The Culper Spy Ring was active during which war?

The Culper Spy Ring started in a big way. American spies were reporting from behind enemy lines. This spy ring was an American spy network operating during the American Revolutionary War. Its operations required it to provide General George Washington with information on war activities of the British Army.

In November 1778 Washington appointed Major Benjamin Tallmadge as director of military intelligence. Washington charged him with creating a spy ring in New York City, the site of British headquarters.

This ring achieved more than any other American or British intelligence network during the war. The information collected and passed on from 1778 to the end of the war in 1783 concerned key British troop movements, fortifications, and plans to seize top American military personnel. Without the spy ring’s warnings to Washington, the key Franco-American alliance may well have been damaged or destroyed by a surprise attack.

This spy ring operated very successfully in and around New York City for over five years. During that time no spy was ever unmasked. Indeed even Washington was ignorant of the spies' identities. Tallmadge's group of informants consisted of friends he made at school on Long Island, including Austin Roe, Caleb Brewster, Abraham Woodhull, and Anna Strong.