Culper Ring - Activities

Activities

Once Townsend’s reports reached Setauket, Caleb Brewster and his men ferried it across Long Island Sound where Tallmadge’s dragoons were waiting to carry it to Washington’s headquarters. Brewster had been in New York City years earlier when the British caught Nathan Hale with drawings of their fortifications and hanged him. Perhaps with Hale in mind, Washington made sure the Culper Ring spies had more support. Through Tallmadge, he provided them with codes, dead drops, and aliases. Members were given code names. For example, George Washington's code was 711.

Anna Strong was a resident of Long Island, New York. She helped pass along messages from the spy ring by posting pre-arranged signals to indicate when one of the spies was ready to submit intelligence. If Strong hung a black petticoat on her clothesline, it meant Brewster had arrived in town in his whaleboat. Next to that she would hang a quantity of white handkerchiefs. The specific number of handkerchiefs indicated one of six hiding places where Brewster might be located. Abraham Woodhull, another local resident, used Strong's signals to go meet Brewster at one of the meeting-places.

Woodhull was known in dispatches as "Samuel Culper, Sr.", and Townsend was referred to as "Samuel Culper, Jr." Townsend's role was finally determined in 1939 by handwriting analysis and has since been confirmed by other evidence.