[1][1]
1. Nathan Hale
2. Benjamin Talamdge
3. The Culper and Setauket Rings
See "Nathan Hale's One Life" at the Huachuca History Program under "Masters of the Intelligence Art": http://huachuca-www.army.mil/History/html/SiteMap.html.
Bass, Streeter. "Nathan Hale's Mission." Studies in Intelligence 17, no. 4 (Winter 1973): 67-74.
It is ironic that the fact that we know Hale's story "at all is due solely to the presence at his execution of one British officer who was sufficiently sensitive to his demeanor and impressed by the character of his motivation to have ... heard what he said on the gallows, and to have passed it on to his friends." The author suggests that Cory Ford's A Peculiar Service (1965) is probably the best reconstruction of Hale's largely unknown movements on his mission.
Ford, Corey. A Peculiar Service: A Narrative of Espionage in and Around New York during the American Revolution. Boston: Little, Brown, 1965.
Constantinides: This work covers "the cases of Nathan Hale, Major André, and Benedict Arnold and the work of the Culper Ring"; therefore, it is not a complete history of U.S. intelligence during the Revolutionary War.
Hagman, Harlan
L. Nathan Hale and John Andre: Reluctant Heroes of the American Revolution.
Interlaken, NY: Empire State Books, 1992.
Lossing, Benson
J. The Two Spies: Nathan Hale and John Andre. New York: Appleton,
1904. [Petersen]
Tallmadge was a Continental Army officer who in 1778 recruited Abraham Woodhall of Setauket and thereby established the Culper Spy Ring. He ran the Culper ring until the end of the war.
Hall, Charles
S. Benjamin Tallmadge: Revolutionary Soldier and American Businessman.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1943.
Constantinides notes that this work does not "add any new material" on Tallmadge's role in the New York network or on the Arnold-André case.
Johnston, Henry
P., ed. Memoir of Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge. New York: The Society
of Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York, 1904.
Pennypacker, Morton.
1. General Washington's Spies on Long Island and in New York. Brooklyn, NY: Long Island Historical Society, 1939.
Constantinides notes that this work is based on correspondence between George Washington and Maj. Benjamin Tallmadge, who ran the Culper ring. There is a great deal here on clandestine operations of the time. Washington's "flair for and use of deception based on reliable intelligence are well brought out and illustrated."
2. General Washington's Spies on Long Island and in New York. Vol. 2. Supp. East Hampton, NY: Pennypacker Long Island Collection, East Hampton Free Library, 1948.
This is a slim (42 pages) addition to the materials and story presented by the author in his 1939 publication (see above).
Tallmadge, Benjamin.
Memoir of Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge. New York: Thomas Holman, 1858.
[Reprinted] New York: New York Times, 1967.
Currie, Catherin.
Anna Smith Strong and the Setauket Spy Ring. Port Jefferson Station,
NY: C.W. Currie, 1992.
Surveillant 3.4/5: "Biography of New York State Spies in Setauket. Anna Smith Strong was born in 1740 and worked as a spy in the American Revolution."
Groh, Lynn. The
Culper Spy Ring. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1969. [Petersen]
Rose, Alexander. Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring. New York: Bantam, 2006.
According to Peake, Studies 51.1 (Mar. 2007), the main topic of this book is the Culper Ring. The author's "documentation is exemplary," and the book "is well written, eminently readable and the best account of the Culper Ring to date."
Zeman, I&NS 22.3 (Jun. 2007), finds that "[a]ll the elements of a great cloak-and-dagger story are present" in this "most interesting and engaging" book. The author "gives a comprehensive overview" of the Culper Ring.
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