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WORK TITLE: George Washington’s Secret Spy War
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Nagy, John Allan
BIRTHDATE: 1946-4/1/2016
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Died just after finishing latest book. * https://allthingsliberty.com/author/john-a-nagy/ * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Nagy * http://us.macmillan.com/author/johnanagy
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born c. 1946, in Perth Amboy, NJ; died in Mount Laureal, NJ, April 1, 2016; married to Ida Marie Campanaro; children: Jennifer Ann, Lisa Marie.
EDUCATION:Saint Francis University, B.A., 1968; Stevens Institute of Technology, M.S., 1979.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Former Field Office Director, USDA-FNS, Robbinsville, NJ; scholar-in-residence, Saint Francis University, Loretto, PA; consultant to libraries; made appearances on CSPAN and History Channel. Research fellow, Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Charlottesville, VA, 2015.
MEMBER:Roundtable of the American Revolution (founding member), Knights of Columbus.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
John A. Nagy was a writer who specialized in the American Revolution, especially as regards espionage and mutiny. Nagy, who died in 2016, turned to writing only after retiring from a career as a field office director for the USDA-Food and Nutrition Service in New Jersey. He was the author of several books, including Rebellion in the Ranks: Mutinies of the American Revolution, Invisible Ink: Spycraft and the American Revolution, Dr. Benjamin, Church, Spy: A Case of Espionage on the Eve of the American Revolution, and George Washington’s Secret Spy War: The Making of America’s First Spymaster.
Rebellion in the Ranks
With his 2007 work, Rebellion in the Ranks, Nagy examines instances of mutiny in the Continental army and navy. By doing so, Nagy demonstrates how fragile and precarious the American Revolution was. Indeed, at one point Washington thought the army might have to be disbanded. Part of the problem was continual funding issues, as each of the states was responsible for paying for the food, shelter, arms, and clothing of the troops. However, each of the states lived up to these obligations with various degrees of rigor. Underfunding was thus endemic, and morale suffered for it. Nagy recounts the hardships and suffering of soldiers that led to mutinies. He also identifies another form of mutiny, that against poor leadership and the resistance of soldiers to unfair discipline. Nagy also provides an in-depth examination of the 1781 Pennsylvania Line mutiny and attempts by the British to exploit it.
“[Nagy’s] extensive research in manuscript collections and published primary and secondary sources reveals the extent to which military mutinies threatened the success of the Revolutionary cause,” commented Journal of Southern History contributor Jim Piecuch, who added: “Nagy’s work [is] truly comprehensive in scope. Rebellion in the Ranks greatly enhances our knowledge of an overlooked yet vitally important aspect of the American Revolution.” Writing in the online Pennsylvania History, James Kirby Martin noted: “Nagy does not claim that his history of mutinies during the American Revolutionary War is exhaustive, but rather representative of hundreds of mutinous incidents, both large and small. … For readers wanting just the unadorned facts, lots and lots of them, Rebellion in the Ranks will prove to be a satisfying volume.” Similarly, Michigan War Studies Review writer Steven G. Gimber observed: “While Revolutionary War officers referred to practically all of these offenses as mutinies, Nagy narrows his focus to direct threats of revolt and actual armed rebellions. The book contributes valuable information to the study of the American Revolution. … Rebellion in the Ranks does present new information on naval mutinies and British and Hessian rebellions. Of value as well is the data assembled in the appendixes.”
Invisible Ink and Dr. Benjamin Church, Spy
With his 2010 study, Invisible Ink, Nagy provides an overview of espionage tradecraft during the Revolutionary War period. Among the various other spying techniques he explores are the use of truce flags in order to gain information behind enemy lines; basic codes and ciphers; and the use of the invisible ink of the title, which included the use of vinegar, lemon juice, or grapefruit juice. Writing in the Journal of Southern History, William B. Feis had a varied assessment of the book, commenting: “Though he has produced an exhaustive account of the nuts and bolts of spying, [Nagy] nevertheless has neglected to provide a more contextualized and meaningful depiction of intelligence operations during the conflict. … This work will appeal primarily to those interested in the purely operational end of intelligence work during the American Revolution—and they will not be disappointed. Those seeking the rest of the story, however, must look elsewhere.”
In Dr. Benjamin Church, Spy, Nagy relates the story of an influential American who spied for the British. Church was an admired patriot in Massachusetts and was appointed the first director of the American army hospital in Cambridge. However, he studied in London and was married to a British woman, and he was in a good position to pass on vital information to the British. He was caught doing just that and in 1778 was on his way by ship to be traded for an American held by the British when his vessel went down. Church professed his innocence to the end. “Nagy … has produced a valuable source book on intelligence during the American Revolution and a good read,” noted Joseph C. Goulden in the Washington Times Online.
George Washington's Secret Spy War
Nagy focuses on further espionage activity during the Revolutionary War in George Washington’s Secret Spy War. Here Nagy looks at two important battles—Princeton in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781—where information gathered by espionage proved vital to the Americans. Through in-depth research in archives Nagy attained numerous names of Patriots who served as espionage agents for Washington. The author also details how Washington himself gained tactical knowledge of espionage techniques during the French and Indian War. His officers found recruits who were provided ciphers and invisible ink as well as cover stories to mask their work. Washington also manufactured false information for the enemy.
“The tantalizing nature of [Nagy’s] subject will attract espionage and history enthusiasts,” noted Booklist reviewer Gilbert Taylor of George Washington’s Secret Spy War. Similarly, a Publishers Weekly contributor observed: “Nagy’s fast-paced chronicle reveals a little-known side of America’s Revolutionary War hero.” Library Journal writer Margaret Kappanadze commented, “The narrative delves beyond well-known spies—Nathan Hale, Benjamin Church, Benedict Arnold, and Benjamin Tallmadge.” Further praise came from a Kirkus Reviews Online critic who noted: “One intriguing, little-known facet of the first general of the Continental Army: his wholehearted embrace of the art of deception against the British. … A knowledgeable study of Washington’s extensive ‘bag of tricks’ to secure victory.” Writing in the Washington Independent Review of Books, Thomas B. Allen was also impressed by this work, observing: “Deception was an espionage weapon that Washington frequently wielded. Nagy tells of one that started when Washington sent Major General Benedict Arnold in Philadelphia a draft of a proclamation, in French and aimed at French-speaking Canadians. … Nagy adeptly weaves together the battles in the visible Revolutionary War and the covert actions in the spy war, with George Washington the commander-in-chief of both.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
American History, February, 2014, review of Dr. Benjamin Church, Spy: A Case of Espionage on the Eve of the American Revolution, p. 71.
