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This Week in History

February 21 - 27, 1732

General Washington Sets Up an Effective Intelligence Network, and Takes a Role Himself

When General George Washington triumphantly led the Continental Army into New York City at the end of the American Revolution, he amazed many loyal Americans by breakfasting the very next morning with Hercules Mulligan, a known Tory. Not only that, but the General then visited James Rivington, publisher of the New York Gazette, a notorious Tory newspaper. Of course, both of these gentlemen had served as members of the patriot intelligence network, which owed its existence largely to the efforts of George Washington.

On this anniversary of Washington's birthday, February 22, 1732, it is worthwhile to look at how this republican intelligence network was established, and the very active role which George Washington took within it. In the early days of the American Revolution, the gathering of information was haphazard, and those attempting to gather it were untrained. The sad case of Captain Nathan Hale, sent behind British lines with no training or backup, illustrates the point.

However, the Americans were under the goad of grim necessity to develop an intelligence network, not only because their military forces were so outnumbered, but because they faced one of the most feared intelligence services in the world, that of the British Empire. The characteristic of that empire was corruption, and therefore its intelligence service, modelled on that of Venice, used various forms of corruption, including large amounts of gold, to attain its ends. Its Achilles' heel was its belief that anyone could be corrupted, and to that weakness was added the inability of many of its participants to out-think George Washington.

Some progress had been made in setting up intelligence agents by 1776, when Washington was headquartered in New York City after driving the British out of Boston. In that year, a plot to kill or kidnap General Washington was discovered in the nick of time, partly due to the efforts of Samuel Fraunces, a free black who owned the famous Fraunces Tavern where British officers wined and dined during the war, and where Washington bade farewell to his officers when the erstwhile diners were forced to abandon the city. Also involved in protecting Washington was Samuel's 13-year-old daughter Phoebe, who detected part of the plot, in which one of Washington's own bodyguards was involved.

When the British captured New York City and the Continental Army was forced to retreat across New Jersey, Washington left an intelligence net behind him, one that helped lead to the victories at Trenton and Princeton. At each stop, a few army volunteers were dropped off to keep a close watch on the advancing British, but a much larger group of ordinary Americans was recruited to gather intelligence in their immediate neighborhoods. General Washington did some of the recruiting himself, and kept a tight hand on reports from the network.

He also insisted that the American intelligence agents be properly trained. "Give the persons you pitch upon, proper lessons," Washington told General Thomas Mifflin, who was about to set up an intelligence network in Philadelphia. Washington even drafted a paper in September of 1780 for the benefit of spies sent into New York, telling them what kind of signs to look for that would imply a possible British military move. These included whether the British were preparing wagons and shoeing their horses, whether the troop transports were taking on supplies, and even included the detail that if the Tory merchants were packing up or selling off their goods, the agent should "attend particularly to Coffin and Anderson who keep a large dry good Store and supply their Officers and Army."

Another reason that Washington wanted accurate assessments of British movements was that he would install American agents ahead of time in any city or town that the British were aiming to capture. This policy was followed so well in the months between finding out the British were moving to attack Philadelphia, and the actual British conquest of the city, that all of southeastern Pennsylvania had been seeded with a well-coordinated American spy ring before the British troops ever set foot on Market Street.

Washington loved the theater, and on some occasions he could not resist acting a part in deception operations. One of these opportunities came before the Battle of Trenton on Christmas Day in 1776, when many of the state enlistments for the Continental Army would expire with the turn of the New Year. Washington had to strike before his army was reduced to an impossibly small size, but he needed intelligence in order to use his forces wisely. He not only needed a victory, but one that would embolden those soldiers who were discouraged or wavering. If he made a mistake, the republican cause would be reduced to conducting guerrilla warfare.

Washington found a courageous agent in John Honeyman, a New Jersey weaver and butcher who had fought for the British during the French and Indian War, and had even helped to carry the mortally wounded General Wolfe off the Plains of Abraham at Quebec. Around the middle of December, Honeyman fled his home and pretended to espouse the British cause. Washington issued orders to arrest him on sight, but added the provision that he must be brought back alive. In the meantime, Honeyman travelled in and out of Trenton on business, supplying the Hessian troops with beef and gathering information on Colonel Rall's plans.

When he had gathered enough intelligence, Honeyman wandered far enough from Trenton to allow the Americans to capture him. He was brought to General Washington, who ordered the room cleared. After they had conferred, Washington loudly berated Honeyman for his treason, much to the delight of the Continental soldiers outside and to the great interest of any lurking Tory spies. Then prisoner Honeyman was put into a log hut to await his early morning court martial, but a fire broke out nearby, and when the sentries came back from putting it out, Honeyman was gone.

A few hours later, Honeyman was telling Colonel Rall in Trenton that "no danger was to be apprehended" from the American camp across the Delaware "for some time to come." Meanwhile, Washington had sent out three volunteers, although he had wanted more, to prevent any Tories from sending warnings to Colonel Rall about the coming American move across the Delaware. Because there were not enough men for the job, one Tory farmer did ride to Trenton with a written warning. But Rall was in the midst of Christmas festivities and refused to see him. When the farmer sent in the note, Rall put it in his pocket unread, and that is where it was found after he was mortally wounded during the Battle of Trenton.

After Washington's subsequent victory at Princeton, also aided by good intelligence, the British retreated back into New York City, and Washington established his headquarters at Morristown, New Jersey. When campaigning began again in 1777, General John Burgoyne and his large British force set out from Canada southward via Lakes Champlain and George, heading for the Hudson Valley. He was to link up with British forces from New York, which would move up the Hudson and thus cut the rebellious American colonies in two.

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