Quickly captured, the British hanged Hale as a spy. Jay’s directive from Washington was to “close the regular channels of intelligence from the city.” One of the first agents acting on behalf of the patriots was Nathan Hale, who volunteered to spy on the British on Long Island in September 1776. In June 1776, Washington placed John Jay at the head of New York’s newly created Committee on Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies. He simply out-spied us.”Īt the start of the war, Washington quickly recognized both the importance of counterintelligence and stopping intelligence gathering by the enemy, as well as placing his own spies behind enemy lines.
It is clear that Washington’s tactics were no match for British intelligence agents, one of whom later said, “Washington did not really outfight the British. In 1777 he wrote to Colonel Elias Dayton, “The necessity of procuring good Intelligence is apparent & need not be further urged - All that remains for me to add is, that you keep the whole matter as secret as possible.” British General Charles Cornwallis, too, understood the importance of clandestine intelligence gathering and is reported to have exclaimed, “Ah, you rogue!” upon the realization that his own trusted spy was, in fact, a double-agent for Washington.
General George Washington was keenly aware of the importance of espionage during the war. Both armies also mounted misinformation campaigns, purposefully leaking false intelligence for the enemy to find. Some spies served for long periods or even the duration of the war, while others performed only singular acts of espionage when duty called, or when opportunities presented themselves. British commanders found intelligence gathered by loyalist sympathizers useful, which often included details about geography and terrain unfamiliar to the British army. Both armies relied on spies to gather information on troop strength and morale, access to and availability of munitions and supplies and intended plans to march or attack. When British troops finally headed to Concord in April, their march was hardly the surprise that was intended-did someone close to the royal governor alert the patriots of their approach?ĭuring the American Revolution, both the British and patriot armies employed spies to gather information about the enemy. Even a month before “the shot heard ‘round the world” Thomas Gage, the royal governor of Massachusetts, sent two subordinates to travel to Concord in March 1775 to gather information about patriots’ intentions and stockpiles of supplies and weapons. In a way, the American Revolution began with acts of espionage.
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