Booklist, September 1, 2016, Gilbert Taylor, review of George Washington’s Secret Spy War: The Making of America’s First Spymaster, p. 34.
Journal of Southern History, May, 2009, Jim Piecuch, review of Rebellion in the Ranks: Mutinies of the American Revolution, p. 429; November, 2011, William B. Feis, review of Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution, p. 916.
Library Journal, August 1, 2016, Margaret Kappanadze, review of George Washington’s Secret Spy War, p. 108.
Publishers Weekly, August 22, 2016, review of George Washington’s Secret Spy War, p. 104.
ONLINE
All Things Liberty, https://allthingsliberty.com/ (May 11, 2017), “John A. Nagy.”
Kirkus Reviews Online, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (July 4, 2016), review of George Washington’s Secret Spy War.
Macmillan Website, http://us.macmillan.com/ (May 11, 2017), “John A. Nagy.”
Michigan War Studies Review, http://www.miwsr.com/ (July 7, 2010), Steven G. Gimber, review of Rebellion in the Ranks.
Pennsylvania History, https://journals.psu.edu/ (May 11, 2017), James Kirby Martin, review of Rebellion in the Ranks.
Washington Independent Review of Books, http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/ (October 24, 2016), Thomas B. Allen, review of George Washington’s Secret Spy War.
Washington Times Online, http://www.washingtontimes.com (April 28, 2014), Joseph C. Goulden, review of Dr. Benjamin Church, Spy.
JOHN A. NAGY
John A. Nagy
Lisa Nagy
JOHN A. NAGY was a Scholar-in-Residence at Saint Francis University and a consultant on espionage to The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington and the William L. Clement Library. He was the program director for the American Revolution Round Table of Philadelphia and was awarded a Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies fellowship to study Thomas Jefferson and cryptology. John was an award-winning author of four books on the American Revolution. He passed away in 2016 after completing George Washington's Secret Spy War.
John A. Nagy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the writer, for the artist see Jon Gnagy.
John Allan Nagy was a nonfiction writer on the American Revolution with an expertise in the field of espionage and mutinies.
Nagy was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey and graduated from Perth Amboy High School in 1964. In 1968 he graduated from Saint Francis University, Loretto, Pennsylvania.[1] He later attended Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, and graduated in 1979 with a master's degree in Management Science. He lived in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.[2] John died at his home in New Jersey on April 1, 2016.[3]
Contents [hide]
1 Work
2 Awards
3 Bibliography
4 Chapters
5 Video and Podcasts
6 Articles About John A. Nagy
7 References
8 External links
Work[edit]
He is a Scholar in Residence at Saint Francis University, Loretto, Pennsylvania and has been a consultant for Colonial Williamsburg, Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at George Washington's Mount Vernon, and the William L. Clements Library of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan on espionage.[4] [5][6] He has appeared on CSPAN, the History Channel, and been interviewed twice in hour-long programs for Pennsylvania Cable Network. He also appeared in "The President's Inner Circle" episode of Brad Meltzer's Decoded.
In 2003 he was the speaker representing the French Government with a talk on the French Spies in the American Revolution at the Franco-American Alliance Celebration on the 225th anniversary of the Treaties signed in Paris on 6 February 1778 held on February 6, 2003 at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[7]
In April 2015, he was a research fellow at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Awards[edit]
2007 American Revolution Round Table of Philadelphia best book published in 2007 on the American Revolution Era.[8]
Bibliography[edit]
2007 Rebellion in the Ranks, Mutinies of the American Revolution 978-1594160554 [9]
2010 Invisible Ink, Spycraft of the American Revolution 978-15944160974 and 978-1594161414 [10]
2011 Spies in the Continental Capital, Espionage Across Pennsylvania During the American Revolution 978-1594161339 [11]
2013 Dr. Benjamin Church Spy, A Case of Espionage on the Eve of the American Revolution 978-1594161841 [12]
Chapters[edit]
2012 Chapter 20 George Washington Spymaster, pages 344-357 in A Companion to George Washington edited by Edward G. Lengel 978-1-4443-3103-5 [13]
2014 Chapter on Allen McLane's espionage activities in Allen McLane : patriot, soldier, spy, port collector by Thomas Welch and Michael Lloyd. OCLC number 897363610
2015 Chapter "The British Spy Plot to Capture Fort Ticonderoga" pages 179-183 in the "Journal of the American Revolution Annual Volume 2015" edited by Todd Andrlik 978-1-59416-228-2
Video and Podcasts[edit]
Video on YouTube of his talk at the American Revolution Round Table of North Jersey on October 13, 2012 [14]
Scientific American Magazine Website Invisible Ink and More: The Science of Spying in the Revolutionary War by Steve Mirsky on April 20, 2010 podcast
An audio podcast at the New York Military Affairs Symposium at New York University Graduate School on Rebellion in the Ranks: Mutinies of the American Revolution recorded April 18, 2008. Download it to play.[15]
Public Broadcasting Service television show A Taste of History season six (2015) episodes 2 and 4.
