BuyBooksOnTheWeb.com
Bernadine Fawcett's newly published book, MISSING LINKS TO THE CULPER SPY RING? is a Personal Event Historical footnote.
The personal letters of Reverend A. Eliot written in 1777-1778 explores the hearts and minds of citizens during the Revolutionary War era. Divulged is new evidence of the cabal against George Washington, the citizens plights of starvation, disease, and death, the outcry to end the war, and the beginnings of slavery dissent, while the home front keeps women in their place and infants made docile by methods that CPS today would jail the parent.
Spying on the spies as you read the family letters allows a mystery to evolve. Solve the degree of participation which Long Island and Connecticut co-conspired to bring freedom to all of us right up to our day thorough the Culper Spy Ring organized by Long Islandís Benjamin Tallmadge.
The importance of the book, MISSING LINKS TO THE CULPER SPY RING by Bernadine Fawcett strongly suggests through primary source personagesí quotes connecting the Culper Spy Ring as a major contributor to the secret intelligence activities which were co-ordinated and continued throughout all the colonies for the entire Revolutionary Warís successful conclusion.
Trying to separate events leading to the L.I. Culper Spy Ring is identical to looking only at the feet of a person and eliminating the rest of the body which is attached to the extremities. In 1765 the Sons of Liberty began in New York City as the first formal movement towards unifying the colonies.
However, The final coup de graceí research states that the Commander in Chief Geo. Washington was stationed through out most of the war in Westchester New York which mandates any reasonable thinking individual to comprehend Washingtonís reason for not dismantling the Culper Spy Ring. As the war moved South and Westward he would need the L.I. spy ring to continue to syphon intelligence past the Hudson River British blockade so that he could create battle strategies. Since Washington led a few battles in the North, the fact that his principal role was that of an executive administrator has lost its huge significance to the American public. Because of this perception, the American Revolutionís movers and shakers in the establishment of spy groups has been glossed over and nearly forgotten.
After the war, British papers cited an Intelligence official as stating that the war was won because the Americanís out-spied us. Do we need more proof than the enemies admission?
Author,Bernadine Fawcett lets the discovered inherited Revolutionary War letters tell their own story. The MISSING LINKS TO THE CULPER SPY RING? book is reviewed on:BuyBooksOnTheWeb, TCM Reviews, MIdwest Reviews,, authors den, goggle,blog.com, Amazon.com and is described in Newday article: Bill Bleyer, July 18th 2005 and on www.fawcettcounseling.com.
Yesterday and Today
based on the intimate actual accounts from the 1700îs in the book 'Missing Links to the Culper Spy Ring?'
by Bernadine Fawcett
Katrina's immediate aftermath had many Revolutionary War conditions which can facilitate todayís generationís understanding of the difficulties which our forefathers faced. One could walk, use a boat, swim, (at least in the 1700ís they had horses and carriages), but there was no electricity, no running water, no cell phones. Possible death faced them in the form of whooping cough and small pox, plus they lived under the impending Britain's constant threat of pillaging and burning their villages.
