Abraham Woodhull, alias 'Samuel Culper, Sr.
"Men who were spies had to make hard choices. If they were to become spies, they would put their families in danger because if they were caught, they would have been killed. They made the choice to be spies because they believed they should have their freedom, which meant they had to win the war!"
Friend and confidant of George Washington, Head of the long Island Secret Service During the American Revolution he operated under the alias Samuel Culper Sr. To him and his associates have been credited a large share of the success of the Army of the Revolution. Born in Setauket Oct. 7, 1750 in the original Woodhull homestead, son of Richard W. & Margaret Smith. Fifth generation from Richard Woodhull, the original grantee of a large portion of Brookhaven Town. He was a Presbyterian, occupying a "Pew of Authority" in the old church and doing much toward the building of the new church. He was a man of integrity punctual and precise in his business relations. He freed his slaves long before they were legally free. He filled numerous important positions being Magistrate in Setauket many years, Judge
of the Court of Common Pleas 1793-1799, First Judge of Suffolk Co. from 1799-1810.
This Memorial conceived and erected by Mayflower Chapter - DAR Setauket, L. I., N.Y. - June 25, 1936
of the Court of Common Pleas 1793-1799, First Judge of Suffolk Co. from 1799-1810.
This Memorial conceived and erected by Mayflower Chapter - DAR Setauket, L. I., N.Y. - June 25, 1936
FOR MORE INFORMATION, go to "Research Links" tab, and download the PDF (Abraham Woodhull, Culper, In Real Life)
Culper Spy Day highlights our Revolutionary War history
by Barbara Russell, June 6, 2015
by Barbara Russell, June 6, 2015
Historian Beverly C. Tyler and Donna Smith, Education Director of the Three Village Historical Society, stand next to the grave of Abraham Woodhull at the Setauket Presbyterian Church. Photo by Heidi Sutton
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“By the 29th inst I expect to hear further from C_; his Dispatches shall be duly forwarded I would take the liberty to observe that a safe conveyance may be had, by the bearer, for the ink which your Excellency proposed sending to C_”
The writer was Setauket native Col. Benjamin Tallmadge, and the letter was sent to General George Washington July 25, 1779. Tallmadge is assuring the general that he is expecting information soon from C_, alias Samuel Culper, alias Abraham Woodhull, and is referring to an invisible ink provided by Washington to be used by members of the Culper Spy Ring. Born in Setauket in 1754, Benjamin Tallmadge left Setauket as a teenager to enter Yale College, became a school teacher after graduation, and subsequently joined the Patriot forces. He served as the chief intelligence officer for General George Washington and relied on his childhood friends from Setauket for the intelligence reports so vital to Washington’s success. The Culper Spy Ring is not a tale but a real and factual account of spying during the American Revolution. Its epicenter was nestled right here in Setauket. Benjamin Tallmadge, Abraham Woodhull, Austin Roe and Caleb Brewster all lived here and knew each other growing up. Tallmadge leaned on his trusted friends to |
create the web that brought information from New York City out to Long Island and across the Long Island Sound to him in Connecticut. From there, it was transmitted to General Washington.
Spying is very risky, and every person involved knew it. All but Caleb Brewster used fictitious names; invisible ink was provided; a dictionary of code words invented; and success depended on trusting that each person was committed to the fullest. The Culper Spy Ring operated from 1778 through 1783, with additional agents beyond the Setauket friends. One known agent was Robert Townsend of Oyster Bay, who had a business in New York City, allowing him to pick up information on British troop strengths and movements and then pass it on to either Austin Roe, an innkeeper, or Abraham Woodhull, a farmer and business operator. Both traveled to New York City in the course of their businesses.
The residents of Brookhaven attempted to carry on with their lives, while British soldiers were assigned to the Setauket area, following the disastrous Battle of Long Island in August 1776. Town board minutes of the time do not refer to the war but to the general running of a municipality with tax collecting, electing officials, land ownership, and responsibility for the indigent. Newspapers of the time did report unpleasant raids and indignities imposed on the residents. In December 1776, William Tryon, provincial governor of New York, traveled to Setauket to secure the support of Brookhaven residents for his majesty’s government.
Eight hundred one men pledged their support for the British Crown on the Setauket Village Green, then Brookhaven’s central meeting place. Among the signers was Abraham Woodhull, perhaps a move that would reduce suspicion for his intelligence work. Some residents, who feared for their safety, did flee to Connecticut, and remained for the duration of the war. Those who stayed were subjected to British occupation, often having soldiers billeted in their homes, and their livestock and crops seized for use by the British.
