Benjamin Tallmadge

Benjamin Tallmadge (February 25, 1754 – March 7, 1835) was an American military officer, spymaster, and politician. He is best known for his service as an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He acted as leader of the Culper Ring during the war, a celebrated network of spies in New York where major British forces were based. He also led a successful raid across Long Island that culminated in the Battle of Fort St. George. After the war, Tallmadge was elected to the US House of Representatives as a member of the Federalist Party. Early life Tallmadge was born February 25, 1754, the son of Susannah Smith (1729–1768) and Rev. Benjamin Tallmadge Sr. (1725–1786), a clergyman in Setauket, New York, a hamlet of the Town of Brookhaven, New York, on Long Island. He graduated from Yale in 1773, where he was a member of Brothers in Unity and was a classmate and close friend of the American Revolutionary War spy Nathan Hale. He also served as superintendent of Wethersfield High School from 1773 to 1776. American Revolutionary War Tallmadge was a major in the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons and was initially commissioned on June 20, 1776. He was given the position of director of military intelligence by George Washington after Nathaniel Sackett was relieved of his duties because he did not gain any ground from the enemy. Tallmadge was in charge of bringing intelligence from British-controlled New York to the Continental army, and he did so by assembling a network of spies known as the Culper Ring, with the help of Abraham Woodhull and Robert Townsend.