Cspan. Org history. If you visited the Spy Museum, if you have or if you plan to you will see this man, you might be familiar with americas first by master, general George Washington. Next to him is one of the jewels of our collection, my computer is behaving badly today. This incredible ladder is written by George Washington. And that Spy Network it was incredible that we have this letter on display. Did not remain in control of spying for washington very long. Washington turned it over too this span major benjamin who is a young man in his 20s. He relied on personal contacts to create these were contacts in long island and british controlled iowa city. God letter from George Washington might be unmasked ready to get mass because the Spy Museum for on the right one is about finding the secrets of john and jays visible ink formula. I dont youre going to touch on that, claire, but you do in the book. To the right is an interactive that gives people a chance to explore how intelligence would pass. We take appropriate particular moment of july of 1780, that is when important information is afoot about the french lending to support to americans. Heading up to Rhode Island to bring supplies, the british note what is going to happen. We take the visitors through the cycle of how the intelligence would be passed to George Washington. And one of the businessman. This is Robert Townsend thats one of Claire And Tiffani subject in this terrific book. And robert agent, 723 codename cobra junior. He masqueraded as a loyalist to the crown. He is gathering intel for mingling with the british and coffee houses and meetings and in his own business. This is a man his efforts in the Spy Ring did not come to light until the 20th century. I call that deep, deep cover. I have a lots of questions about that. If you dont answer them during your presentation, i will be back at you to ask. I was thrilled to learn more about the world these people lived and operated in. Just a reminder to our guest, please send in your questions to the q a feature. I will get to as many of them as possible after claires a presentation. And so now, im going to stop sharing and over too claire for a. Thats great, thank you so much for that introduction. Im excited to be at your community today. And i love your exhibit. That is just so wonderful the public gets to have fun with this interactive and also really dive in to this Spy Ring. Im going to dive into my presentation too. Im going to share my screen and get the Slide Show starting from the beginning. So tiffani and i have written this book, Espionage And Enslavement in the revolution. It is bringing forward a new story for america. A story of a woman of color and how she experienced the revolutionary war. How she really got intertwined with the life of the spy Robert Townsend. To know about her and to know about him we have to reflect on the world they lived in. And so, elizabeth was born into slavery. She was enslaved from the first moment of her life. Enslaved by the Townsend Family. Born around 1763 and now that house where she was born is a Museum And Oyster bay, long island. If anybody comes to long island i urge you to visit our museum and learn more about the story. Now, the world she was born into had legal slavery and every one of the 13 colonies. Slave ads like these appeared in every newspaper. The colony she was born into, New York, was actually the epicenter of slavery in the north. Of all of the Colonies North of maryland, New York had by far the most slavery. In fact, in 1770 when she was just a girl if you added up all of the slavery and the new england colonies and combined them, New York had more. Much much more than pennsylvania. A colony of a similar size. If you look down at the very bottom of the Colony Map in georgia in 1770, New York had more slavery. This is not a narrative that is frequently understood by New Yorkers today. Now, decades before liz was born there is put into law in 1730 and edict that every town, every village in New York must have an official town slave whimper. When i looked in her Oyster Bay Town Record they were the names of the accounts supported negro flippers. Every town in New York would have had a Whipping Post like the one you see on the slide. It would have been in a prominent place in the middle of town. Just last year i was researching this Blacksmith Ledger Book in our collection of random hall. You see hundreds of entries on a single page from 1802. If you see the blue Dot Down at the bottom, this entry offers money being paid to the blacksmith or putting a Band And Bolt on a black. For three wearing irons and one ring. This is a record of an enslaved person being shackled. In the same Ledger Book in 1808 i found an even more horrific record of the blacksmith being paid to strap a black person for a welts, for a beating. But the extra charge for the 12 nails to put him on that wheel. This is a medieval torture called breaking on the wheel. In this instance, being done to an enslaved black person probably in the middle of town in a quite late year of 1808. The idea that slavery was somehow better in the north or easier in the north should just be put aside and never thought of again. Slavery in New York was just as horrific as it was in the south. And a runaway slave ads like this when appeared in every edition of the newspaper. Right alongside ads selling slaves. This one is particularly interesting because it is in our town of Oyster Bay. Maybe they knew this man name isaac. It