Woodhull and Roe continued to live in Setauket throughout the war years, settling into their occupations and carrying on their intelligence work, probably not without fear of being discovered. Brewster, a determined and fearless man, made many trips across Long Island Sound to support the Patriot cause but never returned to Setauket to live. Tallmadge owed the success of his intelligence work to his friends and likely to others whose names are still unknown or unconfirmed.
Although the information about the Culpers was publicized over 80 years ago by former Suffolk County historian, Morton Pennypacker, it has received national attention in the last 10 years. Its rightful place among the history of the American Revolution was aided by the publication of “Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring” by Alexander Rose in 2006, “George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution” by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger in 2013 and the AMC series “TURN,” now in its second season. And it all happened here.
Lucky is the child who listens to a story from an elder and cherishes it for years. Margo Arceri first heard the Culper Spy Ring story from her Strong’s Neck neighbor and local historian, Kate W. Strong in the 1970s.
“Kate W. Strong, Anna Smith Strong’s great-great-grandaughter, originally told me this story as a child when I used to visit her with my neighbor and Strong descendant Raymond Brewster Strong lll,” said Arceri. “She wrote for The Long Island Forum ‘The True Tales of the Early Days on Long Island.’ One of her stories was about Nancy [Anna Smith Strong’s nickname} and her magic clothesline. That’s where I first heard about the Spy Ring and my love grew from there.”
Barbara Russell is the Town of Brookhaven’s historian.
Spying is very risky, and every person involved knew it. All but Caleb Brewster used fictitious names; invisible ink was provided; a dictionary of code words invented; and success depended on trusting that each person was committed to the fullest. The Culper Spy Ring operated from 1778 through 1783, with additional agents beyond the Setauket friends. One known agent was Robert Townsend of Oyster Bay, who had a business in New York City, allowing him to pick up information on British troop strengths and movements and then pass it on to either Austin Roe, an innkeeper, or Abraham Woodhull, a farmer and business operator. Both traveled to New York City in the course of their businesses.
The residents of Brookhaven attempted to carry on with their lives, while British soldiers were assigned to the Setauket area, following the disastrous Battle of Long Island in August 1776. Town board minutes of the time do not refer to the war but to the general running of a municipality with tax collecting, electing officials, land ownership, and responsibility for the indigent. Newspapers of the time did report unpleasant raids and indignities imposed on the residents. In December 1776, William Tryon, provincial governor of New York, traveled to Setauket to secure the support of Brookhaven residents for his majesty’s government.
Eight hundred one men pledged their support for the British Crown on the Setauket Village Green, then Brookhaven’s central meeting place. Among the signers was Abraham Woodhull, perhaps a move that would reduce suspicion for his intelligence work. Some residents, who feared for their safety, did flee to Connecticut, and remained for the duration of the war. Those who stayed were subjected to British occupation, often having soldiers billeted in their homes, and their livestock and crops seized for use by the British.
Woodhull and Roe continued to live in Setauket throughout the war years, settling into their occupations and carrying on their intelligence work, probably not without fear of being discovered. Brewster, a determined and fearless man, made many trips across Long Island Sound to support the Patriot cause but never returned to Setauket to live. Tallmadge owed the success of his intelligence work to his friends and likely to others whose names are still unknown or unconfirmed.
Although the information about the Culpers was publicized over 80 years ago by former Suffolk County historian, Morton Pennypacker, it has received national attention in the last 10 years. Its rightful place among the history of the American Revolution was aided by the publication of “Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring” by Alexander Rose in 2006, “George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution” by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger in 2013 and the AMC series “TURN,” now in its second season. And it all happened here.
Lucky is the child who listens to a story from an elder and cherishes it for years. Margo Arceri first heard the Culper Spy Ring story from her Strong’s Neck neighbor and local historian, Kate W. Strong in the 1970s.
“Kate W. Strong, Anna Smith Strong’s great-great-grandaughter, originally told me this story as a child when I used to visit her with my neighbor and Strong descendant Raymond Brewster Strong lll,” said Arceri. “She wrote for The Long Island Forum ‘The True Tales of the Early Days on Long Island.’ One of her stories was about Nancy [Anna Smith Strong’s nickname} and her magic clothesline. That’s where I first heard about the Spy Ring and my love grew from there.”
Barbara Russell is the Town of Brookhaven’s historian.
