Abraham Woodhull

Abraham Woodhull (October 7, 1750 – January 23, 1826) was a leading member of the Culper Spy Ring in New York City and Setauket, New York, during the American Revolutionary War. He used the alias "Samuel Culper" (later "Samuel Culper Sr."), which was a play on Culpeper County, Virginia, and was suggested by George Washington.

Abraham Woodhull
Born	October 7, 1750 Setauket, New York
Died	January 23, 1826 (aged 75) Setauket, New York
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	Mary Smith ​ ​ (m. 1781; died 1806)​ Lydia Terry ​ ​ (m. 1824; his death 1826)​
Children	Jesse Smith Woodhull, Mary Woodhull, Elizabeth Woodhull
Parent(s)	Richard and Mary Woodhull
Espionage activity
Allegiance	United States
Service branch	Continental Army
Service years	Late 1778 - 1783
Rank	Magistrate
Codename	"Samuel Culper" and then "Samuel Culper Sr."
Operations	Spy

The Culper Ring was a successful operation that provided Washington with valuable information on the British Army headquartered in New York from October 1778 to the end of the war. After the United States gained independence, Woodhull served as a magistrate, as had his father before him, and served as a judge in Suffolk County, New York.

Background

Woodhull was a descendant of Richard Lawrence Woodhull, a wealthy settler of Setauket,[1] and was also related to New York militia Brigadier General Nathaniel Woodhull.[2] His parents were Judge Richard Woodhull and Mary Woodhull (née Smith).[3]

Woodhull served as a lieutenant in the Suffolk County, New York, militia in the fall of 1775 but resigned after a few months.[4] He was motivated by the murder of his cousin Brigadier General Nathaniel Woodhull of the New York militia, who was wounded by sword and bayonet cuts after he had been captured on August 29, 1776.[5] According to some reports, he had been deprived of medical care and food and suffered an agonizing death on September 20, 1776,[2] and Abraham Woodhull was inflamed against the British by that event. He did not immediately take up arms or begin spying, however, and was more placid than some of his friends, who joined the Continental Army at the outset of the war.

He was the only surviving son of aging parents, and he stayed on the family farm to attend to his family and their property.[4]

Spy ring

Continental Army Major Benjamin Tallmadge was Woodhull's neighbor in Setauket and approached Woodhull in August 1778 about gathering intelligence for the Patriot cause during the American Revolutionary War.[6] Woodhull had been caught smuggling contraband across Long Island Sound, but Tallmadge spoke with Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull and got him released.[7] Tallmadge then set up a spy network in New York, with Woodhull as the lead agent.

Woodhull began spying in October 1778 and sent his first "Samuel Culper" letter on October 29, 1778 after he had sworn an oath of loyalty to the Crown as cover.[8] His plan was to travel to Manhattan, ostensibly to visit his married sister, Mary Underhill, and her husband, Amos, at their boarding house. In Manhattan, he would collect information from various sources, including British officers staying at the Underhill boarding house and then return to Setauket, where he could pass the information to the Continental Army lieutenant and whaleboat operator Caleb Brewster to take across Long Island Sound to Tallmadge.

Tallmadge would then send the information to General George Washington. Austin Roe became the main courier for the ring later after Woodhull had stopped going to New York City to gather intelligence personally. He would deliver messages via dead drop, burying them in a box in a pasture that he rented on Woodhull's property.[9][10]

Later life

Woodhull married his friend Mary Smith in 1781 and had three children with her.[11] He held a few minor political appointments, including magistrate in Suffolk County, New York, from 1799 to 1810.[11][12] His first wife died in 1806,[11] and he married Lydia Terry in 1824.[11]

He died in Setauket on January 23, 1826 and is buried in the Setauket Presbyterian Church and Burial Ground.[11][13]

In popular culture

Warren Walker suggested in 1956 that James Fenimore Cooper's character Harvey Birch had been based upon the work of "Samuel Culper" as a spy. That would include both Woodhull as "Culper Sr." and Robert Townsend, who used the alias "Samuel Culper Jr."[14]

Woodhull was portrayed from 2014 to 2017 by Jamie Bell in AMC's spy thriller and historical drama series Turn: Washington's Spies, which was based on Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring (2007) by Alexander Rose.[15][16] Other people from Woodhull's life are portrayed in the show as well.

See also

• Intelligence operations in the American Revolutionary War

References

1. Rose 2006, p. 79.
2. Rose 2006, pp. 84–87.
3. Browning 1891, p. 6.
4. Rose 2006, p. 84.
5. Rose 2006, p. 85.
6. Sharp 2012, p. 240.
7. Rose 2006, p. 74.
8. Rose 2006, p. 87.
9. Mahoney & Mahoney 1999, p. 309.
10. Tyler, Beverly. "The Setauket Spies". Local 18th Century History. The Three Village Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2007-08-27. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
11. Rose 2006, p. 278.
12. Mahoney & Mahoney 1999, p. 313.
13. "Grave Stones and Epitaphs from the Churchyard". 28 December 1999. Archived from the original on 2004-12-07. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
14. Walker 1956, pp. 399–413.
15. Andreeva, Nellie (July 26, 2013). "TCA: AMC Picks Up 'Halt & Catch Fire' & 'Turn' To Series". Deadline Hollywood. United States: Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved August 7, 2013.
16. Labrecque, Jeff (April 20, 2014). "'Turn' react: It's Jamie Bell's show after all". PopWatch.

Sources

• Browning, Charles Henry (1891). Americans of Royal Descent: A Collection of Genealogies of American Families Whose Lineage is Traced to the Legitimate Issue of Kings (4th ed.). Philadelphia: Porter & Coates. p. 6. ASIN B000884OTM. OCLC 1723326.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Welch, Richard F. (2014). General Washington's Commando: Benjamin Tallmadge in the Revolutionary War. New York City: McFarland & Company. p. 58. ISBN 978-0786479634.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Mahoney, Henry Thayer; Mahoney, Marjorie Locke (1999). Gallantry in Action: A Biographic Dictionary of Espionage in the American Revolutionary War (1st ed.). Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America. pp. 119, 309, 313. ISBN 978-0-7618-1479-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Phelps, Mark Anthony (2013). An Encyclopedia of American Women at War: From the Home Front to the Battlefields. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 529. ISBN 978-1-59884-444-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Rose, Alexander (2006). Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring (1st ed.). New York City: Bantam Books. pp. 74, 79, 84–87, 173, 278. ISBN 978-0-553-38329-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Sharp, Arthur G. (2012). Not Your Father's Founders: An "Amended" Look at America's First Patriots. Avon, Massachusetts: Adams Media. p. 240. ISBN 978-1-4405-4011-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Walker, Warren S. (October 1956). "The Prototype of Harvey Birch". State University of New York at Oneonta. Oneonta, New York. New York State Historical Association. XXVII (3): 399–413. Retrieved April 27, 2014.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

• Kilmeade, Brian; Yaeger, Don (2013). George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution (1st ed.). New York City: Sentinel. ISBN 978-1-59523-103-1.
• Hastedt, Glenn P. (2010). Spies, Wiretaps, and Secret Operations: A-J. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 216. ISBN 978-1-85109-807-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• "The Setauket Spy Ring". 2008. Archived from the original on 18 August 2011.
• Meyer, Andrea (2011). "Abraham Woodhull". The Culper Spy Ring and Benedict Arnold. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012.