Join the Culper Ring as a Spy for General Washington!

Come join the Culper Spy Ring! It’s the winter of 1777 and General Washington has just retreated and lost New York. The British knew of the Patriot plans and they suspect that there is a spy in the ranks. Cornwallis is being sent back to London because of the dire circumstances. The reenlistments have ended and many soldiers are going home and leaving the army. General Washington is given very little chance to win the war. 

Connecticut Dragoons  were slaughtered because of a spy within the Continental Army. The problem is that General Washington has no idea who the spy is. Benjamin Tallmadge was the only one to escape. 

Major  Benjamin Tallmadge decides to try to recruit his friends back home in Setauket to join the patriot cause. He decides to recruit his childhood friend Abraham Woodhull and Anna Strong. Abraham is a cabbage farmer. His father is the magistrate, or judge, in Setauket. Abraham travels regularly to do business in York City with his father, selling hogs and cabbage to the British army so he has the perfect cover. Abraham and Anna join the spy ring. Abraham will seek to find more spies in York City to be part of the ring. 

So we need you to join the Culper Ring! While part of this ring, you will receive messages from other agents, use the Culper Codebook, invisible ink, and embed messages in boiled eggs to send messages to other agents. Agents will also create disguises to use and will need to design escape routes in case you are discovered. Each week, students will send and receive messages in secret code to the other students (agents) in the class. 

Week 1: Learn about the winter of 1777-1778 of the Revolutionary War and the beginning of the spy ring. Students will get their code name, the code book and send their first messages to the other agents once they receive their first spy messages. They will also play a Kahoot challenge with the other students (agents) to review what they have learned.

Week 2: Students will learn who the British spies are within the Continental Army and send messages to General Washington to warn him. These messages will be decoded using invisible ink and then passed on to the other agents (students) to be sent back to General Washington. Students will also design their disguises and their escape routes in case they need to escape York City quickly. They will also play a Kahoot challenge with other students (agents) to review the latest developments in the war effort. 

Week 3: Students will learn about the efforts to get Benedict Arnold to turn against General Washington and pass that information along to General Washington via messages using the decoder wheel. Agent Robert Townsend discovers another spy within the ranks of the Army, the chaplain Reverend Worthington. Decode the message sent by Robert Townsend, known as Culper Junior, to pass along to Ben Tallmadge. Place an advertisement in the paper as your signal to Culper Senior. They will also play a Kahoot challenge for review.

Week 4: There is still another spy within the ranks of the Continental Army that must be uncovered. The final spy is discovered and students (agents) will send the last message to the General with that important information that will turn the tide of the war.  Students will learn about the end of the Revolutionary War and the battle of Yorktown and learn how their efforts as part of the Culper Spy Ring led to ultimate victory! A final Kahoot challenge will be played by all students for review.