Articles About John A. Nagy[edit]
About restoring the Thomas Budd House in Mount Holly, New Jersey Philadelphia Inquirer December 27, 1987
Article in The Star Ledger about a lecture he gave on my book "Rebellion in the Ranks: Mutinies of the American Revolution." It was given at the Washington Association's 135th annual meeting on February 16, 2009 at the Madison Hotel. Article is available at http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/george_washington_was_the_cele.html
Referenced in an article on Slate on July 1, 2010. Ghost Writers, Were the Russian spies using the same invisible ink you can buy at toy stores? by Christopher Beam. Article at http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2010/07/ghost_writers.html
Scientific American Magazine Website Invisible Ink and More: The Science of Spying in the Revolutionary War by Steve Mirsky on April 20, 2010 and podcast
John A. Nagy
John A. Nagy (1964-2016) was an award-winning author and a scholar in residence at Saint Francis University. He was a consultant to Colonial Williamsburg and the University of Michigan on espionage. He was a founder and past President of the American Revolution Round Table of Philadelphia. He appeared on radio and television such as the History Channel, C-SPAN, and local educational TV. He was the subject of two one-hour interviews on the Pennsylvania Cable Television Network. His books are Rebellion in the Ranks Mutinies of the American Revolution; Invisible Ink Spycraft of the American Revolution; Spies in the Continental Capital: Espionage Across Pennsylvania During the American Revolution; and Dr. Benjamin Church, Spy: A Case of Espionage on the Eve of the American Revolution.
QUOTE:
The tantalizing nature of [Nagy's] subject will attract espionage and history enthusiasts
George Washington's Secret Spy War: The Making of America's First Spymaster
Gilbert Taylor
Booklist. 113.1 (Sept. 1, 2016): p34.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
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George Washington's Secret Spy War: The Making of America's First Spymaster. By John A. Nagy. Sept. 2016.368p. St. Martin's, $27.99 (9781250096814). 973.4.
Judging the effect of espionage on a war is a challenge for historians. Secrecy inherently occludes their documentary sources, but an archival sleuth like Nagy can find enough information to dispel some of the fog. In this account of Washingtons conduct of intelligence gathering during the War of Independence, the late author identifies two critical battles (Princeton, in 1777, and Yorktown, in 1781) in which information from spies was crucial to American victory. Nagy could not identify the Princeton patriot--Washingtons papers describe him only as "a very intelligent young gentleman"--but he did discover the names of numerous known agents, indicating the importance Washington accorded espionage. Nagy chronicles how Washington learned spy techniques in the French and Indian War, and Washingtons intelligence methods in the war against Britain. He assigned officers to find recruits; equipped spies with cover stories, ciphers, and invisible ink; kept a furtive record of their activity; and concocted fake intelligence to deceive the enemy. Although Nagy's precision somewhat inhibits narrative flow, the tantalizing nature of his subject will attract espionage and history enthusiasts.--Gilbert Taylor
Taylor, Gilbert
QUOTE:
Nagy's fast-paced chronicle reveals a little-known side of America's Revolutionary War hero
George Washington's Secret Spy War: The Making of America's First Spymaster
Publishers Weekly. 263.34 (Aug. 22, 2016): p104.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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George Washington's Secret Spy War: The Making of America's First Spymaster
John A. Nagy. St. Martin's, $27.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-250-09681-4
Drawing on Washington's correspondence and diary, the late Nagy (Dr. Benjamin Church, Spy), an American Revolution specialist, follows Washington from his participation in the French and Indian Wars, where he cut his teeth in the ways of espionage, to his great deception in the American Revolution that secured colonial victory. Having learned in his 1758 campaign in Ohio that "there is nothing more necessary than good intelligence to frustrate a designing enemy," Washington used several methods with great success to deceive his enemy in almost every military encounter in which he engaged. He created false troop information; he standardized the means by which his spies gathered information; he and his forces regularly intercepted and read mail; and he used invisible ink in his letters to his own leaders, who had various ways of making the ink visible. According to Nagy, Washington's greatest tool was the "Deception Battle Plan": Washington fooled the British into thinking that he would attack the British front line in New York City when instead he moved his troops to Virginia, attacking the British rear flank and securing Cornwallis's surrender and American victory. Nagy's fast-paced chronicle reveals a little-known side of America's Revolutionary War hero. Photos. Agent: Don Fehr, Trident Media. (Oct.)
QUOTE:
The narrative delves beyond well-known spies--Nathan Hale, Benjamin Church, Benedict Arnold, and Benjamin Tallmadge
Nagy, John A.: George Washington's Secret Spy War: The Making of America's First Spymaster
Margaret Kappanadze
Library Journal. 141.13 (Aug. 1, 2016): p108.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
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Nagy, John A. George Washington's Secret Spy War: The Making of America's First Spymaster. St. Martin's. Sept. 2016.384p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 9781250096814. $27.99; ebk. ISBN 9781250096821. HIST
This contribution follows recent books and the TV series TURN, based on Alexander Rose's 2007 book, Washington's Spies. The author of three previous books about spying during the American Revolution, here Nagy argues that George Washington, the premier spy master, developed his skill for deceiving the enemy during the French and Indian War, and that Washington enjoyed the deception and was skilled at applying intelligence to his advantage. The narrative delves beyond well-known spies--Nathan Hale, Benjamin Church, Benedict Arnold, and Benjamin Tallmadge--though much of the discussion centers on intelligence activity in New York and New Jersey. Nagy reveals the roles that spies on both sides played to provide information about troop numbers, movements, supplies, morale, etc., which would determine the course of military actions. The most riveting chapters describe the intricate, risky sequence of schemes Washington employed while stealthily moving the American and French armies past New York toward Yorktown to capture Charles Cornwallis. VERDICT Incredibly similar to Nagy's Invisible Ink, which focused on the tricks and tools of Revolutionary War espionage, this book covers much of the same subject matter, and many passages are identical, causing one to wonder if this latest effort was necessary.--Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY
QUOTE:
extensive research in manuscript collections and published primary and secondary sources reveals the extent to which military mutinies threatened the success of the Revolutionary cause," commented Journal of Southern History contributor Jim Piecuch, who added: "Nagy's work [is] truly comprehensive in scope. Rebellion in the Ranks greatly enhances our knowledge of an overlooked yet vitally important aspect of the American Revolution."