is about 5 feet 10 inches high. He was middleaged. For about a year he lived in Oyster Bay telling people he was free and giving himself the last name johnston. But his owner mr. John townsend takes that name away from him and offers people a 5dollar reward if they can find him. He is described as being very ragged. His coat is light and patch with different colors. When enslaved people would run away they often only had one set of clothes, maybe two the clothing they were given was often worn and patched. Now, Robert Townsend was born to the same world that he had a very different experience born in 1753 he was a family of shipping merchants. This is not the Townsend Family in the painting. They never had a Family Portrait done. This is what a typical wealthy family would have looked like. It was a big family his Father Samuel was the leading Patriot And Leader of our town. And he had five sons in the family and three daughters. And he was not the most remarkable of the sons. There were many others that were given more notice and his family. But today he is the one we remember. Today we remember robert especially because now we know their Handwriting Analysis that was done in the 1920s, he was the spy for washington who use the codename junior. This wouldve always been the story our museum told a patriot father, a spy son, the Spy Ring passing information. How the british took over our town and visited commanders in our house. We would have gone on the story forever except that the phone rang in 2005. It was an Auction House in new York City called swan gallery. They were alerting us to the fact the Townsend Descendent had offered an item for sale, they were pretty sure were going to want to bid on. And it was a bible. Clarity had several bibles in our collection, but they were right we wanted this one particularly. We paid 10,000 dollars for because this the bible changed our story forever. Before we bought this Townsend Slave Bible we had no idea there is any slavery here. Frankly we had no idea there is any slavery anywhere in our area. We were completely oblivious but here were the names. Many names like jeffries, katherine, lily, susanna, harry, susan, rachel, violet, hannah, another susanna, marianne, jane and gabriel. And not just names but days when they were born, years when they were born. How they were related to each other. Mothers and sons and daughters and into cases how they died. And then a second page went on to tell us about nancy, kate, jim and josh. To confirm in writing these were slaves that had belonged to Samuel Townsend of Oyster Bay. And so, at that point i did a whole year long exhibit talking about that Slave Bible and that led me too research other documents. I uncovered other enslaved people who are not in that record like john, william, jacob, priscilla, her son amos. And then to peoples whose records i found are individuals the record did not have a name. So i call those two folks the unnamed child and the unnamed man. Now all of these people had a few things i could know about them, points in time when they were sold, when they were freed. No one had a full story of a whole life until i learned about elizabeth whose nickname was liz. Just a word about this image. This is not an old portrait. Enslaved people were not given this honor of having their portrait painted. This is an Artist Interpretation i had done. And what my research showed was there were twice as many enslaved people in this household than family members. Twenty over the course of time. And so now, our museum has an slave quarters and the counterpoint to the fancy bettors for the family live to give every visitor the chance to consider how they would have lived. Certainly not all 20 and the small room but perhaps in the attic above the basement below Horton Farm buildings, or outbuildings they had on their property. And so, this is a story of slavery in the south not during the civil war. These are people who live through americas founding. People who we need to remember and make visible again. We need to find room in the story of the founding of america for them. And that founding in our household really takes us in 1775. When the father, Samuel Townsend, joined our New York provincial congress. This was like the new York Satellite of the continental congress in philadelphia. And they were in a real minority, these patriots. Those along islanders were on the british side. That is why samuel took a solemn oath of secrecy. He was meeting with these other congressmen in New York every day for a year end a half trying to plan the revolution. They did not want their neighbors on the british side to find out what they were up too. Samuel is not a spy. He was certainly sneaking around quite a bit. And then we have the declaration of independence, july 4, 1776. We declared we want to be america, our own free country. Just one month later the battle is brewing in brooklyn. A battle for long island. Now, ahead of our new York Congress was a general. General nathaniel would whole. Samuel townsend knew him very, very well. General was not in brooklyn where this battle is brewing, he was right next door in jamaica, queens and he needed men. He needed 500 more soldiers to enter the battle. He gave samuel his important letter requesting these troops to go and find George Washington and wait for his return letter. Whats he going to get the 500 men . Washington was wishywashy. Maybe he could, maybe he couldnt. What holt writes back to Samuel Townson i need these men