Which woman was a member of the Culper spy ring during the American Revolutionary War?

Continental Army Major Benjamin Tallmadge began working in the summer of 1778 at the height of the American Revolutionary War to create what later became known as the 'Culper spy ring'. According to tradition, Anna Strong's role in the spy ring was to relay signals to a courier who ran a whaleboat across Long Island Sound on smuggling and military missions.

Her method of signaling the courier was to hang a black petticoat on her clothesline at Strong Point in Setauket, which could easily be seen from a boat in the Sound. Additionally, she replicated this signal at a farm nearby, owned by Abraham Woodhull, alias Samuel Culper of the Culper spy ring, working with Continental Army Major Talmadge.

Strong would then add to the petticoat a number of handkerchiefs for one of the six coves where the courier would bring his boat and Woodhull would meet him. The story of her role and use of the clothesline became part of the cultural heritage of the American Revolutionary War.

Additionally, it was known that the British suspected a woman at Setauket who fitted Anna's profile. Several historians surmise that Anna Strong was the lady identified as "a 355" which was Tallmadge's code for the word "lady".

Anna was born in Setauket, New York in 1740. After the war, she and her husband Selah (also a member of the Culper spy ring) lived quietly in Setauket where she died in 1812.