Chapter V: Secret Service

Another part of Henry Ludington’s services to his country during the Revolution was intimately connected with that little known underworld of the Secret Service—the men who take their lives in their hands perhaps more perilously than the soldier in the open field, who have no stimulus of martial glory, who receive no public recognition, and whose very names are doomed to obscurity. A recent work of fiction, one of the best “historical novels” of our day—“The Reckoning,” by Mr. Robert W. Chambers—gives a singularly dramatic and convincing picture of the work of a Patriot spy in New York City in the Revolution, doing work which was hateful to him and yet which was of the highest importance to Washington himself. It is a picture as true as it is graphic. An earlier work dealing with the same phase of Patriot service, “The Spy,” of Fenimore Cooper, has long been familiar to the American public, and it has generally been assumed that its hero, “Harvey Birch,” was an actual character, drawn from life; even more closely than the genius of “The Pilot” was drawn from the illustrious Paul Jones. Such indeed was the case, and with the original of “Harvey Birch,” Enoch Crosby, Colonel Ludington was intimately associated. Indeed, because of his familiarity with the borderland between the British and American lines, and also because of his knowledge and judgment of men, his discretion, and his known trustworthiness, Colonel Ludington was selected, by Washington’s instructions, to choose the man or men who should do the secret service of the Patriot cause within the British lines at New York, and to make the needed arrangements for his dispatch and for maintaining communication with him.

(Original paper in possession of Charles H. Ludington, New York City.)]

Accordingly we find Nathaniel Sackett, of whom mention has already been made, addressing to Colonel Ludington this significant letter:

Sir

you will proceed on inquiring for a proper person to Remove
into the City of New York. in your enquiry you are not to make
any use of my name to any Person, but let it appear to be an
act of your own unless you find one that in your opinion and
skill is possessed of abilitys to carry a secret matter into
Execution. upon your finding such a Person and his consenting
to Remove into the city you will then desire him to come with
you immediately to me, and you will enjoin secrecy upon and
direct him not to mention either his business or my name to any
Person. any Person that you may converse with in a confidential
manner, you will Lay them under the strongest Bonds of secrecy
in your Power. and lastly you will conduct the whole Business
with the utmost secrecy in your Power and disclose only such
parts as you may find absolutely necessary for procuring a
proper Person to be imployed for Secret Purposes and will
actually Remove to the City of New York.

I am Sir your humble Servt.

NATHL. SACKETT.

Frederick Burgh Precinct, Feby. 14th, 1777.

To Colonel Henry Ludington Esqr.

The purport of this was unmistakable. Colonel Ludington was to find some one to serve as a spy in New York, and he was to do it with such prudence and tact that nobody but himself would seem responsible for the negotiations until they had proceeded far enough to give assurance of the fitness and trustworthiness of the man selected for the work. Colonel Ludington proceeded promptly with the undertaking, and with commendable caution, as the following document shows:

I do most solemnly swear by Almighty God Who Liveth forever and
ever that I will well and Truly keep every matter and thing
Committed to my Charge by Henry Ludington Esqr a profound
secret, and that I will not Directly or indirectly either by
words or actions signs or Tokens or by any other ways or means
whatever disclose or divulge the same to any manner of Person
or Persons whatever.

Benajah Tubbs.

Sworn before me Feb. 23, 1777.

Benajah Tubbs was a well-approved military comrade of Colonel Ludington’s, as appears from the records. In the Correspondence of the Provincial Congress of New York there appears a communication from the Dutchess County Committee of Safety, under date of January 3, 1776, recommending Benajah Tubbs to be adjutant of “the regiment of militia lately commanded by Beverly Robinson, Esq.,” together with Henry Ludington as 2nd major and John Kaine as colonel. The extent of Tubbs’s services as a secret agent of the Revolutionary government does not appear, nor is it at this time possible to ascertain how many and what other men were selected by Colonel Ludington for such perilous errands. The career of Enoch Crosby is, however, a matter of specific and exact record. It is to be found related not only in the fascinating pages of Cooper, but also in various affidavits made by Crosby himself, and others who knew him, at the time of his application for a pension for his services. These papers, which have been transcribed from the originals by Mr. Patrick, are in chief as follows:

State of N. Y. |
Co. Putnam. |ss.

