Culper Spy Ring

Culper Spy Ring

Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge, leader of the Culper Ring, in a 1790 portrait with his son William
Formation	1778
Founder	George Washington
Extinction	1783
Type	military spy ring
Purpose	to provide military intelligence from British-occupied New York
Headquarters	Setauket and New York City
Leader	Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge
Key people	Abraham Woodhull, Robert Townsend, Caleb Brewster, Austin Roe, Anna Strong

The Culper Ring was a spy ring organized by American Major (later Colonel) Benjamin Tallmadge under orders from General George Washington in the summer of 1778 during British occupation of New York City at the height of the American Revolutionary War. The "Culper" name was suggested by Washington, who devised it from Culpeper County, Virginia. The two main members of the Ring were Abraham Woodhull and Robert Townsend, who used "Samuel Culper, Sr." and "Samuel Culper, Jr." respectively as aliases. Tallmadge was in direct contact with and control of the Ring, but Washington often directed its operations. Tallmadge was referred to by the alias of "John Bolton."

The Ring's task was to send messages to General Washington about the activities of the British Army in New York City, the British headquarters and base of operations. The members of the Ring operated mostly in New York City, Long Island, and Connecticut. The Ring's covert operations started in late October 1778 and continued through the British evacuation of New York in 1783, but its heyday was between 1778 and 1781.

The Culper Ring provided valuable information to General Washington, including the fact that the British planned a surprise attack on the newly allied French forces under Lieutenant General Rochambeau at Newport, Rhode Island, before the French could fully recover and set up defenses after their arduous sea journey to America. They also reported that the British planned to counterfeit American currency on the actual paper used for the Continental dollars, prompting the Continental Congress to retire the bills. The ring learned that Major General William Tryon's raid in Connecticut in July 1779 was a diversion to induce Washington to divide his forces, so that Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton could attack them piecemeal. And they discovered that a high-ranking American officer (subsequently shown to be Benedict Arnold) had been plotting with British Major John Andre to surrender the garrison to the British and to turn over the vitally important American fort at West Point, New York on the Hudson River. The Culper Ring is often credited with the exposure of an attempt on Washington's life, but no official record of an attempt exists, and therefore it is conjecture.