The First Conspiracy Read online

  Much like Washington, Charles Lee has always distrusted Governor Tryon. Lee was one of those who had advocated seizing Tryon back in the fall, and was frustrated when the plan was not pursued. This lack of resolve by Congress had allowed Tryon to escape to the safety of his ship. Now, according to rumors swirling around the city, Tryon is masterminding many of the Loyalist plots from his floating headquarters.

  Lee is frustrated to find that local authorities are currently doing little to stop the exiled Governor from operating. In particular, Lee is outraged that boats are going to and from shore to Tryon’s ship at will, providing him with all the provisions and communications he needs to run his spy network and control the city.

  Although powerless to harm Tryon physically, Lee is determined to thwart him. He urges the New York Provincial Congress to prohibit any further contact or ferrying of goods between persons on land with the “King’s Ships”—specifically the Duchess of Gordon—without their express permission.

  The Continental Congress in Philadelphia supports Lee’s new rule, and the New York Provincial Congress puts it into effect.

  Lee writes George Washington to inform him that when it comes to Tryon, Lee has made sure “to stop all provisions from the city and cut off all intercourse with him—a measure, which has thrown the Mayor, Council, and Tories into agonies.” Lee makes a further sarcastic jab at those in the city who still maintain loyalty to Tryon:

  The propensity or rather rage for paying court to this great man, is inconceivable. They cannot be weaned from him. We must put wormwood on his paps or they will cry to suck, as they are in their second childhood.

  (Lee’s analogy refers to the farmer’s technique of putting a foul-tasting substance on a sow’s teats, to force her piglets to find their own food.)

  As it happens, Lee’s effort to prohibit all communications between Tryon and the shore is only partially successful. The New York Provincial Congress worded its resolution in such a way that Tryon can still receive boats delivering food and other provisions to his ship, so long as there are no overt “communications” between the parties.

  But this caveat is unenforceable; once a boat has ferried provisions to Tryon’s ship, there’s no way to monitor whether anyone boards the ship to meet or conspire with the Governor.

  Within days of the Provincial Congress implementing the new resolution, Lee learns that Tryon is bringing gunsmiths from town aboard his ship to solicit their help in arming Loyalists on Long Island, while discouraging them from doing business with Patriots. Lee quickly writes another angry letter to the Provincial Congress:

  I have received intelligence that Mr. Tryon has been guilty of most grossly abusing the indulgence shown to him; that he has inveigled some of the gunsmiths on board his ship; and that he is endeavouring to seduce as many as he can, with the view, undoubtedly, of distressing us in the article of arms.

  Lee further urges the Provincial Congress, more generally, that Tryon should be closely watched so that “he will not intrigue, cabal, or machinate mischief of any kind to the Continent or Province.”

  Lee surely wants to find other ways to disable the governor. However, before he can do so, the General’s tumultuous New York visit comes to an end. After barely a month, the Continental Congress, with Washington’s blessing, chooses to send Lee to the southern colonies to oversee urgent new missions brewing in Virginia and the Carolinas.

  To Tryon’s benefit, on March 4, Lee departs New York. Yet just as Lee is walking out the door, an even more disturbing report from New York is about to arrive.

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  General Lee is not the only Continental officer who finds evidence of Governor Tryon’s clandestine schemes in New York City.

  After Lee’s departure for the south, and while Washington remains with his army in Boston, he puts another top officer, Gen. William Alexander, known more commonly as Lord Stirling, in charge of fortifying New York City and picking up where Lee left off.

  Stirling is not a firebrand like Lee, but he is a native New Yorker and understands the region. By early March, Stirling is raising more troops for the city, and putting soldiers and civilians alike to work, building the fortifications that Lee had begun.

  Working with the New York Provincial Congress, Stirling calls on “all male inhabitants … as well as all the Negro men in the city and county of New York” to help in the massive physical labor involved in building fortifications.

  Soon Stirling, like Lee before him, is also busy trying to suppress clandestine Loyalist plots in the region. He writes letters to Congress and to George Washington, describing his discovery of various uprisings in New Jersey and Queens, and his efforts to arrest the leaders.

  Of these reports, the most troubling points in one direction: to Governor Tryon’s ship.

  On March 11, Stirling learns in particular about two men arrested for ferrying goods to Tryon aboard the Duchess of Gordon. With this arrest comes some of the most important intelligence anyone will find.

  As the two captured men are hauled before the local authorities, they point the finger at a third man, someone named Thomas Vernon, whom they insist is the ringleader.

  Vernon, it turns out, is a hatter. Based on Long Island, he’s apparently been leading excursions to and from the British ships in a small boat he owns, and on several occasions, has transported supplies. Among other provisions, he’s delivered two thousand oysters to the warship Asia, and two thousand to the Duchess of Gordon.

  Trafficking such as this with the British ships is now forbidden. It’s a punishable offense. Still, this infraction alone would not normally warrant Stirling’s personal attention.

  The problem expands, however, when one of the men confesses that he and Thomas Vernon didn’t just deliver goods to the ships—they actually went aboard the Duchess of Gordon and had a meeting with the Governor.