The continual Cannonading {cannons blasting} created a readiness to have the next day clothes left on beds overnight so that they might escape into the woods. Starvation amongst the citizens is seldom mentioned in the sterilized history text books so that we forget that History was made by events happening to people. The Reverend Andrew Elliot of Fairfield Connecticut pens his letters to his father in Boston in this excerpt from the book MISSING LINKS TO THE CULPER SPY RING?:
ì...A Capt. came thro Town last week-who had broken away from the Army, after having been refused leave from two Gen. Officers, to attend to the cries of a wife & four children who had been without bread a fortnight. He would not stir back till the Committee of the Town promised him absolutely that they should never be so destitute again...î ì...You will think it strange say he that our Army should want Bread in a country that flows with wealth. This has been the case.î
The reasons that villagers were without food becomes evident in this comment of August 7, 1778 in which Rev. Eliot noted: ìThe stock upon Long Island it is expected will be seized for the use of the Kings troops. Gen. Tyron has marched down the Island with 1200 men and is now at Setauket right opposite to us. He orders the farmers to thresh out their grain immediately. They had better not be ill natured about the matter, for fear of consequences. He tells the people there, that the reason Great Britain has sent no more troops this year is because the King & parliament did not dream of the Rebels standing out any longer...î
I have used the tragedy of Katrina to underline the issue that the stories of our beginnings have all the pathos, incompetence, and arrogance in yesteryear just as we have today. The reverend showed no understanding of his wifeís pregnancy and writes that sheís in a ìdudî (lack of energy) just one week before she delivers her third child in the same amount of years. Rather than be proud of her housekeeping efforts, he gloats that he has chosen well. The reverend disciplines with a whip and tying the babies to a chair, yet he is proud of them and writes that his one year old Betsy held her hymnal upside down in church and sang ìsonorouslyî
Family life went on even as the warís dissension's wore out the populaces desires to fight, much like todayís concerns. Lets, eavesdrop on Rev. A. Eliotës opinion of the colonists mood about Geo. Washington in his Jan. 18th 1778 letter. îOur Public Affairs are indeed in a sad & dubious situation. I wonder the People blame that Gentleman to whom they are so much obliged. Were he properly supported I believe he would by the divine blessing, do great things. The truth is People are in some measure tired of the War. They begin to feel its calamitous attendants & consequences. They want to Love peace and expect that Gen. Washington can drive Howe out of America with what forces he now has, as easily as they can rid the Continent of all its Enemies, & adjust the affairs of the mightily republic over a good warm fire and a pipe of Tobacco.î
How did the politicians respond? Here is what Rev. Eliot writes on Feb. 18th 1778: ìHow unaccountable, that there should be a Cabal {intrigue} raised against that good man Gen. Washington? America has been more obliged to him than to any Individual or Body of Men... The Cabal in the army consists chiefly of the great and sincere Schuyler, Miflin, & Gates. Their scheme to get Gates at the head of the Army. To this end they have published fictitious Letters under the name of Monsieur de Lisle. Thus are people deluded. You will not see any more of these Letters than what are already published, I trouve....The Army are very much incensed. If Washington is superseded they will disband. Many have said that will shoot the man who shall appear to take Gen. Washingtonís place.î
What led to the dissatisfaction and anger amongst the colonies that began the Revolutionary War?
Daily living in a war zone. Writing home the details of no electricity, no water, the lack of necessities, difficulties with traveling, political dissension, fear of: neighbors, disease, and death; a womenís place and childrenís antics. No, it is not todayís Iraq. It is the first hand account of the Revolutionary War depicted in personal letters to his father from Reverend Andrew Eliot (an in-law relative of V.P. Aaron Burr). Read the letters from 1777 until they ceased upon the death of his father in 1778 scanned in full in the book MISSING LINKS TO THE CULPER SPY RING? by Bernadine Fawcett.
TCM-CA.com review by Tami Brady
I love genealogy. I enjoy hearing about the exploits of my ancestors. I find it extremely interesting to pour through old letters. Mostly though, I find myself wondering about the real stories behind these life glimpses really.
Missing Links to the Culper Spy Ring? essentially asks the same question about the life of Reverend Andrew Elliot. The author has collected a good deal of information (hearsay, letters, and implied information) about the Reverend that suggests that he may have been more than just a man of the church. In fact, the man may also have been a spy who exchanged information with such historical figures as George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Hancock, and Colonel Jackson.
I found this book interesting on two levels. I enjoyed following the author as she pieced together historical information in order to support her theory that indeed Reverend Andrew Elliot had been a spy. However, I also enjoyed the letters for the cultural information that they possessed. I feel that anytime you read a letter from the past, you gain insight into the things that these individuals valued and felt were important to discuss as well as what they deemed appropriate to share with other individuals (often including family and community gossip).
Midwest Book Reviews
Missing Links To The Culper Spy Ring? by Bernadine Fawcett is a unique contribution to our understanding of the Revolutionary War's inner-workings with respect to the use of espionage by the colonists against their British adversaries. Presenting readers with an in-depth analysis of Rev. Andrew Eliot's (a Connecticut revolutionary war spy) relationship to, and exchange of information between, George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Hancock, and Colonel Jackson, Missing Links To The Culper Spy Ring? leaves no detail out of its history of the lineage shared between Rev. Eliot's wife and Vice President Aaron Burr, and how letters between them led Bernadine Fawcett discover intimate accounts of a "Patriot Spy Ring" A seminal and quite original contribution to American Revolutionary War History, Missing Links To The Culper Spy Ring? is very highly recommended for personal, academic, and community library collections.