If you're a bit tired of seeing the word "hero" applied to such dubious celebrities as sports figures and politicians, you just might enjoy this story of true heroism--Revolutionary War style.

The year is 1778, and General George Washington orders his chief of intelligence, Major Benjamin Tallmadge, to organize a spy network in New York City, the heart of the British forces. Tallmadge is to take all precautions that its operations would be veiled in extreme secrecy. In fact, it was so secret that Washington himself did not know the true identities of the espionage group's members.

The spy ring had begun its activities on a small scale with Aaron Woodhull of Setauket, Long Island, alias Samuel Culper, doing much of the snooping in New York. But his absences in Setauket started to become noticeable, so he recruited Robert Townsend, who was his father's purchasing agent in New York, to take over that job. Townsend used the code name Culper Junior, making Woodhull Culper Senior. So guarded was Culper Junior's identity that it was not learned until 1930, when it was determined by handwriting analysis.

Townsend was more than suited to his new role. He was not only a merchant, he also worked part time, without pay, as a journalist for Rivington's Gazette, a pro-British New York newspaper. He became a silent partner in a nearby Wall Street coffeehouse run by the paper's owner, James Rivington. It was frequented by British officers eager to get their name in the paper, so they talked freely to Townsend.

But how was this information transmitted to Washington?

Austin Roe shopped at Townsend's store to buy goods for delivery to Long Island. He would also have a letter from Tallmadge requesting certain information. Townsend would reply to these letters, handing them off to Roe. The correspondence employed code and disappearing ink. Hiding the letter within the packaged merchandise, Roe would return to Setauket. He then dropped the letter off in a field that he had rented, in a pre-arranged drop box.

After Roe had gone, Woodhull entered the field, and picked up the letter. Woodhull would add his own information to it, and then looked across Little Bay to see if Anna Strong had placed a black petticoat on the line. With it, she would hang one to six white handkerchiefs, indicating in which of six coves whaleboat owner Caleb Brewster was anchored. To this day, no one has determined how Anna Strong knew when Brewster was in town, or where he was hiding.

Under the cover of night, Brewster would sneak through the British boats guarding the nearby waters and make his way across Long Island Sound to Fairfield, Connecticut, which was still controlled by the Americans. A courier would take the papers to Tallmadge, and Tallmadge would send them to Washington in New Windsor, New York.

Countless bits of intelligence were gained in this manner, and at least one of the items directly helped to secure the Rebels' ultimate victory.

After learning from the Culper Ring that the British planned to attack a French expedition that had just landed in Newport, Rhode Island, Washington planted information with known British agents indicating that he intended to move against New York City. The British commander was tricked into holding back his troops headed for Rhode Island.

Thus, the French force was free to join up with the Americans. Meanwhile, employing elaborate deception that resulted in James Armistead, a slave recruited as a double agent being granted his freedom by the Virginia Legislature, Washington masked his movement toward Chesapeake Bay and effectively won the war at Yorktown, Virginia.

Considering that espionage was punished by summary execution--the brutality of many British officers is strangely absent from contemporary accounts of the Revolution--we honor the Culpers and so many others, who risked everything for our freedom.