In 1776, a courageous group of rebels in colonial America took on the might of the British Empire to secure their independence in the American War of Independence. One of the many ways in which the revolutionaries fought was employing a top-secret spying network. The spies who were led by General George Washington created secret codes and wrote messages in invisible ink. They operated behind enemy lines and occasionally used laundry as a means to signal their fellow revolutionaries. Crucially, they put their lives on the line for the revolution to succeed.
The identity of one of the most mysterious of Washington’s spies is unknown today, two centuries after the war. Known only as ‘Agent 355’, she spied on the British. However, her real name is still unknown. It’s also not known if she had existed for real.
The Culper Spy Ring
Spies played a crucial role in winning the American War of Independence. As George Washington and his Continental Army were outnumbered and outgunned by the British, they depended heavily on the advantage provided by the intelligence provided by the spies to fight and defeat the British. Many of the spies were often women. A woman named Anna Strong lived on Long Island when it was occupied by the British during the war. She strategically hung petticoats and handkerchiefs on her line where she used to hang her laundry to signal to her comrades about where the other spies had hidden their documents. Strong was a member of the ‘Culper Ring’, which was the most crucial network of spies during the war. Another member of this network was a shadowy but intriguing spy who was known as ‘Agent 355’.
The Culper Ring had been formed in 1778 for intelligence from the British-occupied territory in New York. It was a secretive organization where even Washington didn’t know the real identity of his spies. The members of the ring were instead each given a numerical code. The code of Washington was 711. The spies of the Culper Ring infiltrated the British ranks while posing as Loyalists to win their trust. In this way, they even managed to uncover the treachery of Benedict Arnold. It is believed that it was none other than Agent 355 who had direct contact with Arnold and that she had played a critical role in revealing his treachery.
Agent 355’s activities
The codebook of the Culper Ring enumerated ciphers for 763 names, places, and things. Code 219 meant a gun, 223 meant gold, and 355 usually meant lady but was also used to refer to an unknown agent. A member of the Culper Ring named Abraham Woodhull in a letter to General Washington dated August 15, 1779, mentioned an anonymous woman with whom he intended to visit 727 (New York) and with her help would be able to outwit the British. This was shown by later research to be true. According to one theory, this woman was the lover of another spy.
An article in a newspaper in 1948 suggested that this unknown Agent 355 had indeed been real and had met with a tragic ending as she died on Wallabout Prison Ship after giving birth to a child in the vessel. This same report also mentioned that Agent 355 was captured by the British in the final years of the war and that they had imprisoned her on the prison ship, Jersey, which was one of many floating prisons in the port of New York. Around 11,000 prisoners were believed to have died on such British prison ships during the war. When she had been captured by the British, Agent 355 had reportedly been pregnant and had died on board the ship after giving birth. However, as there is only one reference in historical records about Agent 355, it is not known whether this story is true or not.
The reality of Agent 355
The earliest reference to an American female secret agent who was believed to have died aboard a prison ship was from the 1948 work of historian Morton Pennypacker in Suffolk County, who had correctly identified the other members of the Culper Spy Ring based on the analyses of the handwriting. However, he provided scant evidence for the tragic story of Agent 355.
The truth about Agent 355 and whether she was a real person will probably never be known. However, many historians have made theories about her exact identity. As per one theory, Agent 355 was actually Anna Strong while another theory claims that Agent 355 was not an agent at all, but rather an informer who had met Abraham Woodhull, but never officially joined the Culper Spy Ring. Though Agent 355’s identity may be lost to history, she was one of many brave women who contributed to the American War of Independence.
