Tag: espionage

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This Week on Dispatches: Louis Arthur Norton on Justice, Deterrence, and Revenge during the American Revolution

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews emeritus professor of history and JAR contributor Louis Arthur Norton on the use of capital punishment and revenge killings as a penalty or deterrent for desertion, espionage, atrocities, or loyalty to one side or the other during the American Revolution. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free […]

by Editors
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This Week on Dispatches: Charles Dewey on Abraham Bancker, Friend of the Republic

On this week’s Dispatches, host Brady Crytzer interviews JAR contributor Charles Dewey, US Army National Guard Intelligence Office and a historical interpreter and educator at Fort Lee Historic Park, on his research into Abraham Bancker, an important agent in the American intelligence network around New York City. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free […]

by Editors
10
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Ten Graves of Patriot Spies

Spies. They lived in the shadows playing a very dangerous, life-or-death game while they served in various roles of espionage for the patriot cause during the American Revolution. Some of them were forgotten before the war ended, as was the case during World War II and the Cold War when these secretive figures, and everyone […]

by Damien Cregeau
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This Week on Dispatches: Ken Daigler on Nathanael Greene and His Spy Network

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews espionage expert, former CIA operations officer, and JAR contributor Ken Daigler on General Nathanael Greene and his use of spies to provide intelligence on British intentions in the South. New episodes of Dispatches are available for free every Saturday evening (Eastern United States Time) on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, […]

by Editors
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This Week on Dispatches: Douglas R. Dorney, Jr. on Captain John De Treville—Continental Officer and British Spy

On this week’s Dispatches host Brady Crytzer interviews architect and JAR contributor Douglas R. Dorney, Jr., on his research about Capt. John La Boularderie De Treville, a South Carolina Continental artillery officer and British spy, and his surprising decision after the British surrender. Thousands of readers like you enjoy the articles published by the Journal of […]

by Editors
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Alexander Clough: Forgotten Patriot Spymaster

Television series and popular books such as TURN: Washington’s Spies and Alexander Rose’s Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring recreate and immortalize the exploits of intelligence officers and spymasters such as Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge, Lt. Caleb Brewster, and Maj. John André. In the late summer of 1778, Washington’s intelligence services did provide him with reports […]

by Charles Dewey
5
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Charles Craig’s Final Statement

In his last moments, with calculated efficiency, he bolted the bedroom door so no one could interrupt the execution of his final act. Charles Craig ended his life with the same cool determination and secretiveness that characterized his public service as a soldier, a cavalryman and an able practitioner of the dirty business of intelligence. […]

by Robert N. Fanelli
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Henry Defendorff: A Very Intelligent Man

Henry Defendorff enlisted as a sergeant in Christopher P. Yates’s Tryon County company of the 2nd New York Provincial Battalion commanded by Col. Goose Van Schaick, on July 20, 1775.  The position of his name on the company muster roll indicates he was the company’s second sergeant.[1]  The original company didn’t exist for long; shortly […]

by Philip D. Weaver
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A Spy Wins a Purple Heart: The Amazing Tale of Daniel Bissell and the Military Order of Merit

On June 8th, 1783, Gen. George Washington issued the following orders to the Continental army from his headquarters in Newburgh, New York: Serjeant Bissel of the 2d Connecticut regt. having per­formed some important services, within the immediate knowledge of the Commander in chief, in which the fidelity, perseverence, and good sense of the said serjeant […]

by Todd W. Braisted
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5 Great Intelligence Successes

Good Revolutionary War commanders understood the value of intelligence on their adversaries. The great eighteenth century military theorist Marshal de Saxe, who was on every good general’s reading list, wrote that to win in battle “nothing more is required than to keep good intelligence, to acquire a knowledge of the country, and to assume the […]

by Michael Schellhammer
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4 Infamous Intelligence Failures

Battles are complicated events where conflicting or unclear information can confuse even good generals.  Here are some examples of when American intelligence systems failed, usually with terribly tragic results. Quebec In late 1775 the Continental Congress planned to neutralize threats from Canada by seizing Montreal. Gen. George Washington, commanding the Continental Army at Boston, decided […]

by Michael Schellhammer
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Westholme Publishing: Four Selections

I write the following book reviews to promote a small, but well-respected, outfit specializing in publishing Revolutionary War books (as well as other nonfiction works):  Westholme Publishing of Yardley, Pennsylvania.  Full disclosure:  Westholme has published two Revolutionary War books of mine (see author’s biography below).  Westholme provides a terrific service to those interested in studying […]

by Christian McBurney
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James Rivington: King’s Printer
and Patriot Spy?

This article was originally published in Journal of the American Revolution, Vol. 1 (Ertel Publishing, 2013). Solving “the Most Astounding” Mystery of the American Revolution In early spring 1773, readers of the Boston Gazette came across an ambitious business proposal when they opened the March 22 issue.  New York printer and bookseller James Rivington, then […]

by Todd Andrlik
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The Committee of Secret Correspondence

As the struggle between Great Britain and her colonists in the thirteen North American colonies entered a state of armed resistance against British military power, the delegates to the Second Continental Congress began to ponder the need for foreign assistance. With blood on both sides having been shed at Lexington and Concord, a siege in […]

by Jimmy Dick
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Nathan Hale: A Hero’s Fiasco

Dear Mr. History: What’s the story on Nathan Hale?  Like countless American schoolchildren, I was taught that he was executed for spying and said “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”  A spy who gets caught seems like a dubious distinction to me.  Was Hale an effective spy?  […]

by Michael Schellhammer