The Culper Spy Ring
British forces occupied New York in August 1776, and the city would remain a British stronghold and a major naval base for the duration of the Revolutionary War. Though getting information from New York on British troop movements and other plans was critical to General George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, there was simply no reliable intelligence network that existed on the Patriot side at that time. That changed in 1778, when a young cavalry officer named Benjamin Tallmadge established a small group of trustworthy men and women from his hometown of Setauket, Long Island. Known as the Culper Spy Ring, Tallmadge’s homegrown network would become the most effective of any intelligence-gathering operation on either side during the Revolutionary War.
The Dangers of Spying
In mid-September 1776, the American officer Nathan Hale was hanged without trial in New York City. British authorities had caught Hale when he was on his way back to his regiment after having penetrated the British lines to gather information. Hale’s death illustrated the grave dangers inherent in spying for the rebels during the Revolutionary War, especially in the British stronghold of New York. Meanwhile, Benjamin Tallmadge, a young cavalry officer from Setauket, had enlisted in the Continental Army when the American Revolution began in 1775 and was soon awarded the rank of major. In mid-1778, General George Washington appointed Tallmadge the head of the Continental Army’s secret service; he was charged with establishing a permanent spy network that would operate behind enemy lines on Long Island.
Tallmadge recruited only those whom he could absolutely trust, beginning with his childhood friend, the farmer Abraham Woodhull, and Caleb Brewster, whose main task during the Revolution was commanding a fleet of whaleboats against British and Tory shipping on Long Island Sound. Brewster, one of the most daring of the group, was also the only member whom the British had definitely identified as a spy. Tallmadge went by the code name John Bolton, while Woodhull went by the name of Samuel Culper.
Workings of the Culper Spy Ring
Woodhull, who began running the group’s day-to-day operations on Long Island, also personally traveled back and forth to New York collecting information and observing naval maneuvers there. He would evaluate reports and determine what information would be taken to Washington. Dispatches would then be given to Brewster, who would carry them across the Sound to Fairfield, Connecticut, and Tallmadge would then pass them on to Washington. Woodhull lived in constant anxiety of being discovered, and by the summer of 1779 he had recruited another man, the well-connected New York merchant Robert Townsend, to serve as the ring’s primary source in the city. Townsend wrote his reports as “Samuel Culper, Jr.” and Woodhull went by “Samuel Culper, Sr.”
Austin Roe, a tavern keeper in Setauket who acted as a courier for the Culper ring traveled to Manhattan with the excuse of buying supplies for his business. A local Setauket woman and Woodhull’s neighbor, Anna Smith Strong, was also said to have aided in the spy ring’s activities. Her husband, the local Patriot judge Selah Strong, had been confined on the British prison ship HMS Jersey in 1778, and Anna Strong lived alone for much of the war. She reportedly used the laundry on her clothesline to leave signals regarding Brewster’s location for meetings with Woodhull.
Achievements of the Culper Spy Ring
Despite some strained relations within the group and constant pressure from Washington to send more information, the Culper Spy Ring achieved more than any other American or British intelligence network during the war. The information collected and passed on by the ring from 1778 to war’s end in 1783 concerned key British troop movements, fortifications and plans in New York and the surrounding region. Perhaps the group’s greatest achievement came in 1780, when it uncovered British plans to ambush the newly arrived French army in Rhode Island. Without the spy ring’s warnings to Washington, the Franco-American alliance may well have been damaged or destroyed by this surprise attack.
The Culper Spy Ring has also been credited with uncovering information involving the treasonous correspondence between Benedict Arnold and John Andre, chief intelligence officer under General Henry Clinton, commander of the British forces in New York, who were conspiring to give the British control over the army fort at West Point. Major Andre was captured and hung as a spy in October 1780, on Washington’s orders.
British forces occupied New York in August 1776, and the city would remain a British stronghold and a major naval base for the duration of the Revolutionary War. Though getting information from New York on British troop movements and other plans was critical to General George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, there was simply no reliable intelligence network that existed on the Patriot side at that time. That changed in 1778, when a young cavalry officer named Benjamin Tallmadge established a small group of trustworthy men and women from his hometown of Setauket, Long Island. Known as the Culper Spy Ring, Tallmadge’s homegrown network would become the most effective of any intelligence-gathering operation on either side during the Revolutionary War.