immediately i am being surrounded. Finally samuel as instructed by washington to give an audible return message. So vital he did not wanted to be written on paper. The message was this, you are being abandoned. Washington had no choice. He could not win the battle of long island. He was vastly outnumbered and surrounded on three sides. All that washington could do was in a deep fog that fell over his army, get in a boat in secret troops over too manhattan island. Even though the british had successfully beat him in that battle, when the fog lifted they realize he and his army had gotten away. So they survive to fight another day. But Samuel Townsend went back home to Oyster Bay. So after we lost this battle and after that general was struck by the british by a sword and later died of his wounds, all of long island was taken by the british. All of new York City became british headquarters. So the house you see in this drawing on the bottom side, became british headquarters in our town. And every time a commander and his regiment would come into Oyster Bay they would stay in our household. There were a whole series of these regiments and commanders, one after the other. The one people really remembers this fellow criminal John Graves inco. He commanded a regiment called the Queens Rangers, i love these reenactors in their uniforms. The city Queens Ranger did not wear redcoats they were green. He understood the value of camouflage. He actually came to our household three different times would have his daily officers meeting in this room, our parler. Simcoe was a very interesting man. Even though hes been portrayed like a village and shows like turn, the family said he was the most honorable of all of the commanders who lived here. And he believed slavery was morally wrong. Before his giving command lead them into battle on the british side the british army would not let him do that. After the war was lost, he went up to canada, became the governor of upper canada, founded the city of Toronto And Pasley serve antislavery laws in canada. So when you learn about the civil war and the underground railroad, you really have colonel simcoe to thank these enslaved people had somewhere to go where they could be free, canada. Now, this is the rumor he stayed in our house. In march of 1779, after he had come in the fall of 78 was going to say the whole winter, he invited his very good friend to come, have a vacation and stay in room with him for a few weeks. That was major John Andre. Everybody loves revolutionary war was his name. Because andre was a british spymaster. He was a charming man really use his personality and his charisma to get people to reveal things to him. He was the one who coordinated the big Spy Operation that became the plot that Benedict Arnold to give up West Point force. But this was a whole year before this. It was march of 1779. You can remember serving simcoe and andre in that room in her role as a household slave. That list is described later on by robert as being too fond of the british officers. And too fond of company. I can only imagine the conversation that simcoe and andre had with her. Pimco might have spoken to her about her possibility of being a free person in a way no one had ever done before. He might have really respected her personhood in a way that is totally unique to her up to that point. So this is the spring of 1779. Now if you back up to the fall of 1778 this is when abraham would whole, way out on long island first began the Spy Ring. He was ferrying the letters with the help of brewster a lieutenant in washingtons army. But he also had some help in manhattan. 177078 in november having recruited someone he described of as a faithful friends who would give him weekly reports that were the most reliable news. And how this person was the most high and character of new York City. This very important person. Now its never proved it was Robert Townsend. With the Way Woodhull later describes robert when he becomes the full fledged Spy Junior i think hes talking about the same person. Note this time robert is running a store in lower manhattan. He has a partner named open. More interestingly he rents a room from abrahams sister. So woodhull, riding his horse can come into manhattan just say hes visiting his sister and knock on Roberts Door and get all the News Robert has collected since they last met. Now, and spring of 79, simcoe and the rangers are ready to depart Oyster Bay. As they left sunday 18, somebody elses with him. Liz escaped, somewhere in his wagon or in his regimental group as they departed, she left with him. Pretty incredible the bravery it must have taken is about a 17yearold to risk the punishment of being a runaway for the promise to become a free person. Now, eight days after she escaped we got this letter in our collection, probably our most important letter we own about liz. It is the spite Robert Townsend writing to his father. The bottom of the first page he says the Queens Rangers are now beyond kingsbridge. Kingsbridge was a physical wooden bridge at the tip of manhattan. It seems as though robert is following the regiment from the rear. He says if i see any of the officers, i will make inquiry for liz, ill ask about her. Then he says i think theres no probability of getting her again. I believe you should reckon her money or other debt losses. Thats a pretty curious to thing. Typically if your valuable slave escaped you put one of those runaway slave ads in the paper. But Samuel Townsend never