Rebellion in the Ranks: Mutinies of the American Revolution
Jim Piecuch
Journal of Southern History. 75.2 (May 2009): p429.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 Southern Historical Association
http://www.uga.edu/~sha
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Rebellion in the Ranks: Mutinies of the American Revolution. By John A. Nagy. (Yardley, Pa.: Westholme Publishing, c. 2008. Pp. [xx], 386. $29.95, ISBN 978-1-59416-055-4.)
Given the many hardships that American soldiers suffered during the War for Independence, it is not surprising that mutinies frequently occurred. Historians of the American Revolution, however, have tended to note such events only in passing, without giving them the full scrutiny that they deserve. The most important study of the Continental army to date, Charles Royster's A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775-1783 (Chapel Hill, 1979), devotes some attention to mutinies and raises issues worthy of further examination but does not go into great detail on the subject.
John A. Nagy has taken an important step to remedy this deficiency with his thorough account, Rebellion in the Ranks: Mutinies of the American Revolution. Noting the difficulty of distinguishing insubordination and disobedience from mutiny, Nagy defines mutiny as "actual armed insurrection" by soldiers (p. xv). His extensive research in manuscript collections and published primary and secondary sources reveals the extent to which military mutinies threatened the success of the Revolutionary cause.
Nagy begins by examining two types of mutinies: those that resulted from poor leadership and soldiers' resistance to discipline ("mutinies of command and control," chap. 1) and those provoked by the troops' lack of food, clothing, and pay ("mutinies of destitution," chap. 2). He goes on to discuss the supply problems that plagued the Continental army from the outset of the war, the inefficiency of the commissary and quartermaster departments, and George Washington's futile struggle to obtain adequate funds and supplies from the Continental Congress.
While these first four chapters contain important information, problems with organization make them somewhat confusing and occasionally repetitive. Some of the command and control-related mutinies described in chapter 1 seem to be equally attributable to supply issues and thus better suited to chapter 2. Furthermore, it is not until the third chapter that Nagy describes the creation and ineffective operation of the Continental army's supply system--important background information that, if located at the beginning of the book, would have helped readers better understand the conditions that produced the supply-related mutinies.
Nagy hits his stride in chapter 5, where he embarks on a detailed account of the Pennsylvania Line mutiny that began in January 1781. The mutiny, its causes, the negotiations that eventually ended it, and British efforts to capitalize on the unrest are thoroughly and often dramatically described. Nagy then discusses other mutinies in the northern and southern armies, the Newburgh Conspiracy, and the 1783 mutiny in Philadelphia that caused Congress to remove to Princeton, New Jersey. He also recounts the difficulty officers faced in keeping troops in service when it became apparent in 1783 that the war's end was fast approaching.
Moving from land to sea, Nagy devotes two chapters to American naval mutinies before closing with an examination of mutinies in the British and Hessian forces, many of which occurred in Europe. These chapters make Nagy's work truly comprehensive in scope. Rebellion in the Ranks greatly enhances our knowledge of an overlooked yet vitally important aspect of the American Revolution.
JIM PIECUCH
Kennesaw State University
Piecuch, Jim
QUOTE:
"Though he has produced an exhaustive account of the nuts and bolts of spying, [Nagy] nevertheless has neglected to provide a more contextualized and meaningful depiction of intelligence operations during the conflict. ... This work will appeal primarily to those interested in the purely operational end of intelligence work during the American Revolution--and they will not be disappointed. Those seeking the rest of the story, however, must look elsewhere
Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution
William B. Feis
Journal of Southern History. 77.4 (Nov. 2011): p916.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2011 Southern Historical Association
http://www.uga.edu/~sha
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Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution. By John A. Nagy. (Yardley, Pa.: Westholme, 2009. Pp. xvi, 381. $29.95, ISBN 978-1-59416-097-4.)
In Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution, John A. Nagy takes the reader into the shadowy world of the American War for Independence where spying, secret codes, deception, and invisible ink joined muskets and cannons as weapons of war. As Nagy shows, seeking knowledge about one's enemy is an intrinsic and timeless feature of warfare. Thus, it is no surprise that both British and American armies conducted intelligence operations and that George Washington, among others, took it as a given that spycraft was an essential ingredient for victory.
Nagy describes a diverse and dizzying array of activities, methods, and tools of the Revolution's spy war, including the use of flags of truce to gather intelligence inside enemy lines and the utilization of invisible ink (lemon juice, grapefruit juice, or vinegar) and rudimentary codes and ciphers to mask important messages. In the final chapter, entitled "Deceptive Battle Plans," Nagy provides a lengthy account of General Washington's 1781 deception operation that pinned British forces in New York while the Continental army stole away to Virginia and bagged Lord Charles Cornwallis's forces at Yorktown, a result that pushed the British toward granting American independence. However, since Nagy focuses solely on this one episode, the reader is left to wonder if there were indeed more examples, particularly since the chapter title indicates there were "Deceptive Battle Plans."
Unfortunately, as is common with books on spies and spying, Nagy concentrates on the conduct of operations, the neat James Bond-style gadgets, and the clever cloak-and-dagger intrigues but misses (except for the final chapter on Yorktown) the larger impact of spycraft in the Revolution. Though he has produced an exhaustive account of the nuts and bolts of spying, he nevertheless has neglected to provide a more contextualized and meaningful depiction of intelligence operations during the conflict. His introduction includes far too much background on intelligence before the Revolution and does not establish a solid foundation for the reader to build on with the remaining chapters. The conclusion fails to bring the narrative together and infuse meaning, leaving the reader to guess at why it all matters. Moreover, Patriots and Loyalists, men and women, young and old, from many communities across the colonies served as covert operators during the conflict, but the stories of these individuals, their motivations, and the price they paid for their service are mostly absent in this book--the human side of the intelligence war lost in a sea of invisible ink. This work will appeal primarily to those interested in the purely operational end of intelligence work during the American Revolution--and they will not be disappointed. Those seeking the rest of the story, however, must look elsewhere.
WILLIAM B. FEIS
Buena Vista University
Feis, William B.