The Dangers of Spying
In mid-September 1776, the American officer Nathan Hale was hanged without trial in New York City. British authorities had caught Hale when he was on his way back to his regiment after having penetrated the British lines to gather information. Hale’s death illustrated the grave dangers inherent in spying for the rebels during the Revolutionary War, especially in the British stronghold of New York. Meanwhile, Benjamin Tallmadge, a young cavalry officer from Setauket, had enlisted in the Continental Army when the American Revolution began in 1775 and was soon awarded the rank of major. In mid-1778, General George Washington appointed Tallmadge the head of the Continental Army’s secret service; he was charged with establishing a permanent spy network that would operate behind enemy lines on Long Island.
Tallmadge recruited only those whom he could absolutely trust, beginning with his childhood friend, the farmer Abraham Woodhull, and Caleb Brewster, whose main task during the Revolution was commanding a fleet of whaleboats against British and Tory shipping on Long Island Sound. Brewster, one of the most daring of the group, was also the only member whom the British had definitely identified as a spy. Tallmadge went by the code name John Bolton, while Woodhull went by the name of Samuel Culper.
Workings of the Culper Spy Ring
Woodhull, who began running the group’s day-to-day operations on Long Island, also personally traveled back and forth to New York collecting information and observing naval maneuvers there. He would evaluate reports and determine what information would be taken to Washington. Dispatches would then be given to Brewster, who would carry them across the Sound to Fairfield, Connecticut, and Tallmadge would then pass them on to Washington. Woodhull lived in constant anxiety of being discovered, and by the summer of 1779 he had recruited another man, the well-connected New York merchant Robert Townsend, to serve as the ring’s primary source in the city. Townsend wrote his reports as “Samuel Culper, Jr.” and Woodhull went by “Samuel Culper, Sr.”
Austin Roe, a tavern keeper in Setauket who acted as a courier for the Culper ring traveled to Manhattan with the excuse of buying supplies for his business. A local Setauket woman and Woodhull’s neighbor, Anna Smith Strong, was also said to have aided in the spy ring’s activities. Her husband, the local Patriot judge Selah Strong, had been confined on the British prison ship HMS Jersey in 1778, and Anna Strong lived alone for much of the war. She reportedly used the laundry on her clothesline to leave signals regarding Brewster’s location for meetings with Woodhull.
Achievements of the Culper Spy Ring
Despite some strained relations within the group and constant pressure from Washington to send more information, the Culper Spy Ring achieved more than any other American or British intelligence network during the war. The information collected and passed on by the ring from 1778 to war’s end in 1783 concerned key British troop movements, fortifications and plans in New York and the surrounding region. Perhaps the group’s greatest achievement came in 1780, when it uncovered British plans to ambush the newly arrived French army in Rhode Island. Without the spy ring’s warnings to Washington, the Franco-American alliance may well have been damaged or destroyed by this surprise attack.
The Culper Spy Ring has also been credited with uncovering information involving the treasonous correspondence between Benedict Arnold and John Andre, chief intelligence officer under General Henry Clinton, commander of the British forces in New York, who were conspiring to give the British control over the army fort at West Point. Major Andre was captured and hung as a spy in October 1780, on Washington’s orders.
Anna "Smith" Strong, Wife of Selah Strong 1740-1812
Anna's husband was imprisoned during the Revolution for "surreptitious correspondence with the enemy," confined to the Jersey, a British prison ship, in 1778. During her husband's imprisonment, it is believed Anna would bring him food and through her family connections was able to negotiate Judge Strong's release. It is believed that after his release, Judge Strong went to Connecticut.
Anna stayed alone on the family farm during the Revolution, where she quietly assisted with General Washington's Culper Spy Ring. It is Long Island folklore that Anna's assignment was to signal the arrival of Caleb Brewster, who would row periodically across the Devil's Belt to retrieve the spy ring's messages. Anna accomplished this signaling by means of a homespun device that fooled all wisdom with its simplicity.
Anna would take her laundry out to the tip of Strong's Neck and hang her black petticoat along with handkerchiefs scattered throughout her wash. This was a signal to chief spy Abraham Woodhull. By counting the white handkerchiefs, Woodhull knew that Caleb Brewster, a blacksmith and boatman, was in town. The number of handkerchiefs would indicate which of the six coves Caleb's boat was hidden in. Abraham then contacted Caleb in order to pass along the secret messages he received from another spy ring member, Robert Townsend.
Townsend's messages were brought to Woodhull by a Setauket tavern owner and horseman, Austin Roe, who rode at least weekly to New York City for supplies. After adding his own observations, Woodhull passed the messages to Brewster.
At night after retrieving the intelligence report, Brewster would row past British guard boats and cross the Devil's Belt to Connecticut. There, Brewster kept crews and boats for the cross-sound relay. From Fairfield, a courier on a fast horse would take the report to Major Benjamin Tallmadge, who would then hand it to the first of a series of riders stationed fifteen miles apart on the route to wherever General Washington's headquarters happened to be.
