Study Questions

Patriots, Loyalists, and Traitors

• Why were the patriots rebelling against the British?
• Why did some Americans remain loyal to the British?
• Why did some Americans choose to spy for the British?  Do you think their motivations honorable or dishonorable?

Spying

• Why did American and British military leaders engage in clandestine activities?
• What sorts of information did spies provide to military leaders?
• What advantages did spying provide military leaders?
• What might be some disadvantages to relying on spies for important information?
• Why did the British think it important to capture enemy correspondence?
• Did spying change the course of the Revolutionary War?  How?

Spy Letters

• What sorts of information did spy letters contain?
• How did spy letters exchange hands?  Why was it so dangerous to deliver a spy letter?
• What methods might spies have used to get their information from one place to another?
• Why were some spy letters made so difficult to decipher?
• Was it easy to recognize a spy letter if it was captured?  Why or why not?
• Which do you think was a more effective way to relay secret information: with spy letters written in invisible ink, with spy letters hidden in the quill of a letter, with spy letters that seemed innocent until a grill revealed the secret message within, or with spy letters that were disguised in a secret cipher and translated with a key?
• When might one method of hiding the content of a spy letter have an advantage over another method?

The Stories

• What were some advantages or disadvantages of being a female spy?
• Why do you think so few written sources exist about female spies?
• Why did Benedict Arnold betray his country?  Which explanation do you think explains his motivations more accurately:  a) He was bitter about being an unrecognized hero.  b) He was outraged that the Philadelphians accused him of being corrupt.  c) Facing a court martial and suspicion, he thought he thought the British could protect him.  d) He was greedy for the money the British would offer him.  e)  He thought that the American cause was futile and that he should help the inevitable winner of the war.  f) None of the above
• Do you think it was fair that George Washington had John André hanged?
• In the incidents surrounding the Battle of Saratoga, what mistakes did the British make?  How might such a disaster been averted?
• What role did spy letters have in the outcome of the Battle of Saratoga?
• Why might two important Americans, Benjamin Church and Benjamin Thompson, have been spies for the British?  Why were they important to the British?
• What methods did the Culper Gang employ in their spy ring?  How did they manage to sneak secret information to the Americans under the nose of Sir Henry Clinton?
• What significant information did George Washington’s letter to his dentist provide the British?