Dr. Benjamin Church. Spy: A Case of Espionage on the Eve of the American Revolution
American History. 48.6 (Feb. 2014): p71.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 World History Group, LLC
http://www.historynet.com/magazines/american_history
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Dr. Benjamin Church. Spy: A Case of Espionage on the Eve of the American Revolution by John A. Nagy (Westholme). Was he or wasn't he? Washington was sure he was, Church denied it until the ship carrying him into exile sank. Nagy has turned up some new and potentially damaging evidence.
QUOTE:
Nagy does not claim that his history of mutinies during the American Revolutionary War is exhaustive, but rather representative of hundreds of mutinous incidents, both large and small. ... For readers wanting just the unadorned facts, lots and lots of them, Rebellion in the Ranks will prove to be a satisfying volume
John A. Nagy. Rebellion in the Ranks: Mutinies of the American Revolution. (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2008. Pp. xix, 386, illustrations, appendix, notes, bibliography, index. Cloth, $29.95.) John A. Nagy does not claim that his history of mutinies during the American Revolutionary War is exhaustive, but rather representative of hundreds of mutinous incidents, both large and small. At the outset, he indi cates that "Hollywood history has led us to think that mutinies are strictly a naval event." However, states Nagy, "{glroups of men, usually armed, acting 3 7 o This content downloaded from 128.118.152.206 on Fri, 6 Feb 2015 11:02:41 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
in defiance of authority happened both on land and at sea" (xv). With the exception of two chapters that describe uprisings on patriot naval vessels, the bulk of this volume focuses on soldier mutinies, in most instances involving Continentals. At the outset, Nagy takes note that about six percent of all recorded patriot courts martial involved allegations of mutinous behavior. He observes that the largest-scale mutinies occurred later in the war when essential supplies, especially food and clothing, too often were lacking or non-existent. Early on, by comparison, mutinies were usually smaller in scale and involved some type of defiance toward command authority. Nagy s first chapter, "Break Open the Guardhouse," thus recounts command and control mutinies while eight chapters (65-166), more than a third of the text, narrate in some detail the famous uprising of the Pennsylvania line in January 1781. Other chapters look at mutinies during the southern campaigns of 1780-83, the threatened Newburgh Conspiracy coup of 1782-83, and a smattering of British and Hessian mutinies, among many other instances of insubordinate soldierly behavior during the Revolutionary War. In regard to primary sources, Nagy points out that surviving records are often not only incomplete but also make little or no distinction between what might be depicted as minor cases of soldierly disobedience and insubordina tion, on one hand, and more consequential acts of mutinous behavior, on the other hand. Rather than offering a clear definition of what he means by the term mutiny, Nagy seems to add to this descriptive muddle by not making basic distinctions among the large number of incidents that he presents, most of which fell well below the mark of forcible attempts to overturn constituted command authority. Had Nagy offered some form of a working definition, he might have saved his readers the annoyance of trying to separate so many trivial acts of disobedience from mutinous clashes serious enough to have affected the direction and outcomes of the Revolutionary War. With rare exception, such as the 1781 Pennsylvania line mutiny, readers will find themselves wading through incident after nasty incident in what is largely a catalogue-like listing of soldierly flare-ups, all with little attempt to construct some level of interpretive significance. Chapters rarely feature conclusions, and Nagy's closing remarks more or less repeat points made at the outset of the book. Certainly, the author has the prerogative to eschew analysis, but he could have offered his readers so much more had he consulted the published works of Charles Van Doren, Charles Neimeyer, Mark Edward Lender, Charles Royster, and others, including this reviewer, that have sought 3 7 / This content downloaded from 128.118.152.206 on Fri, 6 Feb 2015 11:02:41 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY to derive broader meaning from what all this soldierly protest and defiance meant in regard to comprehending the true character and nature of the American Revolution. In the old but worthy Dragnet television series, the late actor Jack Webb, playing Sergeant Joe Friday of the Los Angeles Police Department, would often repeat his famous investigatory phrase, "Just the Facts, Ma'am." For readers wanting just the unadorned facts, lots and lots of them, Rebellion in the Ranks will prove to be a satisfying volume. For those seeking something more, they might well begin with Van Doren's enduringly valuable Mutiny in January, originally published in 1943, and go forward from there. JAMES KIRBY MARTIN University of Houston
QUOTE:
While Revolutionary War officers referred to practically all of these offenses as mutinies, Nagy narrows his focus to direct threats of revolt and actual armed rebellions. The book contributes valuable information to the study of the American Revolution. ... Rebellion in the Ranks does present new information on naval mutinies and British and Hessian rebellions. Of value as well is the data assembled in the appendixes
2010.07.07
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Steven G. Gimber
Review of John A. Nagy, Rebellion in the Ranks: Mutinies of the American Revolution. Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2008. Pp. xix, 386. ISBN 978-1-59416-055-4.
In Rebellion in the Ranks, John A. Nagy, documents specialist and consultant for the University of Michigan's Clements Library,[1] provides new insights into the great difficulties of keeping state militias in continental service and of keeping the Continental Army and Navy in being. Military leaders had to forge an army from volunteer farmers, frontiersmen, shopkeepers, and tradesmen--mostly young men unaccustomed to taking orders from strangers trying to impose on them an unfamiliar discipline. Nagy stresses the incredible hardships that American forces faced both during and just after the conflict, hardships that pushed troops to the limits of human endurance. Irregular pay and a chronic lack of adequate clothing and food led to discipline problems that ranged from "mumbling" to insubordination and even organized uprisings. While Revolutionary War officers referred to practically all of these offenses as mutinies, Nagy narrows his focus to direct threats of revolt and actual armed rebellions. The book contributes valuable information to the study of the American Revolution, but it also includes some surprising errors.
Nagy has mined manuscript collections in the United States and Great Britain as well as some scholarly monographs to craft a vivid narrative. Particularly rewarding is the story of the Pennsylvania Line mutiny, the highlight of the book. Nagy brings this familiar tale alive with well-chosen, subtle detail.
