A.L. Sowards's Reviews > Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring

Prior to reading this, most of my knowledge about spies during the American Revolution was that Nathan Hale was caught and hanged. It turned out that even my knowledge of that was shady. His famous final words, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,” weren’t what he actually said. A British officer present at the hanging recorded this about Hale’s final moments: “He behaved with great composure and resolution, saying he thought it the duty of every good officer, to obey any orders given him by his commander in chief; and desired the spectators to be at all times prepared to meet death in whatever shape it may appear.”

The more famous line came from a play, Cato by Joseph Addison. It was put into Hale’s mouth by a friend who remembered discussing the brilliance of the play with Hale while they were at Yale together.

Learning the truth behind Hale’s last line shattered a few happy illusions for me. (Next thing I know, someone will tell me Henry V’s St. Crispin’s Day speech was made up by Shakespeare—which is maybe why I keep putting off reading a real history book about Agincourt. I’m happy with Shakespeare’s version.) Another illusion was shattered when I read Hale was caught by Robert Rogers, the colonial who founded the Rangers during the French and Indian War. Yes, the founder of the Rangers lured in poor, inexperienced Hale and turned him over to the British, who executed him.

The majority of the book isn’t about Nathan Hale. It’s mostly about the Culper Spy Ring that operated in the Long Island, New York area for most of the war. They had some big successes, like warning the French that the British knew they were coming to Rhode Island and had set a trap for them (the British knew because Benedict Arnold told them—he also makes his way through the chapters of this book). Benjamin Tallmadge was the central figure in running Culper, and I’m adding his memoir to my to-read list.

The book included interesting stuff about whale-boat raiders, early cryptographic techniques, and the attitudes and motivations of those who lived through the revolution. The information was fascinating, but it was sometimes hard to follow, so I’ll rate this one four stars. Worth reading, but probably only once.