Anna and her husband were reunited after the war. She is buried on Strong's Neck in the family cemetery.
Anna Smith Strong Chapter, NSDAR
Setauket, Long Island, New York
http://www.annasmithstrongchapter-nsdar.org/
Anna's husband was imprisoned during the Revolution for "surreptitious correspondence with the enemy," confined to the Jersey, a British prison ship, in 1778. During her husband's imprisonment, it is believed Anna would bring him food and through her family connections was able to negotiate Judge Strong's release. It is believed that after his release, Judge Strong went to Connecticut.
Anna stayed alone on the family farm during the Revolution, where she quietly assisted with General Washington's Culper Spy Ring. It is Long Island folklore that Anna's assignment was to signal the arrival of Caleb Brewster, who would row periodically across the Devil's Belt to retrieve the spy ring's messages. Anna accomplished this signaling by means of a homespun device that fooled all wisdom with its simplicity.
Anna would take her laundry out to the tip of Strong's Neck and hang her black petticoat along with handkerchiefs scattered throughout her wash. This was a signal to chief spy Abraham Woodhull. By counting the white handkerchiefs, Woodhull knew that Caleb Brewster, a blacksmith and boatman, was in town. The number of handkerchiefs would indicate which of the six coves Caleb's boat was hidden in. Abraham then contacted Caleb in order to pass along the secret messages he received from another spy ring member, Robert Townsend.
Townsend's messages were brought to Woodhull by a Setauket tavern owner and horseman, Austin Roe, who rode at least weekly to New York City for supplies. After adding his own observations, Woodhull passed the messages to Brewster.
At night after retrieving the intelligence report, Brewster would row past British guard boats and cross the Devil's Belt to Connecticut. There, Brewster kept crews and boats for the cross-sound relay. From Fairfield, a courier on a fast horse would take the report to Major Benjamin Tallmadge, who would then hand it to the first of a series of riders stationed fifteen miles apart on the route to wherever General Washington's headquarters happened to be.
Anna and her husband were reunited after the war. She is buried on Strong's Neck in the family cemetery.
Anna Smith Strong Chapter, NSDAR
Setauket, Long Island, New York
http://www.annasmithstrongchapter-nsdar.org/
Selah Strong, 1737-1815
Selah was married to Anna (Smith) Strong, the member of the Culver Spy Ring of Setauket, Long Island. He was imprisoned on a prison ship during the Revolution and was one of the lucky survivors. He was released before the end of the war and spent the remainder of the war in Connecticut, while Anna remained in Setauket to take care of their property and continue her spying activities. They were reunited after the war and had a post-war son they named George Washington Strong.
Selah was married to Anna (Smith) Strong, the member of the Culver Spy Ring of Setauket, Long Island. He was imprisoned on a prison ship during the Revolution and was one of the lucky survivors. He was released before the end of the war and spent the remainder of the war in Connecticut, while Anna remained in Setauket to take care of their property and continue her spying activities. They were reunited after the war and had a post-war son they named George Washington Strong.
Caleb Brewster, 1747-1827
Caleb Brewster grew up in Setauket and also had a very important job during the spy ring. He would either give or get information from Major Tallmadge in Fairfield, Connecticut or Abraham Woodhull in Setauket. He and his crew would secretly row whaleboats across the Long Island Sound to and from Connecticut. They had to be cautious because there were British frigates patrolling the Sound and they were in constant danger. When Caleb Brewster pulled into Setauket he had to be sneaky because he was well known in there. He had to hide the whaleboat in the willows in Conscience Bay, which is why Abraham Woodhull needed Anna Strong and her clothesline.
Caleb Brewster grew up in Setauket and also had a very important job during the spy ring. He would either give or get information from Major Tallmadge in Fairfield, Connecticut or Abraham Woodhull in Setauket. He and his crew would secretly row whaleboats across the Long Island Sound to and from Connecticut. They had to be cautious because there were British frigates patrolling the Sound and they were in constant danger. When Caleb Brewster pulled into Setauket he had to be sneaky because he was well known in there. He had to hide the whaleboat in the willows in Conscience Bay, which is why Abraham Woodhull needed Anna Strong and her clothesline.
BOOKS TO CHECK OUT:
“Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring” by Alexander Rose in 2006,
“George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution” by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger in 2013
“Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring” by Alexander Rose in 2006,
“George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution” by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger in 2013