January 1, 1781, was a quiet day of seasonable temperature. No one foresaw the eruption that would take place among the troops that night. A reorganization of the Continental Army had taken effect on New Year's Day. Everyone knew it meant some of the officers would be leaving as their jobs had been eliminated. Since it was the last time the officers of the regiment expected to be all together, they had an elegant regimental dinner and entertainment. All the officers were present partaking in the festivities…. The noncommissioned soldiers of the Pennsylvanians believed that this was going to be their last day together, and that was the main topic of conversation. The terms of their enlistments were up and they had not received any reenlistment bounty money or clothing. Adding to the unrest and discontent were copies of Sir Henry Clinton's proclamation offering free pardons to those who would return to the royal standard. These pardons would have been sneaked into the American camp over the weekend by British spies (77).
Nagy also includes chapters on mutinies in the Continental Navy, discussing the difficulty of maintaining shipboard discipline and order. Since many able-bodied seamen preferred to serve on privateers in hopes of capturing a ship and sharing in the prize money, the regular navy had problems locating recruits with the necessary maritime skills. One solution was to offer naval enlistments to captured British sailors or simply to impress them into the newly created U.S. Navy. Unsurprisingly, these reluctant sailors were often disrespectful and disloyal. Some even mutinied, took control of American vessels, and then sailed back to safe harbors in the British Isles where the ships and their cargos became prizes and their former shipmates became prisoners of war.
In an effort to make his work truly comprehensive, Nagy includes a chapter on armed uprisings among the British and their allies on land and sea. We learn that the sources of irritation and unrest among these men included insufficient supervision by officers, irregular pay, and poor equipment--some of the very same problems that beset American troops. Scottish Highlander regiments proved to be the most unruly in the British army, and American loyalist militiamen were frequent troublemakers. Although the German mercenaries in Britain's service were well-known for their military discipline, they too occasionally mutinied, but less often than soldiers from the British Isles and not in the colonial combat zone. Nagy also notes that most British mutinies took place in the United Kingdom, Europe, or in Atlantic or Caribbean waters, not North America. Like the U.S. Navy, the British also impressed captured enemy sailors, who at times staged shipboard rebellions. And, too, the "British Navy had a major desertion problem..." (286).
Nagy adds valuable appendixes that supply: dates, locations, causes of uprisings, and names of rebellious regiments or ships; additional information on the Pennsylvania Line mutiny; names of the rebels of the U.S. brig Cabot; the letter that circulated among Continental officers at Newburgh, New York, sparking the famous Newburgh Conspiracy; General Washington's address to those officers; and the 1783 proclamation by Elias Boudinot (then the President of Congress) regarding rebellious troops in Philadelphia and the relocation of the seat of government to Princeton, New Jersey. According to the data presented here, during the Revolution, fifty-six major mutinies occurred in the Continental Army, twenty-nine in the Continental Navy, and the same number among his majesty's troops.
Unfortunately, Rebellion in the Ranks contains many flaws. The bibliography omits significant works relevant to the subject. For example, Nagy makes no reference to Carl Van Doren's Mutiny in January,[2] the seminal work on the mutinies of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Line troops. Nor does he cite either significant articles in scholarly journals or any pertinent dissertations. These might have furnished useful information about soldiers' lives and behavior. Nagy offers little explanation for why there were fewer rebellions in the ranks of British troops than in those of their American counterparts. Might some English malcontents (and would-be mutiny leaders) have been distracted by rich pickings in America and thus too busy scrambling for booty to plot rebellions? Perhaps not, but a better knowledge of the existing scholarship could only have strengthened Nagy's thesis and the history he presents.[3]
The book also suffers from inadequate editing. The same information is repeated in different places. There is no indication of the relevance of (consequently) gratuitous and distracting information about ages, birthdays, birthplaces, civilian occupations, former residences, hair and eye color, promotions in rank, and property ownership. Thick description, as David Hackett Fischer[4] and David McCullough[5] have so ably demonstrated, can bring history to life, but the mere inclusion of factoids and trivia does not make for good historical writing. Why, for example, describe the handsome décor of Princeton University's Nassau Hall before the war (87-88) or devote paragraphs to the Dutch settlement of Staten Island and the English conquest and early administration of New York or to the origins of the village name "New Dorp" (121)? The surfeit of unnecessary detail only impairs clarity. Meanwhile, things that should be explained often are not: few readers will know that a "snow" is a small sailing vessel like a brig, normally used by merchants but sometimes serving as a warship (242).
Editorial defects are also conspicuous in pervasive grammatical and spelling errors, miscapitalizations, possessives in place of plurals, and an excess of the passive voice. Dates and times appear in a variety of formats, often on the same page.
Despite its slipshod scholarship and overabundant tangential material, Rebellion in the Ranks does present new information on naval mutinies and British and Hessian rebellions. Of value as well is the data assembled in the appendixes. But, sadly, a little attentive editing for both style and substance would have made this a much better book.
West Chester University
sgimber@wcupa.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] He is also the founder and president of the American Revolution Round Table of Philadelphia.
[2] NY: Viking, 1943.
[3] Stephen Conway, "'The Great Mischief Complain'd of': Reflections on the Misconduct of British Soldiers in the Revolutionary War," William and Mary Quarterly (1990) 370-90, would have been helpful here. Conway argues that British troops in the colonies posed discipline problems of another sort--they were fond of plundering.
[4] Paul Revere's Ride (NY: Oxford U Pr, 1994) and Washington's Crossing (NY: Oxford U Pr, 2004).
[5] 1776 (NY: Simon & Schuster, 2005).
QUOTE:
One intriguing, little-known facet of the first general of the Continental Army: his wholehearted embrace of the art of deception against the British. ... A knowledgeable study of Washington’s extensive 'bag of tricks to secure victory
GEORGE WASHINGTON'S SECRET SPY WAR
The Making of America's First Spymaster
by John A. Nagy
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KIRKUS REVIEW
One intriguing, little-known facet of the first general of the Continental Army: his wholehearted embrace of the art of deception against the British.
