important people of the Ring
Abraham Woodhull was born in Setauket in 1750 to parents from two of Long Island's prominent families. His father was a local judge who was linked to Patriot politics. Before 1776, Woodhull may have briefly served with a militia company, but there is little to tie him to either side of the war until his spying. Historian Alexander Rose claimed Woodhull began working as a spy as part of the conditions of his early release from prison in Connecticut for engaging in black market trading.
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Calab Brewster
Caleb Brewster was born in Setauket and went to sea as a young man, serving on a whaling ship and making him an expert seaman by the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. Caleb Brewster was friendly with spymaster Benjamin Tallmadge's younger brother Samuel, and the families were related, so Brewster was a known quantity when Tallmadge began working with the militiaman. It is difficult to get specific details about Brewster's life, but most historians believe he was already engaged in some secret operations by the time he started working with the Culper Spy Ring. Brewster's job was to carry the spy ring's dispatches between Setauket and Fairfield, Connecticut, where he personally ensured they would travel to Tallmadge and Washington, usually via courier service.
Anna strong
Anna Smith Strong was descended from colonial elites, and closely related to the other Culper Spy Ring members. Her husband was a leading Patriot judge, and their family controlled one of Long Island's manors, ancestral estates, much like those in England or certain Southern plantations. Most of the Long Island Manors were basically plantations, complete with slavery, in the early part of the 18th century. The status that accompanied both Anna's home and her husband's political appointment made her family a target of the occupying British soldiers.
James Rivington
Anna Smith Strong was descended from colonial elites, and closely related to the other Culper Spy Ring members. Her husband was a leading Patriot judge, and their family controlled one of Long Island's manors, ancestral estates, much like those in England or certain Southern plantations. Most of the Long Island Manors were basically plantations, complete with slavery, in the early part of the 18th century. The status that accompanied both Anna's home and her husband's political appointment made her family a target of the occupying British soldiers.
James Rivington
Rivington, who opened a coffee-shop adjacent to his printing-house, would have been the last New Yorker suspected of playing the part of a spy for the Continentals, but he furnished General George washington with important information. Rivington's silent partner in the coffeehouse was Robert Towsend, alias "Samuel Culper, Jr.," one of the principal agents of the American Culper Ring.Rivington's communications were written on thin paper, bound in the covers of books, and conveyed to the American camp by agents that were ignorant of their service.The date of Rivington's secret change of heart is disputed but when New York was evacuation in November 1783, Rivington remained in the city, much to the general surprise. Removing the royal arms from his masthead, he changed its title to Rivington's New York Gazette and Universal Advertiser. But his business rapidly declined, his paper ceased to exist at the end of 1783, and he passed the remainder of his life in comparative poverty.