10, 1777, Aitken was put to death at Portsmouth Dockyard, where his actions had begun.

His actions may have led to "arson in the Royal dockyards in time of war" becoming a crime punishable by death in England.

Notable People in Revolutionary War Espionage

• George Washington: Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, he oversaw its spy efforts.
• Joseph Reed: A top officer in the Continental Army, he managed spy operations.
• Alexander Hamilton: A key helper to George Washington, he managed spy operations.
• Benjamin Tallmadge: A Continental Army officer and spy chief, he led the Culper Ring.
• Thomas Knowlton: A Continental Army officer, he commanded Knowlton's Rangers, a scout unit.
• Paul Revere: A militia officer, he was involved in spy operations.
• Haym Salomon: A businessman who helped the Continental Army with spy operations.
• Abraham Woodhull: A member of the Culper Ring, he spied on Long Island.
• Robert Townsend: A member of the Culper Ring, he spied in British-controlled New York City.
• James Rivington: A journalist in British-controlled New York City and likely a member of the Culper Ring.
• Hercules Mulligan: An Irish-American tailor and spy.
• Lydia Darragh: A Continental Army spy.
• Joshua Mersereau: Part of the Mersereau Ring spy network.