did that. Robert goes on to pointedly mention colonel simcoes name. He says i am surprised colonel simcoe would permit her to go. He certainly must known it when they left Oyster Bay. Now, not long after that escape, liz left the Queens Rangers regiment they were going into battle in New Jersey and she was re enslaved by an unnamed british officer in new York City. And so now shes right in new York City, right at the time when robert becomes the Lead Spy. Robert became lease by a new York City because abraham would whole was getting stop by the british. He was going to New York, back and forth in the british were suspicious of him. So he urged robert to become a Lead Spy and Bullet Hold stayed way out in the county and sent careers back and forth to bring roberts letters out to him. Heres a look at one of a little snippet of his letters. Its amazing how much robert puts in one little phrase. He says to washington, i have received your dictionary. Here is just an image of what that dictionary really was. Benjamin thomas to take any real dictionary and a written out all the important words in alphabetical order and assign them each a number. This weight when the spies got this list of numbers and words, they could, in their letters, use numbers. If anyone intercepted that letter they would not know what word it represented. He goes on to say i will be glad to have the stain as soon as possible. That Word Stain actually means invisible ink. As you were learning in the introduction, john kays brother, james j had create a new invisible Ink Technology just for the americans. It had two liquid parts. One liquid called the stain that would completely disappear as long as you use good quality white paper. You could write with this between the lines of a nether letter. In that letter was delivered the person on the other side needed another chemical called the counterpart. Once he brushed that on all of your words would magically reappear. The british never found out about her state and counterpart, luckily for our guys. Now, right after robert becomes Lead Spy we have the one and only mention of a very interesting person, a mysterious woman who is called 355. That is the Dictionary Code Number for the word lady. Abraham would whole describes 355 as being someone of his acquaintance. Which might employ someone he has not known forever but has just met. And he says with her assistance they shall be able to out with them all. So this woman has some method, some way of getting around being discovered. Now we will never know for sure if liz was 355, the woman who is now assisting robert and the other spies. Met as enslaved person she would have been almost invisible in serving this british officer she would have been able to move about almost unseen. It is an interesting thought to think that robert who joined as a loyalist Volunteer Company and was wearing his own homemade red coat and standing guard outside british headquarters might have been getting information from an enslaved woman, enslaved right inside that house who mightve slipped out and given him some intelligence. Again i dont insinuate i can prove this. I think liz has a great chance of being that 355. Now, robert and his letter to his father urged his father should write her offer. He essentially did not have any idea where liz was. I actually found several entries in Robert Townsends Letter Book during the time he was a spy, when he is purchasing liz several items. Hes buying her tea and hes buying her thimble and thread. And so while hes implying to his father he does not know where liz is, he knew right where she was. Now the Benedict Arnold Treason Plot happens. John andre is caught by the americans in the woods near West Point. Benedict arnold is able to escape on the british warship the vulture. Poor John Andre is hanged as a spy. Now Benedict Arnold comes to new York City and began spy catching. He rounds up over 40 suspected spies but robert slips through and write some of his Spy Letters i am happy to arnold would not know my name. Because there was a big round up of when arnold came to manhattan, robert closed up the shop and broke off her partnership with this man. And disappeared ellipticity for three months. When he finally came back into New York he moved his business all the way over which was at that time was a very outoftheway place. He ceased advertising his business stopped writing letters with the Spy Ring. After this im not going to write down anything not even in invisible ink. I will meet with him outside the city and tell him the information in person. Now, the war was beginning to end. In 1782 something incredible happened. Liz is now about to be forced to leave New York and go to canada with her british master. And she comes to robert and asks him to buy her back. She applied to robert to repurchase her so she would not have to go to canada, and he did. Now this purchase is interesting. He actually pays his Father Samuel for the value of liz who would eventually been his fathers display. On Roberts Side of the ledger hes very vague. He does not give her name and he says that for a negro wench. On his Father Samuel side of the transaction said this is money from rob Robert Townsend personal account it is for liz. That confirms this actually did happen in the record books. And at this very time robert writes his last Spy Letter. He hands his final Spy Letter up into Westchester Input into his hands. Now, liz is leaving with robert and when he took her into his home she