Intelligence in the War of Independence
Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, Public Affairs, n.p. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Wraps. 9" x 8.75", 45 [3] pages. Wraps. Illustrations (some with color). Suggested Readings. Topics covered include organization of intelligence, intelligence operations, intelligence techniques, and personalities (including George Washington, Paul Revere, Nathan Hale, Haym Salomon, and Hercules Mulligan). Intelligence in the American Revolutionary War was essentially monitored and sanctioned by the Continental Congress to provide military intelligence to the Continental Army to aid them in fighting the British during the American Revolutionary War. Congress created a Secret Committee for domestic intelligence, a Committee of Secret Correspondence for foreign intelligence, and a committee on spies, for tracking spies within the Patriot movement. The Second Continental Congress created a Secret Committee by a resolution on September 18, 1775. The Committee was not, however, a true intelligence agency. The Committee also took over and administered on a uniform basis the secret contracts for arms and gunpowder previously negotiated by certain members of the Congress without the formal sanction of that body. The Secret Committee employed agents overseas, often in cooperation with the Committee of Secret Correspondence. It gathered intelligence about secret Loyalist ammunition stores and arranged to seize them. The Committee also sent missions to seize British supplies in the southern colonies. It arranged the purchase of military stores through intermediaries to conceal the fact that Congress was the true purchaser. They then used foreign flags to attempt to protect the vessels from the British fleet. Condition: very good.
Keywords: American Revolution, Intelligence, Espionage, Spies, Silas Deane, Beaumarchais, Covert Operations, Benjamin Franklin, Secret Writing, War of Independence
[Book #50285]
Price: $40.00