  From the man’s account, it becomes clear that Vernon’s connection to Tryon is about more than just oysters. In fact, Governor Tryon has being paying Vernon to carry out various secret tasks for him, all around the region.

  Vernon had hired the other two men “to rig out a sloop the said Vernon had lately purchased by order of Governor Tryon, to be employed by the Governor as a tender or cutter, and occasionally to cruise in the north and east rivers.”

  In other words, Tryon had given Vernon money to purchase a boat, on which Vernon could carry out the Governors’ orders by traversing the waterways around the city. The Governor also provided money to outfit Vernon’s sloop with swivel guns, making it an armed vessel.

  According to the men, Vernon’s primary mission from Tryon is to seek out Continental soldiers or militiamen whom he can induce, by either force or persuasion, to switch sides to the British. One of the prisoners provides more details:

  [Vernon] went on board … the Duchess of Gordon, and there conversed with the Governor … who urged him to be active in procuring as many men as possible…; that above fifty or sixty soldiers now in town in the Continental service were engaged by the said Vernon for the service of the Ministry.

  Read that part again. Some sixty soldiers from the Continental army have secretly joined the British.

  If true, this is a shocking admission: Governor Tryon is bankrolling a scheme to bribe Continental soldiers or militiamen to betray their army and side with the British forces. According to the testimony, Vernon has already coerced dozens of former Continental soldiers—probably militiamen raised in New York, or perhaps some of the troops General Lee brought with him—into switching sides.

  At a time when the Continental army is desperate to raise and maintain soldiers, this isn’t just troubling. It’s a potential disaster.

  If these American soldiers have been compelled at gunpoint to work for the British, this would be called “impressment”—when an army or navy forces men to join against their will. The fact that Vernon’s sloop is outfitted with swivel guns suggests that this is a possibility.

  However, for Stirling and the other C
ontinental officers, the more worrying prospect is that Tryon and Vernon bribed or otherwise lured several dozen men to betray their army voluntarily.

  On the eve of what looks to be a massive battle for the future of the colonies, a wave of traitors going to the other side could be cataclysmic for the Continental army. Sadly, it’s not hard for the officers to imagine. They know that morale among their troops has often been poor, due to the deferred pay, lack of supplies, and poor living conditions.

  On top of that, another basic calculation is made by civilians and soldiers alike: They want to be on the side that wins. If Continental soldiers genuinely fear that the British will destroy Washington’s army and win the war, the choice to switch sides becomes a choice to save oneself from later imprisonment or death.

  The testimony about Thomas Vernon also contains one final interesting detail. In addition to Governor Tryon, two other men were apparently also on the Duchess of Gordon: the “Attorneys General Kempe and Skinner.”

  “Skinner” is New Jersey attorney general Cortlandt Skinner, a prominent Loyalist who had recently fled New Jersey under threat of arrest by the colonial authorities. Thanks to this new testimony, colonial authorities now know that Skinner is on board the Duchess of Gordon, consorting with Governor Tryon.

  “Kempe” refers to New York’s attorney general, John Tabor Kempe. Kempe is likewise a Loyalist who’s wanted by the authorities, and is now apparently part of Tryon’s cabal on board the ship.

  What all this means is that Tryon is running a sophisticated operation from the Duchess. He’s accompanied by powerful men, he operates a paid network, and is organizing missions all over the region.

  Finally, and most distressing of all, Tryon is actively luring soldiers from the Continental army to join the enemy.

  Two days later, Stirling writes a letter to John Hancock and the Continental Congress, summarizing what he’s learned:

  By some prisoners taken into custody, there is great reason to believe that Governor Tryon has his emissaries in several parts of the Province, engaging men to serve both by land and water. One tells that he is engaged, with fifty others, under a certain Vernon.… I have referred some others … to be examined; and, I doubt not, we shall find out and defeat their machinations.

  After all the testimony is heard, local authorities arrest Vernon and order him put in prison. Naturally, they confiscate his armed boat. The other men are also jailed, with lesser sentences.

  The good news is that they’ve now captured and locked away one of Tryon’s lackeys. But the questions remain: How many Thomas Vernons are out there, secretly carrying out the Governor’s designs in the region? How many Continental soldiers have already deserted and switched sides? And what other “machinations” might Governor Tryon be plotting?

  The generals will soon learn that when it comes to uncovering Tryon’s schemes, they’ve barely scratched the surface.

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  Boston, Massachusetts

  March 1776

  Within days of the British evacuation of Boston, George Washington begins sending regiments to New York City.

  He’s anxious to get there himself, but he’s held back by a strange development. Although the British troops all left the city and boarded their ships, initially the ships themselves didn’t leave the harbor. As if to confuse Washington, the large transports and warships remained in the waters near Boston for almost a week, some still visible from shore.

  For all Washington knows, the entire evacuation might be a feint, and the second he leaves the region, the British could retake Boston.

  In reality, the British are simply figuring out where to go. While there is some incentive for the British troops to get to New York as fast as possible, General Howe instead determines that his army will be better served by regrouping, loading up on provisions and supplies, and waiting for reinforcements.