A cryptology specialist of the Colonial period, Nagy (Dr. Benjamin Church, Spy: A Case of Espionage on the Eve of the American Revolution, 2013, etc.), who died this year, found that the Founding Father famed for his inability to tell a lie actually embarked on wartime espionage “with childlike glee.” Working with a ragtag army that was no match for the professionalism of the enemy, Washington used espionage to “level the playing field and then exploit it to the best advantage possible.” He honed these skills as a young lieutenant colonel working for Gen. Edward Braddock in the war against the French, rebuffing French raiding parties and making allies with the Indians. As war against Britain became inevitable by 1775, Washington, now the Virginia “gentleman farmer” chosen by the Continental Congress to “lead the mob of Massachusetts malcontents surrounding Boston,” needed spies to infiltrate British ranks in Boston so he could be prepared for their attacks. One of his methods was to use the observances of local fisherman. Uncovering spies for the British presented another problem—e.g., the revelation of Massachusetts revolutionary leader Dr. Benjamin Church Jr.’s traitorous cipher; he had apparently been playing both sides. On the other hand, an important seeker of intelligence on British positions in New York, young Nathan Hale was caught and hanged by the British as a spy. Washington fed false information to British spies, prepared a standardized set of questions to root out real spies, used misdirection in attacking the British, and promoted the ingenious fabrication of invisible ink. Over several chapters, Nagy effectively lays out Washington’s “Deception Battle Plan”—i.e., obscuring where exactly he would attack New York City in 1781, a plan similarly executed so many years later in Operation Overlord (1944) and in Operation Desert Storm (1990-1991).
A knowledgeable study of Washington’s extensive “bag of tricks” to secure victory.
Pub Date: Sept. 20th, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-250-09681-4
Page count: 384pp
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 4th, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15th, 2016
QUOTE:
Deception was an espionage weapon that Washington frequently wielded. Nagy tells of one that started when Washington sent Major General Benedict Arnold in Philadelphia a draft of a proclamation, in French and aimed at French-speaking Canadians. ... Nagy adeptly weaves together the battles in the visible Revolutionary War and the covert actions in the spy war, with George Washington the commander-in-chief of both.
George Washington’s Secret Spy War: The Making of America’s First Spymaster
By John A. Nagy St. Martin’s Press 384 pp.
Reviewed by Thomas B. Allen
October 24, 2016
A little-known history of deception, invisible ink, and other clandestine operations during the Revolutionary War.
In George Washington’s Secret Spy War, John A. Nagy has performed a public service by showing that spying during the Revolutionary War was not as thrilling — or as visible — as it is depicted in fiction. The Culper Spy Ring, portrayed on TV as the supreme espionage organization of the war, for example, was Washington’s “fourth and overcredited spy ring,” Nagy writes. He looks beyond episodes of spycraft to seek out and appraise the roles of intelligence and counterintelligence in a long war that had few American military victories.
Nagy’s scrupulous research has unearthed “hundreds of spies who went behind enemy lines to gather intelligence.” Not all of them in this book, but there are so many that some vanish from the narrative and hide out in long endnotes. (Don’t miss the endnotes!)
Others appear in paragraphs that require a re-read to sort out who is spying or counter-spying on whom and which side each one is on. There are spies, moles, double agents, and even a suspected triple agent. There is also a family full of spies, some on one side, some on the other. It’s easy to understand why Major George Beckwith, the British spymaster in America, said after the war, “Washington did not really outfight the British; he simply outspied us!”
General Washington was also Spymaster Washington, who personally ran spies and folded into his strategy the information that spies delivered — often directly to him. Washington had a sophisticated appreciation of the role that treachery plays in espionage. Describing the ideal spy, he said he favored a mole reporting from inside the foe’s forces rather than an agent sent into the foe’s camp. “The greatest benefits,” he wrote, “are to be derived from persons who live with the other side…It is with such I have endeavored to establish correspondence, and on whose reports I shall most rely.”
Nathan Hale, sent behind the enemy lines on his first mission, was arrested and hanged without a trial after trusting a British officer who boldly posed as a fellow American spy. Nagy, writing about Hale, says, “There is no evidence that Washington had ever met him. Washington, with his attention to detail, would have provided him with guidance to trust no one.”
Nagy begins by recounting Washington’s first encounter with espionage as a young Virginia militia officer on the eve of the French and Indian War. His 900-mile trek beyond the Alleghenies produced a highly detailed report confirming the French expansion on Virginia’s western frontier. The report, published as The Journal of Major Washington, made him famous in America and in Britain. His next journey into the wilderness would bring on the war and put him on the path that would lead to his congressional appointment to command of the Continental Army.
Directing an army that was formed of outnumbered, outgunned citizen-soldiers, he saw the value of becoming a self-taught expert on clandestine warfare. One of his specialties was invisible ink, which he learned to produce, use, and carefully dole out. He also learned how to encrypt and decrypt messages from agents and opponents.
Deception was an espionage weapon that Washington frequently wielded. Nagy tells of one that started when Washington sent Major General Benedict Arnold in Philadelphia a draft of a proclamation, in French and aimed at French-speaking Canadians. The draft urged the Canadians to ally themselves with French troops who were going to join with the Continental Army force in an imminent invasion of Canada.
Washington ordered Arnold to find a printer who would make 500 copies of the document. Washington’s aim was to get the proclamation into the hands of Canadians and British spies, starting rumors of an invasion and leading General Henry Clinton, British commander-in-chief, to react with strategy based on disinformation.
In a twist that sounds like a TV script, Arnold was already negotiating his treason with British intelligence contacts. He informed Howe’s chief intelligence officer about the proclamation, apparently to show his newborn allegiance to Britain.
When Nagy describes typical steps involved in a traditional deception plan, he veers off to describe similar strategies used during World War II and in Operation Desert Storm. Although it may be interesting to know about the durability of deception as strategy, it is an odd and distracting diversion in an otherwise sound and authoritative narrative.