was three months pregnant. Perhaps that is why she did not want to go to canada. The child which she then had in february 1783 is a boy i believe named harry who robert later describes as mixed race. So Harrys Father is a white man, it is even possible hes eaten so much a british Master Or Someone else. a Inn Charlatan wants to go live in our household. So robert wants a special agreement on the part of ann. If she ever wants to leave New York she will let him know so he can repurchase and she can stay in New York. Robert believes this widow agrees to this and so he goes about his business. But the widow did not stay a widow for long. After just one year she remarried a wealthy merchant named Alexander Robertson and there is a silhouette on the side of the screen. This wedding was over as soon as it started. Alexander robertson acted inappropriately with liz and caused the new bride to get angry. This was described as a Separation And Derangement of the marriage which ended as soon as it had started but somehow Alexander Robertson the Game Ownership of lives and Baby Harry who is now two days old. Alexander robertson kept the baby at his house in New York and sold elizabeth to Charleston South Carolina a truly place to be. This is the name of the ship as she traveled on the lucretia and the captain of that ship had become notorious and atari is captain who people in New York knew was kidnapped would kidnap free of people and sell them into. It appeared in the new York Papers recently. Captain tinker who will probably sale for charleston in a day or two has onboard a considerable number some of these objects were seen praying to their relentless proprietor as they might be permitted to remain in New York in their petitions were treated with disdain. It will be on their guard that they should be with kidnappers and share the same fate many did. But liz was not free. She was not kidnapped or is simply sold and put down in the whole of that ship along with the other goods that were going south. Now as she is landing on the dock in charleston a group called the new York Society is having their first meeting in New York. This is a group that wanted to end slavery by Law Right after the revolutionary war. They were founded by John Jay and Alexander Hamilton whos also a key member as well as hercules mulligan and Robert Townsend quickly joined the group two. They wanted to end slavery but they essentially werent able to do it as they could not get the votes to pass these laws. Just as liz is leaving charleston he has no idea and hes becoming a member of this society in New York. Its an incredibly interesting figure. His name is captain richard and way back in 1770 he was the instigator of the boston massacre. He was a very strong man of very aggressive and angry person and in the depictions of the book you would see palms as the man with the giant club in his hand. He literally struck a british soldier with that club and thats what got the all its flying and this man later on on the list. When John Adams famously went to quote help Benjamin Franklin negotiate with the french Richard Palms was on board that ship serving as adams personal bodyguard took Adams Son bike thursday cured so they could meet with angela and franklin. In my book when you read it you will see so many incredible coincidences of history and you are about to hear about another one. The same time as richard palmes with John Adams and Anchem And Franklin Robert Townsends older Brother Solomon was there to. They know it seems hard to believe but he was there also meeting with Benjamin Franklin and get this and oath of allegiance to america. So solomon with this Oath And Hand came back in the same convoy is captain richard palmes back to america. Meanwhile two years it gone by before robert found out he was in charleston and when he finds out he and Brother Solomon frantically write demands that they believe will care about the antislavery movement and will help them by elizabeth in New York. These letters which i discover at the East Hampton Library going to incredible detail about the man who helped bring lists back to New York. The antislavery group that robert had joined had succeeded in passing one law, a law of the importation of slaves into New York from other states. So lisss return was illegal. Its incredible but i do believe liss did get back to Oyster Bay. This is a Church Record from 1789 with Samuel Townsend listed as a member of the baptist Church And Right across from him Elizabeth A. Women at the next page we see his wife sara and his daughter sally and many books about the Spy Ring mr. Townsend is mistakenly identified as quakers. When one year after this record i believe i found elizabeth in the 1791st federal census of america. She was no longer in Oyster Bay. She was living in what is now massapequa in a giant mansion owned by a man named David Richard Floyd jones. Here she is free elizabeth as a paid server and in this magnificent mansion. This incredible space that was standing until the 1950s when it burned down and this is a look at the great room. I just imagine liss and there is a Surgeon And Cooking are helping to raise the children of this household but finally being paid as a free person. Theres incredible images of the inside of his house from an Wpa Photography Project in the years before it burned down. Imagine liss walking up at staircase and going through the arched doorway and the 1790 Census Sheet disappears from view. Shes listed at a single woman with