  Therefore, when the British ships finally leave the harbor, they are bound not for New York, but for Halifax, Nova Scotia—another British colony at the time. In Halifax, they will resupply, wait for reinforcements, and prepare for their coming invasion of New York City.

  For General Howe and the British, this time there can be no error. They have the vastly superior military force; it is now time to marshal it, focus it, prepare it—and send everything they have to devastate the colonial army or cow it into submission with the sheer size and strength of their naval fleet.

  Once the British ships depart Boston waters, Washington sends the rest of his army south, in staggered detachments. The officers mostly travel by horse or carriage, and a few companies secure transports to travel by water along the coast. But the majority of the approximately eight thousand troops who make the journey do so the old-fashioned way: They march.

  The route is about 220 miles, mostly along the Boston Post Road, passing through southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Westchester County, before reaching New York City.

  This long journey by foot is accomplished by the troops walking twelve hours a day, every day, usually five or six miles before breakfast, for roughly two weeks. Most soldiers carry a thirty- or forty-pound pack, containing all of their clothes and supplies. Based on orders from the generals, the officers push the soldiers to march in an “extreme hurry” and “at great speed” regardless of temperature, and straight through rainstorms, hailstorms, muddy roads, and whatever else the elements can throw at them.

  George Washington himself departs Cambridge on April 4, 1776, along with Adj. Gen. Horatio Gates and their top aides. Although Washington’s horse-drawn transport is faster than the marching soldiers, he must endure the frustrating delay of stops at various cities along the way, to meet with local officials and be accorded due honors.

  His party makes stops in Providence, Norwich, New London, and New Haven, among other smaller towns and villages. In Norwich, he confers with the Patriot Governor, Jonathan Trumbull; in New London he inspects the latest fortifications and defenses along the coastline, also meeting with prominent merchants and other citizens.

  Washington endures these formalities, always polite, always gracious, dutifully shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries, even while his thoughts are consumed by the harrowing difficulties that lie ahead in New York City.

  Also accompanying Washington on his journey, and never far from his person or his belongings, are several soldiers from his newly formed Life Guards. They guard the army’s war chest—an actual wooden chest containing money and top-secret documents—and most important, they guard General Washington himself.

  As their procession moves away from the Patriot stronghold of Massachusetts, Loyalist sentiment generally increases. After the seismic news of George Washington’s success at Boston, he is now unquestionably the personal embodiment of the colonies’ rebellion, and held in great awe on the Patriot side. But for Loyalists and other opponents of the revolution, George Washington is now enemy number one.

  The members of Washington’s entourage know that in any village, any town, or any farmhouse, an assassin or deadly enemy could be lurking. One musket, one bayonet, one dagger could instantly destroy their leader. The Life Guards’ sworn duty is to prevent this. From here forward, one or more of them will accompany him everywhere

  Finally, after a nine-day journey, on the night of April 12, Washington and his men travel through what is now the Bronx to reach the King’s Bridge, which stretches across Spuyten Duyvil Creek to Manhattan’s northern tip. While still on the mainland side, they spend the night. Then, on the morning of April 13, Washington and his men cross the bridge and officially enter the island of Manhattan.

  At the time, the northern three-quarters of Manhattan is mostly woods and farmland, but a clear road passes from the King’s Bridge straight down the island. After a few hours travel south, Washington’s party begins to draw close to the northern line of New York City, which extends roughly to present-day Chambers Street. There they start to see the houses, buildings, and bustling streets of the city.
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  One thing is clear. New York City is not the same place it was when Washington last passed through nine months earlier, en route to Boston.

  Today, New York is a city preparing for war.

  For ordinary residents, the transformation began a few months earlier. With warships in the harbor, tarring and feathering in the streets, and news reports every day from Boston and overseas indicating nothing but more hostility between the colonies and England, many New Yorkers expected and feared that war would come to their city. As a result, many families started evacuating back in the fall, either to move permanently or to seek temporary residence elsewhere.

  By the early months of 1776, a third or more of New York City’s 25,000 residents have already left. For months now, many businesses have been closed, houses have been shuttered, and some buildings have fallen into disrepair.

  Despite all the residents who have left, there are also many who have no choice but to stay. Moving tended to be an option for the well-to-do, who could secure transportation by horse or carriage, and make arrangements to have belongings shipped.

  For those without means, this wasn’t possible. Some poor and working-class families chose to leave the city on foot, physically dragging food, clothes, and belongings in carts down muddy roads, over bridges, or onto ferries out of Manhattan. Others remain, facing whatever dangers might come. Likewise, the sick and infirm had no way to leave. Still others had the means, but had nowhere else to go.

  Of course, there are also many who stay in the city for their own reasons, despite the threat of violence. Sailors, seamen, mercenaries, and various laborers all know that war can mean a paycheck, so they come to the city upon news of the impending confrontation.

  Other young men hang around, hoping to enlist with the colonial army now, or with the British troops when they arrive. City officials, politicians, and civil servants still run the city out of obligation, or because they can’t abandon their work.