On this 15th day of October in the year 1832 personally
appeared before the Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Jail
Delivery of the said County of Putnam, Enoch Crosby, of the
town of South East in the Co. of Putnam and State of New York,
aged 82 years, who being duly sworn according to law doth on
his oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the
benefit of the Act of Congress passed June 7, 1832:

That he entered the service of the U. S. under the following
named officers and served as herein stated:

That in the month of April or the fore part of May, 1775, he
enlisted in the town of Danbury in the State of Connecticut
into Captain Noble Benedict’s Co. in Col. Waterbury’s Regt. of
troops to defend the country for 8 mos service. The regiment
met at Greenwich in Ct., staid there two or three months, then
went to N. Y. under Genl. Wooster. Staid in N. Y. a few weeks.
The Regt. was then carried to Albany in sloops & went directly
to Half Moon, was there a few days. Went thence to Ticonderoga,
where the batteauxs furnished which were to convey them
further. Genl. Schuyler had the command of the Isle aux Nois,
when Genl. S. being unwell, Genl. Montgomery had the command.
The declarant went off to St. John which being by us at time
besieged by the Americans in about 5 weeks surrendered and the
fort was taken. The decl. then went to Montreal, that he came
from there with Col. Waterbury’s regt to Albany, and having
served the eight mos. was at that place (Albany) permitted to
leave the regt. and return home, and that he had no written
discharge. And this dec. further says that in the latter part
of the mo. of Aug., 1776, he enlisted into the regt. commanded
by Col. Swartwout in Fredericksburgh, now Kent, in the County
of Putnam and started to join the army at Kingsbridge. The co.
had left F. before declarant started & he started alone after
his said enlistment & on his way at a place in Westchester Co.
about 2 miles from Pine’s Bridge he fell in company with a
stranger who accosted him & asked him if he was going _down_.
Decl. replied he was. The stranger then asked if decl. was
not afraid to venture alone, and said there were many rebels
below and he would meet with difficulty in getting down. The
decl. perceived from the observation of the stranger that he
supposed the decl. intended to go to the British, and willing
to encourage that misapprehension and turn it to the best
advantage he asked if there was any mode which he the stranger
could point out by which the decl. could get through safely.
The stranger being satisfied the decl. was willing to join the
British Army told him that there was a company raising in that
county to join the British Army, that was nearly completed
and in a few days would be ready to go down and that dec.
had better join that co. and go down with them. The stranger
finally gave to decl. his name, it was Bunker, and told the
decl. where and shewed the house in which he lived and also
told him that ⸺ Fowler was to be the Captain of the Co. then
raising, and ⸺ Kipp Lieut. After having learned this much from
Bunker the Decl. told him he was unwilling to wait until the
Co. could be ready to march and would try and get through, and
parted from him on his way down and continued until night, when
he stopped at the house of a man who was called Esy Young, and
put up there for the night. In the course of conversation with
Esy Young in the evening decl. learned that he was a member
of the Com. of Safety for the County of Westchester, and then
communicated to him the information he had obtained from Mr.
Bunker. Esy Young requested the decl. to accompany him the next
morning to the White Plains in Westchester Co. as the Com. of
Safety for the Co. were on that day to meet at the Court House
in that place. The next morning the decl. in company with
Esy Young went to the White Plains and found the Com. there
sitting. After Esy Young had had an interview with the Com. the
decl. was sent for and went before the Com. then sitting in
the Court Room and there communicated the information he had
obtained from Bunker. The Com. after learning the situation
of decl. that he was a soldier enlisted in Col. Swartwout’s
regiment and on his way to join it engaged to write to the
Col. and explain why he did not join it, if he would consent
to aid in the apprehension of the company then raising. It was
by all thought best that he should not join the regiment but
should act in a different character, as he could thus be more
useful to his country. He was accordingly announced to Capt.
Townsend, who was then at the White Plains commanding a company
of Rangers, as a prisoner and the Captain was directed to keep
him until further orders.