her name written out and after that she may have become married or joined the household that was headed up by a man. If the woman became married only her Husband Name was listed in the census and the number would just be and the woman would beat a number in the column. I dont know if she had a last name or if she was just known as elizabeth so that 1790 record is the final record i found of our. But we do know this slavery finally ended in New York after 201 years on july 4, 1827. So i hope that all New Yorkers as july 4 will remember that is not just the day of independence in the country but the day of emancipation for enslaved people in New York. And so this is where im going to leave you to ponder all the small hidden stories of slavery in New York and to think about all the people whose identities and whose stories essentially vanished from view and we can include them in our story of the founding of america. We can wed the story of Patriotism And Enslavement into one story of our founding and i hope youve been listening and thinking of some great questions for me because now its going to be your turn to start the conversation. Im going to stop sharing this and we are going to go back to q a mode. Claire thank you so much for an incredibly fascinating presentation and beautiful images in it was so clear and i want to mention to everybody the book is behind you and tiffany and i have it for sale from our store if you want to read the historical record and such a terrific job of citing the records and i learned so much more about the american revolution because that has not been my focus. I want to say chris your husband has been answering questions from the audience so im not going to reiterate this but im going to ask you something that i happen i think it plays off of everybody in our audience. How does a british officer when she said she had run away and maybe shes already run away or maybe she and robert we cant know but how did she get to be on enslaved. One of the things they learned that took place after they left to Oyster Bay they went beyond kingbridge above manhattan and they were taken from enormous force to attack the point and the british won that battle. This is where we find out that andre was also there. John andre was the first person to enter into the point after the battle was won by q we won this battle and they have a big parade to show that they were there. So they are going to keep fighting and going to go into skirmishes in new Jersey But Andre went back to his headquarters in new York City so it may be that she tracks him to be with andre. [inaudible] indies in a household with a british officer. Maybe she hitched a ride with him into new York City and so the promise of freedom that the british were offering to enslaved americans would be after the war. You are promised your freedom but only after over 3000 escaped slaves were taken by the british to canada and became free after the war. One of our guest is asked about the title Espionage And Enslavement in the revolution and wondered whether enslaved people were spies. We dont know for sure about liss but i will tell you we certainly no enslaved people one of our favorite spies was james so i would ask you to take a look. We have videos about him if you want to look at our Youtube Channel and you can learn more about lafayette and they are made the others. I would also say the mulligans he was part of that and there was a man down south wind sing Gill And Andre were at the sea of trolls in a man named barney who escaped from slavery and said to andre when you are done questioning him and getting information out of barney sent him back to me because barney ended up being a trump for the regimen and he was so gallant in battle that they brought into canada and got them a soldiers pension. This idea of extracting information or using people to pass Information Isnt unique to this story. No are to the revolutionary war certainly that was something during the american civil war as well. Lots of people, we know she had one Child Harry and did she have any other children or do we know of any other descendents . The problem is we Cant Tracker specifically because we dont know if she ever had a last name that even harry there are three or for enslaved people who become freed in Oyster Bay named harry and we dont know which one is which and we also dont know what that last name when it then. Married women basically became invisible. We dont know because we dont know who she married and if she married. She may do with our family listed. One thing that came out of the book that has been fun for us at the museum when you look at the circuit that the intelligence traveled why did it take so long and i was talking to my colleague and i was like its in the book. They are fretting about how long it takes and why theres a great spy a letter that ended perfectly and is written in code numbers and this is a letter have students decode for me. Abraham writes every letter stops at the entrance of New York. Every man is searched so in the future every letter must be written with invisible anchor and must be taken a long way around it has the british knew about it. They had their own kind and they were looking for anything suspicious. If the letter would have gone the short way they would have gotten caught and they would have been hanged to death. They went so far browned except washington complains that he often got the message is too late to be helpful. I shui wish we could that 355 