[15] Rose, Washingtons Spies, 146-151; John Bakeless, Turncoats, Traitors & heroes: Espionage in the American Revolution (New York; J.B. Lippincot, 1959, reprint, Da Capo Press, 1998), 228. I have a family photo of my grandmother and her siblings in the early 20th century, and her youngest brother is in a gown. [15][16] Other people from Woodhull's life are portrayed in the show as well. Shortly after, Richard Woodhull was shot in the chest as he boarded his wagon with Simcoe and Woodhull, with the man using a verse from the Book of Judges as wadding for his musketball. [9][10], Woodhull married his friend Mary Smith in 1781 and had three children with her. Basing his operation in his British-occupied hometown of Setauket, New York, Woodhull enlists the aid of local tavern keeper Anna Strong to ferry crucial intelligence to their friends in the Continental Army, Caleb Brewster and Benjamin Tallmadge, who in turn bring the intelligence to General George Washington himself. [8] His plan was to travel to Manhattan, ostensibly to visit his married sister, Mary Underhill, and her husband, Amos, at their boarding house. Major Edmund Hewlett was in fact named Richard Hewlett, and he was actually married during the entirety of the war, and he and his wife had eleven children; there is no evidence of a relationship between him and Anna Strong either. [22] Culper to Tallmadge, June 4, 1781, GW Papers, accessed January 26, 2014 via http://memory.loc.gov. Woodhull decided to attend Andre's ball for his officers, and Anna told him that she would go there as well to help him, although Abraham told Anna that she should not go in her sad condition, as she would reveal her purpose. If you are interested in working with us or have a great story, please get in touch. Hewlett decided to send the accused to HMS Jersey in lieu of hanging, although this was effectively a death sentence due to the poor conditions there. However, the British quickly suspected him of spying; they even went to Setauket to arrest him in June 1779, although he avoided trouble since he wasn't at home. Woodhull returned to New York, defeated. Poor quality print. Woodhull was secretly engaged to Anna Strong in 1773 before his brother Thomas, a soldier in the British Army, was killed while quelling a protest at King's College and his father decided to marry him to his brother's fiancee Mary, leading to Abraham and Anna parting. But the 27 year-old, unmarried Woodhull was also something of a risk-taker. ; on back: Old Abraham Woodhull home Seatuket. A Long Island farmer bands together a group of childhood friends to form an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America's fight for independence. Woodhull was mildly supportive of the American cause but before 1778 the closest he came to the rebellion was an uneventful two-month stint in his county militia. (Dont believe me? To protect their identities Tallmadge assigned aliases for their correspondence; Tallmadge went by John Bolton and Woodhull used the name Samuel Culper. It was the beginning of what became known as the Culper Ring., Woodhull was good at the espionage business. Woodhull began spying for the. The Rebels considered the practice trading with the enemy and those caught in the act faced a jail sentence. Townsend told him never to show up at his inn again, warning him that he knew about his messages and told him that he could have given them to a British officer instead. Capt Abraham Thomas (1785-1838) - Memorial Find a Grave He died in 1826 in Setauket. memorial page for Abraham Woodhull (7 Oct 1750-23 Jan 1826), Find a Grave . It is a choice that comes at a heavy price. Woodhull gave reports to the Continentals from inside the city, noting that Howe's flagship HMSEagle and other Royal Navy ships remained in the harbor as British troop numbers decreased, and when he entered Robert Townsend's boarding inn for some breakfast, Woodhull took note of the people feeling on edge, saying that an assault by 5,000 men could probably take the city. Townsend stole and cooked the two brown eggs, serving them to Woodhull when he returned to the inn after nearly leaving the city. We feature smart, groundbreaking research and well-written narratives from expert writers. .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Tuskegee Airman Clarence D. Lester Broke Barriers, Biography: You Need to Know: Rick Thornton. [15] Tallmadge assigned Townsend the alias Samuel Culper Junior.. Presbyterian Church-Setauket, Setauket- East Setauket, NYAbraham Woodhull / Place of burialSetauket Presbyterian Church and Burial Ground, also known as First Presbyterian Church of Brookhaven, is a historic Presbyterian church and cemetery at 5 Caroline Avenue in the hamlet of Setauket, Suffolk County, New York. Washington and his rebel army are fighting back and Ben is a part of that resistance, battling the Royal Army alongside thousands of other brave men. Thomas "Sprout" Woodhull | Turn Wiki | Fandom General Washington had often been frustrated by the exaggerated figures that he had received from spies in the past, and expected more of the same from Woodhull. Abraham Woodhull - Wikipedia Abraham Woodhull was born on 7 October 1750 in Setauket, New York, the son of Judge Richard Woodhull and Mary Smith. A recovering Judge Woodhull accepted Abraham's offer to prosecute the accused in his stead, as Abraham wanted to lose on purpose; this would show the townspeople that Simcoe was the man responible. I saw an old friend today. He died two years later, on 23 January 1826. In this case, I could understand the rationale behind breeching little Thomas several years early in