In the evening after he was placed as a prisoner by Capt.
Townsend he made an excuse to go out and was accompanied by
a soldier, over a fence into a piece of corn then nearly or
quite full grown. As soon as he was out of sight of the soldier
he made the best of his way from the soldier and when the
soldier hailed him to return he was almost beyond hearing.
An alarm gun was fired but decl. was far from danger. In the
course of the night the decl. reached the house of the said
Bunker, who got up and let him in. Decl. then related to Bunker
the circumstances of his having been taken prisoner, of his
going before the Com. at the Court House, of being put under
the charge of Capt. Townsend, and of his escape; that he had
concluded to avail himself of the protection of the Co. raising
in his neighborhood to get down. The next morning Bunker went
with decl. and introduced him as a good loyalist to several of
the Co. Decl. remained some days with different individuals
of the Co. and until it was about to go down, when the decl.
went one night to the house of Esy Young to give information
of the state and progress of the Co. The distance was four or
five miles from Bunker’s. At the house of Esy Young decl. found
Capt. Townsend with a great part of his Co., and after giving
the information he returned to the neighborhood of Bunker,
and that night decl. with a great part of the Co. which was
proposing to go down were made prisoners. The next day all of
them, about 30 in numbers, were marched to the White Plains
and remained there several days, a part of the time locked
up in jail with the other prisoners. The residue of the time
he was with the Com. The prisoners were finally ordered to
Fishkill in the Co. of Dutchess, where the State Convention
was then sitting. The decl. went as a prisoner to Fishkill.
Capt. Townsend with his Co. of Rangers took charge of the Co.
at Fishkill. A Com. for Detecting Conspiracies was sitting,
composed of John Jay, afterwards Gov. of N. Y., Zephaniah
Platt, afterwards first Judge of Dutchess Co., Col. Duer of the
Co. of Albany, and a Mr. Sackett. The decl. was called before
that Com., who understood the character of the decl. and the
nature of his services. This the Com. must have learned either
from Capt. Townsend or from the Com. at White Plains. The decl.
was examined under oath and his examination reduced to writing.
The prisoners with decl. were kept whilst decl. remained at
Fishkill in a building which had been occupied as a Hatter’s
shop, and they were guarded by a Co. of Rangers commanded by
Capt. Clark. The decl. remained about a week at Fishkill, when
he was bailed by Jonathan Hopkins. This was done to cover
the character in which the decl. acted. Before the decl. was
bailed the Fishkill Com. had requested him to continue in
this service, and on decl. mentioning the fact of his having
enlisted in Col. Swartwout’s company and the necessity there
was of his joining it, he was informed that he should be
indemnified from that enlistment, that they would write to the
Col. and inform him that decl. was in their service.

