Fresh off his near-defeat, the future president realized that his underdog army needed an intelligence operation to have any chance of successfully fighting one of the largest military powers in the world.Īfter several fumbled attempts-most notably the fatal effort by the first American spy, Nathan Hale-Washington and his director of military intelligence, 24-year-old Major Benjamin Tallmadge, finally got it right in fall 1778 with the formation of the Culper Spy Ring. He only escaped the destruction of his army thanks to fog, adverse winds that blocked the British fleet from cutting him off and the caution of British commander William Howe. Historians may never be able to “determine the name of the lady mentioned or how much assistance she provided, but just knowing she existed, and that a woman could possess such indispensable skills, sets everyone’s imagination on fire,” says Claire Bellerjeau, the former historian at the Raynham Hall Museum-onetime home of Culper spy Robert Townsend-in Oyster Bay, Long Island.Īn 1863 illustration of Agent 355 published in Harper's Weekly Public domain via Wikimedia Commonsĭuring the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, Washington, then commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, was repeatedly surprised by the British.
From a pair of 1930s books by historian Morton Pennypacker to the recent Jessica Chastain movie The 355, the legend of the woman agent represents a cautionary tale of how speculation and myth can permeate American history and become almost impossible to eradicate. The sole mention of her in the historical record simply states that she was a lady-not necessarily a spy-who could help the Patriots “ outwit them all.” Unfortunately, this lack of evidence hasn’t stopped authors and television and movie producers from inventing tales of her exploits. There’s just one problem with this story: No proof of 355’s adventures in espionage actually exists.
According to popular lore, a woman spy known only as Agent 355 helped George Washington win the American Revolution, serving as a key member of the Manhattan-Long Island intelligence network later dubbed the Culper Spy Ring.