Long ago on Long Island— in September of 1776— the only volunteer for a scouting assignment behind enemy lines was twenty-one-year-old, untested Nathan Hale, who trundled up and down the length of that British-held territory, gabbing about his mission to every friendly face. Unfortunately for him, one of those faces belonged to Major Robert Rogers of the Queen’s Rangers. Rogers arrested him, and Hale was hanged next morning.
His college friend, Major Benjamin Tallmadge, from Setauket, Long Island, became General Washington’s spymaster in 1778. He appointed childhood (and therefore trusted) friends to form the highly secret and successful Culper Spy Ring. We know their names now, but history has kept the identity of one associated female agent hidden. Her code name was 355.
.....
Fraunces Tavern. New York City. 1778. General Washington has issued a request for patriot intelligencers to investigate a rumored instrument of torture being used by the British for extracting the whereabouts of Loyalist Chef Alonso Katz, whose famed Reuben sandwiches--with and without sauerkraut-- have sustained their Hessian allies since they arrived in the colonies.
Two women volunteer: Agent 355 (Let’s call her Madeleine Kirchhoff), whose stage performances— especially her rendition of “We Need a Little Christmas” from the hit show Mame— dazzled Brits and colonists alike before the Great Fire burned down all the theatres in 1776. Also Agent 355 & 1/2 (yours truly), who has yet to show any skills whatsoever in the effort to forge a new nation, aside from falling out of carriages, which, come to think of it, isn’t all that helpful.
The women infiltrate General Clinton’s headquarters while the commander is watching a revival of The Fantasticks at a Yonkers dinner theatre. Catastrophe ensues when the general returns early to floss his teeth, a result of the barbecued ribs he’d eaten during the show getting stuck between an incisor and his only remaining canine.
“It’s Livingston’s Sugarhouse for you, ladies!” Clinton roars.
Oh, no! They face the most notorious British prison of all. But wait!
Agent 355 says to her partner, in a stage whisper loud enough for the entire British contingent to hear, “A sugar house! We can eat our way out of it overnight!”
And so they do. Huzzah!
His college friend, Major Benjamin Tallmadge, from Setauket, Long Island, became General Washington’s spymaster in 1778. He appointed childhood (and therefore trusted) friends to form the highly secret and successful Culper Spy Ring. We know their names now, but history has kept the identity of one associated female agent hidden. Her code name was 355.
.....
Fraunces Tavern. New York City. 1778. General Washington has issued a request for patriot intelligencers to investigate a rumored instrument of torture being used by the British for extracting the whereabouts of Loyalist Chef Alonso Katz, whose famed Reuben sandwiches--with and without sauerkraut-- have sustained their Hessian allies since they arrived in the colonies.
Two women volunteer: Agent 355 (Let’s call her Madeleine Kirchhoff), whose stage performances— especially her rendition of “We Need a Little Christmas” from the hit show Mame— dazzled Brits and colonists alike before the Great Fire burned down all the theatres in 1776. Also Agent 355 & 1/2 (yours truly), who has yet to show any skills whatsoever in the effort to forge a new nation, aside from falling out of carriages, which, come to think of it, isn’t all that helpful.
The women infiltrate General Clinton’s headquarters while the commander is watching a revival of The Fantasticks at a Yonkers dinner theatre. Catastrophe ensues when the general returns early to floss his teeth, a result of the barbecued ribs he’d eaten during the show getting stuck between an incisor and his only remaining canine.
“It’s Livingston’s Sugarhouse for you, ladies!” Clinton roars.
Oh, no! They face the most notorious British prison of all. But wait!
Agent 355 says to her partner, in a stage whisper loud enough for the entire British contingent to hear, “A sugar house! We can eat our way out of it overnight!”
And so they do. Huzzah!