The Com. then wished decl. to undertake a secret service over
the river. He was furnished with a secret pass which was
accordingly signed by the Com., which is now lost, and directed
to go to the house of Nicholas Brauns, near the mouth of the
Wappinger’s Creek, who would take him across the river, and
there to proceed to the house of John Russell, about ten miles
from the river, and make such inquiries and discoveries as he
could. He proceeded according to directions to said Brauns and
from thence to John Russell, and there hired himself to said
Russell to work for him, but for no definite time. This was a
neighborhood of Loyalists and it was expected that a company
was there raising but was not completed. Before decl. left
Russell on this service a time was fixed for him to recross
the river and give information to some one of the Com. who was
to meet him. This time having arrived and the Co. not being
completed the decl. recrossed the river and met Zephaniah
Platt, one of the Com., and gave him all the information he
had obtained. Decl. was directed to recross the river to the
neighborhood of Russell and on a time fixed again to meet the
Com. on the east side of the river. Decl. returned to Russell’s
neighborhood, soon became intimate with the Loyalists, was
introduced to Capt. Robinson, said to be an English officer
and who was to command the Co. then raising. Capt. Robinson
occupied a cave in the mountains, and decl. having agreed to
go with the Co. was invited and accepted of the invitation to
lodge with Robinson in the cave. They slept together nearly
a week in the cave, and the time for the Co. to start having
been fixed and the route designated to pass Severn’s to Bush
Carrick’s, where they were to stop the first night. The time
for starting having arrived before the appointed time to
meet the Com. on the east side of the river, the decl. in
order to get an opportunity to convey information to Fishkill
recommended that each man should the night before they started
sleep where he chose, and that each should be by himself, for
if they should be discovered that night together all would be
taken, which would be avoided if they were separated. The
proposition was acceded to, and when they separated decl.
not having time to go to Fishkill, and as the only and as it
appeared the best means of giving information was to go to Mr.
Purdy, who was a stranger to decl. and all he knew of him was
that the Tories called him a wicked rebel and said he ought
to die. Decl. went and found said Purdy and informed him of
the situation of affairs, of the time the Co. was to start,
and the place which they were to stop the first night, and
requested him to go to Fishkill and give the information to
the Com. Purdy assured the decl. that the information should
be given. Decl. returned to Russell’s and lodged in his house.
The following evening the Co. assembled, consisting about 30
men, and started from Russell’s house, which was in the town
of Marlborough, County of Ulster, for N. Y., and in the course
of the night arrived at Bush Carrick’s, and went into the barn
to lodge after taking refreshments. Before morning the barn
was surrounded by American troops, and the whole company,
including Capt. Robinson, were made prisoners. The troops who
took the company prisoners were commanded by Capt. Melancthon
Smith, who commanded a company of Rangers at Fishkill. His Co.
crossed the river to perform this service. Col. Duer was with
Capt. Smith’s Co. on this expedition. The prisoners including
decl. were marched to Fishkill & confined in the stone church,
in which there was near two hundred prisoners. After remaining
one night in the church the Com. sent for decl. and told him
it was unsafe for him to remain with the prisoners as the
least suspicion of the course he had pursued would be fatal
to him, and advised him to leave the village of Fishkill and
to remain where they could call on him if his services should
be wanted. Decl. went to the house of a Dutchman, a farmer,
whose name is forgotten, about five miles from the village of
Fishkill, and there went to work making shoes. After decl.
had made arrangements for working at shoes, he informed Mr.
Sackett, one of the Com., where he could be found if he should
be wanted. In about a week decl. recd. a letter from the Com.,
requesting him to meet one of the Com. at the house of Dr.
Osborn, about one mile from Fishkill. Decl. according to the
request went to the house of Dr. Osborn, and soon after John
Jay came there, enquired for the Dr., who was absent, enquired
for medicine, but found none he wanted. He came out of the
house and went to his horse, near which decl. stood, and as
he passed he said in a low voice “It won’t do, there are too
many around. Return to your work.” Decl. went back and went to
work at shoes, but within a day or two was again notified and a
horse sent to him, requiring him to go to Bennington in Vt. and
from there westerly to a place called Maloonscock, and there
call on Hazard Wilcox, a Tory of much notoriety, and ascertain
if anything was going on there injurious to the common cause.
Decl. followed his instructions, found Wilcox, but could not
learn that any secret measure was then projected against the
interest of the country. At that place learned from Wilcox a
list of persons friendly to the British cause, who could be
safely trusted, from that place quite down to the south part
of Dutchess County. Decl. followed directions of said Wilcox
and called on different individuals by him mentioned, but
could discover nothing of importance, until he reached the
town of Pawlings in Dutchess County, where he called upon a
Dr. whose name he thinks was Prosser, and informed him that he
wished to go below but was fearful of some trouble. The Dr.
informed him there was a Co. raising in that vicinity to go to
N. Y. to join the British army, that the Captain’s name was
Sheldon, that he had been down and got a commission, that he,
Prosser, was doctoring the Lieut., whose name was Chase, that
if decl. would wait a few days he could safely go down with
that Co., that he could stay about the neighborhood and should
be informed when the Co. was ready, that decl. remained in that
vicinity, became acquainted with several of the persons who
were going with that Co., was acquainted with Lieut. Chase,
but never saw the Capt. to form any acquaintance with him.
The season had got so far advanced that the Co. was about to
start to join the enemy to be ready for an early campaign
in 1777. It was about the last of Feb. of that year when a
plan was fixed and also a time for meeting. It was situated
half a mile from the road and about 3 miles from a house then
occupied by Col. Morehouse, a militia Col. After the time was
fixed for the meeting of Capt. Sheldon’s Co., the deponent
went in the night to Col. Morehouse & informed him of the
situation, of the Co., of the time appointed for meeting, of
the place, etc., and Morehouse informed decl. that they should
be attended to. The decl. remained almost one month in this
neighborhood, and once in the time met Mr. Sackett, one of the
Com., at Col. Ludington’s, and apprised him what was going
on, and was to have given the Com. intelligence when the Co.
was to march, but the shortness of the time between the final
arrangement and the time of starting was such that decl. was
obliged to give the information to Col. Morehouse. The Co.,
consisting of about 30, met at the time and place appointed,
and after they had been there an hour or two two young men of
the Co. came in & said there was a gathering under arms at Old
Morehouse’s. The inquiry became general, What could it mean?
Was there any traitor in the Company? The Captain soon called
one or two of the Company out of the door for the purpose of
private conversation about the situation, & very soon decl.
heard the cry “Stand! Stand!” Those out the door ran, but were
soon met by a Co. coming from a different direction, they were
taken, the house surrounded & the Co. all made prisoners. The
Col. then ordered them to be tied together two by two. They
came to decl. and he urged to be excused from going as he was
lame and could not travel. The Col. replied “You shall go,
dead or alive, & if no other way you shall be carried on the
horse with me.” The rest were marched off & decl. put onto the
horse with Col. Morehouse and when the prisoners were marched
into the house the decl. with the permission of Morehouse left
them and made the best of his way to Col. Ludington’s and
there informed him about daylight in the morning. From thence
he went to Fishkill to the house of Dr. Van Wyck where John
Jay boarded, and there informed him of all the occurrences on
that northern expedition. Said Jay requested decl. to come
before the Com. the next night, when they would be ready to
receive him. He accordingly went before the Com., where he
declared under oath all that had occurred since he had seen
them. The Com. then directed him to go to the house of Col. Van
Ness in Albany County, and there take directions from him. He
went to Van Ness’s house and was directed by him to go north,
but decl. cannot tell the place. The duty was performed, but
nothing material discovered further than that the confiscation
of the personal property of the Tories and leasing of their
lands had a great tendency to discourage them from joining
the British army. Decl. then returned to Po’keepsie, where
Egbert Benson and Melancthon Smith entered in the room of the
Fishkill Com. There was no more business in that town in which
they wished to employ decl., and he being apprehensive that a
longer continuance in that employment would be dangerous & the
time for which he enlisted in Col. Swartwout’s regiment having
expired, he came home with the approbation of the Com.

