My youngest son bought me a paperback book for my birthday titled, GEORGE WASHINGTON'S SECRET SIX, by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yeager. © 2013,2014. Penguin Random House LLC. NY, NY.
It proved to be a very interesting book about the spy ring Washington had working for him in New York.
Very well written, easy to read and factual in its presentation, it tells the story of the "Culper's", a group of 5 men and one woman who gathered information about British troop movement, ship arrivals, departures and destinations, and plots against the American forces.
This information was smuggled out of the New York area to Connecticut to be delivered directly to George Washington.
To do this, often the information was written in personal letters about common activities or in books that were commonly available.
To prevent the information from being read by any British soldier or agent that examined the letters or books, the information was written between the visible lines in invisible ink which could be read only after the right fluid was applied to the pages.
Among the information the Culper's passed on to Washington was the British plot to print counterfeit American money and Benedict Arnold's plot to surrender West Point to the British.
Although each male member of the group had a secret name such as Culper Jr., the woman was only known as Agent 355.
She is also the only one of the group who remains unidentified, even today.
At the end of the book, several different women who could have been agent 355 are discussed but none of them appear to be the agent. All of them have one or more things which seem to rule them out.
Included in the book are several pages of photos which add to the enjoyment of reading it.
For anyone who is interested in American history and wants to know what was going on behind the scenes I highly recommend this book.
It proved to be a very interesting book about the spy ring Washington had working for him in New York.
Very well written, easy to read and factual in its presentation, it tells the story of the "Culper's", a group of 5 men and one woman who gathered information about British troop movement, ship arrivals, departures and destinations, and plots against the American forces.
This information was smuggled out of the New York area to Connecticut to be delivered directly to George Washington.
To do this, often the information was written in personal letters about common activities or in books that were commonly available.
To prevent the information from being read by any British soldier or agent that examined the letters or books, the information was written between the visible lines in invisible ink which could be read only after the right fluid was applied to the pages.
Among the information the Culper's passed on to Washington was the British plot to print counterfeit American money and Benedict Arnold's plot to surrender West Point to the British.
Although each male member of the group had a secret name such as Culper Jr., the woman was only known as Agent 355.
She is also the only one of the group who remains unidentified, even today.
At the end of the book, several different women who could have been agent 355 are discussed but none of them appear to be the agent. All of them have one or more things which seem to rule them out.
Included in the book are several pages of photos which add to the enjoyment of reading it.
For anyone who is interested in American history and wants to know what was going on behind the scenes I highly recommend this book.