TURN. Great article. Woodhull had a problem to face, however, as he had to give Major Hewlett a final report on New York. type. It is easy to see why AMC would choose such a spy ring as the subject of a television show. Except what he should be wearing at that tender age is a gown. Soon after Benedict Arnold defected to the British, he directed the arrest of people in New York and Long Island that he suspected as American spies, based on his knowledge of Continental Army intelligence. Woodhull adopts the alias Samuel Culper, and begins his espionage, making trips to New York to scope out British military strength and eavesdrop on important conversations. Robert Townsend went into business with his brother Solomon, but the business failed, and Townsend never got back on his feet. However, Judge Woodhull decided to inform Major Hewlett that Woodhull had been spying for the patriots, as Woodhull's suspicions had increasingly grown over time. And dont worry well be discussing plenty of military details here on the blog soon enough. Despite its inaccuracies, TURN: Washingtons Spies is an entertaining yet fitting tribute to the brave operatives of the Culper Ring, and shows just how dangerous and critically important their jobs were. Captain Simcoe, a gruff and raucous character, had taken over the same outfit of Rangers once commanded by legendary tracker Robert Rogers. Eventually, Major Hewlett escaped captivity and secured Woodhull's release, and Townsend agreed to work with Woodhull as "Samuel Culper, Jr."; he gave him information on a plot by Thomas Hickey and William Bradford to assassinate George Washington at his camp in Valley Forge. Abraham was forced to fire, shooting him in the stomach. Abraham had in fact joined the county militia in 1775 with no apparent objection from his father, but became disenchanted and quit after two months. Woodhull continued to report on the location of British ships and troops, but Townsend eventually took note of the fact that Woodhull was writing secret messages on the brown eggs and not white ones. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Caleb succeeded in doing this while Abraham was away, as Robert witnessed Simcoe's rangers beat up his father and burn down his stables when he asked for money in exchange for giving his cavalry to the rangers. A farmer and the son of a local Patriot judge, Abraham Woodhull joined the Culper ring in November of 1778. He was herded into the tavern with the other people, and Tallamdge and Brewster took him aside from the crowd to tell him that he was going to negotiate the release of the prisoners. TURN Season 3: All Quiet on the HistoryFront? The intelligence provided by the Culper Ring prevented what might have been a terrible disaster, and was one of its most important triumphs. [10] Tallmadge to Washington, November 19, 1778, GW Papers, accessed January 26, 2014, via http://memory.loc.gov. Woodhull and Tallmadge deserve to be honored and taught. Perhaps Sprouts wealthy grandfather has servants churning out breeches for his grandchildren! Abe married Mary, and soon had a son named Thomas. In fact, in 1790, Benjamin Tallmadges own son was wearing them at the tender age of three. Tallmadge wrote Washington on October 11, 1780 that Arnold knew not a single link in the chain of my correspondence, but that the Culper operatives were too apprehensive of danger to give their immediate usual intelligence.[20] Woodhull and Townsend laid low but returned to providing information. In return, Tallmadge proposed to Woodhull that he start spying for the Continental Army; Woodhull agreed, and Tallmadge received approval from Washington. Woodhull, in turn, promptly involved Townsend, who reinforced his cover by writing pro-Tory articles for the Royal Gazette. He married Mary Townsend on December 6th, 1753 at St. Georges Church. One night Woodhull was drafting a report with the new ink while British officers were still in his house and Tallmadge hid in the woods. [14] Like Woodhull, Townsend played the part of a devoted Loyalist but he was a secret Patriot who had served briefly as a commissary to General Nathaniel Woodhull, Abrahams cousin. Nor had the Americans uniformly mastered the techniques of successfully moving in and out of enemy territory. The task fell to his intelligence aide, Major Benjamin Tallmadge, to begin recruiting spies. Abraham Woodhull was born to Richard Woodhull and . 10 Significant Things About The Culper Ring, George Washington's Most [4] Culper to Scott, October 31, 1778, GW Papers, accessed January 26, 2014 via http://memory.loc.gov. For more information, I highly recommend reading Linda Baumgartens primer on colonial childrens clothing (the source of the above quote). Once they were several years old, boys and girls would then make the transition to outfits that were miniature versions of mens and womens adult clothing. The incident struck fear into Townsends heart, as it demonstrated just how easy it was to be captured. Little Sprout Woodhulls curiousclothing, Linda Baumgartens primer on colonial childrens clothing, the 18th Century Material Culture Resource Center, Vexatious Vexillology TURN to a historian, TURN Historical Timeline updated for Season 4 (PartOne), TURN Historical Timeline updated for Season3. That may be true, but deep down inside it is you, Thomas, who fuels my passion. If I am caught, I could be hanged as a traitor and a spy. He died a lonely man in 1838. Abraham's wife Mary convinced him that he had to shoot the courier, Corporal Eastin (the man who had been sent to escort Woodhull to New York previously), and not kill Hewlett as he had planned to do.