This was about the last of May, 1777, and in the course of the
fall, after decl. saw Col. Swartwout at his house in Fishkill
& then talked over the subject of this employment of the decl.
by the Com. & the Col. told decl. that he had drawn his pay the
same as if he had been with the Reg’t, that the Paymaster of
the Reg’t lived in the town of Hurley in Ulster Co. Decl. went
to the Paymaster and rec’d his pay for nine months’ service or
for the term for which the regiment was raised. The decl. was
employed in the secret service for a period of full 9 months.

This decl. further says that in the year 1779 in the month of
May he enlisted in a company commanded by Captain Jonah Hallett
for six months. Decl. enlisted as a Sergeant in said Hallett’s
Co. The term of enlistment was performed on the lines in the
Co. of Westchester, moving from place to place to guard the
country and to detect Tories; that the Co. continued in this
service until after Stony Point was taken by Genl. Wayne &
abandoned & also reoccupied & abandoned by the English troops,
when the Co. was ordered over the river & joined the regiment
at Stony Point and continued there in making preparations for
building a block house until the time of the expiration of the
service, when the Co. was ordered to march to Po’keepsie to be
discharged by the Governor. When they arrived the Governor was
absent, the Co. was billetted out & decl. was billetted upon
the family of Dr. Tappen. After remaining a day or two and
the Governor not arriving they were discharged. During this
service in Westchester Co. the following occurrence took place:
A British vessel lay at anchor near Tiller’s Point & a party
of sailors & marines came on shore & marched a short distance
from the water, where a party of our men got between them &
the water & made them prisoners. They were marched to the
place where the Co. lay a little east of Tiller’s Point. The
number of prisoners decl. thinks was 12 and the captors 6. The
prisoners were afterward sent to Po’keepsie.

