General George Washington needed more than soldiers to win the Revolutionary War over England. He needed every day people – tavern owners, farmers and women – in spy rings to outsmart the British. 

And it worked. 

Learn how to make Invisible ink for messages using just water and two common items in your cabinet. We'll also learn one of the codes used by the spy network. We’ll learn how spies were given numbers instead of names for their protection. And, how Benedict Arnold was exposed as a traitor by spies. 

We’ll study the Culper Ring in New York where Anna Strong passed along messages by hanging a dark dress on her laundry line while tavern owners, farmers and boatmen relayed intelligence. Alexander Hamilton even worked as a spy. Spies twice saved George Washington’s life from ambush. 

The British used spies, too. It was all about outsmarting each other and America won its freedom thanks to spies. 

Do you have what it takes to be one of George Washington’s spies?