Benjamin Tallmadge

Benjamin Tallmadge (born February 25, 1754, Setauket, New York, U.S.—died March 7, 1835, Litchfield, Connecticut) was an American Continental Army officer who oversaw the Culper Spy Ring during the American Revolution and later served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Having been tutored by his father, a Congregational minister, Tallmadge attended Yale University, from which he graduated with Nathan Hale in 1773. Like Hale, Tallmadge became a schoolteacher after graduation and served as the headmaster of the high school in Wethersfield, Connecticut. He enlisted into Col. John Chester’s regiment of the Connecticut militia as a lieutenant and adjutant on June 20, 1776, and fought in the Battles of Long Island (August 27, 1776) and White Plains (October 28, 1776). Tallmadge transferred as a captain to the 2nd Continental Light Dragoons regiment and received a promotion to major in April 1777. As a dragoon, Tallmadge participated in the Battles of the Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth and in the whaleboat raid on Fort St. George, Long Island, New York (November 21–23, 1780).

In November 1778, Gen. George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, directed Tallmadge to organize an intelligence service to operate in British-occupied New York City. The service, known as the Culper Spy Ring (named for the operational names of two members of the ring: Abraham Woodhull [code-named Samuel Culper] and Robert Townsend [code-named Culper, Jr.]), provided accurate and frequent intelligence to Washington regarding the disposition and activity of British troops in and around New York City for the remainder of the war. Tallmadge continued to serve in the dragoons and to manage the Culper Ring for the duration of the war. He managed the service so well that the British never discovered any of the Ring’s members.

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The American Revolution

Concurrent with his duties managing the Culper Ring, Tallmadge continued to perform reconnaissance and mounted patrols with the 2nd Dragoons. Tallmadge supervised the custody of Maj. John André, the British contact for American traitor Gen. Benedict Arnold, after André was captured on September 23, 1780, with the plans for the fortifications at West Point hidden in his boots. Tallmadge supervised André’s custody for eight days until the day of his execution. He expressed respect for André and shook his hand at the gallows.

Congress promoted Tallmadge to lieutenant colonel in September 1783. After the war, Tallmadge operated a dry-goods store, B. Tallmadge and Company, in Litchfield, Connecticut, speculated in land in Ohio, and served as a Federalist congressman for his Connecticut district from 1801 to 1817.

Tallmadge’s management of the Culper Spy Ring provided timely and accurate intelligence to Washington and set a high standard for future clandestine intelligence operations.