George Washington's Secret Spy War

The Making of America's First Spymaster

John A. Nagy

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781250096821
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early American History
• Index: History

George Washington was America's first spymaster, and his skill as a spymaster won the war for independence. George Washington's Secret Spy War is the untold story of how George Washington took a disorderly, ill-equipped rabble and defeated the best trained and best equipped army of its day in the Revolutionary War. Author John A. Nagy has become the nation's leading expert on the subject, discovering hundreds of spies who went behind enemy lines to gather intelligence during the American Revolution, many of whom are completely unknown to most historians. Using George Washington's diary as the primary source, Nagy tells the story of Washington's experiences during the French and Indian War and his first steps in the field of espionage. Despite what many believe, Washington did not come to the American Revolution completely unskilled in this area of warfare. Espionage was a skill he honed during the French and Indian war and upon which he heavily depended during the Revolutionary War. He used espionage to level the playing field and then exploited it on to final victory. Filled with thrilling and never-before-told stories from the battlefield and behind enemy lines, this is the story of how Washington out-spied the British. For the first time, readers will discover how espionage played a major part in the American Revolution and why Washington was a master at orchestrating it.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Notice
• Dedication
• Introduction
• 1. French Lessons
• 2. Drinking, Flashing the Ladies, and Grave Robbing
• 3. Desperate Times
• 4. Pools of Blood
• 5. Quaker Chicanery
• 6. We Danced the Minuet
• 7. Double Agents
• 8. Traitors and Licensed Spies
• 9. Black Chambers and the Medicine Factory
• 10. Petite Guerre
• 11. Deception Battle Plan: The Objective
• 12. Deception Battle Plan: Enemy Assumptions
• 13. Deception Battle Plan: Method
• 14. Deception Battle Plan: The Sting—Executing the Plan
• 15. Deception Battle Plan: Exploitation
• 16. Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix: Major General Edward Braddock’s Cipher
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Photographs
• Also by John A. Nagy
• About the Author
• Newsletter Sign-up
• Contents
• Copyright