![]() ![]() George Washington was unable to setup a spy network prior to the 1776 battle in New York due to his hurried retreat from the British. Having reliable intelligence of expected British troop movements was essential. The spy ring provided valuable information to General Washington at the height of the American Revolution. Brewster was the only spy to sign letters under his real name instead of his secret agent code 725. Codes and aliases concealed the identities of the spy members. Brewster was under direct orders from George Washington through Benjamin Tallmadge, organizer and leader of the Revolutionary War’s Culper Spy Ring, which began in 1778 and operated on Long Island, New York City and Black Rock. By 1778 he had fleet of three whaleboats. By the spring of 1776, Brewster joined the Continental Army as Lieutenant. He acted as intelligence gatherer, lieutenant in the artillery, spy letter courier, privateer, and army officer commanding a fleet of whaleboats against the British. Black Rock became a focal point for battles and espionage during the entire war period from 1776 to 1783, during which the British occupied New York City, part of Westchester and Long Island.īrewster carried out a number of different missions during the war. The deep-water, historic shipbuilding seaport was a depository for privateers, British prisoners, and launching ground for schooners, sloops and whaleboats. The Black Rock harbor was the point of attack for the patriot cause. One of his passengers was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, William Floyd. One of Brewster’s initial actions after moving to Connecticut, was to assist other patriot refugees to escape Long Island by using his boat to crisscross Long Island Sound, ferrying out the patriot sympathizers in clandestine operations. One in six Long Islanders departed to Connecticut as refugees in 1776. He was not alone in fleeing the British occupied Long Island. Brewster would find Connecticut to be a relatively safe place and home to the Patriot cause. Brewster fled to Black Rock, Connecticut, which was part of the town of Fairfield at the time. Moreover, anyone who had signed a patriot document such as that of the Minute Men, stating the necessity of taking up arms against the British, was at great risk. Residents could not travel to or from the city or bring any goods without a permit. In 1776, when the British invaded New York City, Setauket, Long Island became a center for British commanders and would soon be under martial law. If British troops harmed local residents, they could avoid prosecution for criminal offence, which some at the time called the “murder act.”īrewster’s hometown was soon under occupation. The patriots opposed the “intolerable acts” imposed upon by the British, which included immunity from prosecution. Brewster was one of seventy Minute Men in that company. They were among the first to fight in the American Revolution. In December 1775, Brewster joined the Suffolk Country Minute Men, local self-trained colonists who independently organized militia companies known for being ready in a minute’s notice. His knowledge of the shoreline and his close relationships with other key patriot spies, his courage to enter enemy territory and retrieve spy letters, his whaleboat battles, were all noteworthy contributions to the patriot effort. Brewster’s skills in navigating whaleboats and merchant ships would prove essential in outmaneuvering British ships. The Continental Congress authorized our country’s first Navy soon after. He was 28 years old and the timing was perfect. ![]() However, as soon as news of the American Revolution and of the shots of the Battle of Lexington and Concord reached his ship, he quickly returned home. He then pursued a life at sea as a mate on a merchant ship. ![]() After the Revolutionary War, he was a blacksmith, an officer in the United States Revenue Cutter Service for 20 years, and a farmer.Ĭaleb Brewster left the quiet life on his family farm home in Setauket, Long Island, at 19 years old for the adventure of a position on a Nantucket whaler. He also made direct reports to Washington concerning naval activities in the New York City area.īrewster was born in Setauket, New York, a hamlet of Brookhaven, and was a descendant of Mayflower passenger William Brewster. He carried messages across Long Island Sound between Major Tallmadge and the ring's main spies on Long Island, New York, and in New York City. Parents:ěenjamin Sr Brewster, Mehitable BiggsĬaleb Brewster (Septem– February 13, 1827) was a member of the Culper spy ring during the American Revolutionary War, reporting to General George Washington through Major Benjamin Tallmadge.Death:đ827 - Black Rock, Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA.Birth: Setauket, Suffolk, New York, USA. ![]()
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