drives all this crazy. Are there other people or do you hear about other women . I do think 355 in particular might be elizabeth. We would have to put the Go Box on the whole story of anna strong. Often im told its a great story that we are dedicated to primary source documents in editing and there is zero evidence that anna strong had code that helps with this spying im sorry and it doesnt even make plausible sense because they did not ever put these letters and a drop locks of any kind. They only would meet in person and they had predetermined meeting days times and places already established end of the fellow spy would not show up they wouldnt leave their letters there they would jeff a new meeting so he didnt know where to land is both and on long Island Sound he would have been able to see the code lights especially when you travel at night. Simply implausible. They are is a question that chris answered that i think is worth doing on that video so people can hear it. How could chris, how could she meet with robert in New York. People dont understand that their worst till enslaved people and if you could comment on that. I feel like ive left you out to the knee. One of the things we really know that robert did because its mentioned by his relatives it was he was part of his loyalists Volunteer Company and this redcoat survived after the war. It was in the household but we dont have it anymore. He had had the red codon was standing guard outside of british headquarters which was right by Bowling Green at one broadway in New York state. Imagine that liss was enslaved by a highranking british officer so they had come to british headquarters for some reason and how great is that . Liss doesnt even know how to read or write for senate passage. Robert is standing right by the door and she can just walk out and say something to him. We have a record of liss showing up so it could be as something as simple as she needed to run an errand and she goes to Robert Store so several times she was visiting his place of business. People did move around. I worked on history at the midatlantic for a long time and you could be hired out. You could earn money as enslaved person and thats how people could potentially buy your Freedom And Freedom of your family members and this book helps understand the landscape which can you really beef up nor do i think you want to but look at it for a 21st century eye. Ive got to ask a question about robert but tell us a little bit about how he came to life. You mentioned it was through Handwriting Analysis. Can you tell us more about that . She had youthful handwriting. Ive gotten so interested in him. I can see is handwriting a mile away. Can i jump in real quick . Some of the Documents Eclair pulled out if you look at his father his hand is really heavy and when he writes us as loopy Grit Grip so when you see it compared to other scripts you can see how its different in the lineup right away. The man who figured it out had a great name. He was obsessed in the 1920s and he happened to get his hands on quite a big cash accounts and family papers. He had a girlfriend who was a library in a New Hampton and the ended up giving the Hampton Library that whole piece of the collection which has made my work interesting and they are great to work without with out there. We all just share these. He got a big Wheel Barrel and rolled it up to the house and took everything away. You can really tell that hes junior once you read that. Im so fascinated by the fact that he was able to keep his role. He just did not want to be known at all. Is so interesting im sorry. So interesting in his personal ranks and papers and miguel into this in the book but you really see him struggling with life after the war and thinking about what is my responsibility to my community and theres a search for meaning. He is chastised by family members and a number of others for saying you should go out and do something. You just sit at Home And Sulk and its heartbreaking when you realize what he actually did and you realize that he is struggling to come to terms with everything because you think the war was only a few years of his life and thats what we focus on that there were so much of Robert Story before that and so much of Robert Story after that that is so significant in his development as a person emotionally. Not diagnosing anything but there may have been some depression that he dealt with it really comes out in his letters and thats another one of the fascinating primary source resources we are able to use is clear look in detail at even just the passages that he chose to copy even that someone else wrote. He felt they were significant enough to write down and talk about what is your responsibility to other people. So really saying how he had to come to terms with this brief period of his life and he didnt want it to define him and he had mixed emotions about so much of what went on, that you see at depth in him. I think its easy to think of them in a onedimensional way. Oh hes a spy and you have a onedimensional way to see that and hes a deeply thoughtful individual and you really see him struggling for the rest of his life on how to find meaning now that thats over. As we wrap up with our hour together i want to thank you all. The book has so many different characters and here is Colonel Andre and Benjamin Franklin doing a cameo and the ties between charles and is just really fascinating and bringing liss toward story to life and as we roll into the 4th