Washington’s crowning distraction was a multifaceted series of moves — repairing a northward road or building boats for an amphibious landing. He was producing a façade that indicated a looming strike at British-occupied Staten Island. The invasion force that was forming included French reinforcements who had arrived from Rhode Island. Washington knew he could make his real move after receiving an intelligence report saying that the British “have been throwing troops upon Staten Island.”
Of the distraction operation, which shielded the American-French march southward, Nagy writes, “[It] led to the eventual surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown and…the ultimate victory over the most powerful military of its day.”
Nagy adeptly weaves together the battles in the visible Revolutionary War and the covert actions in the spy war, with George Washington the commander-in-chief of both.
Thomas B. Allen is the author of George Washington, Spymaster; Tories: Fighting for the King in America’ First Civil War; and Spy Book: the Encyclopedia of Espionage (co-authored with Norman Polmar).
QUOTE:
Nagy ... has produced a valuable source book on intelligence during the American Revolution and a good read
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Dr. Benjamin Church, Spy’
Print
By Joseph C. Goulden - Special to The Washinton Times - - Monday, April 28, 2014
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
DR. BENJAMIN CHURCH, SPY: A CASE OF ESPIONAGE ON THE EVE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
By John A. Nagy
Westholme Publishing, $24.95, 211 pages
No less an authority than the American Revolution historian Thomas Fleming calls Dr. Benjamin Samuel Church Jr. “the least known and most dangerous spy in American history.”
Surely he was in a position to do grave harm to the fight for independence from the British. As John Nagy writes, Church was “one of the most admired and respected patriots in Massachusetts,” on a par with John and Samuel Adams and John Hitchcock. He served “on almost every committee of importance” and was the on-site political leader in the state.
In terms of position, Church inarguably was the most important American spy ever, for his treachery could have led to the loss of the war that created the United States. By comparison, such spies as Alger Hiss of the State Department, Aldrich Ames of the CIA and Robert Hanssen of the FBI were mere spear-carriers.
So renowned was Church as a physician that the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia in June 1775, appointed him director of the first American army hospital in Cambridge, Mass. The position “gave him unlimited access to American military facilities and knowledge of the readiness of American forces.” Much of his value as a spy for the British stemmed from this appointment.
At first blush, Church seemed the archetypal American revolutionary. Born into a politically active Boston family, Church studied medicine at Harvard and then in London, where he married a British woman.
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As a young man, he achieved some fame as a prolific writer of poetry and satire while pursuing a medical career. His most prominent public performance as a rebel came when he was chosen to deliver the oration at a memorial service for victims of the notorious Boston Massacre.
Church’s other activities seemed suspicious, especially his close association with two Loyalists, a retired English captain and a customs commissioner. Church replied that he was trying to find their views on new taxes. Perhaps. Mr. Nagy suggests they could have been couriers for intelligence reports to the British.
The author posits that Church turned traitor because of money. He spent lavishly, building an expensive summer home, then a house in “an upscale section of Boston filled with the elegant homes of the rich.” He appealed to the royal governor, Thomas Hutchinson, for money for a maritime hospital.
Did funds change hands? Mr. Nagy quotes a letter written by Hutchinson in January 1772, “the Doctor Church is now a writer on the side of Government.” Hutchinson also indicated that Church was paid for writing anonymous papers for the government. He seemed to have a steady supply of British gold coin.
Meanwhile, through Gen. George Washington’s counterintelligence officers, the rebels came to suspect that the British governor general, Thomas Gage, was privy to secrets from their camp, including near-verbatim reports of what was said at meetings of an intelligence cell at the Green Tavern.
At the time, nothing pointed to Church, but papers found years later in Gage’s files — most of them labeled “intelligence” — revealed the vast scope of Church’s spying. In letters to Gage, Church repeatedly expressed his loyalty to the Crown, all the while publicly posturing as an enthusiastic revolutionary patriot. “May I never see the day when I shall not dare to call myself a British American,” he wrote in one letter to Gage.
Church’s downfall came when he entrusted a letter to his pregnant mistress, Mary Wenwood (a sometime prostitute, as well) for delivery to a British officer. Not the most intelligent of women, Wenwood unwisely asked her former husband to help her find the officer. When he saw that the letter was written in cipher, he became alarmed, and in due course it was forwarded up the rebel chain of command to Washington.
A cryptographer quickly deciphered the letter, which contained “intelligence of a black and treacherous nature,” details on rebel recruitment and supplies (noting, for instance, that “twenty tons of powder are now in camp”).
Washington brought Wenwood in for questioning. As he wrote to Congress, “For a long time she was proof against every threat and persuasion to discover the author.” However, after four hours, during which “she was terrified by the threats of severe punishment she was brought to confession.” She named Church as the author, and he was quickly arrested.
Brought before a military council, Church admitted writing the letter, but he claimed he was innocent, “that he was trying to impress the enemy of the size of the American army, when it was in great need of ammunition in order to prevent an attack.” He failed. The council voted unanimously that Church “had carried on a criminal correspondence.”
The news of Church’s treachery stunned friends. John Adams scorned a man “who grossly violates the principles of morals.” He and others feared the treachery could demoralize the revolution. James Warren denounced Church for “having formed an infamous connection, with an infamous hussy to the disgrace of his own reputation, and probable ruin of his family.”
Because of confused language in the articles of war concerning punishment, Washington chose to let the Massachusetts House of Representatives decide what to do with Church. Once again, he professed innocence. Once again, he was convicted, in November 1775. The House voted to hold him in close confinement indefinitely.
After protracted negotiations, a deal was struck in 1778 to exchange Church for Dr. James McHenry, a surgeon held by the British. In February, he boarded the sloop Welcome for transport to British custody on the island now known as Martinique. The ship vanished at sea, and naught was heard of Church again.
His wife went to England, where she claimed a pension on the grounds “that her husband was a spy.” The Crown granted her 150 pounds a year, later reduced to 100 pounds.
Mr. Nagy, a professor at St. Francis University in Pennsylvania, has produced a valuable source book on intelligence during the American Revolution and a good read.
Joseph C. Goulden is the author of 18 nonfiction books.