Abraham Woodhull – the ‘Culper’ of the Culper Ring
Abraham Woodhull (1750 – 1826), a key figure of the Culper Ring, was born into a prosperous family in Setauket, a small agricultural community on the north shore of Long Island, New York. His father was a judge, and he was a cousin of Nathaniel Woodhull, leader of a New York Patriot legislature set up as an alternative to the Loyalist New York Assembly, and a militia general. The family owned prime farmland in Setauket, and Abraham became a farmer.
Abraham joined the militia in 1775, but his heart was not really into it, so he quit after a few months. However, his patriotic zeal flared anew after his cousin, general Nathaniel Woodhull, was captured by the British in 1776, then slashed by sabers for refusing to say “God save the King”. Abraham’s cousin was then denied medical care and food, and died an agonizing death while in British captivity in September of 1776.
In 1778, Woodhull was caught smuggling contraband across the Long Island Sound and imprisoned in Patriot-held Connecticut. His childhood friend and neighbor Benjamin Tallmadge, now an intelligence officer in the Continental Army, put in a good word with Connecticut’s governor and got him released. He then asked him to spy on the British, and Woodhull accepted. After swearing a loyalty oath to king George III to establish his cover as a trusted Loyalist, Woodhull headed into Manhattan for his first foray into the world of espionage.
The British obtained much of their food from the farmlands surrounding New York, particularly Long Island and communities such as Setauket. That meant Woodhull had a good excuse – selling his farm produce – for regularly travelling the 55 miles separating Setauket from New York City without arousing suspicion. While in the city, he observed British military activities, and mingled with people in taverns frequented by the British and Loyalists to pick up gossip and news. He collected information from various contacts, including British officers, and recruited additional spies from amongst those whom he trusted.
Woodhull would then return to Setauket, where he would write down detailed reports of the intelligence gathered, and hide it in secluded coves nearby. The reports were collected by Caleb Brewster, who regularly crossed the 18 mile stretch of the Long Island Sound from Patriot held Connecticut to British held Long Island in a whaleboat. Brewster would deliver the reports to Benjamin Tallmadge, who would then pass them on to George Washington. Instructions and requests for additional or specific information were passed down the same chain from Washington to Tallmadge to Brewster to Woodhull.
Later in the war, Woodhull stopped going into New York personally, and relied instead on a courier, Austin Roe, who operated under the guise of a merchant to travel back and forth between Setauket and New York City. Having collected information from New York, Roe would convey it via dead drop in a box buried in land he rented from Woodhull.