Agent 355–A Patriot In Petticoats
Long before Agent 007 was a germ of an idea in Ian Fleming’s mind, there was Agent 355, one of the first female spies in America, active during the Revolutionary War. But unlike James Bond, Agent 355’s identity is still not known, even after all these years.
Here’s what we do know:
A spy organization, known as the Culper Ring, was set up during the Revolutionary War, following the orders of George Washington. His early military career was spent as a spy when he was surveying the Ohio territory in 1753, and kept the British appraised of the French military’s movements in the area.
The Culper Ring operated from 1778 to 1783, and was known as the Secret Six. They gathered information from overheard conversations in British occupied New York City and passed it on to George Washington by way of Setauket, Long Island and on through Connecticut to Newburg, NY, Washington’s headquarters. By the use of invisible ink and coded messages, critical information was passed along and aided in the eventual independence of the colonies. Robert Townsend, a New York merchant, was the linchpin in the organization, and would gather the intelligence, encode it or use invisible ink to pass the messages on. Austin Roe, who owned a Long Island tavern, would ride the 110 miles from his tavern to Townsend’s store to get supplies, would then take the messages back to Long Island and pass them along.
Even though Washington didn’t know the names of these spies, their identities finally became public knowledge in the mid-20th century, when some Culper Ring letters were discovered in the home of Robert Townsend. The head of the Ring, referred to as Samuel Culper, Sr., was in fact Abraham Woodhull, hand picked by his friend, Major Benjamin Tallmadge. He quickly drew the suspicion of the British and was forced to temper his involvement in the Ring. Samuel Culper, Jr. was merchant Robert Townsend, who became the unofficial head of the Culper Ring. The other members of the group were whaleboat captain Caleb Brewster, Long Island tavern owner Austin Roe, an owner of a Loyalist newspaper in New York, James Rivington, and the mysterious lady agent, known only as 355.
Major John Andre, who was the chief intelligence officer of the British, seems to have been the primary source of information for the Culper Ring. He was known for his weakness for the fairer sex and may have been the unwitting victim of Agent 355’s charms. To this day, Agent 355 is credited with playing a vital part in providing information leading to uncovering the treasonous acts of Benedict Arnold and led to the arrest of Major Andre, who was hanged. The Ring was forced into hiding after this information came to light and a pregnant Agent 355 was arrested by the British and held prisoner on one of the ships in New York harbor. She gave birth to a boy child, but later died herself, either at the hands of the British or by the horrific conditions on the ship. It is speculated that the father of her child was Robert Townsend.
Who Agent 355 was has remained a mystery all these years, although many have put forth ideas as to whom she may have been. Culper Ring documents refer to the agent only as “lady,” and the commonly held belief is this lady was from a wealthy British family residing in New York and used her status and influence to overhear information vital to the cause of the Revolution. This much has been agreed upon, although speculation remains as to her true identity.
Anna Strong is a name often associated with Agent 355. She was a neighbor of Woodhull, so the possibility she was recruited into the Ring is likely. What was known
about her is she used her clothesline to signal which of the six locations Caleb Brewster had docked in. He was the next in the chain to receive the dispatches from Austin Roe and had to keep the British guessing at which of six different ports he would dock. She had good reason to perform spy operations, since her husband was imprisoned by the British and she was often seen aboard the prison ship bringing him food to keep him alive. She could easily have overheard conversations aboard ship that she could pass on to the Ring.
Sally Townsend is another woman who could have been Agent 355. She was a cousin of Robert Townsend, and, like Anna Strong, worked for years to free her husband from the British prisons. She certainly had the means and the motivation to be Agent 355.
Elizabeth Burgin is another possibility. The British had a string of ships which had been converted to prisons, and Elizabeth moved among them. She set up a covert operation to help some of the prisoners escape, and managed to free more than 200 before her operation was reported and she fled Long Island for Connecticut.
Obviously, Agent 355 had some kind of tie to the Culper Ring’s leaders. Some choose to believe she was the common-law wife of Robert Townsend, who never officially married and after the Ring dissolved, became depressed and a drunkard. From this lady’s actions, we can deduce she also had courage, strength, nerves of steel, and a healthy dose of patriotism. All of the women who have been speculated as being Agent 355 were infused with these same characteristics, and their involvement in the Revolution helped ensure America’s success against the British. Who Agent 355 really was will continue to remain a mystery, as it should.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_355
Fascinating!
*Michelle Cox* *Author of the Henrietta and Inspector Howard series * *Web:* Michellecoxwrites.com | *Tweet:* @michellecox33 |* FB: *Michelle Cox Writes
On Fri, Jun 24, 2016 at 5:03 AM, History Imagined wrote:
> Becky Lower posted: “Long before Agent 007 was a germ of an idea in Ian > Fleming’s mind, there was Agent 355, one of the first female spies in > America, active during the Revolutionary War. But unlike James Bond, Agent > 355’s identity is still not known, even after all these yea” >
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Thanks, Michelle, for visiting today. Glad you enjoyed the little known bit of history I uncovered.
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Wow! What a wild story. And had to laugh when you referred to her “patriotism”. We think that now because she was on our side, but she was in fact a rebel and a traitor from the British standpoint. Her courage and resourcefulness sounds impressive. Great piece of history.
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I guess you can tell which side I would have taken during the wild Revolutionary days, eh?
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Great post! I LOVE learning about this era and Agent 355 was nothing short of amazing to stand up to the realm as a (mere) woman!!! From what I’ve read the prison ships were a death sentence. Clean water and sanitation weren’t prevalent for anyone much less prisoners.
I want to read more when I’m not tied to my cellphone.
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Thanks, Charlotte for visiting today. Agent 355 was certainly a courageous woman, although, as was pointed out in an earlier comment, she was considered a traitor by the British.
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Well of course she was. By definition anyone who supported the revolution was a traitor in British eyes.
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This is a wonderful post! Everyone loves a strong woman and a little mystery. Excellent! You had my imagination churning.
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Thanks, Colleen, for visiting the blog today. I agree, strong, mysterious women are a staple in romance, and if this story isn’t a romance, I don’t know what is.
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I’m not a big history buff but this is an intriguing mystery. I enjoyed reading about it.
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Amanda, I appreciate you stopping by, and I agree, it is a rather intriguing story, whether you’re into history or not.
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I love reading the forgotten stories of the strong women who helped shape history! Thanks for sharing this tale!
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Thanks, Katie, for joining us today at History Imagined. I enjoyed doing the research on this unique lady. Glad you enjoyed it.
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Love this post and the mystery of agent 355. Fans of the series TURN, will recognize some of the characters you mention.
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TURN has come up in some off-loop conversations regarding this post. I’d seen a few of the episodes, but hadn’t pieced it all together until I started researching Agent 355.
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I LOVE THIS POST. Several years before TURN debuted, I had planned the third book of my Love’s Destiny series to be focused around George Washington’s cititzen spy network which would include my protagonist, Jenny. Your post echoes the research I have done. I loved reading this. Thanks, Becky!
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Betty, it seems you and I are wandering the same path together. My YA novel, Rebel Girl, starts with the Boston Tea Party. I’m hoping to make it a series.
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