Spies, Patriots, and Traitors.

• Author: Marks, Edward
• Position: Book review

Spies, Patriots, and Traitors: American Intelligence in the Revolutionary War by Kenneth A. Daigler, Georgetown University Press: Washington, DC, 2014, ISBN-13: 978-1626160507, 336 pp., $23.94 (Hardcover), $16.17 (Kindle).

The American Revolution and spying are two subjects that ought to make a good read. "Spies, Patriots, and Traitors" by Kenneth A. Daigler is proof of that proposition. The book's theme is fairly straightforward, that intelligence and espionage played a key role during the American War for Independence. Americans with a modicum of historical knowledge (an increasingly smaller percentage of the general population) are aware of this in a vague, general fashion usually limited to name recognition of Nathan Hale and Benedict Arnold. But the story involves much more and many more people. Most interestingly, it involves General George Washington in a much more direct and intensive manner than most of us have realized. The inside book cover claims that the book adds a new dimension to our understanding of the American Revolution, and it does. This result is not surprising as Daigler is a retired intelligence officer (aka "spy") and like all such, loves to reveal a bit of ankle. Like most intelligence operators, he has a weakness for derring-do and provides lots of such stories. Many of which have been recorded but generally in fairly obscure documents and files that Mr. Daigler has diligently ferreted out.

Nathan Hale, Richard Rogers, and Benedict Arnold are three very well known names in early American history, but most people would be able to say little about them, other than they are well known. Mr. Daigler has pulled together much information from many sources, and illustrates why their actual stories are better than the vague memories most of us have carried away from primary school. Nathan Hall is the failed spy who supposedly said on the scaffold "I regret I only have one life to give for my country", an historical fact probably equal in veracity to Washington cutting down the cherry tree. Hale was a patriot and a brave man, but failed in his mission because, as Daigler explains in great detail, he just was not fit for the job. Brave, sincere, honest, but also somewhat naive and most importantly without experience, he was rather easily unmasked by Richard Rogers. Richard Rogers, one asks, Spencer Tracy in "Northwest Passage"? How did he get into this story?

Well, Rogers remained loyal to the Crown, organized and led troops...