George Washington’s Secret Six, The Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution
By Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger, hardback, $27.95
Christmas morning with the snow gently falling outside my window, I closed the back cover of “George Washington’s Secret Six” by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger.
As someone who loves visiting American Revolutionary War sites, and as someone who has read numerous books (both nonfiction and fiction) about this incredible time in history, it somehow seemed fitting to finish this book on Christmas Day.
While enjoying the freedoms that these men and women before me sacrificed their lives to preserve, I got a glimpse into how they accomplished that feat.
A spy ring of six brave Patriots had finished their duties to the fledgling United States of America and had gone back to their normal lives, such as they were in Colonial times, knowing that the perilous part that they’d played during the making of this nation had helped General George Washington win the American Revolution.
“Under the command of Major Benjamin Tallmadge, these five men and one unidentified woman—Robert Townsend, Abraham Woodhull, Austin Roe, Caleb Brewster, James Rivington, and Agent 355—never received the acclaim they deserved in their lifetimes,” the authors say. “Together, these men and one woman who had no formal training in the art of espionage, living in Oyster Bay, Sekauket, and Manhattan, broke the back of the British military and helped defeat the most powerful fighting force on earth.”
So, how come most people have never heard of these spies?
Sure, Nathan Hale and Benedict Arnold are in all the history books, but these six, known as the Culper Ring, were never given their due – until now. And it’s amazing to me just how much we owe them for their bravery.
Interestingly, although most Americans have never heard of this spy ring, their efforts were not lost on the CIA.
In the epilogue of this amazingly interesting book, the authors reveal that the history of this spy ring is taught as part of the introductory training for new agents. “The methods used by these citizen spies—the dead drops, the well-crafted back stories, the compartmentalizing of intelligence, the secret encrypted code—are many of the same methods still used today by secret agents the world over.”
In addition … “like the courageous men and women of our modern covert services, the Culpers worked in profound secrecy. They never sought credit, never received accolades, and never revealed the risks they took or the sacrifices they made to serve our country,” the book states.
If you have any interest in the American Revolution, or just enjoy a great historical thriller, read this book. You’ll be captured by the story and engrossed by these people who put their lives on the line for this great nation.
For, as Major George Beckwith said, “Washington did not really outfight the British, he simply outspied us!”
The authors state, “This book was written to honor them and the groundwork they laid for our future of freedom.”
Washington and the Secret Six would be proud of how it was handled of that I’m sure.
