The Culper ring had a far-flung member they called “Samuel Culper, Jr.” who lived even deeper undercover in British-occupied New York. The operative, Robert Townsend, was a practicing Quaker who wrote passionate essays in the New York Royal Gazette, a Tory newspaper, and operated a coffee shop favored by British soldiers.12 It was the perfect cover, allowing Townsend to eavesdrop on customers, who often discussed military business. A courier shuttled intelligence sixty miles east to Setauket, where it made its way to Tallmadge and, not infrequently, to the commander in chief.