The decl. further says that in the month of May in the year
1780 he again enlisted for 6 months in a Co. commanded by
Capt. Ludington in Col. Benschoten’s Regt. He entered as a
Sergeant in the town of Fredericksburgh, now the town of Kent,
Putnam Co. The Regt. assembled at Fishkill & marched to West
Point & remained there a few days, some 10 or 15. A call was
made for troops to fill up the Brigade or Brigades under the
command of General De La Fayette and they were to be raised
by drafts or volunteers. A call was made for volunteers and
decl. with others volunteered & made a Co. which was put under
Capt. Daniel Delavan. The decl. continued to be a Sergeant in
Delavan’s Co. Col. Philip Van Courtland commanded the Regt. to
which Capt. Delavan’s Co. was attached. Soon after the Co. was
formed they crossed the river from West Point and marched to
Peekskill, where they remained one night, the next day marched
to Verplanck’s Point and crossed over to Stony Point, & from
thence made the best of their way to New Jersey where they
remained until late in the fall, when the time of enlistment
having expired they were discharged, after having fully and
faithfully performed the service of 6 months for which he
enlisted. During the campaign in New Jersey Major André was
arrested, condemned & executed. Several of the soldiers of
Capt. Delavan’s Co. went to see him executed. The decl. was
Sergeant of the guard that day & could not go to see the
execution.

The decl. further says that he has no documentary evidence of
his service and that he knows of no person who can testify to
his services other than those whose depositions are hereto
annexed. The decl. hereby relinquishes every claim to a pension
or annuity except the present & declares that his name is not
on the pension roll agency of any State. The decl. was born in
a place called Harwich in the County of Barnstable and State of
Mass. in the year 1750. The decl. has a record of his age. The
decl. was living in the town of Danbury in the State of Conn
when he enlisted in the service, that service the Revolutionary
War. The decl. has resided in the State of New York in what is
now the Co. of Putnam, formerly Co. of Dutchess, & now lives in
the same Co. & on the same farm where he has lived for the last
50 years. The decl. always volunteered in every enlistment & to
perform all the service which he performed as detailed in this
declaration. That the decl. was acquainted with the following
officers who were with the troops where he served: Genl.
Schuyler, Gen. Montgomery, Gen. Wooster, Col. Waterbury, Col.
Holmes, Gen. De La Fayette, Gen. Poor, Col. Van Courtland, Col.
Benschoten, Col. Ludington. The decl. never rec’d. any written
discharge & if he ever received a Sergeant’s warrant it is
through time or accident lost or destroyed. This decl. is known
to Samuel Washburn, a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the
Co. of Putnam; Beneah Y. Morse, a clergyman in his neighborhood
and who he believes can testify to his character for veracity &
good behavior & thus belief of his services as a Soldier of the
Revolution.

ENOCH CROSBY.

Sworn to & Subscribed this day and year aforesaid;

I. Morehouse, Clerk of said Court.

Appended to this declaration were affidavits of Judge Washburn and the Rev. Mr. Morse, confirming so far as their knowledge extended the statements of Enoch Crosby. There were also similar affidavits of Timothy Wood, Jabez Berry, and Daniel Crawford, who had been fellow soldiers with Crosby in the war.

Enough has been said already to indicate the intimate relations which existed between Crosby and Colonel Ludington. While the spy was on service in Dutchess County, in connection with Prosser and his company, he was a frequent visitor at Ludington’s house, and often lay hidden securely there while Tories were searching for him. (Between Prosser and Colonel Ludington, by the way, as we shall presently see, a peculiarly bitter personal feud existed.) Colonel Ludington’s daughters, Sibyl and Rebecca, were also privy to Crosby’s doings, and had a code of signals, by means of which they frequently admitted him in secrecy and safety to the house, where he was fed and lodged. In addition to Crosby and to Benajah Tubbs, who was mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, Colonel Ludington furnished numerous other members of the Secret Service from the ranks of his own regiment, and was himself the recipient of their clandestine reports, some of which were transmitted by him to the Committee of Safety and some to the headquarters of General Washington.